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10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Useful exposure of capitalism's warmongering, 10 Jan 2005
Amy Goodman is an award-winning journalist with Pacifica Radio, the only independent media network broadcasting in the USA. Her programme 'Democracy Now!' is one of the most popular shows on American public radio, broadcast on hundreds of US stations, and beamed worldwide over satellite TV and the Internet (www.democracynow.org).Her book exposes the corporate warmongers. She describes the US state's no-bid contracts for Iraq's wealth, in which Bechtel won $1 billion worth of work and Dick Cheney's Halliburton won $1.2 billion worth. Rupert Murdoch said of the war, "The greatest thing to come of this to the world economy, if you could put it that way, would be $US20 a barrel for oil."
Goodman describes embedded journalism as the war version of reality TV. The Ministry of Defence and the US Defense Department's Office of Strategic Influence both run high-intensity domestic 'psyops' (psychological operations). US Army psyops officers even work in CNN and NPR news offices. On 8 April 2003, US forces attacked the Baghdad offices of Abu Dhabi Television, Al Jazeera and Reuters, killing three journalists and wounding four. CNN commentator General Wesley Clark said, "It's a case of a very unfortunate accident of war. People were in the wrong place at the wrong time. The United States wouldn't deliberately kill journalists." Three separate accidents? Three separate wrong places - their offices? And, yes, they would deliberately kill journalists: the Pentagon spokeswoman later told journalists, "You should not be there."
As Goodman observes, it's never the right time to oppose a war. Not before the war, because there's not going to be war since 'our' government is sincerely negotiating to prevent war, so it is unnecessary and premature to talk of opposing the war. Not during the war, because that's disloyal, stabbing our boys in the back. And afterwards, it's too late to make a difference and, as Blair says, it should be left to the historians. The ruling class always closes ranks for its wars: Labour allies with Conservative, Democrat with Republican. It's about time the working class closed ranks against capitalism and its wars.
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