The Iraq Debate
In the midst of the crowd of journalists who have flocked to hear him, Noam Chomsky is a frail old man in jeans and a white shirt. He moves with uncertain pace and an estranged look. You would never expect passionate political comments and biting accusations to come out of such a gentle complexion. However, as soon as he sits into his chair and looks at the crowd he commands their respect, "These microphones should not be turned towards me, but to the other side. I give you the word." Thus the interview begins:
Professor Chomsky, concerning US foreign policy and the War on Terror, what is your view on the current situation?
Let me start by making one thing clear: I think we ought to be very cautious about using the phrase 'War on Terror'. There can't be a war on terror. That is a logical impossibility. First of all because war is one of the principal means through which terror is perpetuated; and secondly because the USA is one of the leading terrorist states in the world.
Do you think there might be adverse effects from fighting this war?
A war on Iraq could have adverse effects on the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction in the world. At present the USA is giving a very dangerous lesson to the world. It is about to attack Iraq, which does not really seem to have such weapons of mass destruction. But when North Korea announced that it would leave the treaty of non-proliferation and build up its arsenal of nuclear weapons, George W. Bush said he would treat this as a diplomatic question. What is everybody around the world going to think? If we don't have weapons of mass destruction the USA may well attack us. But if we do develop weapons of mass destruction they are never going to take the risk.
How do you judge the position of Europe in the context of the present conflict?
Europe is divided. On one hand the UK, Italy and Spain are in favour of the war. Some European journalists have commented that they are acting as Bush's poodles. I tend to think that they are more like his attack dogs. We must not forget the size of the contingent that the UK has sent in the Middle East in preparation to this war. On the other hand, however, Germany and France seem to have put up a brave front against the war. In Germany, in particular, the Chancellor Schroeder owes much of his electoral success to the firm anti-war stance he adopted during the electoral campaign. It remains to be seen how long these two will be able to stand out and watch the others share the oil concessions amongst themselves.
And what is the perception of this war within the USA?
Support for the war on Iraq in the USA is thin. One survey conducted by Time magazine in the USA even found that most Americans believe that the USA is currently the greatest threat to world peace. Various prominent institutions throughout the country, including the Chicago city council and the largest university in the USA (that is, the University of Texas), have passed anti-war resolutions.
It is important, therefore, not to demonise the USA as a monolithic front for war. There is a distinction to be made between what public opinion and civil society want on one hand and what the US administration is doing on the other.
The people of the USA are a crucial component in the movement against the war.
Do you really think that this movement can do anything to stop the war?
The probability of success of the anti-war campaign depends crucially on the base of its popular support... Let's make a comparison with other anti-war campaigns in the past: compared with the Vietnam War movement... The war in Vietnam started in 1962, publicly, with a public attack on South Vietnam - airforce, chemical warfare, concentration camps, the whole business. No protest... the protest that did build up four or five years later was mostly about the bombing of the North, which was terrible, but was a sideshow. The main attack was against South Vietnam and there was never any serious protest against that.
Here you've got massive protest before war's even started. It's just phenomenal.
Of course I am not sure whether we will actually be able to stop the war - the timing is really short. But we can make it costly, and that is important. Even if we don't succeed in stopping the war it is important that the warmongers know it will be costly for them so that perhaps we may succeed in stopping the next one.
6th Feb 2003