Imperial Crusades: Iraq, Afghanistan, and Yugoslavia

Generally speaking, this account lives up to the high standards of CounterPunch's usual work: timely, witty, committed, and analytically sophisticated. It's main drawback is that it won't be anything new to those who have paid attention, and its undoubtedly small printrun, non-corporate marketing budget, and invisibility to an establishment press (that it critiques so well) will limit its distribution and appeal--which is a great misfortune. That said, it is an excellent place to start for those who need basic data and smart interpretations of current events. Otherwise, I find it necessary to correct the review below of S. Frantzman, who utters numerous distortions about Cockbrun & St. Clair's work. I will take Frantzman (who in his other reviews and lists appears to advance an extremely belligerent ultra-zionist, pseudo-islamophobic ideology, by the way) point for point. Frantzman: "This is a book based on opinion [...] America simply took over Iraq." Me: Of course it's based on opinion; as writing is a human endeavor, it is impossible for any discourse to be based on anything else. Ever. Period. The point about encouraging Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, via ambassador Glaspie's comments to Saddam in the summer of 1990, is well known and not open to dispute. The point about the US conspiring to "starve" Iraq relies on rhetorical equivocation, but is true nonetheless, for the Pentagon had produced war plans in the late 80s about how vulnerable Iraq's water treatment industry would be to US bombs, and thus how all biopolitical systems of the country would fail as a result of a bombing/sanctions one-two punch; to doubt this is to ignore the US government's own published records, which openly speculate on mass mortality for infants by means of disease. Likewise, assassinating Saddam is nothing new, considering all of the hubbub about "decapitation strikes" during the barbaric Shock and Awe offensive. However, at various points in the 90s did the CIA also attempt to "help" Saddam commit suicide; such is so well known that various Friedmanish/Pipesque/Limbaughian figures in the Empire often boast of it. Last, it's pretty obvious the the Empire "took over" Iraq, considering that the new Iraqi constitution opens the country to foreign investment--all subject to approval by the US appointed governing authority--now headed by former CIA killer Ayad Allawi, who is only in power because of the US occupation force, a force that conveniently occupied government buildings associated with oil while Baghdad was otherwise looted and burned. Frantzman: "The truth is that Saddam chose to invade his [...] program to get billions for new weapons." Me: No one, least of Cockburn & St. Clair, will deny Saddam's criminality--invasions, gas attacks on Iranians & Kurds, gross violations of human rights, arbitrary arrest, killings, torture, and so on. Indeed, the authors point out that it is precisely for these reasons that the US enlisted him as their cr

Bush's war on Iraq has degenerated into a bloody occupation, signified by war crimes, slaughter of civilians and US soldiers engaged in Sadean rituals with Iraqi prisoners. The justifications for the war have been proven to be bald-faced lies. Thousands have perished and Iraq as a nation is worse off than it was under Saddam. This war was supported by both political parties and the corporate press. But not Cockburn and St. Clair, and the team of writers at CounterPunch, which called it right as the war was being planned, sold and unleashed. A similarly bleak saga has played out in Afghanistan, where a cruise missile war was launched on an impoverished nation under the grip of a regime the CIA had put in power in the first place. Mullah Omar and Osama are still at large, heroin production has soared and the nation is controlled by warlords and misogyinistic religious zealots. Again, the press and the Democrats went along for the ride and haven't looked back at the carnage left in the wake of the war. Cockburn and St. Clair predicted and show why the Afghan war was doomed to backfire on US interests and the civilians of that desperate nation. Imperial Crusades doesn't spare Clinton and his gang, either, which orchestrated an illegal war on Yugoslavia, under the rubric of "humantarian intervention", which ended up killing thousands of civilians, propping up Kosovar terrorists, unleashing religious zealots and looney sectarians. Both Kosovo and Yugoslavia remain in dire straits and the humanitarian bombers have moved on to other causes. This book is written as a journal of the past 12 years of unremitting war by the imperial forces of the US and their allies in the press. It was CounterPunch which first exposed the fabrications of the New York Times's Judith Miller. This book holds no punches and plays no favorites.

This is a fantastic book that exposes the truth behind the last decade's worth of US war. The Counterpunch crew has done it again, in bringing the truth to light regarding the US involvement in Iraq, Yugoslavia and Afghanistan. They debunk the lies the mainstream press has used in justifying and defending the US invasions. They reveal the truth behind the conflict in Iraq, and show that the wheels were set into motion long before Dubya took the oath of office in 2000.Pick it up for yourself and take a look. It's a must read for those wanting to know the truth behind the current US foreign agenda.