Lawrence Wilkerson Testifies About America’s Collapsing Empire

21 August 2025, by Eric Zuesse. (All of my recent articles can be seen here.)

Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, who long experienced the U.S. empire in his professional role as being one of its chief advisors (incl. Chief of Staff to the U.S. Secretary of State), retains, in his retirement, excellent contacts at high levels in the U.S. Government; and, on August 21st, he headlined an interview “Defeated & Divided - NATO's Existential Crisis”, describing, in remarkable detail, the process of rotting out from the inside, of the world’s only remaining empire, America’s empire. What he says, is something that deserves to be widely known — no longer by only insiders such as he is — and the reason for this is that only very few people can speak with such authority as he, about such a matter as this real-world version of Dante's legendary tour through the mythological hell. Wilkerson strips bare all mythologies, in his grim account of an American Government that is teetering on, either allowing its empire to end peacefully, or else going into a global nuclear war in order to ‘preserve’ it and ‘win’ World War Three.

The U.S. empire (the U.S. Government and its colonies or ‘allies’) has had its ‘victories’ in Afghanistan in 2001-2020, Iraq during 2003-now, Libya during 2011-now, Syria during 2011-now, and Ukraine during 2014-now — and elsewhere — all leaving dozens of nations bleeding and prostrate from the empire’s corporate predations (most of all, by the armaments-manufacturers, who profit enormously from this “permanent war for permanent peace”). Wilkerson speaks, now as a retiree, with a passion that rages against what he himself had spent his career participating in. He says that it just keeps on getting worse and worse, more and more dangerous, and so he increasingly fears for the world’s future, as he explains.

More detail on this will now be provided regarding specifically the ongoing successful U.S.-and-allied war against the Syrian people, as it is being currently played out. This is a war that Barack Obama was intending ever since 2009, and which became operational in 2011, and the U.S. Government’s chief allies in it were Turkey, Qatar, Israel, and the Sauds. At the Syrian Government’s request, Russia intervened on 30 September 2015, and turned the tide against both Al Qaeda and ISIS there (the main forces trying — and backed by the U.S. regime — to overthrow Syria’s Government). However, Obama sabotaged a peace-deal that would have required Russia to stop bombing against Al Qaeda. This enabled the war to continue indefinitely.

Throughout the war in Syria, the independent war-reporter Vanessa Beeley has been, by far, the most thorough and reliable reporter on it, and has intermittently lived in Syria. She left it on the day that the U.S. alliance to overthrow the only non-sectarian Government in the Middle East, Syria’s Government (the Government led by Bashar al-Assad), succeeded, on 8 December 2024, succeeded at the U.S. regime’s long-promised overthrow of it, and then the leader of Al Qaeda in Syria (HTS), Abu Mohammad al-Julani (now “al-Sharaa”) took control of Syria, for the U.S. alliance, but most of all, for Turkey’s leader, Erdogan.

War continues ceaselessly in Syria. On August 21st, Beeley headlined “Is Jolani’s Reign Nearing Completion, or Will Regional War Keep Him in Power?”, and opened:

A tense ceasefire has been holding in southern Syria since 19 July. However, Suwayda province and the City are under siege. The Al Qaeda regime is trickling aid, food and water to the people of Suwayda. Electricity is barely operating, and the power stations have been deliberately destroyed, along with the water reservoirs. The aid trucks are being intercepted by Hayat Tahrir Al Sham (HTS) militia and civilians on the trucks are being executed, their bodies left to decompose by the side of the road. I was speaking to sources in Suwayda who informed me that the situation is grim — relatively quiet, but they are on constant alert for incursions or artillery attacks. These violations are being downplayed by the Jolani (Ahmed Al Sharaa) regime to avoid further escalation that might endanger his presidency.

According to local sources, more than 36 Druze villages in Suwayda were destroyed and torched during Jolani’s brutal assault. I met with Venezuelan Druze who were evacuated from Suwayda by the Embassy in Lebanon. They confirmed the complete destruction of villages to the west and north of Suwayda City. Hundreds-of-years-old olive groves were burned or uprooted and destroyed by the HTS militia in alliance with Syrian Tribal factions.

Grave atrocities were committed that have irreparably scarred the Druze community. The Syrian Human Rights Center documented 1,677 deaths from all sides due to clashes, summary executions, and Israeli bombardment. However, Suwayda locals testify to far greater numbers massacred by HTS that include babies, children, and entire families killed in the most barbaric ways. There are also reports of mass rape of young women, and the abduction of children and young girls as ‘sex slaves’ for the HTS terrorists. One of the Druze families I met in Lebanon told me that children were plunged into boiling water until they died, and others had their throats cut in front of their parents. Children were held at gunpoint to force their parents to hand over gold and money to the Jolani forces. These stories will never end while Jolani is in power.

The stance of Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri, the Druze spiritual leader, was clear from the outset, opposing HTS’ authority in Damascus, while Sheikh Hammoud al-Hanawi and Sheikh Yusuf al-Jarbou’ initially called for negotiation with them. Yet after the recent events, the three spiritual Druze leaders in Suwayda issued statements that unanimously rejected Jolani’s authority, marking their first united position, openly and unequivocally declaring: there will be no return to negotiation with Damascus.

In a video statement, al-Hanawi said: “We have been afflicted with an authority that has no honor, one that sold the homeland and betrayed its people before betraying its borders. It became a drawn sword over the necks of innocents with extremist ideas that permit the spilling of blood.”

Meanwhile, in another recording, al-Jarbou’ described the events as “sectarian barbarism” amounting to “an attempt at systematic ethnic cleansing”, considering them “a true betrayal of the entire Syrian people that strips this cult of any legitimacy to rule the nation”.

Of course, this barbaric assault was designed to shift the Druze public opinion in favour of Israeli occupation and displays of ‘protection’. To a large degree, it has succeeded. Videos have been circulating on social media showing the Israeli flag being flown in the Suwayda squares alongside the Druze banners. When I speak to friends in Suwayda who have, historically, been enemies of Israel, they tell me that there is no alternative, only starvation and a slow death under siege or massacre. …

From the standpoint of the U.S. Government, which represents the owners of America’s armaments-manufacturers, this is what victory looks like in Syria — permanent war.

After Col. Wilkerson left the U.S. Government in 2005, he has been constantly and truthfully condemning it; and, though the ‘news’-media condemns him for doing so (and Newseek even called him “anti-Semitic” for questioning the U.S. Government’s charge that Assad was using chemical weapons against his Government’s opponents), Wilkerson has been, and is, a hero for not backing down — never buckling to the hired liars and their lies. And he no longer has any respect, at all, for either of America’s political Parties; he condemns both as being corrupt and thoroughly neocon war-mongers.

Wilkerson’s video interview is a terrific one about the future of NATO. He predicts that NATO will probably end within “eighteen to twenty-four months.” Any prediction can be wrong, but even if that one will be, it shows the gist of his interpretation of current events. His interpretation is far more reliable than anything from any current or recent U.S. Government official, except Wilkerson himself.

Another valuable recent interview of Wilkerson was his July 30th “How We Encircled Russia and Made Europe a Vassal – Divide & Rule”, which provided the global Big Picture, further documentation of America’s collapsing empire. He notes that today’s U.S. Government is, in its desperation to ‘succeed’ with their goal of achieving global hegemony, planning to initiate WW3 with surprise blitz-decapitation strikes, intending to ‘win’ by America’s having more survivors than our ‘enemies’ will. As I have documented in detail, the war in Ukraine was started by Obama in 2014 not by Putin in 2022 (Russia was ultimately forced to respond to America’s attempt to get nuclear missiles located a mere 300 miles from The Kremlin). It’s an existential war for Russia, to protect its national security, but for the U.S., it is only for extending the U.S. empire — not just for expanding NATO.

On August 21st also, Judge Napolitano interviewed Wilkerson, and asked him “How did the Israelis get Bill Clinton elected?” and Wilkerson said “There’s a lot of talk right now about Ehud Barak who appears in the Epstein files almost endlessly, and Bill Clinton, who matches him. And the way that those talks [on a two-state solution] went awry at the last minute, with all the blame being placed on Arafat and the Arabs, like a deer caught in the headlights had no clue that they were going to derail that fast, it [the breakdown] was caused by the pressure brought on both Barak and Clinton by what was in the Epstein files.” Just a few weeks earlier, on August 4th, RT News had headlined “Israel has Trump & US govt captive via Epstein blackmail – ex-Israeli intel officer Ari Ben-Menashe”, who spoke there, about “Epstein’s blackmailing of Ehud Barak and Bill Clinton to stop an agreement with Yasser Arafat for a two-state solution, how a number of US presidents had been blackmailed by Israel using Epstein, how Rupert Murdoch’s first newspaper was funded for him by Israel, Donald Trump wanting to bring peace to the Middle East but being held back by Israel via blackmail over Epstein, the brainwashing of Israelis during the Gaza genocide, … and much more.” Menashe had been an employee of Israel's Military Intelligence Directorate from 1977 to 1987, and an arms dealer, and is the author of PROFITS OF WAR: Inside the Secret U.S-Israeli Arms Network.

On August 21st, Russia’s RT News presented, if it is accurate, an actual count, no mere estimation, of the number of killed and deserted from Ukraine’s armed forces thus far in Ukraine’s war:

The entries suggest that since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, Kiev’s forces have lost a total of 1,721,000 servicemen. 118.5 thousand were apparently killed in 2022, 405.4 thousand in 2023, 595 thousand in 2024 and a record 621 thousand [thus far] in 2025.

Hackers from the groups Killnet, Palach Pro, User Sec and Beregini are said to have obtained terabytes of information about the Ukrainian military. Aside from personnel losses, the groups allegedly also possess the personal data of the command of the Special Operations Forces and the Main Intelligence Directorate, lists of all countries that have supplied weapons to Kiev and lists of all weapons transferred from 2022 to 2025.

This Ukrainian casualty estimate far exceeds losses previously reported by Kiev. …

The Russian military has consistently reported higher casualties among Ukrainian servicemen, claiming their losses particularly surged following Kiev’s unsuccessful counteroffensive in 2023. As of February, more than 1.08 million Ukrainian troops had been killed or wounded, according to Moscow’s estimates.

No estimate of Russian battlefield losses was included.

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Investigative historian Eric Zuesse’s latest book, AMERICA’S EMPIRE OF EVIL: Hitler’s Posthumous Victory, and Why the Social Sciences Need to Change, is about how America took over the world after World War II in order to enslave it to U.S.-and-allied billionaires. Their cartels extract the world’s wealth by control of not only their ‘news’ media but the social ‘sciences’ — duping the public.