February 24, 2011
The New Statesman

Behind the Arab Revolt Lurks a Word We Dare Not Speak

The people of Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain, Algeria, Yemen, Jordan and Libya are rising up not only against their leaders, but also western economic tyranny

by John Pilger

Shortly after the invasion of Iraq in 2003, I interviewed Ray McGovern, one of an elite group of CIA officers who prepared the president's daily intelligence brief. McGovern was at the apex of the "national security" monolith that is American power and had retired with presidential plaudits. On the eve of the invasion, he and 45 other former senior officers of the CIA and other US intelligence agencies wrote to President George W Bush that the "drumbeat for war" was based not on intelligence, but lies.

"It was 95 per cent charade," McGovern told me.

"How did they get away with it?"

"The press allowed the crazies to get away with it."

"Who are the crazies?"

"The people running the administration have a set of beliefs a lot like those expressed in Mein Kampf . . . these are the same people who were referred to in the circles in which I moved, at the top, as 'the crazies'."

I said, "Norman Mailer has written that he believes America has entered a pre-fascist state. What's your view of that?"

"Well . . . I hope he's right, because there are others saying we are already in a fascist mode." . . .

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"Imposed Free Market Democracy," The Wisdom Fund, February 28, 2004

Al Gore, "'American Democracy is in Grave Danger'," Associated Press, October 6, 2005

"Reflecting Upon Independence Day: Justice in America," The Wisdom Fund, July 4, 2009

[The state of emergency in Tunisia has economists worried that we may be seeing the beginnings of a second wave of global food riots.--Ariana Eunjung Cha, "Spike in global food prices contributes to Tunisian violence," washingtonpost.com, January 14, 2011]

[In an unprecedented development in Jordan, protests similar to those that have rocked Tunisia and Algeria in recent weeks erupted in the Arab kingdom Friday.--"JORDAN: Thousands of demonstrators protest food prices, denounce government," latimesblogs.latimes.com, January 15, 2011]

Olivier Roy, "This is not an Islamic revolution: The uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia show that Islam is now less potent politically, even as its social dominance grows," newstatesman.com, February 15, 2011

"Protests in Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, Yemen Scramble U.S. Foreign Policy," The Wisdom Fund, January 16, 2011

"Protests Spread to Bahrain, Libya, Yemen," The Wisdom Fund, February 17, 2011

Kevin Zeese, "Hillary's Hypocrisy: While Clinton Calls for Free Speech, Ray McGovern is Arrested and Abused Before Her Eyes for Exercising Free Speech," counterpunch.org, February 17, 2011

Andrew J. Bacevich, "Rendering a decade of U.S. policy irrelevant, the people of the Middle East are transforming the region themselves," latimes.com, February 20, 2011

"Bill Clinton Warns Farmers That Ethanol Could Lead To Food Riots," huffingtonpost.com, February 24, 2011

[Comfortably aligned with dictators who ostensibly guaranteed them stability and cheap oil, western leaders dispensed liberal nostrums while checking in their democratic principles at the palace gate or the tent flap.--David Gardner, "Revolts expose tawdry policies of west," ft.com, February 24, 2011]

[The fulsome praise for Clinton from GWU's president and the loud, sustained applause also brought to mind a phrase that - as a former Soviet analyst at CIA - I often read in Pravda. When reprinting the text of speeches by high Soviet officials, the Communist Party newspaper would regularly insert, in italicized parentheses: "Burniye applaudismenti; vce stoyat" - Stormy applause; all rise.--Ray McGovern, "The Push of Conscience and Secretary Clinton," counterpunch.org, February 24, 2011]

Peter Oborne, "How will America handle the fall of its Middle East empire?," Telegraph, February 24, 2011

Robert Fisk, "The destiny of this pageant lies in the Kingdom of Oil," Independent, February 26, 2011

Peter Popham, "The price of food is at the heart of this wave of revolutions," Independent, February 27, 2011

Paul Craig Roberts, "On Western Democracy: A Farce and a Sham," counterpunch.org, November 4, 2011

[ . . . both the United States and Weimar Germany had constitutions in which checks and balances were integrated to maintain a multi-party system, the rule of law, and individual liberties. Both countries were on the receiving end of acts of terrorism that produced a dramatic and violent reaction against the presumed perpetrators of the crimes, so both quickly adopted legislation that abridged many constitutional rights and empowered the head of state to react decisively to further threats. The media fell in line, concerned that criticism would be unpatriotic.

Both the U.S. and Germany possessed politically powerful military-industrial complexes that had a vested interest in encouraging a militarized response to the threats and highly polarized internal politics that enabled politicians to obtain advantage by exploiting national security concerns. Both countries experienced severe financial crises and printed fiat currency to pay the bills, and both had jurists and political supporters who argued that in time of crisis the head of state must be granted special executive authority that transcends the limits placed by the constitution.--Philip Giraldi, "A Tale of Two Cities: Weimar and Washington," antiwar.com, December 29, 2011]

May 2, 2012