Selves and Others

When I started out as a Middle East correspondent I thought my job would be straightforward. I would figure out the what, where, when, who and how; and then hear all sides on the

why, separating fact from opinion. Wasn’t that how quality newspapers set themselves apart? What do those self-congratulatory clips on CNN, Fox News or Al Jazeera promise if not objectivity? "We

report, you decide." (...)

[Le Monde diplomatique, March 2007]

English version reviewed by toni solo.

In March 2003, the acute suffering of the Iraqi people, due to the sanctions imposed by the international community in1991, was made worse by the US led coalition invading armies. The inhuman character of those responsible for the comprehensive blockade was made clear in the words of the then US Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright in 1996. Journalist Leslie Stahl asked Albright on 60 Minutes: "We have heard that half a million [Iraqi] children have died. I mean, that’s more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?" Secretary of State Albright replied: "I think this is a very hard choice, but the price - we think the price is worth it."

The blockade, the aggression and the occupation of Iraq are the pillars of a policy designed and carried out in a coordinated way by several Western countries led by the US. We are talking about untold and endless injustice. On the other hand, the rape of Iraq is not the only one to be condemned: Afghanistan, Palestine and Lebanon have also been attacked and Iran is in the list. (...)

The US electorate sent a clear, unequivocal message in

the November mid-term elections. End the Iraq war and

bring home the troops. Many supporting war in the

109th Congress lost out to more moderate voices taking

over their seats because voters want change and expect

new faces to deliver starting with the top issue on

voters’ minds in recent polls - Iraq. A majority of

the public demands it, protests and heated rhetoric

continue building over it, and the Congress is about

to disappoint again proving getting into war is easy

but even an act of Congress can’t get us out because

doing nothing is less risky than taking a stand

against the prevailing view in Washington.

So the best this Congress can offer is non-binding

stuff with no meaning and a wishy binding proposal

rolled out March 8 guaranteeing support for the war

with billions more spending than the administration

wants. It also sets a timetable for partial

withdrawal far enough in the future to be laughable.

It proves again expecting elections to change things

in Washington is like betting on an early end to

winter in Chicago. Hope springs eternal but never

fails to disappoint. (...)

“I just look around and see people mowing their lawns on the same day we start to bomb Iraq and it drives me wild.”

—Mike Palecek

Having read and thoroughly enjoyed three of Mike Palecek’s novels, I felt particularly fortunate that he agreed to engage in a cyber-interview with me. His irreverent satirization of the myriad of ills plaguing the United States is unparalleled amongst current authors of sociopolitical fiction. Palecek may hyperbolize, but his fertile imagination has afforded US Americans a priceless opportunity to stop and examine what we are becoming as a nation. And he has done so in a fashion that is both absorbing and entertaining.

In some ways Palecek’s offerings are analogous with Sinclair Lewis’s It Can’t Happen Here. Though in Lewis’s case, he was prognosticating. Palecek is documenting what has already transpired.

Without further adieu, I give you the interview with Mike Palecek:

(...)

"Revolution is the Solution"

For several days I had been bedeviled by the recurring memory of a jingle from an out-dated television commercial. My recollection of the product they were promoting lay tantalizingly close to the edge of my consciousness, but remained stubbornly out of my reach.

So my “mind’s ear” was left listening to, “It’s time for a new beginning…” ad nauseam with no tangible context. (If I had had that, I would at least have known which company to despise for etching such an inane little tune into my brain).

“Beautifully harmonized” by a group of sickeningly enthusiastic twenty somethings accompanied by music undoubtedly composed during the “Age of Aquarius”, this little ditty molested my mind with more frequency than I care to recall. (...)

This review was first published in the print edition of Political Affairs magazine.

Marvin Harris, The Rise of Anthropological Theory: A History of Theories of Culture (Updated Edition), Alta Mira Press, 2001

This is an indispensable book for all those on the left interested in understanding how the science of cultural (social) anthropology developed over the last three centuries and how it is used to understand (and sometimes control) non-Western societies, especially those that have not developed complex state structures. (...)

(New York City, 3-15-2007) According to today’s New York Times Hillary Clinton has decided to keep American troops in Iraq should she become the next president She is quoted in an article by Michael Gordon and Patrick Healy [Clinton Says Some G.I,’s in Iraq Would Stay if She Took Office].

The whole tone of the article indicates that Clinton has moved to the right of center, has tacitly accepted the Bush strategy of establishing greater U.S. imperialist control of the middle east and of taking control of Iraq’s oil. In other words, she has moved into the neocon camp with respect to Iraq. (...)

In a recent interview article on Counterpunch by Sameer Dossani to Noam Chomsky, when asked if the U.S. will be able to carry out its economic agenda in Iraq Mr. Chomsky replied that it wasn’t "very clear" but basically what America wants to do is control the oil in the Middle East and if it does then the U.S. "controls the world" because the "world needs the energy resources". (In the mid 1940’s American leaders thought that having the atomic bomb would be our "master card" and gain us "absolute control of the world.")

We might console ourselves with the fact that America is losing the war in Iraq so we won’t be "controlling the world" any time soon which doesn’t mean it won’t keep trying. The consequences of such idiotic hubris are obvious. (...)