Decades ago in the distant, now near medieval era of the Cold War, former British intelligence officer and novelist John Le Carre was the first to send back a startling message from the shadow world of superpower spy-versus-spy battles. In novels like The Spy Who Came In From the Cold, he informed us that the intelligence services of the two superpower “enemies” were coming to have more in common with each other than with either society.
Now, in another kind of dark age, Le Carre has a few unbelievably pungent things to say about the ways in which our country is becoming ever more different from everyone else. If you’re used to reading the American press, this sort of stuff is strong indeed. Few here, for instance, are willing to say that the greatest prayer our Busheviks could offer up would be, “Thank you, Osama Bin Laden…” But in England yesterday, Tony Blair actually had to get up in Parliament and deny that an Iraq war would be an oil grab. (From the Guardian: “Tony Blair today derided as ‘conspiracy theories’ accusations that a war on Iraq would be in pursuit of oil, as he faced down growing discontent in parliament at a meeting of Labour backbenchers…”)
You can feel in Le Carre and writers elsewhere in the world the passion that comes from recognizing the abyss into which we’re all about to step.
I don’t know, by the way, how he gets the 88% figure for Americans in favor of a war. It’s off, but of course — for reasons I’d love to see explained — in this poll-mad land there’s been no major poll done (or at least released) since sometime earlier in December on attitudes toward an Iraqi war. Yesterday, however, polls were released on our President’s popularity. Perhaps something is indeed breaking domestically. Mark Crispin Miller, NYU Professor and author of The Bush Dyslexicon, has this to say about the most recent presidential poll figures:
“Bush’s ‘approval’ rating is down to 58% in the latest Gallup Poll, but
that’s not the number that matters to political professionals. The
important number is his ‘re-elect’, and that stands at a dismal 36%, with
32% ‘definitely’ voting for someone else, and 31% undecided. W’s 36% puts
him BELOW the 37% of the vote that Poppy got in losing to Bill Clinton in
1992 – the lowest re-election vote in 80 years. W’s ‘re-elect’ numbers are
dismal, and if it was a Democrat they’d be saying he’s ‘toast.’ Hey
Charlie Cook, Stu Rothenberg, Bill Schneider, etc. – quit hiding Bush’s
dismal ‘re-elect’ numbers!”
Finally, for those of you, who would like to consider in some detail how Osama Bin Laden’s assault on our country helped the warhawks in the administration shove Iraq to the top of the “decapitation” list within days of September 11th, take a look at a very interesting front-page piece in last Sunday’s Washington Post, “U.S. Decision On Iraq Has Puzzling Past, Opponents of War Wonder When, How Policy Was Set” by Glenn Kessler. It begins:
“On Sept. 17, 2001, six days after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, President Bush signed a 2½-page document marked “TOP SECRET” that outlined the plan for going to war in Afghanistan as part of a global campaign against terrorism. Almost as a footnote, the document also directed the Pentagon to begin planning military options for an invasion of Iraq, senior administration officials said.”
To read this Washington Post piece click here
Finally, for those of you, who would like to consider in some detail how Osama Bin Laden’s assault on our country helped the warhawks in the administration shove Iraq to the top of the “decapitation” list within days of September 11th, take a look at a very interesting front-page piece in last Sunday’s Washington Post, “U.S. Decision On Iraq Has Puzzling Past, Opponents of War Wonder When, How Policy Was Set” by Glenn Kessler. It begins:
“On Sept. 17, 2001, six days after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, President Bush signed a 2½-page document marked “TOP SECRET” that outlined the plan for going to war in Afghanistan as part of a global campaign against terrorism. Almost as a footnote, the document also directed the Pentagon to begin planning military options for an invasion of Iraq, senior administration officials said.”
To read this Washington Post piece click here
It’s those “senior officials” again. Someday, I’d like to visit the Sources Club in Washington where I imagine “senior officials” go to relax on their days off. Tom
The United States of America has gone mad
By John le Carré
(London) Times online
January 15, 2003America has entered one of its periods of historical madness, but this is
the worst I can remember: worse than McCarthyism, worse than the Bay of
Pigs and in the long term potentially more disastrous than the Vietnam War.The reaction to 9/11 is beyond anything Osama bin Laden could have hoped
for in his nastiest dreams. As in McCarthy times, the freedoms that have
made America the envy of the world are being systematically eroded. The
combination of compliant US media and vested corporate interests is once
more ensuring that a debate that should be ringing out in every town square
is confined to the loftier columns of the East Coast press.The imminent war was planned years before bin Laden struck, but it was he
who made it possible.The author has also contributed to an openDemocracy debate on Iraq at
www.openDemocracy.net