Coming February 6, 2024 . . .
MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE
by Michael Wolraich
Pre-order at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop
Coming February 6, 2024 . . . MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE by Michael Wolraich Pre-order at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop |
Another American disaster in the making... or the "audacity of a dope".
Desperate to avoid US military involvement in Libya in the event of a prolonged struggle between the Gaddafi regime and its opponents, the Americans have asked Saudi Arabia if it can supply weapons to the rebels in Benghazi. The Saudi Kingdom, already facing a "day of rage" from its 10 per cent Shia Muslim community on Friday, with a ban on all demonstrations, has so far failed to respond to Washington's highly classified request, although King Abdullah personally loathes the Libyan leader, who tried to assassinate him just over a year ago.
Washington's request is in line with other US military co-operation with the Saudis. The royal family in Jeddah, which was deeply involved in the Contra scandal during the Reagan administration, gave immediate support to American efforts to arm guerrillas fighting the Soviet army in Afghanistan in 1980 and later – to America's chagrin – also funded and armed the Taliban.
But the Saudis remain the only US Arab ally strategically placed and capable of furnishing weapons to the guerrillas of Libya. Their assistance would allow Washington to disclaim any military involvement in the supply chain – even though the arms would be American and paid for by the Saudis.
Comments
Anti-Zionist Anti-Obama/Bush-foreign-policy Professor Angry Arab has been posting on Fisk lately and suggesting Fisk has lost it, once considered a frendly, now in a sort of delusionary egostical state where he is creating narratives out of whole cloth. Here's the 3 most recent examples, the first on the article you cite:
by artappraiser on Tue, 03/08/2011 - 5:35pm
Fisk and Friedman became friends in the 80s covering the Lebanese civil war .Clearly they differ on Israel. Not so much on Lebanon where Fisk was fond of the politician (Hariri ? Prime Minister ?) who was murdered in the mid 90s. Fisk describes being jailed in Pakistan , the phone rang and it was ?Harriri who's booming voice asking " Robert , what are you doing in jail?Shall I get you out?
They seem similar to me. Good reporters with strong political views which unfortunately somewhat undermine the credibility of that reporting.
by Flavius on Tue, 03/08/2011 - 7:26pm
Interesting point, Flav. Friedman was a very good reporter once upon a time....
by artappraiser on Tue, 03/08/2011 - 7:28pm
That's Fisk's view.But I've still heard him in BBC interviews remarking wih pleasure that he was about to have dinner with Friedman in a coming trip to the US.
by Flavius on Tue, 03/08/2011 - 8:07pm
The rest of Fisk's article is also interesting reading. As for Angry Arab, his dismissal of the "highly classified" request to the Saudis ("I don't buy it") counts for nothing as evidence. Granted, Fisk doesn't cite his source or sources either, but he's had a decent track record on this sort of thing. I'm no fan of Friedman, but Fisk's friendship with him doesn't diminish his credibility.
by acanuck on Tue, 03/08/2011 - 8:33pm
he's had a decent track record on this sort of thing
I don't agree. I've seen him report a lot of things that didn't turn out to be correct over the years, especially as regards Iraq. Sometimes he gets it right because it ends up being a good source simply by luck of the draw. But I don't trust his judgment of sources at all, he seems to just seek anything inflammatory and anti-Ameican and run with it, without even trying to judge if it's someone or a faction or country or diplomat using him as a tool. Now he's starting to sound like he likes being used as a tool. Just mho.
One who does the similar things on the other side of the ideological fence is Arnaud De Borchgrave, a paleo-con long associated with UPI. He was always transmitting leaks from muckety muck diplomacy circles that were intended to affect things going on, not actual factuals, i.e. :the Saudis are trying to buy nukes or some such.
by artappraiser on Tue, 03/08/2011 - 9:17pm
I used to think of him as being pro arab rather than necessarily anti american but I may be out of date. I occasionally glance at my copy of Pity the Nation (which I could have used to check to check the spelling of Rafiq Hariri's name ) but I'm probably not going to read it unless Lebanon erupts. If I actually did I'd have a basis for an opinion.
For a while I was spending a lot of time in London and tho I'm really a Guardian reader I'd get the Independent for him and a couple of other writers.If Anti American he didn't seem hysterically so.
Simply to the point of his journalism, I was impressed by the fact that just before Shock and Awe rather than settling into the presumably safe hotels used by jounalists he took an apartment and reported from there.
by Flavius on Tue, 03/08/2011 - 9:52pm