More from Gore Vidal
Vergil Iliescu points us to two resources for those who want to keep up with what Gore Vidal is saying these days. Here’s a resource site. And here’s the essay on the subject of the radio interview with Vidal that I still haven’t listened to.
I found the essay disappointing. In the course of its explanation of 9/11 and our government’s reaction to it, the essay presents just about every conspiracy theory without discriminating among them: pipelines, US sponsorship, previous knowledge, unscrambled jets. It thus comes across as loopy and possibly loony, even though I actually believe in some of the theories he presents. (For example, the Afghan “pipeline is a go-project thanks to the junta’s installation of a Unocal employee (John J Maresca) as US envoy to the newly born democracy whose president, Hamid Karzai, is also, according to Le Monde, a former employee of a Unocal subsidiary. Conspiracy? Coincidence!”) Not up to his usual snuff. Lots of ideas and uncomfortable facts, though.
Categories: Uncategorized dw
While Vidal certainly raises all the conspiracy theories, it doesn’t come across to me as loopy just because of that. All the issues raised could be true all at once, and its important that the questions are asked. I generally don’t think much of conspiracy theories, but I do believe that those in power are highly opportunistic, and effectively so.
Opportunistic actions taken are consistent with particular philosophical (or political) viewpoints (eg thoughts of manifest destiny, while perhaps not explicity stated, are held implicitly; the current situation in Iraq is recognised as such an oppurtunity by the Bush government, and it has taken advantage of it. The pipeline deal in Afghanistan is another example of serious opportunism – whether or not it is true that an invasion was planned prior to Sept 11 anyway.
In the case of Sept 11, there seems to me to have been a great deal of incompetency involved, rather than outright conspiracy, but nevertheless, the opportunists in Washington seized every bit of it. I don’t live in the USA, but it matters to me because my country has slavishly followed in the USA’s foolish foreign policy footsteps for many years now.
What I think is truly loopy is the idea that the USA is planning to invade Iraq because it wants to free the people and give them democracy. Or that Iraq is an immanent threat to the USA.
“The pipeline deal in Afghanistan is another example of serious opportunism”
The difference between taking the opportunity to build a pipeline through Afghanistan after the ouster of the Taliban (opportunism) – and staging a massive attack on NYC in order to be able to do so is pretty substantial. Pretty darn substantial. Of course, I don’t expect a leftist to agree. Oh, just in case you haven’t noticed, your pal Saddam is headed for a fall. Watch it and weep…
Regards / GulGnu
-Stabil som fan!
GulGnu, to whom are your offensive remarks addressed? The very line you quote about opportunism makes the point you think you’re making against it. And who do you think is Saddam’s pal?
If you’re going to be obnoxious, you should at least try to be coherent.
Just wanted to make sure you knew about Gore Vidal’s “Enemy Within”, at the same site that hosts “Crimes Against Humanity”
I post items like this on my “Beyond Greed”
Gore Vidal raises the valid point that the Bush “junta” has vehemently opposed any congressional investigation into the failure of the military to respond to the 9/11 highjacking.
The Bush administration’s obsession with maintaining secrets fuels suspicions of conspiracy – remember Cheney’s lid on the Enron meetings? – and the administration’s closing down access to past presidential papers? This is the most secretive administration since Nixon, perhaps in U.S. history, and draws suspicion like a magnet.
We are chastised for pointing out that the White House is occupied by the energy mafia. “No connection” to current events we are repremanded. “Mere coincidence”. The fact is that Bush is a born-again fundie, and therefore by definition a mendacious maniac capable of any outrage. The entire adminstration is hell-bent on a radical right-wing agenda on all fronts, an agenda that lacks general public support and is rapidly hurdling us from recession into depression. Vidal earlier pointed out that if the United States ever produces a tyrant, he will not be a screaming demogogue like Hitler, but pander with a soft-spoken and reassuing tone, like Arthur Godfrey (one-time radio personality). It seems that Vidal was prescient at usual.
The really frustrating part of all this speculation is just that – all we have is speculation. The Bush team has a hostile, bunker-mentality and aggressive arrogance worthy of the Brown Shirts – meanwhile the Democratic Party has sunk into passive submission at the worst possible time. The Republic is at the mercy of men who regard self-doubt as a sign of weakness, and honest questioning as treason. God help us all.
I must say that Gore Vidal’s writings on 9/11 left me cold. Personally, I feel that there should be more investigation into the lead-up to 9/11–to US government support for the Taliban in Afganistan and for Sudam Husein in Iraq.
Gore Vidal is a true patriot. He is one of the few with the courage to speak and write the truth of what we in America are losing.
Americans let fear control them…fear is used to manipulate them to support Bush’s war on Iraq…while the truth is obscured with propaganda.
I highly recommend Vidal’s books, and pertaining to our current situation, particularly: Imperial America, Dreaming War, and Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace. These are three books every American who cares about our republic should read.
I invite those interested to my Gore Vidal page on my website (linked to my name in this post).