Novelist and former British intelligence officer John Le Carré appeared today on Pacifica’s Democracy Now program from England. He talked about war in the Middle East (S/Central Asia) and foreign heads of state who led it then and continue leading it now.
Question Le Carré said he would have raised had he raised it to George W. Bush’s then-co-commander, now protested big-selling author, Tony Blair, leading into the U.S.-led war on Iraq
Consequences of War
“Have you ever seen what happens when a grenade goes off in a school? Do you really know what you’re doing when you order shock and awe? Are you prepared to kneel beside a dying soldier and tell him why he went to Iraq, or why he went to any war?”
Europe, U.S. views of War
“…If anything has happened to Europe since 1945 that defines Europe, it is collectively Europeans do not believe in war anymore — until it comes as an absolute last resort…. The United States still sees war as a necessary part of its existence.”
U.S. President Barack Obama and War
“I think all decent people wept with pleasure when he was elected. That faith in him will die only slowly. There is a lot of evidence that he has done a lot of things that are amazingly good. … [H]e has advanced on the health front. [H]is opening speeches … for example, from Cairo to the Muslim community… [T]hose early statements of intent were magnificent. The sadness now is that we see them in practice being diminished.
“I certainly haven’t given up hope so I would ask him whether he still hopes.”
Le Carré wrote in a pre-Iraq invasion essay (2003)
“… God has very particular political opinions. God appointed America to save the world in any way that suits America. God appointed Israel to be the nexus of America’s Middle Eastern policy and anyone who wants to mess with that idea is —
“God also has pretty scary connections. In America, where all men are equal in His sight, if not in one another’s, the Bush family numbers one President, one ex-President, one ex-head of the CIA, the Governor of Florida and the ex-Governor of Texas.…(a) Anti-Semitic(b) Anti-American(c) With the enemy(d) A terrorist”
“To be a member of the team you must also believe in Absolute Good and Absolute Evil, and Bush, with a lot of help from his friends, family and God, is there to tell us which is which. What Bush won’t tell us is the truth about why we’re going to war. What is at stake is not an ‘Axis of Evil’ but oil, money and people’s lives. Saddam’s misfortune is to sit on the second biggest oilfield in the world.…
“What is at stake is not an imminent military or terrorist threat, but the economic imperative of U.S. growth. What is at stake is America’s need to demonstrate its military power to all of us to Europe and Russia and China, and poor mad little North Korea, as well as the Middle East; to show who rules America at home, and who is to be ruled by America abroad….
.”
Will we win, Daddy?
Of course, child; it will all be over while you’re still in bed.
Why?
Because otherwise Mr. Bush’s voters will get terribly impatient and may decide not to vote for him.
But will people be killed, Daddy?
Nobody you know, darling; just foreign people.
Can I watch it on television?
Only if Mr. Bush says you can.
Afterwards, will everything be normal again — nobody will do anything horrid any more?
Hush child and go to sleep
How many (est.) in two-theater U.S.-led
WAR DEAD?
Casualty sites reporting
September 16, 2010 (accurate totals unknown)
• Anti-war dot com Casualties in Iraq since March 19, 2003
[U.S. war dead since the Obama inauguration January 20, 2009: 193]
Wounded 31,951-100,000
U.S. veterans with brain injuries 320,000
Suicides [estimated] 18 a day
Latest update on this site September 19, 2010
• Iraq Body Count figures
97,994 – 106,954
• ICasualties IRAQ: 4,421 U.S., 4,739 Coalition
AFGHANISTAN: 1,282 U.S., 2,086 Coalition
S/Central Asia
Kashmir/India conflict — September 20
Three people died in India-administered Kashmir as violence continued with a police shooting at a group of protesters in a funeral procession. Police said some demonstrators were trying to set fire to the house of a pro-Indian politician. Protesters denied the claim. The deaths on Saturday bring the number of people killed in recent anti-government clashes to more than 100.
Pakistan foreign occupied, flood fallout
Political discord over Pakistan aid — September 20
The Pakistani government has been accused of ‘favoritism’ in relief efforts, six weeks after heavy rains caused devastating floods.
Pakistani Karachi-UK-Karachi, Pakistan
Targeted killings — September 20
A founding member of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (or MQM party), Imran Farooq, was found dead Thursday in the north of the London. He had sustained multiple stab wounds and head injuries. The next day as news of the killing reached Karachi, Pakistan’s biggest city, gas stations, schools and markets closed and public transport halted. Hundreds of targeted killings have occurred this year in Karachi.
Afghanistan in foreigners’ War votes
Violence and corruption September 19
Eleven civilians died when bombs exploded and rockets attacked during Afghanistan’s election. Observers also reported “fake voter cards and ballot stuffing.”
Middle East-Iraq
Baghdad bombings September 19
Twenty-nine people died Sunday in two near-simultaneous car bomb explosions in Baghdad, Iraq’s capital. One hundred people suffered wounds in the two explosions.
Sources and notes
“Legendary British Author John le Carré on Why He Won’t Be Reading Tony Blair’s Iraq War-Defending Memoir,” [David Cornwell writes under the name John le Carré], September 20, 2010, http://www.democracynow.org/2010/9/20/legendary_british_author_john_le_carr
“The United States of America Has Gone Mad” (John le Carré, The Times/UK, January 15, 2003), http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/America/US_Gone_Mad_leCarre.html
John le Carré: “The United States of America Has Gone Mad,”
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/9/20/john_le_carr_the_united_states
http://english.aljazeera.net/video/asia/2010/09/20109197016442716.html
http://english.aljazeera.net/video/asia/2010/09/2010919103515596138.html http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/09/20109176850972836.html
Inside Story aired from Sunday, September 19, 2010, http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/insidestory/2010/09/201092011590734806.html
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/09/201091982110761498.html
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