Excelent Review of History until the end where you begin to doubt everything you just read.
Power Faith and Fantasy is a scholarly text over 600 pages of small type. It is well written, well researched for the most part and a good reference text for any person trying to understand the US relationship with middle east.
I did have one quibble with the book on page 525 where the Liberty Incident is mentioned and is just written off in one sentence,”…Israeli jets and missile boats on June 8 mistakenly fired on an American spy ship, the USS Liberty, killing thirty-four sailors and wounding 171…” One problem, Only the Israeli’s said it was a mistake and it was never investigated. All crew members on board that fateful day all said it was no accident, the United States flag had been flying high, it was a clear day and they had been under Israeli reconnaissance flights for hours before the attack. But I kept reading, now questioning the integrity of everything I just read.
On or about page 585 the author reveals himself for what he truly is, an ideologue with an agenda and brings everything in the book into question. Among the most outrageous claims:
Hans Blix thought that there were WMDs in Iraq. Patently false.
Mentions Chalabi as an MIT graduate but not as a convicted crook with outstanding warrants in Jordan.
Says there were positive outcomes of the Iraqi invasion, mainly democratic movements in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, but they were squelched. Never mentions the democratic movements were by the same people that assassinated Anwar Sadat and are listed as a terrorist organization.
Also mentions,”Libya gave up its nuclear program, but Iran initiated one that was far larger, better defended, and vastly more threatening to the region.” The threat of Iran’s nuclear program, if there is one, has not been proven by anybody.
Compares GWB to Jefferson and Teddy Roosevelt, OK if you say so.
Does not claim, but does not dispute and in fact obfuscates, that Saddam and Al Queida had a relationship. Something that was proven false.
Gives the Impression that Saddam Hussein was a Islamic religious leader when in fact he was secular and that is why Al Queida would not have dealt with him.
GWB “piloting a Viking jet” descended unto the Abraham Lincoln. Does anybody have any proof GWB can pilot a Viking Jet and never mind land on an aircraft carrier?
But this is truly the kicker, again under benefits of the invasion: “The Iraqis had united under a national constitution and leadership, but the country soon succumbed to sectarian bloodshed…” If that is not a contradictory statement I don’t know what is.
I started this book with an open mind and desire to learn. At the end I doubted everything I had read and wondered if I wasted many hours.
Comment by Pyre — October 31, 2007 @ 10:17 pm
It’s incredible (and untrue) that such a significant event was “never investigated”.
Of course it was investigated, repeatedly, from the US Naval Court of Inquiry (under Admiral John McCain, the current presidential candidate’s father), all the way up to hearings in the US Congress.
This took place during the 1967 Arab-Israeli conflict (the “Six-Day War”), after Egypt had warned neutral nations to leave the war zone. The US Navy had signaled its ships to do so, but the signal was misrouted and never reached Liberty. Then when Israel asked the US to confirm that this was truly a US ship (and not an Egyptian warship under a false flag), the US assured Israel this was not a US ship, as all US ships were 350 miles away. That’s how Liberty got misidentified as an Egyptian vessel, which is why it was attacked.
USS Liberty incident (Wikipedia).
NSA archive on the USS Liberty incident, including documents declassified 08 Jun 2007, the 40th anniversary of the attack.
As the latter documents were not meant for the public but for internal governmental use only, perhaps they will be spared the usual conspiracy-theorist accusations of “coverup” and “propaganda”… but wait, no, that would be the logical thing to do.
Comment by Pyre — October 31, 2007 @ 10:28 pm