When Pilger is in the mood he can be devastating, he has a way of bypassing the BS and just presenting the cold, hard facts which often contradict and make a mockery of western versions of truths or events. Over these four in depth pieces he tackles issues in depth in Indonesia, Iraq, Afghanistan, the Balkans and in his own native Australia. At times he is quite brilliant, exposing western collusion and corruption which is rarely, in some cases never, reported in the mainstream Anglophonic media outlets.
He sums up the state of Indonesia under Sukarno in the mid-60s before the US backed genocide, the country had few debts, Sukarno had thrown out the World Bank, restricted the power of oil companies and publicly told the Americans to “go to hell.” with their loans. That all changed after the slaughter of over a million over 1965-66 and the CIA helped put in the Suharto dictatorship, who along with Anglo-American corporate and political interests carved up the wealth and resources of the nation.
The horrendous embargos carried out by the UK and US in cahoots with the UN on the people of Iraq, described by many as genocide, lead to the death of more than half a million children under the age of five, and of course, when confronted by the facts, dear old Madeleine Albright went on televised record as saying that, “we think the price is worth it.”
Most Americans don’t realise that their sanctions against Iraq killed more than both atomic bombs of Japan combined. According to UNICEF in 1989 Iraqi children had literacy rates was more than 90% they plummeted, putting them down in the bottom 20% in the world after the western sanctions. Also around 93% enjoyed free health care. We also learn of the soaring cancer rates in southern Iraq after the Gulf War of 1991, due to the Allied use of depleted uranium, which even impacted on British civilians who were there.
Pilger also goes into some detail about the intense bombing of civilian villages in Iraq without any military personnel, bases or action in sight – “During 1999, American and British aircraft dropped more than 18000 bombs and hit 450 targets. The cost to the British tax payer is more than £800 million.” At the time this was the longest Anglo-American aerial campaign since WWII.
Not only did the Americans help bring Hussein to power in the first place, but they along with the British had been illegally selling arms to Hussein and Iraq for years but intentionally switching the end user certificates, to cover it up. This included both nations selling weapons to both sides during the Iran – Iraq War too. The US government granted permission for a US corporation to sell chemical weapons to Hussein, which he later used on thousands of Kurdish civilians.
Apparently Pakistani foreign minister, Niaz Naik was told by American officials in mid-July 2001 that the US planned to attack Afghanistan in mid-October 01. And yet we learn that a few years before, “Not only were the Taliban welcomed by Washington, Taliban leaders were flown to Texas, then governed by George W Bush, and entertained in Houston by senior executives of the oil company Unocal. It was always all about securing energy resources in the Middle East.
Pilger also brings up the fact that not only were the US and UK bankrolling and weaponising Osama bin Laden and the Mujahideen in the 80s against Russia, and the Bush family had long-term connections to bin Laden, but they trained future Taliban members in bomb making and other black arts, this continued long after the Russians left Afghanistan and the Anglo-American alliance were happy to back this extremism in spite of knowing exactly how oppressive, cruel and lethal it was, as long as it served its long term interests.
So the sheer depth and breadth of Pilger’s knowledge, reading and research combined with the quality and crispness of his writing make this a real pleasure to read, which pulls out shocking insight after shocking revelation. Over his long and combative career, through his journalism and documentaries Pilger and his many cohorts raised a bold and sustained challenge to the lies, mythologies and hypocrisies which have been perpetrated by so many western political, corporate and media institutions. He’ll be sorely missed.