At the prospect of war, Edward Said wails and gnashes his anti-imperialist teeth in The Gaurdian: “The clash of civilisations that George Bush and his minions are trying to fabricate as a cover for a pre-emptive oil and hegemony war against Iraq is supposed to result in a triumph of democratic nation-building, regime change and forcible modernisation à l'Américaine. Never mind the bombs and the ravages of the sanctions, which are unmentioned. This will be a purifying war whose goal is to throw out Saddam and his men and replace them with a redrawn map of the whole region…. Iraqis, we are told by the Iraqi dissidents, will welcome their liberation, and perhaps forget entirely about their past sufferings. Perhaps.” [http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,881869,00.html] Despite its prominence in a two-page ad in The New York Times, [http://www.nion.us/READ_AND_SIGN.htm] the intellectual and activist left increasingly marginalizes itself: “For the traditional left, said Emmanuele Ottolinghi, a research fellow at the Middle East Center at St. Antony's [College at Oxford University], anti-Americanism has replaced a belief in socialism as the common denominator that holds disparate groups together. It also binds the left to Britain's growing Muslim population, anti-globalists and anti-Zionists. ‘Anti-Americanism is glue that holds them together, and hatred of Israel is one aspect,’ he said.” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43665-2003Jan25.html And the parodies of the “peace” advocates mount, "Unilateralism is bad," said Mr. deVillepin [of France]. "We urge Iraq to work in a multilateral way, through the U.N. perhaps, to manufacture, deploy and conceal weapons of mass destruction."(Courtesy of “Scrappleface,” France Warns Iraq Against Acting Alone.”) http://www.scrappleface.com/MT/archives/000616.html#000616 All while real life in Baghdad looks less and less like fun than a parody of a "gross out" comedy, says Salam Pax : “I know [the “Iraq Peace Team” War Tourists] all mean well, but I really don’t think coming here and getting photographed with Iraqi officials is helping their 'cause'. Do th[e]y really want to stand up and risk their lives for this regime[?] If you are so in love with the situation here, be my guest let’s trade places because if it is a ‘cause’ for you, for me it’s my life and the way I have to go thru it.” http://dear_raed.blogspot.com/2003_01_01_dear_raed_archive.html#88042437 But, reportedly, the regime that doesn’t have WMDs threatens to use them in defense against an invasion!!! “Documents claiming that Iraq is preparing for chemical warfare prove that Saddam Hussein is defying the United Nations, Downing Street has said. “The papers smuggled out of the country by Iraqi opposition members suggest troops are being issued with chemical protection suits.”([London] Telegraph) http://www.portal.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;$sessionid$KFFDUU1XIB3EBQFIQMGCFFWAVCBQUIV0?xml=/news/2003/01/24/uiraq.xml&sSheet=/portal/2003/01/24/ixportaltop.html Weirder and weirder? I report--you decide... --Orson
AND now this??? German MTV "public service announcements" by US pop-stars defending Saddam and peace! See http://www.mtv.de/warisnottheanswer/index.php?historie=,,,,Home&groupie=46& I wonder why they don't run them here? --Orson
Does anyone else see the irony in Germany promoting anti-war ads? As for the US celebredopes, they live in a reality vacuum and make their money speaking other people's words. I'm not impressed. Bruce
