Customer Reviews

Bush in Babylon: The Recolonisation of Iraq

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(5)
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2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I heard Mr. Ali on a radio program recently defending his book against criticism _from the left_. Cogent, well-reasoned, and engaging arguments deflated the weak-willed neoliberal, interventionist callers. Ali shows in this book how America's newest colonial venture, while not exactly identical with nineteenth-century empire building, operates on a similar plane. The new name of the game is _economic_ imperalism, foisted upon Iraq, Afghanistan, and anyone else who dares to disagree with the free market. Ali skewers critics who suggest that soldiers must remain in Iraq for the indefinite future; he does so not with rhetoric or opinion, but with history and clearly-comprehended fact.

Now, do _you_ disagree with what Mr. Ali says? _Read_ his book and come up with logical arguments to refute the facts presented therein. _Far_ from a member of the "loony left" (as one of the ignorant "reviewers" here at amazon.com called Ali), the author is well-reasoned, measured, and unstinting in his exposing of the falsehood of the "New World Order", the free market, and its adherents on the political left _and_ right.

Finally, don't be scared away by the amazon.com editorial review, which faults the book for actually daring to stick to its arguments and not flinch in the face of political correctness. Only in a "democracy" as deeply decayed and corrupted as the US can speaking one's mind truthfully, forcefully, and in a language designed to excite public attention actually be considered a negative.

A must reading for all who wish to know more about Iraq's "real" history and how it reflects on the current "slog". However, those who already "know the facts" spoken by King George and his merry men and women will find Tariq's facts as another leftist's view.

I would hope many people read this book and carefully see where we went wrong but more importantly than confirming our worst fears that we have been lied to by a lot of so-called leaders. It is all about oil and money as it has been with the British before and now the US. The answers are needed but my concern is who besides a few authors are laying out facts. Is there anyone who really cares about what is going on to demand some accountability?? The opposition candidates are into saying the "right thing" but they are only interested in how it will affect their polls.

I would suggest if more people knew more of the real truths about what has gone on with Iraq in the last 30 years and not just what they "heard on TV", we would be demanding action. There is still time and it takes one person to urge another and before you know it we might get the 8 million world-wide who marched against the war to go to the streets again!

Reading Bush in Babylon would be a great first step in understanding some plain truths without Bush's spin!

Tariq Ali's book is full of historical and needed reconstruction of Iraq and it's history in a multifacetted manner that can be illuminating and overwhelming. The book is much needed and takes the reader into an analysis of a history that ocurred much before Saddam Hussein and the present---this is a superb manner of perceiving Iraqi history and emphasizes Iraqi Intellengentzia. I applaud Tariq Ale for his effort and unbiased analysis of Iraq, the title is misleading in terms of a political twist but is gripping!

This enlightening book is almost impossible to put down. It is a well written account of the regional history, political intrigue and of culture, with some mild focus on the current US involvement in the region. On the negative side, Tariq Ali tries to be overly diplomatic rather he seems to be afraid of hurting "American" sensibilities.

Tariq Ali's book is fascinating. I had to put it down a few times just to digest all of the information. My views of Iraq have completely changed as I read about it's secular beginnings. He details the history of Iraq from it's communist beginnings to the unfortunate rise of Ssddam Hussein. It is very unfortunate that the Western media piants all Arab countries as religious dictatorships. Iraq is exactly the opposite. The Iraqi poetry is exceptional and I would brush up on communist thought before reading. It simplifies some of ideological movements that came out of Iraq. Wait until you read about the Iraqi Che Guevara.

Kudos to Tariq Ali. He is excellent in his thought and gives us a great deal of insight into the sinister plans of the neo-cons who are ruling the White-house. How they have taken on the European leaders into their fold, how they have fooled the Western Junta, the common man.

Highly recommended reading. Good, fresh outlook. Away from the daily drum-beating of US media.

This is amazing to read reviews after reading the book. I like books from Tariq Ali, because of two reasons. Firstly, his writing is crisp and prose is enchanting and secondly he does research very well on what he plans to write. The reviews here provided are mostly very biased and doesn't encompass any logical or intellectual landscape. This is unfortunate if we altogether reject somebody's thoughts because he/she doesn't think the way as somebody else wants him to think. This is another type of fundametalism and Ali aptly dealt with this topic in his another book "Clash of Fundamentalisms". As Bill Clinton writes in his book --My Life-- "What might prove a fun game for powerful may cause humiliation to the weak". This is best depicted in US-UK invasion to Iraq. Regime changed--People killed ( Did they ask anybody to come and kill them ?). What is the point, why no body now talks of Weapon of mass Destruction rather it is very conveniently forgotten. Now how can we justify a war where the intelligence has been proved as flawed. Who cares about Saddam ?? No body...No eye had any tears for him when he was de-throned. He was a murderer but what happened next ? How can we justify two wrongs as one right. Was this a small fun for 'Strong'? Why don't we think.. The media is always with the powerful...all the information flow is from West to East and what Western media says is true, that is absolute truth and any dissenting voice is just a ridicule. Pity. Now over here, everybody is looking at this book from a strong partisan and forgive me but from religous approach too. The US based reviews are correct from their point of view because this is what has been told to them through media 24x7. Where else one should get the information except through available means .. and what of somebody controls those means to grind his own axe? I have given 4 points to this book beacause sometime Ali goes overboard too. In the flow of his eloquency sometime he misses to identify fact from his own analysis. Overall a good job, well done Ali!

"Bush in Babylon - The Recolonisation of Iraq" is indeed, as the Rome Manifesto called it, "A Precious Jewel of a book"

When searching for this book, I wanted a point of view that was not only critical of US foreign policy but critical from a non-Western point of view. It is truly eye-opening, agree with him or not, to read from an author who is not completely and fundamentally in the belief that the Western powers are just simply "Do gooders" that every once in a while, "Make a mistake."

Tariq Ali gives us a history of Iraq that destorys streotypes and our own (our meaning most Americans, myself included) ignorance on the rich history of this region of the world. It was not, as streotype would have you believe, a land of passive citizens living more or less happily under totalitarian rule. The reality of course, is something quite different. Ali gives us a history of rebellion, martyrs, and revolutionaries that nearly overthrew the corrupt, semi-colonial regime if not for a fatal error in allying with the secular Baaths.

Ali also, in a style both stylish and poetic, as well as powerfully dissident, completely disposes of the "jackals" and their arguments for war in Iraq. This war was about oil, control of natural resources BUT also, about imperial hegemony and asserting US control of a strategically crucial region of the world. And as for this "concern of human rights", the US government cares as much about human rights in Iraq as it did in the 80s and in Saudi Arabia today. (Just curious, but for the neo-cons and reactionaries, what's the excuse now for supporting this brutal dictatorship in Saudi Arabia? In Iraq, the excuse was "It's a Cold War man! Lesser of two Evils! Blah Blah Blah"...OK, so what's the excuse now? No Cold War, No Soviet Union, yet we still back this regime to the tilt. What are the apologists saying this time I wonder.)

Tariq Ali has written a very important, extremely well-written and most valuable book that not only gives us an important history of Iraq and the Middle East that we ought not forget, but also a highly critical (and highly entertaining) critique of US foreign policy. Ali's passion for humanity is moving and his contempt for fundamentalisms; both in the Middle East and in the West, is equally as essential. Well worth your time.

The British imposed "protectorate" on Iraq after World War one, writes Tariq Ali, greatly transformed the country. The British deregulated land ownership and it inevitably fell into the hands of the richest Iraqis.The British brutally suppressed native uprisings, including using poison gas. In order to keep Iraq weak,restricting its access to the Persian Gulf, the British the British created Kuwait, installing its brutal and corrupt clients, the Al Sabah family. The British took all the oil.

British intelligence called its client regime running Iraq "an oligarchy of racketeers." In 1948, the regime made an agreement to continue British economic and military domination of the country. This set off a nationwide uprising, culminating in a Tiananmen Square style massacre on a bridge in Baghdad.

Civil liberties were restricted most of the time. In 1954, the much despised Prime Minister Nuri Al Said held legislative elections most of whose seats were only contested by single pro-government candidates. This new parliament then rubber stamped Nuri's new laws which severely restricted free speech. After a July 1958 coup, the revolutionary regime of Abdul Karen Qassem launched a campaign of social welfare and empowered labor.. He placed the communists in a coalition government in a subordinate position to himself. The Iraqi commies were instructed by the Russians not to seize on their mass base to seize power so as not to upset Nasser. In 1948, writes Ali, Iraq's commies were the only in the Arab world not to follow the Soviets in supporting the creation of Israel.
T
he Ba'ath in February 1963 launched a coup. King Hussein--who often made use of CIA protection and such foreign mercenaries as the Pakistanis led by General Zia the future Pakistani dictator and instigator of Wahabbi terror sects who helped the King slaughter Palestinians in 1970, Ali observes-- told Mohammed Heikal in an interview that the Ba'ath's slaughter after the coup was augmented by CIA supplied lists of suspected communists. Ahmed Hassan Al Bakr seemingly admitted later that the CIA backed the coup.. Later in 1963, a weird Ba'ath congress passed a sort of anarchist platform and was disbanded violently on the initiative of Michel Aflaq. The Ba'ath were out of power for a few years. In 1972, the commies joined a coalition government with the Ba'ath, which at this point had close relations with the Soviet Block, but they, the Ba'ath continued to arrest and torture communists.. Ali tells the interesting story of Khalid Ahmed Zaki, who was part of a more libertarian splinter faction of the Iraqi commies.

Our soldiers, writes Ali, have been blowing up homes and other buildings of suspected "terrorists"--. probably often folks merely exercising their legitimate right to engage the military force occupying their country-- holding their families for ransom and placing barbed wire around villages to confine unrest. Of course, death squads seem about to be introduced in Sunni areas. Mr. Negroponte the U.S. pro-consul has plenty of experience with from his days in Honduras.. Ali writes sardonically that the goons of Narender Modi, the director of the anti-Muslim slaughter in the Indian state of Gujarat in 2002,, could perhaps be offered by the BJP for service to commit the worst necessary atrocities.

Ali writes that the U.S. subjugation of the Philippines, 1898-1902, killed 20,000 Filipinos , then another 200,000 died from disease and famine. Expropriated land from the Catholic Church was distributed to a small pro-U.S. element who formed an oligarchy that relentlessly exploits the Filipino masses to this day. Ali writes that Filipinos are a large part of the menial labor being imported to Iraq to work on U.S. bases. In the same spirit a few years after the U.S. colonized the Philippines, Imperial Germany exterminated about 60,000 of 80,000 of the Herero people in SW Africa. The U.S., engaged in widespread chemical warfare in South Vietnam...., supported Suharto, dumped Depleted Uranium all over Iraq, causing cancer outbreaks. It gave Saddam material to make WMD's in the 80's and thought he was a swell fellow until 1990.

The final postscript to the paperback edition is devoted to the born again imperialist C. Hitchens, who wrote back in 1991 that Bush Sr. and his lieutenants should be tried for war crimes. The bombing destroyed "the web of water, electricity and sewage lines" that held Iraq together. Iraq became afflicted by mass epidemics and famine

There has been an election in Iraq. It has taken place in the middle of such U.S. atrocities as the destructive invasion of the Abu Hanifa mosque and war crimes as the emptying of the Fallujah hospitals because they were giving out info of civilian deaths from U.S. crimes. Another problem was that apparently some Iraqis were threatened with cutoff of their food rations if they didn't vote. Another was that in many areas turnout was low, contrary to official proclomoations. Whether it is the former Ba'ath goon Allawi or someone more independent, Ali writes that Iraq is envisioned by the U.S. to be locked into the economic structure of being the most privatized and free flowing place for capital on earth. It is such a formula that has caused such horrific disaster in the third world. And the U.S. military will probably not leave unless forced to. Ali notes that the continuing U.S. propping up of Mubarack and the Saudis and Yemenis, and so on. makes one question if the U.S. is really going to tolerate genuine democracy in Iraq.

I think Ali probably could have eliminated the first few chapters of the book......He calls for the Iraqi resistance to become something like the movements that have sprung up across Latin America. That is quite a long shot at the moment. The best hope for Iraq at the moment seems to rest around the grassroots movement around Sistani which pressued the U.S. to hold the election that it, the U.S. desperately tried to avoid.

This book isn't really about either George Bush, and there is no listing in the index for Babylon, which seems to have a meaning long established for Bible readers who have not become so fundamentalist that they imagine it was simply a city with an empire. This book was written a year ago, but there has been so little change in what Bush stands for in the last year that the message seems to be substantiated by every insurrectionary incident in the interim. The author has a point of view that should be familiar to anyone who has been paying attention to peace movements since World War Two and atomic diplomacy burst upon the scene in the 20th century. History is much older than the people who are now alive, and Tariq Ali seems to be dropping way back to 1823 to quote a letter by Heinrich Heine about `the hard times that are sure to come.' (p. 18). Some great poets have been concerned about their rulers, and the primary case is Osip Mandelstam, whose poem about Stalin before World War Two has still not been forgotten. The third footnote in this book relates how Stalin called the poet Boris Pasternak on the phone to ask about Osip, and suggests that Pasternak only survived because long before "he had praised one of the Georgian poets -- Joseph Djugashvili (Stalin's real name) -- as showing considerable promise. Another example, perhaps, of the premonitory power that exists in great poets." (p. 20, n. 3).

That might seem creepy to some readers, and I might seem unfair in using the word *creepy* mainly in my reviews of some works of Andy Warhol, but this book has a lot more quirks that might by described as such. If you try to look up *Mandelstam* in the index, under Makiya, Kanaan it just has "Osip 20" as if this book already knew which great poet should appear before Marcos, Ferdinand. Trying to read the entry for "Bush, George Sr. 135-7" is not all about the book, A WORLD TRANSFORMED by George Bush and Brent Scowcroft. The book is only in footnote 79 found at the bottom of pages 135 and 137, while page 136 has a picture at the top and 14 lines from Tony Harrison's poem:

I saw the charred Iraqi lean
towards me from bomb-blasted screen,

his windscreen wiper like a pen
ready to write down thoughts for men,

his windscreen wiper like a quill
he's reaching for to make his will.

This poem was printed in the `Guardian' and was posted on the internet when I checked this afternoon, and it is considerably longer than what is posted here or printed in this book. Though footnote 79 is about the first President Bush's book, Tariq Ali suggested reading that as an `account of how old friendships and clan loyalties determine top appointments in the United States, confirming Hanna Batatu's remark that the Syrian Ba'athists would not be out of place in US politics.' Footnote 80 on the same page about Blair `meeting with four senior journalists from the Guardian after the 2003 war' might be considered worse than creepy if you can figure out what it means.

I always find things that I can't say more exciting than whatever you might have expected to hear in church, so looking at the cities on the maps in Iraq inside the front cover, and also in Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan inside the back cover, I noticed that none of them was called a holy city on these maps. I see articles from several newspapers on the internet, and would not want to blame any particular paper, but it seems to me I just read some account of someone "in the holy city of Karbala." On the map in this book, Karbala and Hillah are closer to Babylon than Ramadi, Fallujah, Baghdad, Najah, or Tikrit, but I was at a loss on how any American paper knows a holy city from any other place that far from home. I did not expect to find any mention of holy cities in early accounts of the war, as this is something which I only started to worry about recently, but I did find some evidence that this author might have a clue or two about that. At the beginning of Chapter 3, An Oligarchy of Racketeers, holy cities are first mentioned in an account of the domination of the Arab world by the Ottoman empire.

` . . . the victory of the Turkish artillery and muskets over the badly equipped and poorly led army of the Mamluk Sultan of Egypt, following which the holy cities of Mecca and Medina became part of the Empire . . . The preachers were the first to change sides and record their loyalty to the new order. The week after the city fell, the Friday prayers in all of Cairo's mosques began thus:

"O Lord! Uphold the Sultan, son of the sultan, ruler over both lands and the two seas, conqueror of both hosts, monarch of the two Iraqs, minister of the two Holy Cities, the victorious Sultan Selim Shah. . . ." ' (p. 43).

The only listing for jackals in the Index is for a poem, `the jackals' wedding' 34-36, which establishes what the author means when he uses the term throughout the book. In case you aren't clear on that, the picture on page 37 has the caption:

`The jackals' wedding: members of Iraq's so-called Governing Council, central Baghdad, 13 July 2003.'

I definitely agree with what this book says about sanctions, even if it might overstate `a water purification crisis and increase the country's death rate. This was openly discussed within the Clinton administration and approved.' (p. 140). Water in Sadr City is probably worse now than what is described in this book.