Chomsky: Invasion of Iraq = terrorist training ground

[CptStern]

Chomsky: democracy is fine as long as you do what I say

"democracy is fine as long as you do what I say"

Chomsky's Speech on Democracy & US Foreign Policy (click on Play audio sample)

here's a Chomsky lecture given at the Lannan Foundation - click on Reading below chomsky's photo. There's also a conversation with Tariq Ali - click on Conversation

the topic is democracy US foreign policy and the war on terror

here's a sample of the audio:

"CIA Director Porter Goss warned Congress that "Islamic extremists are exploiting" the Iraq war "to recruit new jihadists." Those who survived the war, he said, were likely to leave Iraq "experienced and focused on acts of urban terrorism." And that it would "only be a matter of time before Al Qaeda" uses weapons of mass destruction. How does that track with the frequent Administration statements that the war has made the world safer? Do the pliant corporate media even notice these glaring contradictions? Iraq has become exactly what critics predicted: a magnet for the jihad and a breeding ground for terrorism. The response from the White House? Not to worry. Democracy will save the day. "


:STOP: DO NOT COMMENT UNLESS YOU HAVE LISTENED TO AT LEAST ONE OF THE AUDIO FILES. I WILL REQUEST THREAD CLOSURE IF IT"S PURPOSEFULLY DE-RAILED

 

[seinfeldrules]

How long are they.

 

[CptStern]

the first one is just a few minutes

 

[gh0st]

Oh good, Noam Chomsky has something to say. I see where he's coming from, I can even agree with some of his talking points. So thank you cptstern, I leave now a more educated and better human being.

 

[-### HlPwNs ###-]

this is just humble opinion of me but if you use evil means to defeat evil only evil can prevail in the end.
the man who bombs the ambassy thinks he does something good for his peoples and the man who bombs the powerplant thinks he does something good for his peoples; the one man uses car and the other one a 100 mil. $ plane. on both cases innocent man die one is a garden worker at the embassy and one is a electricy man in the powerplant. the two man killing and the two man dying are just doing there job what they were told to do. there is no difference other than one man dies and one man kills.

 

[Korgoth]

Well to be under the impression that modern warfare is anything but the rich pulling their reins of control over the people and flexing their proverbial muscle to the world is almost naive. There may be rare cases in which conflict is needed, but fighting war for peace? Does that logic honestly compute with anyone?

 

[CptStern]

"democracy is fine as long as you do what I say" :3:40 (first link)

chomsky is refering to turkey's role as a US ally. He mentions that Wolfowitz visited turkey before the war to persuade it's ally to join the coaltion. here's a transcript of his official speech:


"The more closely that Turkey works with the United States the better our chances are of avoiding a war. Our military and diplomatic planning must proceed because Saddam Hussein must see that we are serious. He has to see that he is surrounded by the international community. Turkey has a role to play. The economic and security impact on Turkey will be much better managed if Turkey is intimately involved in the planning from the outset. And we've also talked about how to manage so that if there is a crisis in this region, Turkey's economy will continue to be strong. That's one of our objectives as well. Thanks very much."



here's Wolfowitz' response months later when Turkey bows to the wishes of 95% of the population and doesnt join the coalition:



"Rep. Todd Tiahrt asked Wolfowitz how much Turkey's decision cost the United States.

Wolfowitz said the monetary cost is "not trivial," but the real cost is in not having a heavy combat division in northern Iraq.

"There's no question if we had a U.S. armored force in northern Iraq right now, the end (of the war) would be closer," he said.

He said the Turkish government came close to win parliamentary support for the use of its territory.

"It was a new government that I think didn't quite know what it was doing," he said. "It was a big, big mistake."

He said Turkey would have benefited from the $6 billion aid package that the United States was offering. "And that's clearly gone," he said."

 

[Kebean PFC]

Always will there be someone "evil." It is human nature, in literary terms a pro and an antagonist. There will never be peace, becuase no two people can agree.

 

[Gray Fox]

But it makes you wonder, I mean a lot of europe claims to be more democratic then the US, a lot of Dutch claim the Netherlands is more democratic and yet our president supported the war with 75% against it, and yet dutch still claim we are more democratic. Makes you wonder. This war has taughte me more about my own country and my own people than about the US.