Here's a great retort to that "piece" of work: It�s another dispatch from the alternate universe where the FBI puts the screws to newspapers that run too many anti-war letters, where Bush appears on TV to lead us all in Communion, and a stunned and cowed population shuffles off to the Gruel Factories while top-hatted plutocrats lean from their SUVs and spit thick brown wads of sputum at the losers of life�s lottery. Look: reasoned, principled objections to the war are necessary; we need good debate. But it�s time that the newspapers of the world just say no to the latest chunk of recycled fatuity just because it�s penned by a recognizable name. Better a thoughtful disemboweling of the post-Saddam strategy or lack thereof by Herbert Z. Nobody than another bloody gout of half-digested Quiche Clich� by someone whose name we remember from a tired trawl through an airport bookstore.
I�m pretty sure Stephen King is skeptical about the war, for example. I know his politics. But he hasn�t made the leap so common to others in the scribbling, warbling and gesturing arts - he doesn�t think we�re all dying to hear his prescriptions for Middle East foreign policy. Oh, interview him on the matter and he might pop off, but I can�t imagine him sitting down, firing up a Winston Light, and telling himself that this 1200 word essay will change the world, because people will think: hey, it�s Steven KING talking! He wrote �The Stand,� and his fictional account of the repercussions of biological weapons programs gives him a unique perspective. Let�s lend an ear! I wouldn�t have brought this up at all, except for one word bobbing in the torrent of LeCarre�s invective. See if you can spot it. The paragraph is typical for the genre, as it gives the impression of someone in the grip of a hysterical delusion, attempting to shove handfuls of imaginary rats down the sink drain: The imminent war was planned years before bin Laden struck, but it was he who made it possible. Without bin Laden, the Bush junta would still be trying to explain such tricky matters as how it came to be elected in the first place; Enron; its shameless favouring of the already-too-rich; its reckless disregard for the world's poor, the ecology and a raft of unilaterally abrogated international treaties. They might also have to be telling us why they support Israel in its continuing disregard for UN resolutions. The word isn�t �Enron.� (Yes, without the Iraq situation, we�d all be transfixed by the endless Enron story.) It�s �ecology.� Let�s strip away the intervening words and boil it down: �Without bin Laden, the Bush junta would still be trying to explain such tricky matters as its reckless disregard for the ecology.� This word stuck out for me because of a piece I read over supper. A little profile in the WSJ about the euphoniously named Azzam Alwash, an Iraqi immigrant to the United States who wants to restore the great marsh that once stretched between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. It was an ancient swamp dotted with communities that lived in the sort of peaceable, sustainable style so beloved by the anti-Globos: people made their houses from reeds, for example. Unfortunately for the residents, and for the millions of birds that stopped off at the marsh on their migrations, and for all the other countless details of this ecosystem, the rebel Shiites used the swamp as a hideout. So Saddam had it drained. How? Why, he commanded the construction of a 350-mile long diversion called �The Saddam River.� The WSJ article goes on: �This project was followed by even larger hydroengineering schemes: the Mother of all Battles River in 1994, and the Fidelity to the Leader Canal in 1997.� I googled until I could google no more. I found no pieces by John LeCarre denouncing Saddam�s destruction of a gigantic ancient ecosystem. I found a few LeCarre references to Kyoto, where he worries that criticism of the American viewpoint is being oppressed. And that is utterly typical: specific, large-scale environmental atrocities are less important than the theoretical consequences of American refusal to adopt the Kyoto protocols. Saddam is a local evil, and the world is full of those; such is life. But America is a global evil - and hence it cannot be allowed to remove a local evil, because that would legitimize the existence of something far more pernicious, i.e., us. Le Carre says as much: I�m dead against Bush, but I would love to see Saddam�s downfall � just not on Bush�s terms and not by his methods. In other words: when the people of Iraq are liberated, Le Carre will be horribly conflicted. He would have sat in a French cafe in WW2 and spit at the partisans who worked with the Allies, because their armies practiced segregation. Better to be slaves under pure simple evil than free men liberated by hypocrites. Back to the swamps. There�s a website devoted to the cause of helping the Marsh Arabs, as they�re known. Be warned, it�s run by absolutely crazy people who think that nothing will change unless Saddam is removed from power. Personally, I think it�s a plot by US heavy construction equipment companies, who will get lots of money when the international community starts work on reclaiming the marshes. And need I mention what those Caterpillar trucks will run on? OIL! Curious whether Le Carre had exploded in a similar spasm of righteousness during the 1998 escalation, I googled Le Carre Iraq 1998. Interesting stuff. From an Australian journal, a long piece on why inspections wouldn�t work. Check out this section on the efficacy of the inspection process. I�ve boldfaced the interesting words. Traditionally, the ubiquitous minders would discover where the UN inspectors were heading and ample warning was given. This time the inspectors were prepared. "I forbade all operational discussions on internal phones in the hotel or even in public places or rooms," says Taylor. "Important conversations were scribbled on scraps of paper and shown to the person concerned. All very Le Carre , and all very necessary, believe me." Taylor eventually got to his man, a university professor and expert on ricin, a favoured toxin for individual assassination. He also eventually uncovered the professor's hidden papers (some tucked inside old magazines in an outer office), which included documents showing ricin research results on animals, its efficacy as a weapons agent and details of the production process. The papers also revealed that the biological section of the Iraqi Scientific Research Centre, a civilian program, was involved in support of the military's biological weapons program. Nothing better reveals the extent of Iraqi deceit than the saga of the missing growth medium. Growth medium is the dry nourishment required to feed deadly bacteria to reproduce them. In 1995, David Kelly, then the senior British UNSCOM inspector, met an Israeli intelligence officer in a safe apartment on First Avenue and 38th Street in New York. The Israeli handed over documents proving that British and German companies had exported 32 tonnes of growth medium for bacteria to the Iraqis - substantially more than could ever have been required for normal civilian use. Only one conclusion could be drawn. (Inspectors) established that the Iraqis had used 18 tonnes of the medium for growing substantial amounts of anthrax and botulinum toxin. When the final count was done, the inspectors found seven tonnes unaccounted for. It is still missing. "They say it's been stolen but we know for sure that's just another lie," says Barton. "It's good for growing bacteria for years to come. My guess? They'll use it for anthrax." Then I found this, which proves Le Carre been daft for some time now. It�s on a website that comes up as �Ocean Press Publishers of books on Cuba, Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Latin America, Social Change and the CIA.� The article is dated Oct 13, 2001, and honest to God, it�s called �We Have Already Lost.� �Mr. bin Laden in his cave must be rubbing their hands in glee as we embark on the very process that terrorists of their stamp so relish: as we hastily double up our police and intelligence forces and award them greater powers, as we put basic civil liberties on hold and curtail press freedom, impose news blackouts and secret censorship, spy on ourselves and, at our worst, violate mosques and hound luck�less citizens in our streets because we are afraid of the colour of their skin.� The worst thing we can do is violate mosques. Which, of course, we�ll start to do any day now. (The French are already on the job, but Le Carre - as befits an Englishman who trades his name for the gritty snail-shell of a Gallic nom de plume - doesn�t seem to notice.) (Hat tip: LFG) In any case, I don�t think there was a good deal of gleeful hand-rubbing in Osama�s bolthole towards the end. At the end of the piece, Le Carre faults Bush for his constant God-bothering, and huffs: Mr. Bush, keep God out of this. To imagine God fights wars is to credit Him with he worst follies of mankind. God, if we know anything about Him, which I don't profess to, prefers effective food drops, dedicated medical teams, comfort and good tents for the homeless and bereaved, and without strings, a decent acceptance of our past sins and a readiness to put hem right. He prefers us less greedy, less arrogant, less evangelical, and less dismissive of life's losers. Odd how someone who doesn�t profess to know anything about God ends the paragraph speaking on His behalf. In any case, here�s what the other side has to say. Some boring stats on US assistance to Afghanistan: TOTAL U.S. Government Humanitarian Assistance for 2002 - $186,545,775 TOTAL U.S. Government Humanitarian Assistance for 2001 - $183,107,625 TOTAL U.S. Government Humanitarian Assistance to Afghanistan for 2001/2002 - $369,653,400 This is about three times the amount of money the Federal Government spends on the National Endowment for the Arts. Now comes a big cut & paste job from a government site; believe or don�t believe. I know enough people working for agencies of this nature, so I believe. Anyway, here�s the US-government supplied data. If you want some visual info: http://www.usaid.gov/afghanistan/timeline.html http://www.usaid.gov/afghanistan/before_and_after.html What the site says Fact Sheet U.S. Agency for International Development Washington, DC September 6, 2002 Afghan Humanitarian Relief and Reconstruction Afghanistan was the number one recipient of U.S. humanitarian assistance before September 11, and America continues to lead the international community today. Poverty, famine, a devastating drought, and years of war and civil strife have created a humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan , which has been aggravated by years of Taliban misrule. The people of the United States, through USAID, have responded. Humanitarian Aid -- Funds. The President pledged $360 million to help the people of Afghanistan . Since October 1, 2001 the U.S. Government has already provided more than $420 million in assistance, more than $220 million is through USAID. -- Food . The United States provided 80 percent of all food aid to U.N. World Food Program (WFP) for Afghanistan last fiscal year, and already more than 50 percent this year. Our goal is to deliver 300,000 metric tons (MT) of food aid to the people of Afghanistan through the spring. (52,000 MT of food a month will feed approximately six million people.) -- Supplies. To protect people from the weather, USAID is providing wool blankets and quilts; shelter kits, plastic sheeting and winterized tents. We're also distributing mattresses, clothes, stoves, cooking sets, firewood, coal, lanterns and water containers. -- Medicine and healthcare. We've provided medical kits and funds for health centers and mobile clinics. We're sponsoring public heath education and programs on hygiene, obstetrics, maternal and childcare, and malnutrition. We're employing trained personnel to conduct educational outreach on basic health and nutrition, especially to women. We're helping expectant mothers, training local birth attendants and funding the distribution of vitamins and the immunization of young children. -- Communications. Through the International Organization for Migration, we're distributing over 30,000 radios that allow Afghans to hear special broadcast bulletins concerning food distribution, security, health care and other information relevant to displaced people. -- Transport. We've airlifted commodities from Pakistan and Italy to ensure there was no break in the Central Asian pipelines into Afghanistan , and funded the purchase of vehicles -- some equipped with snow plows -- to speed the delivery of supplies into villages. Finally, this little quote from a piece Le Carre wrote for the Nation: Do governments run countries anymore? Do presidents run governments? In the cold war, the right side lost but the wrong side won, said a Berlin wit. Perhaps it's amusing in the original German. But. I remember the Soviet dissident we put up in our house in '83; he'd been imprisoned for ungood wrongthink, and injected with a wide variety of chemicals to pacify his anti-Soviet tendancies. Contrast: I have a newspaper column in a quasi-major metropolitan daily. I could, if I wished, spend the next year railing against the Bush administration, three times a week. Nothing would happen to me. Nothing. My editors would not complain.The publisher wouldn't take me aside. The guvmint would not come calling. It would never occur to me that I'd suffer any professional repercussions from changing my happy-fun column into a 24-7-365 anti-war diatribe - and if you think I'm mistaken, trust me on this: you have no idea what you're talking about. That's life in the "side that won." The wrong side, as a "wit" had it. I'd mail LeCarre all the copies of his books I owned, postage due - if I hadn't dropped them off at the Salvation Army the last time we moved. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?forumid=5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?method=subscribe&forumid=5 This list and all House of Fusion resources hosted by CFHosting.com. The place for dependable ColdFusion Hosting. Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
