Tibet. Members of our group often compared the Chinese
presence with that of the United States government and our oil,
lumber, beef, pharmaceutical, and consumer-goods companies
throughout the Amazon, Middle East, Africa, and Asia, and in the
wars of occupation in Afghanistan and Iraq.
On our way back to Lhasa and knowing that we would depart
for Nepal the following morning, we drove across the spectacular
Karo La and Khamba La passes. At seventeen thousand feet, our
caravan stopped to view a glacier. One of our guides explained
that the ice had reached almost to the road two decades earlier,
but changes in climate had caused it to recede by a quarter mile or
more. Sheep and yaks grazed beside our vehicles. Between them
and the glacier were several black tents. Roughly shoulder height
and perhaps twelve by fifteen feet, they were firmly anchored to
the ground by heavy straps that traversed their ridge poles. Smoke
poured through their roofs. Behind the tents, red, blue, yellow,
green, and white prayer flags, suspended from a series of tall
poles interconnected by a web of twine, fluttered in the chill
breeze that swept down off the glacier.
As we stepped out of the Cruisers, Tibetans emerged from the
U-nts. The men wore woolen slacks, heavy jackets, and caps, the
women long dresses festooned with brightly colored aprons. Our
6 7THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN
EMPIRE
guides explained that they were nomads who live much as
their forefathers did before the time of Christ. Through our
interpreters, the nomads told us that Yetis ("Abominable
Snowmen") lived on the glacier. They assured us that until
recently they had seen them several times a year, but over the last
ten years, with the glacier receding, the Yetis had vanished.
As we talked about the devastating impact of global warming