*Author's Note - October 25, 2007
Please note that the above book was published by a university publisher which decided to only release a hardback version to be sold mainly to university libraries. It is out of print and priced far beyond a reasonable market level ($97.95). The size of the initial print run, hardback cost were not things I had any control over. At the time of publishing, I was a full time academic and it was desirable for career purposes to be published by a mainstream academic press. Until the publisher decides to release a reasonably priced paperback version, I will make freely available online extracts of the book for educative purposes.
Michael E. Salla, M.A., Ph.D.
www.AmericasHeroJourney.com
Kona, Hawaii***
*Further Author's Note - October 27, 2007
It has been almost eight years since the above book was written while I was a full time faculty member at American University. At the time, I supported a vigorous humanitarian intervention policy by the Clinton administration in conflicts where states systematically violated ethnic minorities. An important book written by Tedd Robert Gurr in 1993, Ethnic Minorities at Risk, highlighted the numerous ways in which ethnic-religious minorities were being systematically targeted by repressive states. It was my hope, and that of many others at the time, that the Bush administration would continue these policies. Unfortunately, that was not to be the case, and subsequent to September 11, 2001, the Bush administration embarked on a series of military interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq, and is currently attempting to do likewise with Iran. These wars have little to do with protecting ethnic minorities against repressive regimes, and appear to be part of a imperial agenda driving the Bush administration.
It has subsequently been established by authors such as David Ray Griffin in The New Pearl Harbor: Disturbing Questions about 911 and the Bush Administration, that 911 was a false flag operation to deceive the American public to support a series of wars that are part of a contrived global "war on terror". The "war on terror" has been used to significantlycut back on civil liberties to the extent that the Bush administration's designation of an individual as an "enemy combatant", can result in indefinite detention and the suspension of habeas corpus with minimal legal appeal.
Evidence has emerged to support the worst fears of many that the Bush administration has hijacked America's key institutions of power, and turned the U.S. into an imperial global power that uses military intervention for purposes very different to that envisaged by America's Founding Fathers. There has subsequently been much evidence emerging into the public realm to confirm that the Bush administration is committing international war crimes in Iraq and elsewhere. That international conflicts are being used as a cover for the CIA's involvement in the drugs trade to generate revenues for undisclosed purposes. That war profiteering is occurring through corporations that supply or service military contracts, and that covert efforts are being conducted to steal the national treasures and knowledge of ancient archeological sites in the Middle East. Finally, compelling evidence has emerged that a secret effort is underway to pollute the planet through military munitions containing depleted uranium that poison the environment, and cause irreparable harm to soldiers and civilians that ingest airborne DU particles.
Having observed all these developments since authoring the above book in 1999/2000, it is now my opinion that there is a secret system of government in the U.S. that uses the 'visible' government' for its purposes. The secret government takes advantage of international conflicts and/or manufactures these, to generate a black budget that runs over a trillion dollars annually. I have concluded that the black budget funds a highly classified set of projects that I have called the Second Manhattan Project whose true purpose is yet to be disclosed to the American public. Consequently, it is clear that America has forgotten its democratic roots and a sham democracy exists. There is little government transparency and accountability in key institutions of American power that are unresponsive to the general public.
If the Hero's Journey is to have any relevance to the United States in the 21st Century, then it is clear that Bush administration's covert and imperial practices, and the secret government that sanctions these, must be exposed. America's needs to embark on a new hero's journey (it's eighth) where it restores the civil liberties historically enjoyed by its citizenry that have been maliciously eroded by the Bush administration. Most importantly, American's democratic heritage needs to be restored through a genuine form of democracy wherein there is transparency in key institutions of power, and the rule of law is established to ensure accountability for all office holders.
Michael E. Salla, M.A., Ph.D.
www.AmericasHeroJourney.com
Kona, Hawaii
r Phone: 808 323 3400