[Peace-discuss] "Why George Bush is Insane" by Harold Pinter

[John W.]

OK, cool.  The article was first published in 2002, we find on the web.

Pinter, incidentally, is still alive.  He won the Nobel Prize for 
Literature in 2005.



At 05:25 AM 4/2/2007, John W. wrote:

>At 11:14 AM 4/1/2007, jencart at mailstation.com wrote:
>
>>-----Forwarded Message-----
>> >From: fransears at netscape.net
>> >Sent: Apr 1, 2007 9:48 AM
>> >To: jencart at mycidco.com
>> >Subject: Fwd: Why George Bush is Insane
>>
>>
>>
>>Why George Bush is Insane
>>by Harold Pinter; March 30, 2007
>
>
>I don't understand.  This is dated March 30, 2007, yet Pinter speaks of 
>the war against Iraq as if it was still in the future - "the planned war 
>against Iraq".  Is this a reprint of an old article?
>
>John Wason
>
>
>
>
>>Earlier this year I had a major operation for cancer. The operation and 
>>its after-effects were something of a nightmare. I felt I was a man 
>>unable to swim bobbing about under water in a deep dark endless ocean. 
>>But I did not drown and I am very glad to be alive.
>>
>>However, I found that to emerge from a personal nightmare was to enter an 
>>infinitely more pervasive public nightmare - the nightmare of American 
>>hysteria, ignorance, arrogance, stupidity and belligerence; the most 
>>powerful nation the world has ever known effectively waging war against 
>>the rest of the world. "If you are not with us you are against us" 
>>President Bush has said. He has also said "We will not allow the world's 
>>worst weapons to remain in the hands of the world's worst leaders". Quite 
>>right. Look in the mirror chum. That's you.
>>
>>The US is at this moment developing advanced systems of "weapons of mass 
>>destruction" and it prepared to use them where it sees fit. It has more 
>>of them than the rest of the world put together. It has walked away from 
>>international agreements on biological and chemical weapons, refusing to 
>>allow inspection of its own factories. The hypocrisy behind its public 
>>declarations and its own actions is almost a joke.
>>
>>The United States believes that the three thousand deaths in New York are 
>>the only deaths that count, the only deaths that matter. They are 
>>American deaths. Other deaths are unreal, abstract, of no consequence.
>>
>>The three thousand deaths in Afghanistan are never referred to.
>>
>>The hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children dead through US and British 
>>sanctions which have deprived them of essential medicines are never 
>>referred to.
>>
>>The effect of depleted uranium, used by America in the Gulf War, is never 
>>referred to. Radiation levels in Iraq are appallingly high. Babies are 
>>born with no brain, no eyes, no genitals. Where they do have ears, mouths 
>>or rectums, all that issues from these orifices is blood.
>>
>>The two hundred thousand deaths in East Timor in 1975 brought about by 
>>the Indonesian government but inspired and supported by the United States 
>>are never referred to.
>>
>>The half a million deaths in Guatemala, Chile, El Salvador, Nicaragua, 
>>Uruguay, Argentina and Haiti, in actions supported and subsidised by the 
>>United States are never referred to.
>>
>>The millions of deaths in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia are no longer 
>>referred to.
>>
>>The desperate plight of the Palestinian people, the central factor in 
>>world unrest, is hardly referred to.
>>
>>But what a misjudgement of the present and what a misreading of history 
>>this is.
>>
>>People do not forget. They do not forget the death of their fellows, they 
>>do not forget torture and mutilation, they do not forget injustice, they 
>>do not forget oppression, they do not forget the terrorism of mighty 
>>powers. They not only don't forget. They strike back.
>>
>>The atrocity in New York was predictable and inevitable. It was an act of 
>>retaliation against constant and systematic manifestations of state 
>>terrorism on the part of the United States over many years, in all parts 
>>of the world.
>>
>>In Britain the public is now being warned to be "vigilant" in preparation 
>>for potential terrorist acts. The language is in itself preposterous.
>>
>>How will - or can - public vigilance be embodied? Wearing a scarf over 
>>your mouth to keep out poison gas? However, terrorist attacks are quite 
>>likely, the inevitable result of our Prime Minister's contemptible and 
>>shameful subservience to the United States. Apparently, a terrorist 
>>poison gas attack on the London Underground system was recently 
>>prevented. But such an act may indeed take place. Thousands of school 
>>children travel on the London Underground every day. If there is a poison 
>>gas attack from which they die, the responsibility will rest entirely on 
>>the shoulders of our Prime Minister. Needless to say, the Prime Minister 
>>does not travel on the underground himself.
>>
>>The planned war against Iraq is in fact a plan for premeditated murder of 
>>thousands of civilians in order, apparently, to rescue them from their 
>>dictator.
>>
>>The United States and Britain are pursuing a course which can lead only 
>>to an escalation of violence throughout the world and finally to catastrophe.
>>
>>It is obvious, however, that the United States is bursting at the seams 
>>to attack Iraq. I believe that it will do this - not just to take control 
>>of Iraqi oil - but because the US administration is now a bloodthirsty 
>>wild animal. Bombs are its only vocabulary. Many Americans, we know, are 
>>horrified by the posture of their government but seem to be helpless.
>>
>>Unless Europe finds the solidarity, intelligence, courage and will to 
>>challenge and resist US power Europe itself will deserve Alexander 
>>Herzen's definition (as quoted in the Guardian newspaper in London 
>>recently) "We are not the doctors. We are the disease."
>>
>>Harold Pinter
>>The Assassinated Press