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Title: 9-11 by Noam Chomsky ISBN: 1-58322-489-0 Publisher: Seven Stories Press Pub. Date: October, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $8.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.9 (143 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Insightful
Comment: This book couldn't come at a better time. I've read other works by Chomsky, but I appreciated the brevity and cutting edge analysis that is needed to help see through the fog of distortions, propaganda, and lack of historical analysis that is used to gain support for what Chomsky calls a terrorist attack on the innocent people of Afghanistan.
Though Chomsky repeaditaly states that the 9/11 attack is unjustfied, he rightly argues that if we fail to understand the context of such an attack, then we're doom, like the state of Isreal, to live without any hope of peace and justice. Throughout the various interviews reproduced in this book, he maintains that "we should recognize that in much of the world the U.S. is regarded as a leading terrorist state, and with good reason. We might bear in mind, for example, that in 1986 the U.S. was condemned by the World Court for 'unlawful use of force' (international terrorism) and then vetoed a Security Council resolution calling on all states (meaning the U.S.) to ahdhere to international law." What the U.S. has done or supported in Vietnam, Granada, Guatemala, Nicaragua, the Sudan, El Salvador, Chile, occupied Palestine, etc. constitute a recent history of political terrorist repression, whereby hundreds of thousands of innocent people, especially women and children, have been killed primarily to protect the political and economic (e.g. oil, coffee) interests of the United States.
Chomsky reminds us that the current war is nothing new or partisan. The attack on Afghanistan is/will be 10 times as devistating as Clinton's attack on the Sudan in which the "death toll from the bombing has continued, quietly, to rise...Thus, tens of thousands of people--many of them children--have suffered and died from malaria, tuberculosis, and other treatable diseases..." And this attack as we must remember was done based on the same current erroneous reasons given for the current attack on the people of Afghanistan and Irag--all three in persuit of a despotic leader.
Not a supporter of the Islamic fundementalist bin Landen, Chomsky does remind readers of the history of the U.S. in Afghanistan whereby in the 1980s, the U.S. trained and funded networks to committ a "holy war against the Russian occupiers....By 1989, they [the Mujahidin, in which bin Landen was a principle leader] succeeded in their Holy War in Afghanistan. As soon as the U.S. established a permanent military presence in Saudi Arabia, bin Landen and the rest announced that from their point of view, that was comparable to the Russian occupation of Afghanistan and they turned their guns on the Americans, as had already happened in 1983 when the U.S. had military forces in Lebanon. Saudi Arabia is a major enemy of the bin Laden network, just as Egypt is. That's what they want to overthrow, what they call the un-Islamic governements of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, other states of the Middles East, and North Africa. And it continued."
This type of history and analysis provides us with the context for 9/11--one that we simply will not get from watching or reading the dominant media. While many may argue with Chomsky's analysis, he nevertheless provides the necessary rebuttal to what, in my view, is the perfect war for someone like the unelected president of this country.
Finally, the only problem I have with this book is that Chomsky or the editor should have provided documentation for the many "reports" refered to in this work. Without identifying specific sources, Chomsky weakens many of his arguments, for we simply don't know where he's getting his information.
Rating: 3
Summary: A problematic but compelling approach to the events of 9-11
Comment: I find Noam Chomsky's "9-11" to be a very difficult book to review, but still feel compelled to offer my assessment. First, the basic facts: this book consists of a series of interviews with Chomsky; these interviews were conducted in the first month after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. In his comments, Chomsky offers a radically contrary view to the flag waving, "I-support-the-President" attitude that has seemed so pervasive throughout the U.S. Chomsky seems to be assuming the role of the angry prophet who points an accusing finger at a nation (the U.S.) and its leaders. Chomsky's interviewers in "9-11" include many different individuals and media outlets: Italy's "Il Manifesto," the "Hartford Courant," Greece's Alpha TV Station, and more.
Chomsky does not rationalize the 9-11 attacks, and in fact condemns them as "horrifying atrocities." But he also claims that the United States' "war against terrorism" is essentially a hypocritical sham. Many times he makes the claim that "the U.S. itself is a leading terrorist state." To support this contention he cites such history as the U.S. actions in Nicaragua under the Reagan administration. He also discusses at length the Clinton administration's bombing of a pharmaceutical plant in the Sudan. He criticizes the U.S. campaign in Afghanistan up to the time the book went to press, and discusses other connected issues.
The book includes many citations from mainstream media ("The New York Times," the "London Observer," the "Christian Science Monitor," etc.), so one can't accuse Chomsky of just making his claims up. I would also note that David Rose, who is one of the many journalists cited by Chomsky, has a relevant piece in the Jan. 2002 issue of "Vanity Fair"; those interested in this book might want to also check out that article.
Much of what Chomsky says is compelling. But some of his claims and analogies strike me as flawed. For example, he claims that, in the wake of 9-11, the U.S. should have followed the response model demonstrated after the bombing of the Oklahoma City building. But Timothy McVeigh was not being sheltered by a regime at odds with the U.S., so the comparison hardly seems logical. And his accusation that the U.S. is engaging in an "ongoing process of silent genocide" in Afghanistan also strikes me as hard to defend.
The book is, in my opinion, greatly hurt by Chomsky's own tone. He seems to show little compassion for the victims of 9-11; actually, his words have a cold, arrogant flavor to them. Whether this is the fault of Chomsky or his editor, I do not know, but I imagine this tone will only alienate potential readers.
I applaud Chomsky for pointing out some relevant data from recent history, and for his willingness to raise a contrary voice in a time of crisis. But there is much in "9-11" that I must question. Despite the book's flaws, however, I recommend it to critical readers who want to better educate themselves on the issues surrounding 9-11.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Voice of Reason on An Emotional Subject
Comment: For the most part Chomsky is closer to the truth than his detractors.
Years ago I was a student at MIT and had a laboratory close to Chomsky's office in the old research MIT Research Laboratory of Electronics. At that time, and for many years later I thought Chomsky was a rabid liberal- socialist that was out somewhere in left field on many issues.
Of course I had formed that opinion without reading his books! But I knew that he had written dozens of books, was made an Institute Professor (which is a big deal at MIT) had written hundreds of papers and had at least 20 honorary doctorates from universities all around the world. When I sat down and read his books page by page I was converted. He simply presents the facts in a cool and detached manner. The facts speak quite eloquently for themselves and they are damming of US foreign policy.
On 9-11 and after like many others if I had been the President I would have ordered a military strike. It was and is a natural response as if your wife was raped or a child killed by a criminal. We wanted revenge for the 3,000 killed. Even Rudolph Giuliani told Bush he wanted to personally pull the trigger when Bin Laden was captured. It was a time of high emotion. Bush followed human instincts and his advisors, and indeed at lot of pressure from the American public and the congress to do something.
Chomsky of course has taken a more rational approach and has tried to formulate a quick analysis of what happened and where we have gone wrong. This is a short book but otherwise excellent. It is a question and answer format. I cannot agree with everything in the book but it gives a fair portrayal of many aspects of the problem. In many respects the US has become a rogue nation, pumped up with layer of propaganda and patriot rhetoric that has permitted the government for over 45 years and often with congressional and public support to invade Afghanistan, Cambodia, Cuba, Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador, Grenada, Panama, Somalia, Haiti, Kosovo, Iraq, to send troops to Lebanon, to bomb Yemen, Libya, and the Sudan. No wonder the US has enemies. If we are upset about the 3,000 killed on 9-11 what do the Vietnamese think of the 2 million killed by the USA?
It is time for a complete re-think of the US foreign policy and the role of the UN and other institutions such that groups and countries will act within a set of internationally accepted laws. Then variations from those laws will be addressed by all nations acting together, not just the US following its own self interests for better or for worse. That is the value of this thin book on 9-11.
My humble opinion.
Jack in Toronto
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Title: Media Control: The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda (Open Media Series) by Noam Chomsky ISBN: 1583225366 Publisher: Seven Stories Press Pub. Date: December, 2002 List Price(USD): $8.95 |
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Title: Understanding Power: The Indispensable Chomsky by Noam Chomsky, John Schoeffel, Peter R. Mitchell, Peter Mitchell ISBN: 1565847032 Publisher: New Press Pub. Date: February, 2002 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace by Gore Vidal ISBN: 156025405X Publisher: Nation Books Pub. Date: 10 March, 2002 List Price(USD): $10.00 |
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Title:Noam Chomsky - Distorted Morality: America's War on Terror? ASIN: B00008AOW1 Publisher: Koch Vision Entertai Pub. Date: 25 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $7.98 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $7.98 |
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Title: Manufacturing Consent : The Political Economy of the Mass Media by Noam Chomsky, Edward S. Herman ISBN: 0375714499 Publisher: Pantheon Books Pub. Date: 15 January, 2002 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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