I’m still interested in the origins of the invasion of Iraq, the why and the when. At one level this is banal. We know, originally from CBS reporter David Martin, that within hours of the 9/11 attacks Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeldt was ‘telling his aides to start thinking about striking Iraq, even though […]
[…] of The Financial Times, of 29 January 2005, (5)there was an article, ‘War Stories’ by Carne Ross, who was, in his own words, ‘the British “expert” on Iraq for the UK delegation to the UN Security Council responsible for policy on both weapons inspections and sanctions against Iraq’ from 1998 to 2002. His account […]
[…] and reached its coda in the bloody withdrawal from Aden. Even the Thatcher-Major Conservatives restricted themselves to support for UN and US-backed intervention after that date ( Iraq, 1990/1991). The withdrawal was logical. The British economy was in no state to maintain the infrastructure for a global empire and modern capitalism no longer required […]
[…] It is always ‘expensive’: Chief ‘Calipari’s’ death, ‘cost’ the US that part of the Italian public which it had not already lost following its illegal invasion of Iraq; as well as, presumably, the goodwill of Chief ‘Calipari’s’ colleagues and government. () However, such ‘losses’ can be heavily offset by the ‘benefits’. One of these […]
[…] President’s belated apology could have appeared more sincere had, prior to it, and in demonstration of true contrition, the US explained to the American public why, in Iraq, dogs are symbolic of degradation. There are two very specific ‘old’ reasons. Meantime, a minor secondary strain of Icon PR burst into life: circulation of the […]
[…] on terrorism’ is everywhere, with the British Home Secretary squeezing out long-established civil liberties, and prominent Jews warning of rising anti-Semitism. Millions march against the invasion of Iraq, but, with the exception of Spain, have yet to dent the electoral fortunes of the political leaders who took us there. The Cold War kept democracy […]
Cock-up, conspiracy, or both? Israel and the Clash of Civilisations Iraq, Iran and the Plan to Remake the Middle East Jonathan Cook London: Pluto Books, 2008, £14.99, p/b Was the invasion of Iraq a disastrous cock-up by the Americans and British, and by the Pentagon in particular? There certainly is a long line of […]
[…] being relevant, especially when dealing with such a media saturated (and mediated) series of events as the US led ‘War on Terror’ and invasion and occupation of Iraq? Ahmed’s book was mainly written in the run-up to the final invasion of Iraq, during the period after the events of ‘9-11’. He does a fine […]
Weapons of Mass Deception: The uses of propaganda in Bush’s war on Iraq Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber London: Robinson, 2003, p/b, £6.99 Regime Unchanged: Why the war on Iraq changed nothing Milan Rai London: Pluto, 2003, p/b, £10.99 The Rampton/Stauber book appeared about 6 weeks after the attack on Iraq ended and […]
[…] plenty not used during its long sessions and deliberations, to provide detailed analyses of government policy towards the sale of defence-related and dual-use equipment to Iran and Iraq during and after the Gulf War. The argument rests on five propositions. First, British defence-related exports are driven by a general desire to export what is […]
