Robert Fisk’s comment in The Independent provokes (not deserves) a word-by-word response.
In the end, I think we are just tired of being lied to. Tired of being talked down to, of being bombarded with Second World War jingoism and scare stories and false information and student essays dressed up as “intelligence”. We are sick of being insulted by little men, by Tony Blair and Jack Straw and the likes of George Bush and his cabal of neo-conservative henchmen who have plotted for years to change the map of the Middle East to their advantage.
I don’t think Blair deserves to be called a little man. No good orator does. As for Bush’s fellow neocons, well, it’s a far-fetched statement. But even taken for granted, it doesn’t disturb: the map of the Middle East was drawn by the British, the French, by the Americans and the Israelis, so what’s wrong with correcting it?
As for “student essays”, that’s a good point — the type of analysis one finds in National Review or the numerous pro-war blogs fits the description.
(To be continued — Blogger doesn’t seem to be in the mood to digest large postings today)