Articles en Anglais

Débat G. Achcar/ A. Callinicos

2nd Reply to Alex Callinicos
2nd Reply to Alex Callinicos
Gilbert Achcar
23 January 2005
Dear Alex,
Thank you for your reply to my reply. We are discussing important issues here. Unfortunately, I think you’ve resorted to some regrettable polemical tricks. Let me deal with those briefly before addressing the substantive issues.
You begin by trying to ridicule me by distorting what I wrote. Had I in fact said that I wanted to "educate" sections of the Western anti-imperialist movement, etc., your sarcasm about my alleged (...)
"In this case you have no influence on me..."
"In this case you have no influence on me..."
Alex Callinicos
Dear Gilbert,
Thank you for your reply to my letter, which sheds some light on your original article (“On the Forthcoming Election in Iraq”), but leaves much else in obscurity. It is clear at least that the dismay your piece caused me was, in a sense, welcome to you, since it might be a therapeutic shock, helping you to educate “sections of the Western anti-imperialist movement”, and in particular (...)
Reply to Alex Callinicos
Reply to Alex Callinicos
Gilbert Achcar
Dear Alex, Thank you very much for your letter. I am very pleased at this new opportunity to have an exchange with you, all the more because I admire your rare ability to sustain demanding intellectual activity and an academic career simultaneously with very active involvement in practical politics.
Both of us are deeply committed to building the antiwar and anti-imperialist movement, as we have been consistently doing for so many years. It is this (...)
On the Forthcoming Election in Iraq
On the Forthcoming Election in Iraq
Gilbert Achcar
January 03, 2005
The hypocrisy of the Bush administration is limitless : when George W. Bush and his buddies boast about the forthcoming election in Iraq as an achievement of the civilizing mission that they supposedly took upon themselves in bringing democracy to backward Muslims, they sound like a boss boasting about having raised the wages of the workers in his factory as an illustration of his eagerness to improve their living standard, (...)
Letter to Gilbert Achcar
Letter to Gilbert Achcar
Alex Callinicos
January 2005
Dear Gilbert,
You know how much I respect your judgement - both about revolutionary politics in general and more particularly about the Middle East. Your writings over the past few years have been enormously important as a source of orientation through the tortuous twists and turns of imperialist strategy.
Your ‘Letter to a Slightly Depressed Anti-War Activist’ has become a classic. But precisely for these reasons I read your piece ‘On (...)
Operation Lightning Underway In Baghdad. By James Cogan.
Operation Lightning Underway In Baghdad
By James Cogan
02 June 2005
World Socialist Website
Operation Lightning-the massive deployment of 50,000 US and Iraqi government troops and police into the streets of Baghdad-began on Sunday and is unfolding amid a virtual media blackout and a complete absence of critical commentary. What is taking place amounts to the re-invasion of Iraq’s capital aimed at terrorising the population and cracking down on resistance groups that operate freely across (...)
Who Is Iraq’s New Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari ? By James Cogan.
Who Is Iraq’s New Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari ?
By James Cogan
19 April 2005
World Socialist Web
On April 7, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a leading member of the Islamic fundamentalist Daawa Party and the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), was installed as Iraq’s new prime minister to lead the government being formed following the January 31 elections. The 58-year-old is likely to unveil his cabinet in the next two weeks.
Jaafari’s government will only hold power until the (...)
The Rise Of Legitimate Resistance Movement. By Ghali Hassan.
The Rise Of Legitimate Resistance Movement
By Ghali Hassan
29 April, 2005
Countercurrents.org
Like many resistance movements, the Iraqi Resistance movement is an anti-occupation, anti-colonial movement. The difference about the Iraqi Resistance to US Occupation was that it was an immediate uprising by the Iraqi people. The Iraqi people did not "welcome" the US invading forces. It was a carefully staged lie. Iraqis are bitterly resent all occupation forces, and resistance to an illegal (...)
The elections and the resistance in Iraq. By Anne Alexander and Simon Assaf.
The elections and the resistance in Iraq
Anne Alexander and Simon Assaf
International Socialism 106
The day after Iraqis went to the polls, George Bush and Tony Blair declared that Iraq had ‘turned the corner’. Pro-war commentators were quick to demand that the anti-war camp apologise for opposing the war and some who had been against the war conceded that invasion was a price worth paying for ‘democracy’, even if there were no weapons of mass destruction. Yet the positive gloss on the (...)
Iraq : The rise of the resistance. By Anne Alexander and Simon Assaf.
Iraq : The rise of the resistance
Anne Alexander and Simon Assaf
International Socialism n°105
In early November 2004 US troops destroyed the city of Fallujah. Countless civilians and an untold number of resistance fighters perished in the assault. The city of mosques lay in ruins, but the rubble also buried US and British plans for a stable occupation. On the eve of the attack on Fallujah the military told the soldiers that they were facing their biggest battle since the assault on the (...)
The Pentagon’s Secret Stash. Why we’ll never see the second round of Abu Ghraib photos. By Matt Welch
The Pentagon’s Secret Stash
Why we’ll never see the second round of Abu Ghraib photos
Matt Welch
4-04-2005
http://www.reason.com
The images, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told Congress, depict "acts that can only be described as blatantly sadistic, cruel, and inhuman." After Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) viewed some of them in a classified briefing, he testified that his "stomach gave out." NBC News reported that they show "American soldiers beating one prisoner almost to death, (...)
Left Apologists for the Occupation Iraq’s Right to Resist. By Sharon Smith
Left Apologists for the Occupation Iraq’s Right to Resist
Sharon Smith
4-04-2005
www.counterpunch.com
Many antiwar leaders blamed John Kerry’s defeat on the antiwar movement’s failure to connect with America’s conservative "heartland"--and have since followed Democratic Party liberals as they tack rightward to orient to this target voting base.
Indeed, liberal commentator Geov Parrish leveled harsh criticism at March 19 antiwar protesters in the Seattle Weekly, belittling antiwar rallies (...)
On Globalization, Iraq, and Middle East Studies (interview with N. Chomsky)
On Globalization, Iraq, and Middle East Studies (interview with N. Chomsky)
by Noam Chomsky and Danilo Mandic ; March 29, 2005
Danilo Mandic : Could I please get your views on the recent World Social Forum that was held a few months ago in Porto Allegre, Brazil. Over 150,000 people from 135 countries participated, an unprecedented number ; and they covered a wide range of issues including economic equality, labor rights, war, and global corporate power. What has the social justice movement (...)
Attacking Iran : I Know It Sounds Crazy, But...
Attacking Iran : I Know It Sounds Crazy, But...


by Ray McGovern
March 02, 2005

"’This notion that the United States is getting ready to attack Iran is simply ridiculous.’
"(Short pause)
"’And having said that, all options are on the table.’
"Even the White House stenographers felt obliged to note the result : ’(Laughter).’"
(The Washington Post’s Dan Froomkin on George Bush’s February 22 press conference)
For a host of good reasons -- the huge and draining commitment (...)
Playing the Democracy Card
Playing the Democracy Card
How America Furthers Its National Interests in the Middle East
by Dilip Hiro ; TomDispatch ; March 17, 2005
The United States flaunts the banner of democracy in the Middle East only when that advances its economic, military, or strategic interests. The history of the past six decades shows that whenever there has been conflict between furthering democracy in the region and advancing American national interests, U.S. administrations have invariably opted for the (...)
U.S. frees kidnappers to spy on Iraqi fighters
U.S. frees kidnappers to spy on Iraqi fighters
20-03-2005
Aljazeera.com
A media report revelas that American intelligence and military police officers in Iraq are routinely freeing dangerous criminals in return for a promise to spy on anti-occupation fighters.
According to the Independent on Sunday (IoS) documents show that in one case police rescued a doctor after a gun battle with his kidnappers and arrested two of the kidnap gang, who made full confessions. But the U.S. military police (...)
On Empire And Those Who Fight It by Tariq Ali
On Empire And Those Who Fight It
By Tariq Ali
16 March, 2005
Socialist Worker
Two years after the invasion of Iraq, writer and activist Tariq Ali spoke to Socialist Worker about US strategy in the Middle East and the growth of the Iraqi resistance to the occupation
The Iraqi resistance is demonised by Bush and Blair as terrorists, supporters of Saddam Hussein, Islamic fundamentalists and so on. Tell us what you think of the resistance.
Every resistance movement against imperialism has been (...)
5500 US deserters : We won’t fight in Iraq
5500 US deserters : We won’t fight in Iraq
Doug Lorimer
14-03-2005
Green Left Weekly
On February 25, US Army officials at Fort Stewart, Georgia, announced that Sergeant Kevin Benderman, a 40-year-old army mechanic who refused to deploy to Iraq for a second tour of duty, will be court-martialed on desertion charges. If convicted, he faces up to seven years in prison.
After having spent 10 years in the US military, Benderman missed his unit’s deployment flight to Iraq on January 7. Ten days (...)
Extreme Cinema Verite By Louise Roug
Extreme Cinema Verite
By Louise Roug
15 March, 2005
LA Times
Baqubah , Iraq - When Pfc. Chase McCollough went home on leave in November, he brought a movie made by fellow soldiers in Iraq. On his first night back at his parents’ house in Texas, he showed the video to his fiancee, family and friends.
This is what they saw : a handful of American soldiers filmed through the green haze of night-vision goggles. Radio communication between two soldiers crackles in the background before it’s (...)
The Checkpoint Experience By Annia Ciezadlo
The Checkpoint Experience
By Annia Ciezadlo
15 March, 2005
The Independent
It’s a common occurrence in Iraq : a car speeds towards an American checkpoint or foot patrol ; they fire warning shots ; the car keeps moving. Soldiers then shoot at the car. Sometimes the oncoming car is a foiled suicide-attacker. Other times, the occupants are an unarmed family.
As the shooting of the Italian secret agent Nicola Calipari, as he tried to deliver journalist Giuliana Sgrena to safety, by US forces (...)
The Resort To Torture By Ghali Hassan
The Resort To Torture
By Ghali Hassan
11 March, 2005
Countercurrents.org
In his February “diplomatic offensive” tour of Europe, George Bush and his media entourage were more interested in fiction and hypocrisy than reality and respect for the rules of law. The tour was designed to garner support for America’s unending wars and imperial conquest sold as “democracy” and “freedom”. Mr Bush most obedient representative in Europe, PM Tony Blair of Britain (...)
The Lancet : 100 000 died in Iraq
Iraq Elections And The Liberal Elites : A Response To Noam Chomsky
Iraq Elections And The Liberal Elites :
A Response To Noam Chomsky
By Ghali Hassan
10 March, 2005
Countercurrents.org
In a recent opinion piece, Naom Chomsky writes, "In Iraq, the January elections were successful and praiseworthy. However, the main success is being reported only marginally : The United States was compelled to allow them to take place. That is a real triumph, not of the bomb-throwers, but of non-violent resistance by the people, secular as well as Islamist, for whom Grand (...)
"Falluja Was Wiped Out" By Rüdiger Göbel.
"Falluja Was Wiped Out"
By Rüdiger Göbel, Mahammad J. Haded and Mohammad Awad
10 March, 2005
International Action Center
From Feb. 20-25, IAC activist John Catalinotto was in Belgium and Germany taking part in protests against Bush’s visit to Europe. On Feb. 25, he participated in a meeting where two people from Falluja, Iraq, told of the U.S. assault on their city. Below is his translation of an excellent interview with the two by Rüdiger Göbel of the German daily newspaper Junge Welt, in (...)
Fallujah : A City Without a Future ?
Falluja :
A City Without a Future ?
by Michael Schwartz ;
TomDispatch ; January 14, 2005
In November, after three weeks of "precision" bombing, 10,000 American soldiers and 2,000 Iraqi national guards marched into Falluja. They had five goals :
First and foremost, free Falluja from the grip of the insurgents and allow its citizens to participate in the January 30 elections ;
Second, kill or capture the guerrilla leadership in its "safe haven," particularly Abdul Musab al-Zarqawi, (...)
The Latest American Theory about the Iraqi Resistance
’Going to War with the Army You Have’
Why the U.S. Cannot Correct Its Military Blunders in Iraq
by Michael Schwartz ;
TomDispatch ; March 06, 2005
The Latest American Theory about the Iraqi Resistance
In early February, a Newsweek team led by Rod Nordland produced a detailed account of current theorizing among American and Iraqi officials about the structure of the Iraqi resistance.
Here, in brief, is what these officials told Newsweek : The initial American assault on Iraq was (...)
Seven Theses On The Anti-war Movement And Student Resistance
Seven Theses On The Anti-war Movement And Student Resistance
by Asad Haider ;
March 08, 2005
“The old SDS dictum, ‘People have to be organized around the issues that really affect their lives,’ is really true... That is to say, that racism and imperialism really are issues that affect people’s lives. And it was these things that people moved on, not dorm rules, or democratizing university governance, or any of that bullshit.” -Mark Rudd, “Columbia-Notes on the Spring (...)
Promoting Democracy In Middle East
Promoting Democracy In Middle East
By Noam Chomsky
06 March 2005
Khaleej Times
So-called ‘democracy promotion’ has become the leading theme of declared US policy in the Middle East. The project has a background. There is a ’strong line of continuity’ in the post-Cold War period, writes Thomas Carothers, director of the Carnegie Endowment Program on Law and Democracy, in his new book Critical Mission : Essays on Democracy Promotion.
’Where democracy appears to fit in well with US security and (...)
Stories From Fallujah
Stories From Fallujah
By Dahr Jamail
12 February, 2005
Dahrjamailiraq.com
These are the stories that will continue to emerge from the rubble of Fallujah for years. No, for generations...
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the doctor sits with me in a hotel room in Amman, where he is now a refugee. He’d spoken about what he saw in Fallujah in the UK, and now is under threat by the US military if he returns to Iraq.
“I started speaking about what happened in Fallujah during both sieges (...)
Regaining My Humanity
Regaining My Humanity
By Camilo Mejia
18 February 2005
CodePink.org
I was deployed to Iraq in April 2003 and returned home for a two-week leave in October. Going home gave me the opportunity to put my thoughts in order and to listen to what my conscience had to say. People would ask me about my war experiences and answering them took me back to all the horrors-the firefights, the ambushes, the time I saw a young Iraqi dragged by his shoulders through a pool of his own blood or an innocent (...)
How The U.S. Murdered Fallujah
How The U.S. Murdered Fallujah
By Salam Ismael
18 February, 2005
Socialist Worker
It was the smell that first hit me, a smell that is difficult to describe, and one that will never leave me. It was the smell of death. Hundreds of corpses were decomposing in the houses, gardens and streets of Fallujah. Bodies were rotting where they had fallen-bodies of men, women and children, many half-eaten by wild dogs.
A wave of hate had wiped out two-thirds of the town, destroying houses and mosques, (...)
Iraq’s Crop Patent Law. A Threat To Food Security
Iraq’s Crop Patent Law. A Threat To Food Security
By GM Free Cymru
03 March 2005
Countercurrents.org
Aid agencies and NGOs across the globe have been reacting with horror to the news that new legislation in Iraq was carefully put in place last year by the US that will effectively bring the whole of the country’s agricultural sector under the control of trans-national corporations (TNCs). This will be a disaster for the Iraqi government and especially for the country’s farmers, since (...)
My truth (La mia verità) By Giuliana Sgrena
My truth (La mia verità)
By Giuliana Sgrena
07 March,2005
Il Manifesto
March 6, 2005 - I am still in the darkness. Last Friday was the most dramatic day of my life since I was abducted.
I had just spoken with my abductors, who for days kept telling me I would be released. So I was living in wait. They said things that I would understand only later. They talked of transfer related problems. I had learned to understand which way the wind blew from the attitude of my two "sentinels," the two (...)