Mirror.co.uk
> >
> > Jul 10 2002
> >
> > By Jon Clements
> >
> > US writer Gore Vidal has launched a blistering attack on George W Bush
> > and his War on Terror.
> >
> >
> > The outspoken 76-year-old said America provoked the September 11 attacks
> > with its own military intervention in countries around the world.
> >
> >
> > Staunch democrat Gore, a former White House aide to John F Kennedy,
> > insisted the US should stop meddling in other people's affairs.
> >
> >
> > In an interview with LA Weekly reporter MARC COOPER he claimed Bush's
> > attack on Afghanistan was motivated by oil, not revenge. Here's his
> > views:
> >
> >
> > LA WEEKLY: Are you arguing that the 3,000 killed on September 11 somehow
> > deserved their fate?
> >
> >
> > GORE VIDAL: I don't think we, the American people, deserved what
> > happened. Nor do we deserve the sort of governments we have had over the
> > past 40 years. Our governments have brought this upon us by their
>actions
> > all over the world.
> >
> >
> > I have a list in my new book that gives the reader some idea how busy we
> > have been.
> >
> >
> > Unfortunately, we only get disinformation from The New York Times and
> > other official places. Americans have no idea of the extent of their
> > government's mischief.
> >
> >
> > The number of military strikes we have made unprovoked, against other
> > countries, since 1947 is more than 250.
> >
> >
> > These are major strikes from Panama to Iran. It isn't even a complete
> > list. It doesn't include places like Chile, as that was a CIA operation.
> > I was only listing military attacks.
> >
> >
> > Americans are either not told about these things or are told we attacked
> > them because...well...
> >
> >
> > Noriega is the centre of all world drug traffic and we have to get rid
>of
> > him. So we kill some Panamanians in the process.
> >
> >
> > Actually we killed quite a few. We brought in our Air Force. Panama
> > didn't have an air force. But it looked good to have our Air Force
>there,
> > busy, blowing up buildings.
> >
> >
> > Then we kidnap their leader, Noriega, a former CIA man who worked
>loyally
> > for the US. We arrest him. Try him in an American court that has no
> > jurisdiction over him and lock him up - nobody knows why.
> >
> >
> > And that was supposed to end the drug trade because he had been
>demonised
> > by The New York Times and the rest of the imperial press.
> >
> >
> > (The government) plays off (Americans') relative innocence, or ignorance
> > to be more precise.
> >
> >
> > This is probably why geography has not really been taught since World
>War
> > II - to keep people in the dark as to where we are blowing things up.
> >
> >
> > Because Enron wants to blow them up. Or Unocal, the great pipeline
> > company, wants a war going some place.
> >
> >
> > And people in the countries who are recipients of our bombs get angry.
> > The Af-ghans had nothing to do with what happened to our country on
> > September 11. But Saudi Arabia did. It seems Osama is involved, but we
> > don't really know.
> >
> >
> > I mean, when we went into Afghanistan to take over the place and blow it
> > up, our commanding general was asked how long it was going to take to
> > find bin Laden. The general looked surprised and said, well, that's not
> > why we are here.
> >
> >
> > Oh no? So what was all this about? It was about the Taliban being very,
> > very bad people and that they treated women very badly, you see.
> >
> >
> > They're not really into women's rights, and we here are very strong on
> > women's rights, and we should be with Bush on that one because he's
> > taking those burlap sacks off of women's heads. Well, that's not what it
> > was about.
> >
> >
> > What it was really about is that this is an imperial grab for energy
> > resources. Until now, the Persian Gulf has been our main source for
> > imported oil. We went there, to Afghanistan, not to get Osama and
> > vengeance.
> >
> >
> > We went partly because the Taliban - who we had installed during the
> > Russian occupation - were getting too flaky and because Unocal, the
> > California corporation, had made a deal with the Taliban for a pipeline
> > to get the Caspian-area oil - the richest oil reserve on Earth.
> >
> >
> > They wanted to get that oil by pipeline through Afghanistan to Pakistan
> > and from there to ship it off to China, which would be enormously
> > profitable.
> >
> >
> > Whichever big company could cash in would make a fortune.
> >
> >
> > And you'll see that all these companies go back to Bush or Cheney or
> > Rumsfeld or someone else on the Gas and Oil Junta, which, along with the
> > Pentagon, governs the United States.
> >
> >
> > We had planned to occupy Afghanistan in October, and Osama, or whoever
> > hit us in September, launched a pre-emptory strike. They knew we were
> > coming. This was a warning to throw us off guard.
> >
> >
> > LA WEEKLY: Still, even if one reads the chart of military interventions
> > in your book and concludes that, indeed, the US government is a "source
> > of evil" can't you conceive there might be other forces of evil as well?
> > Can't you imagine forces of religious obscurantism, for example, that
>act
> > independently of us and might do bad things to us, because they are
>evil?
> >
> >
> > VIDAL: Oh yes. But you picked the wrong group. You picked one of the
> > richest families in the world - the bin Ladens. They are close to the
> > royal family of Saudi Arabia, which has conned us into acting as their
> > bodyguard against their own people - who are even more fundamentalist
> > than they are. So we are dealing with a powerful entity if it is Osama.
> >
> >
> > What isn't true is that people like him just come out of the blue. The
> > average American thinks we just give away billions in foreign aid, when
> > we are the lowest in foreign aid among developed countries. Most of what
> > we give goes to Israel and Egypt.
> >
> >
> > I was in Guatemala when the CIA was preparing its attack on the Arbenz
> > government (in 1954).
> >
> >
> > Arbenz, who was a democratically elected president, mildly socialist.
> >
> >
> > His state had no revenues. Its biggest income maker was United Fruit
> > Company. So Arbenz put the tiniest of taxes on bananas and Henry Cabot
> > Lodge said in the Senate the Communists have taken over Guatemala and we
> > must act.
> >
> >
> > He got to Eisenhower, who sent in the CIA, and they overthrew the
> > government. We installed a military dictator and there's been nothing
>but
> > bloodshed ever since.
> >
> >
> > Now, if I were a Guatemalan and I had the means to drop something on
> > somebody in Washington I would be tempted to do it. Especially if I had
> > lost my family and seen my country blown to bits because United Fruit
> > didn't want to pay taxes. Now, that's the way we operate. And that's why
> > we got to be so hated.
> >
> >
> > LA WEEKLY: You've spent decades bemoaning the erosion of civil liberties
> > and the conversion of the US from a republic into what you call an
> > empire. Have the after effects of September 11, things like the USA
> > Patriot Bill, pushed us further down the road or are they, in fact, some
> > sort of historic turning point?
> >
> >
> > VIDAL: The second law of thermodynamics always rules: Everything is
> > always running down.
> >
> >
> > And so is our Bill of Rights. The current junta in charge of our
>affairs,
> > one not legally elected but put in charge of us by the Supreme Court in
> > the interests of the oil, gas and defence lobbies, have used Oklahoma
> > City and now September 11 to further erode things. And when it comes to
> > Oklahoma and Tim McVeigh, well, he had his reasons as well to carry out
> > his deed.
> >
> >
> > Millions agree with his general reasoning, though no-one agrees with the
> > value of blowing up children.
> >
> >
> > But the American people instinctively know when the government goes off
> > the rails like it did at Waco and Ruby Ridge. No-one has been elected
> > president in the past 50 years unless he ran against the federal
> > government. So, the government should get through its head that it is
> > hated not only by foreigners whose countries we have wrecked, but also
>by
> > Americans whose lives have been wrecked. The Patriot movement was based
> > on folks run off their family farms. We have millions of disaffected
> > Americans who do not like the way the place is run and see no place
>where
> > they can prosper.
> >
> >
> > LA WEEKLY: And yet Americans seem quite susceptible to a sort of
> > jingoistic "enemy-of-the-month club" coming out of Washington. You say
> > millions of Americans hate the government. But something like 75 per
>cent
> > say they support George W. Bush, especially on the issue of the war.
> >
> >
> > VIDAL: I hope you don't believe those figures. Don't you know how the
> > polls are rigged?
> >
> >
> > It's simple. After 9/11 the country was shocked and terrified. (Bush)
> > does a war dance and talks about evil axis and all the countries he's
> > going to go after. And how long it is going to take, he says with a
>happy
> > smile, because it means billions for the Pentagon and for his oil
> > friends.
> >
> >
> > And it means curtailing our liberties, so this is very thrilling for
>him.
> > He's out there bombing Afghanistan. Well, he might as well have been
> > bombing Denmark.
> >
> >
> > Denmark had nothing to do with 9/11. And neither did Afghanistan.
> >
> >
> > So the question is still asked, are you standing tall with the
>president?
> > Standing with him as he defends us? Eventually, they will figure it out.
> >
> >
> > LA WEEKLY: They being who? The American people?
> >
> >
> > Yeah, the American people. They are asked these quick questions. Do you
> > approve of him? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh yeah, he blew up all those
> > funny-sounding cities over there.
> >
> >
> > That doesn't mean they like him. Mark my words. He will leave office the
> > most unpopular president in history. The junta has done too much
> > wreckage.
> >
> >
> > They were suspiciously ready with the Patriot Act as soon as we were
>hit.
> > Which means they have already got their police state.
> >
> >
> > LA WEEKLY: Let's pick away at one of your favourite bones, the American
> > media. Some say they have done a better-than-usual job since 9/11. But I
> > suspect you're not buying that?
> >
> >
> > VIDAL: No, I don't buy it. Part of the year I live in Italy. And I find
> > out more about what's going on in the Middle East by reading the
>British,
> > the French, even the Italian press.
> >
> >
> > Everything here is slanted. I mean, to watch Bush doing his war dance in
> > Congress...about "evil doers" and this "axis of evil" - Iran, Iraq and
> > North Korea. I thought, he doesn't even know what the word axis means.
> >
> >
> > LA WEEKLY: What about George W. Bush, the man?
> >
> >
> > VIDAL: You mean George W. Bush, the cheerleader. That's the only thing
>he
> > ever did of some note. He had some involvement with a baseball team...
> >
> >
> > LA WEEKLY: He owned it...
> >
> >
> > VIDAL: Yeah, bought with other people' s money. Oil people's money. So
> > he's never really worked and shows little capacity for learning.
> >
> >
> > LA WEEKLY: Should the US just pack up its military from everywhere and
>go
> > home?
> >
> >
> > VIDAL: Yes. With no exceptions. We are not the world's policeman. We
> > cannot even police the United States.
> >
> >
> > GORE Vidal's latest book is entitled: Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace:
> > How We Got To Be So Hated.
> >
> >
> >
>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...68/sr=1-1/ref=
>sr_1_1/002-0760418-3867260
> >








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