John Le Carre interview in Globe and Mail - Railing against neo-con junta

[Screaming Lord Byron]

http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20040106.ucarr0106/BNStory/Entertainment/

'His views on the Iraq war are peppered throughout the novel, which was completed in June of 2003. "The war on Iraq was illegitimate ... It was a criminal and moral conspiracy. No provocation, no link with al-Qaeda, no weapons of Armageddon. Tales of complicity and Osama were self-serving bullshit. It was an old colonial war dressed up as a crusade for Western life and liberty, and it was launched by a clique of war-hungry Judeo-Christian geopolitical fantasists who hijacked the media and exploited America's post-9/11 psychopathy."'

'For a novelist who long eschewed interviews, le Carré can't stop talking about Bush, Blair and the war on terror. "I don't like the term 'war on terror' because it presupposes that you turn an ideological, religious war into a territorial conflict."He blames the wave of terror in the Middle East "first and foremost on the creation of the state of Israel and the unceasing conflict that's arisen there. If we could solve the Palestine-Israel problem, we'd be halfway to solving a whole lot of other problems. If you believe, as I do, that Israel must survive, that Jews deserve a homeland, it is now at least possible to say that they're going about it the wrong way. But already, that makes me an anti-Semite. ... When I wrote The Little Drummer Girl," his 1983 novel that focused on the Israeli-Palestinian situation, he notes, "I received the most disgusting letters from American-Jewish organizations. None was from Israel."'

'When it's recalled to him that Bush and Sharon were both elected and can be replaced by voters, while the likes of Saddam Hussein rule as despots for decades, le Carré shoots back: "Do you suppose that Bush was legally elected? Do you suppose that it is democratic to dismantle rights in America that the forefathers of the present politicians fought for bitterly? Do you suppose we're offering a democratic example through Guantanamo? Do you think it democratic to lie, persistently and deliberately, to a population that has elected, or not elected, you?'

[nostamj]

1. also in Salon yesterday

The attack on Iraq was planned, we now know, about three or four years before it took place. It was 9/11 that legitimized it. Through an extraordinary trick of public persuasion in which they were greatly assisted by the corporate media, the neoconservative ideologues persuaded the U.S. to a great extent -- one's told seven out of 10 people -- that somehow Saddam was mixed up in the destruction of the twin towers and the attack on the Pentagon. He wasn't. They admit they have no evidence of this. Anyone who's taken even one bus ride through the Middle East would surely know that between the secular Baathists of Iraq and the infuriated fundamentalists that follow Osama bin Laden there is no conceivable bond possible. The religious extremists loathed Saddam because Saddam and the Baath Party were secular and anti-clerical.

more

[indepat]

2. Are the only things worse than the neocon PNACers the

spineless Democrats and mainstream media who stood by and watched it happen, many even shilling for it?

[Mercurius]

3. I really enjoy

le Carre. I can't wait to read this one. :-)

[PATRICK]

4. That reminds me

It may have been mentioned. it has been bugging me. I happened to watch a Christian channel on New Years to get an eyeful of some of the Millennialist tripe I couldn't read. it was similar and the rote agenda of Lehaye's "Left Behind" series. Apparently my brief glance at one page in one book was representative of the constant barrage against evil Europe, the European Union, the UN, and the new World Order.

Apparently what the Bush clique, the crazy ones(are there any other kind?), feel about the Europeans is far more acrimonious and less sane than LeCarre's reaction. It is the tripe that has been poisoning
the message boards shared by Europeans and Americans long before 2000.

Anyway the cult horror fantasy? films both starred a campy Michael York as the Antichrist replete with all the foofoorah and studied simplistic references to the Christian Apocalypse. In the one titled "Armageddon" there is a splashy multinational free for all at Megiddo with the US of course as the good guys ultimately bailed out by the Almighty. At one point a very enthused York challenges the forces of "good" with a wonderfully demagogic speech almost as good as the one where he blasts some reticent Africans with lightning to make them kneel and adore.(It works!).

The Antichrist says with glee "Bring it on!". Now this film predates Bush's little challenge and perhaps there is a common source independent of both. What struck me a bit hard was the instant worry(knowledge?) that York might be Bush's Patton, that he had even seen that movie- and that intentionally recalled or badly remembered, he instead quotes from the Bad Guy. In short, what really impressed him and who he identified with.

Maybe someone had mentioned this before and it is a common saying after all. Of course, if the movie came after Bush's speech it would be quite a commentary on what they thought of Little Boots himself.

[KoKo]

5. I can't wait to read this book. LeCarr'e wrote an excellent Editorial for

the "Guardian" against the Iraq Invasion. Many of us felt he had enough ties into British MI-5 and 6 that he must have known the intelligence was hyped and faulty as we were finding out before Bush/Blair decided to go in anyway. I'm glad to see he's taken it beyond his "Editorial."

He has alot of fans, even thought his books are hard to get into at first (for me at least) once you get into the plot you're hooked! Maybe his fans here in the US will wake up to what Bush/Blair have done by reading this. Although, maybe his fans were the ones who were protesting anyway.

[jeffreyi]

6. John Le Carre

Hear hear. Just got into appreciating John Le Carre this winter, books and movies. We have really enjoyed the Smiley series especially because they are so darned well thought through and they are very challenging to the viewer, which is nice for a change. I will definitely check out the latest book.

[JanMichael]

7. Hot damn! He's one jazzed up author.

The intensity of his comments is fabulous. Direct and to the point. Bush is full of shit and so are his enablers.

I'll definately read his newest book.

[Red_Storm]

8. a brilliant writer who speaks the truth

Can't wait to read his new book.......