Imperial systems are sustained not only through violence or its threat but through a network of client states and dependent regimes. Take Mubarak of Egypt. After rigging the most recent election he is now Egypt's longest running ruler since the Pharaoh Ramses the Second. Not content with that distinction he once again extended emergency rule which he introduced in 1981. Hardly a peep from Washington because Mubarak serves its interests in the Middle East. And the free press? Well, from Lippmann and Reston of days gone by to Friedman and Brooks today there is a steady chorus of support for U.S. policy. Actual U.S. imperial history, past and present, is often a concoction of fantasies, gaping omissions, selected facts, and unsubstantiated opinion. Orwell described the process, "Everything faded into mist. The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became truth."

Noam Chomsky is the internationally renowned Institute Professor Emeritus at MIT. He practically invented modern linguistics. In addition to his pioneering work in that field he has been a leading voice for peace and social justice for many decades. He is in huge demand as a speaker all over world. The New Statesman calls him, "The conscience of the American people." Howard Zinn described him as "the nation's most distinguished intellectual rebel." He's the author of scores of books including Failed States, What We Say Goes, and Hopes and Prospects.