In her latest imagination of fantasy Arundhati Roy (no link, don’t want to increase ranking) wrote another article (Mesopotamia. Babylon. The Tigris and Euphrates at The Guardian) which is short on facts and large on imagery:
bq. It is unlikely that British and American troops fighting in Iraq are aware that their governments supported Saddam Hussein both politically and financially through his worst excesses.
This one grew over time, but when Iraq was on it’s weapons spending spree from 1972 (when its oil revenue quadrupled) to 1990, the purchases were quite public and listed over $40 billion worth of arms sales. Russia was the largest supplier, with $25 billion. The US was the smallest, with $200,000. A similar myth, that the U.S. provided Iraq with chemical and biological weapons is equally off base. Iraq requested Anthrax samples from the US government, as do nations the world over, for the purpose of developing animal and human vaccines for local versions of Anthrax. Nerve gas doesn’t require technical help, it’s a variant of common insecticides. European nations sold Iraq the equipment to make poison gas.
(Link via “StrategyPage”:http://www.strategypage.com/fyeo/qndguide/default.asp?target=topten.htm)
bq. President George W Bush, commander in chief of the US army, navy, airforce and marines has issued clear instructions: “Iraq. Will. Be. Liberated.” (Perhaps he means that even if Iraqi people’s bodies are killed, their souls will be liberated.) American and British citizens owe it to the supreme commander to forsake thought and rally behind their troops. Their countries are at war. And what a war it is.
Let us see what her pal, Saddam was doing:
* Saddam Hussein launched about 40 gas attacks against Iraqi Kurdish villages and targets in 1987-88 with thousands killed, including the largest attack in March 1988 on Halabjah, a Kurdish town of 45,000 in northern Iraq, causing 3,500 to 5,000 deaths, according to Human Rights Watch
* According to Human Rights Watch, “senior Arab diplomats told the London-based Arabic daily newspaper al-Hayat in October [1991] that Iraqi leaders were privately acknowledging that 250,000 people were killed during the uprisings, with most of the casualties in the south.” Refugees International reports that the “Oppressive government policies have led to the internal displacement of 900,000 Iraqis, primarily Kurds who have fled to the north to escape Saddam Hussein’s Arabization campaigns (which involve forcing Kurds to renounce their Kurdish identity or lose their property) and Marsh Arabs, who fled the government’s campaign to dry up the southern marshes for agricultural use. More than 200,000 Iraqis continue to live as refugees in Iran.”
And this is the kind of person Arundhati is crying for. As per Arundhati, liberating people from an opressive regime would be a crime.
bq. After using the “good offices” of UN diplomacy (economic sanctions and weapons inspections) to ensure that Iraq was brought to its knees, its people starved, half a million of its children killed, its infrastructure severely damaged, after making sure that most of its weapons have been destroyed, in an act of cowardice that must surely be unrivalled in history, the “Allies”/”Coalition of the Willing”(better known as the Coalition of the Bullied and Bought) – sent in an invading army!
Even after years of sanction she is not surprised that Saddam and his cronies are still living in lavish palaces. Why did he not sell his palaces, offer his food to his people.
bq. Operation Iraqi Freedom? I don’t think so. It’s more like Operation Let’s Run a Race, but First Let Me Break Your Knees.
I think she is talking about the people who suffered in the “Torture Chamber”:http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-12278787,00.html that we found recently.
Arudhanti has one weakness. A love with brutal dictators. She prefers them over democracies. And this is not the first time she has shown her hatred of democracies. In 2002 she visited Pakistan, (a country which sends terrorists to kill Indians and has a dictator as the President) and made comments against a democratically elected Govt. of India. Now she loves Saddam Hussein. Coming soon from her will be an article on why Fidel Castro is a saint.
As an Indian, I am sad that that our sacred soil has produced such a -thing- homo-sapien.
Goddess of Small Brains
Published
Go read it
Arudhanti has one weakness. A love with brutal dictators. She prefers them over democracies. And this is not the…
JK, they also recently found some food godowns in Basra that were filled to bursting with food supplies, while the population was starving – it is still stupid of people like Roy to blame the starvation on the sanctions – maybe she never heard of the “food for oil” program.
Roy rah-rahs for Saddam
Arundhati Roy is one of those people who has never met a dictator who they cannot support and fawn all…
Shanti, When did Arundhati ever care about facts. For her everything is fiction. Unfortunately morons at the Guardian take her seriously.
Even the people of Iraq do not want Saddam. But loonies like this are trying to act more catholic than the Pope.
You are absolutely right.
JK, about them half million dead children… it’s not quite accurate.
(PS: you need to fix the TABINDEX on this form. Tabbing from this field takes me to your heading instead of the submit button.)
Hi there!
I am one of the few people I know, who actually feels that this war on Iraq is justifiable, legally and morally.Not a popular view for any self respecting leftie(me) to hold, in these times. And yes, I also happen to think that Ms.Roy needs to seriously reexamine her often short-on-facts,long-on-blah style of political commentary.
BUT, that said: I am suprised you peppered your rather valid comments about her views, with snide, personal remarks against her, and finally ended it all with “As an Indian, I am sad that that our sacred soil has produced such a thing.”
I should think the great thing about our ‘sacred soil’ IS that it is a country where slightly eccentric women can express their views freely (most of the time)without worrying about objectified as a ‘thing’; that it is a land where fools can be fools in peace and where free and open Political debate does not descend into the Personal.
(sorry, that was a long rant:) but I just had to say it.)
Thanks,
Ooma
Ooma. I would not have written that line. But she as an Indian felt sad that India exploded the nuclear bomb. So I as an Indian feel sad too about various “things” 🙂 I am basically borrowing the lines of “secularists”
I also think you meant to spell it as “goddess” 🙂
Please don’t be one of those uneducated rightwing moron americans. Bush is not waging this war to liberate Iraqi people. they are doing this only because of oil. So Saddam killed thousands of Iraqi people, Bush army can go & kill thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians. what sort of liberation is this?
Well.Ms. Roy ‘felt sad’ about an event that affected all of us, as citizens. On the other hand, you ‘feel sad’ about her very existence. And then there is me, who ‘feels perfectly justified’ in finding a difference between the two, and rambling on and on( and on)about it in your comments box 🙂
(and hey! secularists are cool too, you know: in their own twisted little way? 🙂 )
Uma
Pittsbugh Indian: “Uneducated”, “Rightwing”, “Moron”. Hey cool down. From what I have been reading, the Iraqi people seem to have no probelm with all those uneducated people liberating them..so who are we to complain ?
Madman: Thanks!
well well ,according to wetern media, Kashmiri struggule is all about Kashmiri people demanding a seperate Kashmir country. Thankgod there is no oil in Kashmir. or you will be supporting the liberation of Kashmiri people by Bush.
western media
Well Pittsburgh Indian, don’t you think there is a truth distinct from what the western media tells you? I mean, truth, as in objectively verifiable facts?
The projected war and ‘occupation’ costs are more than could be produced by the Iraqi oil fields, even when up and running completely. Also, if more oil is on the market, then oil prices go down, which would hurt profits for US oil companies.
Speaking of Kashmir, didn’t the UN side with Pakistan on that one? So if their right about Iraq being a just war, then maybe India should have that UN administed plebiscite after all.
The US doesn’t listen to the UN, bad. India ignores the UN, good. Yes, the logic of the Indian policy makers.
Sorry, previous post should read ‘unjust war’, not ‘just war’ and I always mix up there, their and they’re. Grammer is a pain in the a## :).
There are lot of countries with brutal dictators as their leaders, then why Saddam? why now? what did he do to US in the last 12 years or ever? Are you that ignorant that capitalist US will do anything if it causes them a loss. So you are all arguing that the whitetrash Bush administration is waging this war, out of pity, without hoping for any profit, to liberate nonwhite, islamic Iraqi people. get real. & why don’t you check the authenticity of sources where you get your facts, from other blogs like – atrios.blogspot.com & mediawhoresonline.com.
Why Saddam ?
UN Resolution 1441(passed unanimously) asked him to disarm. The last time I checked he did not disarm.
Iraq is not being attacked by US. It is being attacked by Coalition forces, which include Afghanistan, Albania, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, the Philippines, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom and Uzbekistan.
..all of which nations are the bastions of democracy and freedom ( Eritrea and Ethiopia, especially.) :))
OF COURSE, we(I do, anyways) support the war and of course, we(ditto) think it’s a good thing that Saddam will get to climb off the (oil) gravy train after 30 years of dictatorial tyranny, but lets’ not pretend Who and Why exactly this war is being fought by/for.
It is a plan of action planned and executed by the Americans and the British, dragging behind them about 20 (very greedy) nations in a rag-tag ‘coalition’; because Iraq poses problems now, the Americans cannot turn a blind eye to, anymore.
It would an insult to our collective intelligence if we claimed otherwise.
Uma
Yeah, Capitalist US really made a ton of money off of Kosovo. And we’ve made a bundle from our troops in South Korea. That roughly 3 billion dollars in aid to Egypt? Wow, amazing returns on that dough 🙂 :).
UN resolution 47/48: The issue of Kashmir should be determined by a UN administered plebescite.
The Economist, Jan 23rd article entitled: All about oil; why invading Iraq would not produce an oil bonanza –
cites a CFR-Baker study that at least 40 billion dollars and ten years of work would be required to revive the Iraqi oil sector.
I’m not posting a link because it is much better to go to the Economist web site and type in Iraq and oil in the search section. Many, many interesting articles come up.
Cheers! Wonderful blog JK!
You are sounding like Bush & his poodle Blair & fox network. why don’t they first show evidence that he had weapons that would destroy the entire world. last time I checked I didn’t see any realtime evidence except the lies. this war is a result of Bush administarion arrogance & thats fact.
Iran, Libia, Northkorea, Pakistan, Syria, Lebanon, China, Israel, Afganistan & a whole lot other countries didn’t obey unanimously passed UN resolutions, asking them to stop atrocities on their people. & because it won’t be passed unanimously & vetoed, without real evidence, that US didn’t go for a second resolution in March, to wage war against Iraq. who are these people to liberate other country by waging a war against them. what hubris? didn’t we all learn from history, that violence will always breed more violence.
why don’t we get some real facts here.Who are sending troops to Iraq- US, UK, & Australia. who are bearing the cost of war- people of US & UK.or only talk of support is enough for your moral view of liberation of Iraqi people. why don’t you verify your facts from other nontraditional, non spponfeeding outlets like cursor.com, buzzflash.com man. & finally thanks for not labelling me a fan of brutal dictators sofar.
last time I checked I didn’t see any realtime evidence except the lies
maybe you should check today. it seems they found something smoking.
i>didn’t we all learn from history, that violence will always breed more violence.
so what should we have done when Pakistanis came into Kargil recently ? Hold candles ?
why don’t you check tomorrow, we will see whether it is still smoking or not. Iam not a pacifist. but I strongly draw a line in supporting the unjustified war on a sovereign country & killing of its innocent civilians in the name of moral obligation,[because saddam killed thousands of people, US can go kill thousands in the name of liberation]allthe while they have hidden selfserving agenda.
After getting asked by quite a few Americans at work about “Oh, you are from that land where this God of small things took place? What? Haven’t you read it yet?”. I got it from the library and couldn’t get past first 3 pages. Now, telling this truth hurt my popularity and so I grit my teeth and with determination got past the 10th page. Once you are past the 10th page, it is reasonably ok.
I think it is overhyped though. In fiction, it is fun once in a while to look at incoherent rambling. But *really*, the way she has been speaking in public, it shouldn’t be a surprise if she becomes TN/Bihar chief minister.
There seem to be less facts in your post than in Roy’s essay! Seriously, do you really disagree to what she has to say or do you only hate the woman? And will anyone who takes an anti-war stand meet the same fate? There are many who are against the War and against Saddam at the same time. It’s possible!
Roy’s was a well-crafted essay. Your’s is a personal attack.
JK, I agree with Mahesh. You seem to be having the same knee-jerk response as the right-wing neo-conservatives in america. Being anti-war does not in any way make a person pro-Saddam. I’ve read Roy’s piece and though I agree her polemic hurts her argument, she does not imply that she is pro-Saddam. At that understanding, you entire argument falls flat. Please don’t fall victim to binary thought – there are more than two ways of looking at this war.
PS: On the bright side, there might be room for you at the White House. I’m sure an application from you would be considered seriously.
Me hating Arundhati! No way. As a fellow Malayali, I am proud that she won the .ooker prize. Ooops Personal Attack again!
And facts! Yes. In Outlook, May 6,2002 she wrote:
?A mob surrounded the house of ex-Congress MP Iqbal Ehsan Jaffri. His phone calls to the director-general of police, the police commissioner, the chief secretary, the additional chief secretary (home) were ignored. The mobile police vans around his house did not intervene. The mob broke into the house. They stripped his daughters and burnt them alive. Then they beheaded Jaffri and dismembered him
very colorful language, very graphic. Jaffri was killed in the riots but his daughters were neither ‘stripped’ nor ‘burnt alive.’ T.A. Jafri, his son, in a front-page interview titled Nobody knew my father’s house was the target (Asian Age, May 2, Delhi edition), says, “among my brothers and sisters, I am the only one living in India. And I am the eldest in the family. My sister and brother live in the US. I am 40 years old and I have been born and brought up in Ahmedabad.?
Oh yes, we were talking about facts, and since my blog lacks it, I should not be talking about it. I forgot!. Will I attack anyone who opposes war. No way. If the people of Iraq said they were opposed to war, I would have agreed. But looks like the people who are getting bombed do not have a problem. People in Baghdad are dancing in the streets! Children who were imprisoned in jails are seeing their parents after many years.
Yes, you can be anti-war, if you propose another alternative. But just sitting and condeming the Coalition forces is something I cannot accept.
You don’t get the point, do you? This is not about Iraqi people or their freedom. The issue here is can US go attack other countries without any provocation from them. What if they declare war on India, supporting Pakistan on the issue of Kashmir, if India goes to war on Pakistan. Are you still going to sit there support liberation of Kashmir from India. I think you,people who don’t know the real history of Kashmir isuue would, with the right amount of US led propaganda.
why don’t you stick to funny articles, they are more enjoyable than this nonsense of supporting the socalled coalition forces & liberaton of Iraqi people from you.
why don’t you stick to funny articles, they are more enjoyable than this nonsense of supporting the socalled coalition forces & liberaton of Iraqi people from you.
Right. Should I have muffins or croissants for breakfast tomorrow ?
If you are asking my permission, sure you can have them buddy boy.
But don’t be a glutton, there are lots of hungry people in the world as well as people under dictatorship.
Ok, time to stop this.
I found that many people disagree with me. Many people think the war is wrong. It is inhuman to bomb poor Iraqis. Violence is bad. Lighting candles instead is better. A coalition of 50 countries has no right to unilaterally declare war. I respect your opinion but disagree.
People also reminded me that I should not call names and should stick to facts. This is a valid point and I agree.
Is the US the epitome of morality. Heck no! This is a pure capitalist country, which looks after its own interests. Why did US not attack N. Korea which has a dictator, who has nuclear weapons. There is no oil there. But then why did US fight in Kosovo ? There was no oil there also. So looking for consistency in US foreign policy is a futile effort.
Why did France and Russia oppose the reolution ? Is it because of morality ? Heck no! Who are Iraq’s biggest trading partners ? Every single nation in the world is looking after its own interest.
I also found that people support my opinion too. Atleast 2 :). But what was the other alternative to war ? The UN Resolution passed unanimously asked him to disarm. The UN Reports mention of large quantities of unaccounted chemical weapons. Weapons Inspectors could not find anything. Not a single comment mentioned any other alternatives.
So in all this hypocrisy, what is good ? The people of Iraq can live freely, speak their mind, and dissent without having to worry about being killed.
That’s the final word from me.
There were people dancing in the streets in Afghanistan when the Taliban fell. Look where Afghanistan is now – all Karzai’s government controls is Kabul for about 8 hours during the day. Women are being forced out of school and under the veil all over again, and warlords reign supreme. These are the conditions that gave birth to the Taliban. We need to ensure the same does not happen in Iraq.
No one seriously doubted the Coalition of the Bullied and Bought (and this Roy was spot on about) would not win. The ease of the victory so far is surprising but really, the battle begins now. To use the cliche, can they win the peace? I’m doubtful, but then, oil provides motive for staying engaged. time will tell.
My only problem is with US bigbully attitude. [Nazi Germany started this way] & their proclamations of moral authority [ these white people who eradicated almost entire native american race from this earth] as if they really give a damn about these people.
Hope I didn’t spoil your appetite for breakfast tomorrow with all the talking of hungry people in the world.
nice arguing with you.
Ahh, finally it comes out PI! It is the white people you don’t like – have fun being racist, dude!
But wait, aren’t there UN peacekeepers in Afghanistan? I mean, things should be perfect there, right?
Madhu, how terrible of you to insist things are not going good in a land where peace is administered under the auspices of the UN – You must be some kind of a realist or something 🙂
What a great genius you are. Kudos to you finally giving me a label. All that analysis & conclusion came from your pea sized left brain? wow.
Brutal killing of native americans in this land was committed not by blacks or yellows but only by white americans who came here from Europe. Reading this truth make you label me as racist, then you sure have the mentality of black houseslave who cann’t find anything wrong with her whitemaster.
Shanthi in your weblog ‘dancing with the dogs’ { this great original title also from your peasized brain, another wow} you claim “Iam not a confrontational sort of person.” you gave instructions to visitors how to write their comments like no nasty or personal attacks, no labelling etc. But you seem to have no problem personally attacking me as racist & DUDE.
You too have fun being whatever you are, lady!?
I bow at thee, O Great Master! I have been living my entire life with this pea-sized brain and making a good deal of money on it, so I had no idea what I was missing all these days.
BTW, Dancing with Dogs is not original? How bad of me – and how dare I make rules for trolls on my blog. Do you give out these nuggets of wisdom for free, or do you charge for them? Do you accept credit cards and checks or only cash? I am desperate.
Now that Baghdad’s partying, does anyone want to join me at the Marina to hold candles to the protestors’ .. oh nevermind.
Please don’t despair. I usually give them freely.
Because you claim to be desperate for my nuggets of wisdom – here is another nugget
“sucking upto US, bacause I live in US & making lots of money.” I think this is more original title than yours.