by John le Carre
America has entered one of its periods of historical madness, but
this is the worst I can remember: worse than McCarthyism, worse than
the Bay of Pigs and in the long term potentially more disastrous
than the Vietnam War.
The reaction to 9/11 is beyond anything Osama bin Laden could have
hoped for in his nastiest dreams. As in McCarthy times, the freedoms
that have made America the envy of the world are being
systematically eroded. The combination of compliant US media and
vested corporate interests is once more ensuring that a debate that
should be ringing out in every town square is confined to the
loftier columns of the East Coast press.
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