Howard Zinn: American Empire Is 'Crumbling'

Al Jazeera. Posted September 11, 2008.

"I think the American empire will go the way of other empires and I
think it is on its way now."

Editor's note: Al Jazeera speaks to Howard Zinn, the author, American
historian, social critic and activist, about how the Iraq war damaged
attitudes towards the US and why the US "empire" is close to collapse.

Where is the United States heading in terms of world power and
influence?

Zinn: America has been heading -- for some time, and is heading right
now -- toward less and less world power, less and less influence.
Obviously, since the war in Iraq, the rest of the world has fallen
away from the United States, and if American foreign policy continues
in the way it has been -- that is aggressive and violent and uncaring
about the feelings and thoughts of other people -- then the influence
of the United States is going to decline more and more.