‘Occupation Fuels the Resistance’, an interview with Tariq Ali by Anthony Arnove for Counterpunch, October 21, 2003
Arnove: Your new book Bush in Babylon makes the case that the war on Iraq was based on deception. If the invasion wasn’t about weapons of mass destruction or Iraq’s ties to terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda, what was it about?
Ali: If the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq had been real, rather than imaginary, the U.S. would never have invaded. And it’s worth repeating that outside the United States, nobody believes that there were any links between the Iraqis and al-Qaeda.
The state of ignorance within the U.S. population is, I guess, a tribute to the three information monkeys—the networks and Fox TV—whose motto appears to be: see no truth, hear no truth, speak no truth. How can there be a vigilant and alert citizenry (surely a key prerequisite even for capitalist democracy) in these conditions of officially inspired ignorance?
The main reason for the war, in my opinion, was to demonstrate imperial power–to show the region and the world that the American Empire was determined to preserve its hegemony by any means necessary. Where the economic war was ineffective, a military offensive could be unleashed. read more