Excellent piece. Bookmarked.
Well said, a nice commentary. The sane voices arise from the noise since September 11th.
and thank you for posting it.
Former president Bill Clinton orders the United States military to rain destruction down on civilians in Serbia for two months to deal with nonexistent "ethnic cleansing," and people in the U.S. didn't even miss their favorite fast food and television sitcoms.
A bunch of hijackers cause one day's worth of destruction on civilians in the U.S., and suddenly it's an "act of war" the likes of which the world has not seen since Pearl Harbor.
I am in full support of the U.S. in this conflict, but this is something worth thinking about.
Orwell was no dummy. Too bad we already have a pacifist problem here. Thanks, one of the best I've read lately.
Where are the Rivero's of yesteryear?
"Contrary to popular belief that was the first real build-up of American military force in the region," says Dr Clive Jones at Leeds University. "This was in Saudi Arabia, a country with the holiest sites in Islam at Mecca and Medina. This created a new form of anti-Americanism that cannot in any way be related to Israel."
Worth a bump, to drown out Chomsky's (and others') junk.
One of the most consistently brilliant essays I've read in a long time.
Apart from that, how could we be so dumb as to accuse the nation of Updike, Bellow, Roth, DeLillo, Ashbery, Dylan, of Terence Malick, The Simpsons, Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola of stupidity, let alone innocence?
The Simsons finally get proper recognition.
Boy, does this lie test my patience.
The United States and Middle East:
Why Do They Hate Us?
The list below presents specific incidents of U.S. policy.
It minimizes the grievances against the U.S. because it excludes
long-standing policies, such as U.S. backing for authoritarian
regimes (arming Saudi Arabia, training the secret police in Iran
under the Shah, providing arms and aid to Turkey as it attacked
Kurdish villages, etc.).
The list also excludes actions of Israel in which the U.S. is
indirectly implicated because Israel has been the leading or second
ranking recipient of U.S. aid for many years and has received U.S.
weapons and benefited from U.S. veto in the Security Council.
1949:
CIA backs military coup deposing elected government of Syria.
1953:
CIA helps overthrow the democratically elected Mossadeq government in
Iran (which had nationalized the British oil company) leading to a
quarter-century of dictatorial rule by the Shah, Mohammed Reza
Pahlevi.
1956:
U.S. cuts off promised funding for Aswan Dam in Egypt after Egypt
receives Eastern bloc arms.
1956:
Israel, Britain, and France invade Egypt.
U.S. does not support invasion, but the involvement of NATO allies
severely diminishes Washington's reputation in the region.
1958:
U.S. troops land in Lebanon to preserve "stability."
1960s (early):
U.S. unsuccessfully attempts assassination of Iraqi leader, Abdul Karim Qassim.
1963:
U.S. reported to give Iraqi Ba'ath party (soon to be headed by Saddam
Hussein) names of communists to murder, which they do with vigor.
1967:
U.S. blocks any effort in the Security Council to enforce SC
Resolution 244, calling for Israeli withdrawal from territories
occupied in the 1967 war.
1970:
Civil war between Jordan and PLO. Israel and U.S. prepare to
intervene on side of Jordan if Syria backs PLO.
1972:
U.S. blocks Sadats efforts to reach a peace agreement with Egypt.
1973:
U.S. military aid enables Israel to turn the tide in war with Syria and Egypt.
1973-75:
U.S. supports Kurdish rebels in Iraq.
When Iran reaches an agreement with Iraq in 1975 and seals the
border, Iraq slaughters Kurds and U.S. denies them refuge.
Kissinger secretly explains that "covert action should not be
confused with missionary work."
1978-79:
Iranians begin demonstrations against the Shah.
U.S. tells Shah it supports him "without reservation" and urges him
to act forcefully.
Until the last minute, U.S. tries to organize military coup to save
the Shah, but to no avail.
1979-88:
U.S. begins covert aid to Mujahideen in Afghanistan six months before
Soviet invasion.
Over the next decade U.S. provides more than $3 billion in arms and aid.
1980-88:
Iran-Iraq war.
When Iraq invades Iran, the U.S. opposes any Security Council action
to condemn the invasion.
U.S. removes Iraq from its list of nations supporting terrorism and
allows U.S. arms to be transferred to Iraq.
U.S. lets Israel provide arms to Iran and in 1985 U.S. provides arms
directly (though secretly) to Iran.
U.S. provides intelligence information to Iraq.
1984:
Iraq uses chemical weapons.
U.S. restores diplomatic relations with Iraq.
1987:
U.S. sends its navy into the Persian Gulf, taking Iraq's side.
1984:
An aggressive U.S. ship shoots down an Iranian civilian airliner, killing 290.
1981-1986:
U.S. holds military maneuvers off the coast of Libya with the clear
purpose of provoking Qaddafi.
1981:
A Libyan plane fires a missile and two Libyan planes were
subsequently shot down.
1986:
Libya fires missiles that land far from any target and U.S. attacks
Libyan patrol boats, killing 72, and shore installations.
When a bomb goes off in a Berlin nightclub, killing two, the U.S.
charges that Qaddafi was behind it (possibly true) and conducts major
bombing raids in Libya, killing dozens of civilians, including
Qaddafi's adopted daughter. (Give me a break!)
1982:
U.S. gives "green light" to Israeli invasion of Lebanon, where more
than 10,000 civilians were killed.
U.S. chooses not to invoke its laws prohibiting Israeli use of U.S.
weapons except in self-defense.
1983:
U.S. troops sent to Lebanon as part of a multinational peacekeeping
force; intervene on one side of a civil war.
Withdraw after suicide bombing of Marine barracks.
1984:
U.S.-backed rebels in Afghanistan fire on civilian airliner.
1988:
Saddam Hussein kills many thousands of his own Kurdish population and
uses chemical weapons against them.
The U.S. increases its economic ties to Iraq.
1990-91:
U.S. rejects diplomatic settlement of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait
(Rebuffing any attempt to link the two regional occupations, of
Kuwait and Palestine).
U.S. leads international coalition in war against Iraq.
Civilian infrastructure targeted.
To promote "stability" U.S. refuses to aid uprisings by Shi'ites in
the south and Kurds in the north, denying the rebels access to
captured Iraqi weapons and refusing to prohibit Iraqi helicopter
flights.
1991:
Devastating economic sanctions are imposed on Iraq.
U.S. and Britain block all attempts to lift them.
Hundreds of thousands die.
Though Security Council stated sanctions were to be lifted once
Hussein's programs to develop weapons of mass destruction were ended,
Washington makes it known that the sanctions would remain as long as
Saddam remains in power.
Sanctions strengthen Saddam's position.
1993:
U.S. launches missile attack on Iraq, claiming self defense against
an alleged assassination attempt on former president Bush two months
earlier.
1998:
U.S. and U.K. bomb Iraq over weapons inspections, even though
Security Council is just then meeting to discuss the matter.
1998:
U.S. destroys factory producing half of Sudan's pharmaceutical
supply, claiming retaliation for attacks on U.S. embassies in
Tanzania and Kenya and that factory was involved in chemical warfare.
U.S. later acknowledges there is no evidence for the chemical warfare charge.
Anti-Americanism has long been the vicious, irrational, global ideology of our time. "It combines," says Sir Michael Howard, the historian, "the nastiest elements of the right and left."
Two sites immediately came to mind.