AJE: John Pilger Gives Probably The Best Description Of What's Really Going On In Iraq You'll Hear

[Turborama]

Run time: 22:22 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bceqsM8RCd4   Posted on YouTube: August 21, 2010 By YouTube Member: AlJazeeraEnglish Views on YouTube: 1016   Posted on DU: August 23, 2010 By DU Member: Turborama Views on DU: 1760

 
US combat forces have left Iraq, but who should be held accountable for the invasion and occupation that has left hundreds of thousands dead? Veteran investigative journalist John Pilger joins the show to discuss.

He takes some really good calls, too (apart from the 1st one).#

His New Satesman article that was quoted...

Blair must be arrested
John Pilger

Published 04 August 2010

Having helped destroy other nations far away, our former prime minister — “peace envoy” to the Middle East — is now free to profit from the useful contacts he made while working as a “servant of the people”.

Now consider the Proceeds of Crime Act. Blair conspired in and executed an unprovoked war of aggression against a defenceless country, of a kind the Nuremberg judges in 1946 described as the "paramount war crime". This has caused, according to scholarly studies, the deaths of more than a million people, a figure that exceeds the Fordham University estimate of deaths in the Rwandan genocide.

In addition, four million Iraqis have been forced to flee their homes and a majority of children have descended into malnutrition and trauma. Cancer rates near the cities of Fallujah, Najaf and Basra (the latter "liberated" by the British) are now higher than those at Hiroshima. "UK forces used about 1.9 metric tonnes of depleted uranium ammunition in the Iraq war in 2003," the Defence Secretary, Liam Fox, told parliament on 22 July. A range of toxic "anti-personnel" weapons, such as cluster bombs, was employed by British and US forces.

Such carnage was justified with lies that have been exposed repeatedly. On 29 January 2003, Blair told parliament: "We do know of links between al-Qaeda and Iraq . . ." Last month, the former head of MI5 Eliza Manningham-Buller told the Chilcot inquiry: "There is no credible intelligence to suggest that connection . . . that gave Osama Bin Laden his Iraqi jihad." Asked to what extent the invasion exacerbated the threat to Britain from terrorism, she replied: "Substantially."

Continues: http://www.newstatesman.com/uk-politics/2010/08/pilger-blair-iraq-britain

His website: http://www.johnpilger.com/

[bbgrunt]

1. excellent. k and r

[Rhiannon12866]

2. K&R #5! Wow, excellent perspective!

I haven't watched the entire thing yet, but what I have seen certainly clarifies both what we've suspected and we've feared. Thanks so much for posting! A must-see for anybody who has an opinion on Iraq! :applause: :hi:

[lumpy]

6. Thread worth kicking, as well a Tony Blair.

v

[Turborama]

8. It really is worth watching right to the very end...

...I know you'll be impressed by what he has to say.

My pleasure, thank you for the #5! :hi:

And a big thanks to everyone else for their recs, too. :fistbump:

[Rhiannon12866]

12. This is definitely one for the bookmarks...

So I will certainly watch it through to the end. I've always been impressed with John Pilger and his insights about Iraq. This deserves many more recs, so I'll give it another :kick: Thanks! :hi:

[msongs]

3. DUers were dazzled when MSNBC was chosen to catapult the propaganda the other day lol nt

[glowing]

14. I think Rachel in Iraq covered it rather well. she asked several times what the difference

was now that "combat" troops were out but that 50,000 troops were still in the country, so many more contractors, and a govt that has yet to form in 5 mos. esssentially asking the same question about the re-branding of the war and the role we still play. I think it was a good thing that they covered something. no one else seemed to even care.

[lovuian]

4. the Truth is out there

Awesome

[sabrina 1]

5. I doubt there is anyone who knows more about

the War in Iraq than John Pilger. He has been writing about it since it began. I wonder what happened to Tony Blair? He seems to have lost his mind completely. Bush never had one, but I used to think that Blair had a conscience.

You have to wonder how these people sleep at night, without being haunted by the carnage they are responsible for.

I hope Britain at least will open a real investigation and lead the way to some justice by prosecuting their own war criminals. Because it won't happen here, but it would make a few of them a little uncomfortable if they were summoned as witnesses or named as co-conspirators.

But I'm dreaming ....

[Amonester]

11. These monsters sleep very comfortably, better than a lot of us, I'm sure.

Because they have absolutely no conscience at all, and they just do not care about others than themselves.

They are consumed by an obsession of grabbing all the big loads of cash that come their way.

In fact, the big money is really all they care about. Nothing else, if not their own selfish vanity.

bush cheney bliar rumsfeld wolfowitz and all the worse bunch of miscreants who hide behind them.

They truly are the most senseless, soul-less, insensitive, and vile greedy bastards of our times.

They think they will be praised for what they did in the future while in reality, the contrary will happen.

It's like they live in some sort of wicked parallel universe, in a permanent, unshakable state of denial.

[sabrina 1]

16. I know you are right. It's just hard to relate to that kind of mindset

A monstrous way of thinking. People with children, like Blair eg, who can look at the dead bodies of Iraqi children and see their parents and loved ones picking up their body parts to put in a bag, and not bat an eye. I simply cannot believe that some of those beautiful dead children will one day haunt their dreams and make it impossible to enjoy their ill-gotten gains.

But, you are probably right and they will die peacefully in their beds.

[Vincevega]

7. kick & rec

[Citizen Worker]

9. The US will leave Iraq when the oil runs out and not one day before then.

[dgauss]

10. Thanks for the link.

Rational discussion, it's a wonderful thing.

[glowing]

13. we could only wish for Sunday shows with the depth and perspective.

it's amazing to hear grownup rational factual discussions without shouting and without presenting two sides even though one side is based in lies.

[Turborama]

15. I agree that every home should be able to access this on TV, but you can access them live online

& for free.

It's available 24/7 here: http://www.livestation.com/channels/3-al_jazeera_english

Here's their schedule: http://english.aljazeera.net/Services/Schedule/ProgramSchedule.aspx

The different shows: http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/

And their YouTube is worth checking in case you miss something because they upload almost everything there, too: http://www.youtube.com/user/AlJazeeraEnglish#g/shows

:hi:

[Rhiannon12866]

17. Kicking for exposure!

This is a must-see for anyone who hopes to understand the situation in Iraq! :kick:

[Turborama]

18. Likewise

And ditto. :kick:

[Uncle Joe]

19. That was an excellent, in-depth, professional interview.

Thanks for the thread, Turborama.:thumbsup: