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Amy Goodman: In this second part of conversation, Chomsky discusses a wide range of issues that are making headlines today — including Iraq.
Chomsky said:
Now, take the war in Iraq. When you talk about the government propaganda system we have to recognize that that includes the media. It includes the media, the journalists and so on. That’s all part of the propaganda system, very closely linked. There is virtually no criticism of the war in Iraq. Now, that will surprise journalists, I suppose. They think they’re being very critical, but they’re not. I mean, the kinds of criticism of the war in Iraq that are allowed in the doctrinal system, media and so on, are the kind of criticisms you heard about, say, in the German general staff after Stalingrad: it’s not working; it’s costing too much; we made a mistake, we should get a different general; something like that. In fact, it’s about at the level of a high school newspaper cheering the local football team. You don't ask, “Should they win?” You ask, “How are we doing?” You know, “Did the coaches make a mistake? Should we try something else?” That's called criticism.
But there’s a critical question: What right does the U.S. have to invade another country, in gross violation of international law, understanding that it’s probably going to increase the threat of terror and nuclear proliferation? But just, you know, it’s a supreme international crime, in the words of the Nuremburg Tribunal, for which German leaders were hanged. You know, the issue isn't how they are going to win, it’s “What are they doing there in the first place?”
Read the rest of the interview, including troop withdrawal from Iraq; the growing rejection of US policies in Latin America; the upheaval in Haiti; and last week's elections in Israel.
Download high-resolution video files via the BitTorrent network:
• Noam Chomsky Interview 1 (mp4, 416 MB) • Noam Chomsky Interview 2 (mp4, 418 MB)
{ 9 } Comments
Noam Chomsky? This is the guy who claims that the United States in general and George Bush specifically, was responsible for Noah's Flood, the Spanish Inquisition and male pattern baldness. You might want to find someone else to site if you want to retain any credibility.
Bush used WMD as an excuse. Weapons of Mass Deceptions.
Noam Chomsky is a man of dignity, one of the few Jews intellectual capable of sharp unbiased point of view.
noam is right. we should be questioning the invasion itself, not the tactics of the invasion. saddam hussein is in court, charged with war crimes, and he still turns round and accuses those that are trying him, of those exact crimes. i would probably be classed as an "extremist" for even suggesting it, but perhaps saddam is right?
the iraq discussion is a stupid one anyway. anyone who has read into it in detail cannot fail to recognise the the usa and britain have a planned economic agenda in iraq. i am a british citizen but personally i hope the insurgants are successful. they have a right to keep their country as theirs. our armies have no right to play the role of world police.
Noam Chomsky is a man who has garnered respect from individuals on all sides of the political spectrum. It is only those hardliners who refuse to acknowledge his tremendous intellect and insight.
He is absolutely correct that the media is part of spreading the propaganda simply by not asking the right questions. They are so afraid of being called traitors and not supporting their brave soldiers that they refuse to be truly critical of the Bush administration.
Andrew, I agree with you on the subject of Saddam Hussein and his trial. When he is being charged with committing genocide on his own people, the U.S. should be charged right alongside him with aiding and abetting. They are the ones who gave him the weapons of mass destruction. They are the ones who turned a blind eye towards the massacre when it happened. Now, all of a sudden they are charging him with the crime. The trial is a joke because if Saddam is guilty, then so is the U.S.
Noam Chomsky is correct in his view and I admire him for standing up and speaking out about the issue.
I do not know allot about Chomsky, but It really does note take a genius to figure out that the Bush administration is full of it.
Any one who continues to say that they support what Bush is doing, must be blind or just plain dumb, the administration lied through their teeth about WMD they lied about Sadams' involvement with 9/11, and now they are stuck in a really bad situation.
So what now? Well I do not believe that the US can simply leave Iraq, they need to assist in rebuilding what they destroyed, and they also need to assist the Iraqi government in building its forces so that they may return some kind of a normalcy to the people.
Simply leaving Iraq will only throw it into a long civil war, and possibly will end with a fundamentalist government.
All I can say is I seen this coming before the war even started, what a mess.
I first heard of Noam Chomsky the day I started my first linguistic lesson at university (1977) through his 'Generative Grammar'.When I read one of his political articles that criticise American domestic and foreign policies,I wasn't sure he could be the same person, but he is. Chomsky is a very notorious figure all over the world and I really admire his political ideas as much as I admired his famous linguistic theories.
Smoke a peace pipe -preferrably with cannabis-
peace
Hello Curt from Houston,
Your response is a well-known logical fallacy known as shooting the messenger. Care to try again in addressing any of Chomsky's points?
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