In the background BBC Radio 4 was on in the bac…
In the background
BBC Radio 4 was on in the background as I toured a tiny secondhand bookshop today. The presenter was discussing with a guest, and with a rare critical gusto, Public Private Partnerships. He then moved on to a report featuring the views of Condoleezza Rice, President Bush�s National Security Advisor. She argued for a US-enforced �change of regime� in Baghdad as the current one �had used chemical weapons against his own people and against his neighbours.� She went on to say that Saddam �has invaded his neighbours” and “killed thousands of his own people.” What’s more “[h]e shoots at our planes… in the no-fly zone where we’re trying to enforce UN security resolutions.� All incontrovertibly true of course.
�I think it’s a very stunning indictment� she concluded.
I had exhausted the shelves by then but, as I left the shop, I couldn�t help asking myself: so what was the US government doing when he gassed the Kurds in 1988? Who was the US supporting when Iraq invaded one of its neighbours and continued to do so until the bitter end? Who�s father ordered a post-Gulf War rebellion against Saddam to be quashed? What Middle-Eastern country has violated more UN security resolutions than any other nation?
If you�re struggling for the answers, they are:
1: well this is what Donald Rumsfeld was doing before, during and after 1988
2: Saddam
3: George W Bush�s father
4: The receiver of US and UK arms: Israel
A very stunning indictment indeed.
Unfortunately I missed the BBC presenter�s critical gusto on that.
Other Splinters posts of interest:
