The End of Imagination (50 page)

1. David E. Sanger, “Bush to Formalize a Defense Policy of Hitting First,”
   New York Times
   ,
   June 17, 2002, A1; David E. Sanger, “Bush Renews Pledge to Strike First to Counter Terror Threats,”
   New York Times
   ,
   July 20, 2002, A3.
   
2. See Terence O'Malley, “The Afghan Memory Holds Little Room for Trust in U.S.,”
   Irish Times
   ,
   October 15, 2001, 16.
   
3. Arnove,
   Iraq under Siege.
   
4. See Noam Chomsky, “Memories,” review of
   In Retrospect
   by Robert McNamara (New York: Times Books, 1995),
   Z Magazine
   (July–August 1995), www.zmag.org/.
   
5. “Myth and Reality in Bloody Battle for the Skies,”
   Guardian
   (London), October 13, 1998, 15.
   
6. Bill Keller, “Moscow Says Afghan Role Was Illegal and Immoral,”
   New York Times
   ,
   October 24, 1989, A1.
   
7. Noam Chomsky, “Afghanistan and South Vietnam,” in
   Chomsky Reader
   ,
   ed. Peck, 225.
   
8. Samuel P. Huntington, “The Bases of Accommodation,”
   Foreign Affairs
   46, no. 4 (1968): 642–56. Quoted in Noam Chomsky,
   At War with Asia
   (New York: Vintage Books, 1970), 87.
   
9. Samuel P. Huntington, “The Clash of Civilizations?”
   Foreign Affairs
   72, no. 3 (Summer 1993): 22–49.
   
10. Huntington, “The Bases of Accommodation,” quoted in Chomsky,
    At War with Asia
    , 87.
    
11. T. D. Allman, “The Blind Bombers,”
    Far Eastern Economic Review
    75, no. 5 (January 29, 1972): 18–20, quoted in Chomsky,
    For Reasons of State
    ,
    72.
    
12. Chomsky,
    For Reasons of State
    , 72; Chomsky,
    At War with Asia
    , 87; and Lapham,
    Theater of War
    , 145.
    
13. T. D. Allman, “The War in Laos: Plain Facts,”
    Far Eastern Economic Review
    75, no. 2 (January 8, 1972): 16ff.
    
14. Chomsky,
    For Reasons of State
    , 18. See also Noam Chomsky, “The Pentagon Papers as Propaganda and as History,” in
    The Pentagon Papers: The Defense Department History of United States Decisionmaking on Vietnam; The Senator Gravel Edition—Critical Essays
    , ed.
    Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn
    (Boston: Beacon, 1971–72), 5:79–201.
    
15. Chomsky,
    For Reasons of State
    , 67, 70.
    
16. William Pfaff,
    Condemned to Freedom: The Breakdown of Liberal Society
    (New York: Random House, 1971), 75–77, quoted in Chomsky,
    For Reasons of State
    , 94.
    
17. Pfaff,
    Condemned to Freedom
    ,
    75–77, quoted in Chomsky,
    For Reasons of State
    ,
    94–95.
    
18. Pentagon Papers
    , 4:43, quoted in Chomsky,
    For Reasons of State
    , 67.
    
19. Philip Jones Griffiths,
    Vietnam Inc.
    , 2nd ed. (New York: Phaidon, 2001), 210. First edition quoted in Chomsky,
    For Reasons of State
    ,
    3–4.
    
20. Noam Chomsky, interview with James Peck, in
    Chomsky Reader
    ,
    ed. Peck, 14.
    

17. Confronting Empire

1. See Ranjit Devraj, “Asia's ‘Outcast' Hurt by Globalization,” Inter Press Service, January 6, 2003; Statesman News Service, “Farm Suicide Heat on Jaya,”
   Statesman
   (India), January 9, 2003; and “‘Govt. Policies Driving Farmers to Suicide,'”
   Times of India
   ,
   February 4, 2002.
   
2. See “Govt.'s Food Policy Gets a Reality Check from States,”
   Indian Express
   ,
   January 11, 2003; Parul Chandra, “Victims Speak of Hunger, Starvation across Country,”
   Times of India
   ,
   January 11, 2003.
   
3. See “Democracy: Who Is She When She's at Home?” 65–79, above; see also Pankaj Mishra, “The Other Face of Fanaticism,”
   New York Times
   ,
   February 2, 2003, 42–46; Concerned Citizens Tribunal,
   Crime against Humanity: An Inquiry into the Carnage in Gujarat
   ,
   2 vols. (Mumbai: Citizens for Justice and Peace, 2002).
   
4. See Edward Luce, “Gujarat Win Likely to Embolden Hindu Right,”
   Financial Times
   (London), December 16, 2002, 8.
   
5. Oscar Olivera, “The War over Water in Cochabamba, Bolivia,” trans. Florencia Belvedere, presented at “Services for All?” Municipal Services Project Conference, South Africa, May 15–18, 2002.
   
6. Tom Lewis, “Contagion in Latin America,”
   International Socialist Review
   24 (July–August 2002).
   
7. Julian Borger and Alex Bellos, “U.S. ‘Gave the Nod' to Venezuelan Coup,”
   Guardian
   (London), April 17, 2002, 13.
   
8. David Sharrock, “Thousands Protest in Buenos Aires as Economic Woes Persist,”
   Times
   (London), December 21, 2002, 18.
   
9. See Mary McGrory, “‘A River of Peaceful People,'”
   Washington Post
   ,
   January 23, 2003, A21.
   

18. Peace Is War: The Collateral Damage
of Breaking News

1. Mohammed Shehzad, “‘Killing Hindus' Better than Dialogue with India:
   Lashkar-e-Taiba Chief,” Agence France-Presse, April 3, 2003.
   
2. Ben H. Bagdikian,
   The New Media Monopoly
   (Boston: Beacon, 2004).
   
3. Edward Helmore, “Who Sets the TV Control? Battle Is Raging over a Decision to Allow US Media Giants to Own Even More,”
   Observer
   (London), June 8, 2003, 6.
   
4. Howard Rheingold, “From the Screen to the Streets,”
   In These Times
   ,
   November 17, 2003, 34; Stephen Labaton, “Debate/Monopoly on Information: It's a World of Media Plenty; Why Limit Ownership?”
   New York Times
   ,
   October 12, 2003, 4.
   
5. See Connie Koch,
   2/15: The Day the World Said No to War
   (New York: Hello NYC; Oakland: AK Press, 2004).
   
6. See Edward Luce, “Battle over Ayodhya Temple Looms,”
   Financial Times
   (London), February 2, 2002, 7.
   
7. Pankaj Mishra, “A Mediocre Goddess,”
   New Statesman
   ,
   April 9, 2001; John Ward Anderson, “The Flame That Lit An Inferno: Hindu Leader Creates Anti-Muslim Frenzy,”
   Washington Post
   ,
   August 11, 1993, A14. See also “Democracy: Who Is She When She's at Home?” 65–79, above.
   

1. See “In Memory of Shankar Guha Niyogi.”
   
2. Raja Bose, “A River Runs Through It,”
   Times of India
   ,
   February 25, 2001.
   
3. C. Rammanohar Reddy, “At Loggerheads over Resources,”
   Hindu
   ,
   May 27, 2001; Kata Lee (Project Coordinator of Hotline Asia), “India: Unarmed Tribals Killed by Jharkhand Police,” Asian Center for the Progress of Peoples, Asian Human Rights Commission, March 3, 2003.
   
4. Gurbir Singh, “Guj[arat] Police Cane Protesters of NATELCO-UNOCAL Port,”
   Economic Times
   ,
   April 12, 2000; “Human Rights Defenders Persecuted in India: Amnesty [International],” Press Trust of India, April 26, 2000. See also Rosa Basanti, “Villagers Take On Giant Port Project,” Inter Press Service, June 7, 2000.
   
5. Sanjay Kumar, “The Adivasis of Orissa,”
   Hindu
   ,
   November 6, 2001; Anu Kumar, “Orissa: A Continuing Denial of Adivasi Rights,” InfoChange News and Features, Centre for Communication and Development Studies, November 2003. See also “When Freedom Is Trampled Upon,”
   Hindu
   ,
   January 24, 1999.
   
6. Danielle Knight, “The Destructive Impact of Fish Farming,” Inter Press Service, October 13, 1999.
   
7. “Eviction of Tribals by Force in Kerala to Be Taken Up with NHRC,”
   Hindu
   ,
   February 26, 2003.
   
8. On the Nagarnar attacks, see Kuldip Nayar, “Pushing the POTO,”
   Hindu
   ,
   November 28, 2001.
   
9. People's War Group (PWG), Maoist Communist Centre (MCC), Pakistan's
   Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
   
10. “Mr. [Vakkom] Purushothaman said he was of the view that the Adivasis who had ‘tried to establish a parallel government should have been suppressed or shot.'” Quoted in “Opposition Boycotts Assembly,”
    Hindu
    ,
    February 22, 2003.
    
11. Mari Marcel Thekaekara, “What Really Happened,”
    Frontline
    ,
    March 15–28, 2003.
    
12. Sanjay Nigam, Mangat Verma, and Chittaroopa Palit, “Fifteen Thousand Farmers Gather in Mandleshwar to Protest against Electricity Tariff Hikes in Madhya Pradesh,” Nimad Malwa Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan press release, February 27, 2003, www.narmada.org/nba-press-releases/february-2003/antitariff.html.
    
13. WCD Report, box 4.3, 104.
    
14. “The Greater Common Good” and “Power Politics,” above.
    
15. L. S. Aravinda, “Supreme Court Majority Judgment: Mockery of Modern India,” Association for India's Development.
    
16. World Bank Water Resources Management Group,
    Water Resources Sector Strategy: Strategic Directions for World Bank Engagement
    (Washington, DC: International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank, 2004), documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2004/01/3030614/water-resources-sector-strategy-strategic-directions-world-bank-engagement; Peter Bosshard et al., “Gambling with People's Lives: What the World Bank's New ‘High-Risk/High-Reward' Strategy Means for the Poor and the Environment,” Environmental Defense, Friends of the Earth and International Rivers Network, September 19, 2003. See also Carrieann Davies, “From the Editor: Back to the Future,”
    Water Power and Dam Construction
    ,
    April 30, 2003, 3.
    

1. “Major Rivers to Be Linked by 2016,” Press Trust of India, December 17, 2002. See also Medha Patkar, ed.,
   River Linking: A Millennium Folly?
   (Pune, India: National Alliance of People's Movements/Initiative, 2004).
   
2. See “Tribals' Promised Land Is Kerala Sanctuary,”
   Indian Express
   ,
   February 6, 2003.
   
3. “Call to Prosecute Grasim Management for Pollution,”
   Business Line
   ,
   February 1, 1999.
   
4. R. Krishnakumar, “Closure of Grasim Industries,”
   Frontline
   ,
   July 21–August 3, 2001.
   

19. Instant-Mix Imperial Democracy
(Buy One, Get One Free)

1. Molly Moore, “The USS
   Vincennes
   and a Deadly Mistake: Highly Sophisticated Combat Ship at Center of Defense Department Investigation,”
   Washington Post
   ,
   July 4, 1988, A23.
   
2. Apple, “Bush Appears in Trouble,” A1. See Lapham,
   Theater of War
   , 126.
   
3. Tyler and Elder, “Threats and Responses,” A1.
   
4. Dowd, “The Xanax Cowboy,” 13.
   
5. President George W. Bush, address to the nation, State Floor Cross Hallway, the White House, Federal News Service, March 17, 2003.
   
6. President George W. Bush, speech at the Cincinnati Museum Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, Federal News Service, October 7, 2002.
   
7. See Saïd K. Aburish,
   Saddam Hussein: The Politics of Revenge
   (London: Bloomsbury, 2001). See also the PBS
   Frontline
   interview with Aburish, “Secrets of His Life and Leadership,” from
   The Survival of Saddam
   ,
   www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages
   /frontline/shows/saddam/interviews/aburish.html.
   
8. See Anthony Arnove, “Indonesia: Crisis and Revolt,”
   International Socialist Review
   5 (Fall 1998).
   
9. Originally stated in a May 1980 interview on the
   MacNeil/Lehrer Report
   on PBS. Quoted in Philip Geyelin, “Forget Gunboat Diplomacy,”
   Washington Post
   ,
   September 29, 1980, A13.
   
10. See Arnove,
    Iraq under Seige
    , especially the chapter by Noam Chomsky, “US Iraq Policy: Consequences and Motives,” 65–74, and Arnove's introduction, 11–31.
    
11. See, among many other of Bush's speeches, his address to the Wings over the Rockies Air and Space Museum, Denver, Colorado, Federal News Service, October 28, 2002, in which he reminded his audience that Hussein “is a person who has gassed his own people. . . . He's anxious to have, once again to develop a nuclear weapon. He's got connections with al Qaeda.” Bush also commented: “We love life, everybody matters as far as we're concerned, everybody is precious. They have no regard for innocent life whatsoever. (Applause.) They hate the fact that we love freedom. We love our freedom of religion, we love our freedom of speech, we love every aspect of freedom. (Applause.) And we're not changing. (Applause.) We're not intimidated. As a matter of fact, the more they hate our freedoms, the more we love our freedoms. (Applause.)”
    
12. See Arnove,
    Iraq under Siege
    ,
    68–69.
    

1. “We are a nation called to defend freedom—a freedom that is not the grant of any government or document, but is our endowment from God.” See Eggen, “Ashcroft Invokes Religion,” A2.
   
2. Michael R. Gordon, “Baghdad's Power Vacuum Is Drawing Only Dissent,”
   New York Times
   ,
   April 21, 2003, A10.
   
3. Peter Beaumont, “Anger Rises as US Fails to Control Anarchy,”
   Observer
   (London), April 13, 2003, 3.
   
4. Jim Dwyer, “Troops Endure Blowing Sands and Mud Rain,”
   New York Times
   ,
   March 26, 2003, A1; Neela Banerjee, “Army Depots in Iraqi Desert Have Names of Oil Giants,”
   New York Times
   ,
   March 27, 2003, C14.
   
5. Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, Defense
   Department operational update briefing, Pentagon Briefing Room, Arlington, VA, Federal News Service, April 11, 2003.
   
6. Reuters, “Number Imprisoned Exceeds 2 Million, Justice Dept. Says,”
   Washington Post
   ,
   April 7, 2003, A4; Sentencing Project, “U.S. Prison Populations: Trends and Implications,” May 2003, 1.
   
7. Sentencing Project, “U.S. Prison Populations.”
   
8. Fox Butterfield, “Prison Rates among Blacks Reach a Peak, Report Finds,”
   New York Times
   ,
   April 7, 2003, A12.
   
9. Richard Willing, “More Seeking President's Pardon,”
   USA Today
   ,
   December 24, 2002, 3A.
   
10. Paul Martin, Ed Vulliamy, and Gaby Hinsliff, “US Army Was Told to Protect Looted Museum,”
    Observer
    (London), April 20, 2003, 4; Frank Rich, “And Now: ‘Operation Iraqi Looting,'”
    New York Times
    ,
    April 27, 2003, 2.
    
11. See Scott Peterson, “Iraq: Saladin to Saddam,”
    Christian Science Monitor
    ,
    March 4, 2003, 1.
    
12. Rumsfeld, Defense Department briefing.
    
13. Martin, Vulliamy, and Hinsliff, “US Army Was Told to Protect Looted Museum,” 4.
    
14. See Robert Fisk, “Americans Defend Two Untouchable Ministries from the Hordes of Looters,”
    Independent
    (London), April 14, 2003, 7:
    

Iraq's scavengers have thieved and destroyed what they have been allowed to loot and burn by the Americans—and a two-hour drive around Baghdad shows clearly what the US intends to protect. After days of arson and pillage, here's a short but revealing scorecard. US troops have sat back and allowed mobs to wreck and then burn the Ministry of Planning, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Irrigation, the Ministry of Trade, the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Information. They did nothing to prevent looters from destroying priceless treasures of Iraq's history in the Baghdad Archaeological Museum and in the museum in the northern city of Mosul, or from looting three hospitals.

The Americans have, though, put hundreds of troops inside two Iraqi ministries that remain untouched—and untouchable—because tanks and armoured personnel carriers and Humvees have been placed inside and outside both institutions. And which ministries proved to be so important for the Americans? Why, the Ministry of Interior, of course—with its vast wealth of intelligence information on Iraq—and the Ministry of Oil.