Obama and McCain seem to agree on an overall thrust when it comes to lethal force and lives on the line overseas: the escalation of troops in Iraq is related to a decrease in violence. More troops need to go to Afghanistan. And cross-border assassination raids into Pakistan are ok if the targets are high-value terrorists.
What’s missing is any real debate that includes on-the-ground effect of U.S. actions. To some, the US and its allies are waging war on terrorism and tyranny, for the sake of democratization and good governance. (Tariq Ali says nothing causes laughter more in the Arab world than the idea that Saddam Hussein was soft on Al-Qaeda.)
To others, the so called War On Terror’s nothing but a front for a desperate push by Western powers to shore up the economic system they have built, and what little effectiveness we have on the ground is a result of bribery, not The Surge. (Miller says it's a lot cheaper than all out war.)
So. Here, two very different views of US foreign policy -- its origins and rationales. Former NY Times reporter Judith Miller, left that paper under attack for giving too much credence to the administration's rationale for the Iraq invasion. She is currently an adjunct fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor to their magazine, City Journal. She defends the intelligence, ideology, and Congressional vote that led to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and says we shouldn't shoot the messenger. She also says we have to kill the Jihadis who want to do us ill. Taking the counterpoint is journalist, historian and novelist Tariq Ali. Born in Lahore, Pakistan and now living in London, Tariq's latest book is, The Duel: Pakistan on the Flight Path of American Power. Tariq takes the position that more wars and more violence creates more Jihadis.
This interview first played here as a live webstream. We stream our studio tapings Mon-Thurs at NOON EST/9aFDL, and take comments LIVE from this page.
While I admire Ms. miller’s courage to appear on Laura’s program, it was utterly disingenuous to suggest that there was anything at all resembling a fair debate during the run-up to the Iraq invasion. Quite coincidentally I was in the midst of a self-imposed ban from all commercial media excepting newspapers at the time (a very interesting experiment I might add which completely radicalized my viewpoint re US foreign policy) and of all my family, friends, and associates in my personal sphere of reasonably well educated and seemingly informed folk, I alone seemed aware of the blatant propoganda campaign the Bush administration was engaged in, and the role of the lapdog press in spreading it. It was not due to any particular cleverness on my part, or great effort in reading the foreign press. It was simply due to the fact that I chose at the time to use public radio (KGNU, Boulder Colorado) for the mainstay of my daily information.
The aluminum tubes were known not to possess the necessary tolerance for any use in centrifugal proceesiing and enrichment of uranium, and to suggest that it was a reasonable inference based on the facts available simply echoes the pathetic excuse that many of our leaders have since employed to defend their misguided support of the invasion.
With perhaps a half-million or more deaths partly on her hands, I, too, would be reticent to admit any responsibility for such war mongering, but the fact remains that the mainstream press was at the very least complicit, and in the case of the NY Times, very much active in the misinformation campaign of the time.
Unfortunately, things seemed to have changed little since then as witnessed by the hue and cry over the Russian-Georgia conflict with nary a mention of Georgia’s role in the agression or the close ties between Georgia and key US politicians like McCain who likely gave tacit if not explicit approval for such.
Thanks to the efforts of those who produce shows like Laura’s, at least the information is out there for those willing to take the time–if only that included the majority of our leaders, we might not make such foreign policy gaffes in the future.
By jrsincolorado on September 20th, 2008 at 9:50 am
While I found Ms. Miller’s rebuffs of Laura’s follow up questions annoying, I have to say there was quite a lot that Miller glossed over and she seemed very testy.
My work day doesn’t afford me time to tune in live, I watch these via video podcast– I bet the email questions were red hot & in ALL CAPS regarding Miller’s attitude.
Funny that she seems quite up-to-date on Mr. Chalabi’s address! LOL
On another note, Tariq Ali was very insightful and I am hoping he’ll return to the show.
Thanks, Laura & staff, for all you do.
By flutecake on September 21st, 2008 at 3:37 pm