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& REVIEWS BEHIND THE WAR ON TERROR concludes that the war for the "liberation" of by Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed Iraq was "nothing less than a brazen colonial Clairview Books, UK, 2003 enterprise, fundamentally opposed to ele- ISBN 1-902636-44-9 (346pp tpb) mentary humanitarian principles, and moti- Availability: Clairview Books website, vated by longstanding imperial values". http:/www.clairviewbooks.com Ahmed's work, punctuated with published egular readers should recall the extract and rare documentary evidence, is an awe- Rs review we ran in NEXUS 9/05 of some critique of democracies gone mad. Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed's The War on Freedom, his analysis of events surrounding REEFER MADNESS and Other Tales 9/11. For his new book, Behind the War on from the American Underground Terror, Ahmed investigates the secret histo- _ by Eric Schlosser ry of Western—particularly Anglo- Allen Lane/Penguin Books, 2003 (also American—manoeuvrings in the Middle pub. by Houghton Mifflin Co., USA, 2003) East since the fall of the Ottoman Empire ISBN 0-713-99658-7 (310pp tpb) and up to today's US-led War on Iraq. Availability: Penguin Group website, http://www.penguin.com istory has shown that the more some- thing is prohibited, the more it thrives in the underground—the black economy. In Reefer Madness..., award-winning journalist Eric Schlosser, a correspondent for Atlantic Monthly and author of Fast Food Nation, ‘ocuses on three areas of economic activity that have burgeoned in the underground, especially in the last three decades: marijua- na, migrant workers and pornography. Certainly, the American Prohibition era, 920-33, showed what happens when a major commodity, alcohol, is made illegal. So while there's nothing new about black Ahmed argues that the so-called War on market economies, they have undergone a Terror has roots traceable to the immediate ge expansion in the US (and elsewhere) in post-WWII period, its political climate char- recent decades. As Schlosser sees it, this acterised by US planning for the global can be attributed in part to the hippie coun- expansion of its military might and econom- _ terculture of the late 1960s meeting up with ic power, which was essential for securing the anti-tax movement of the late 1970s— access to foreign oil and gas resources. But —_both groups sharing a voice in their disdain for US (and UK) neocolonialism to have or the government and defiance of the legitimacy, a global threat had to be manu- Internal Revenue Service. The rollercoaster factured to justify military interventions— hasn't stopped since. In the post-industrial which is why the US needs bogeymen like society where more money is spent on mari- Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. juana than on tobacco, where migrant work- Ahmed's perceptive analysis is divided er smuggling is a billion-dollar business that into two parts: the 1991 Gulf War Massacre _props up the US economy, and where porn and the history and strategic context of as gone from an obscure deviant racket to Western state terrorism; and Bleeding the mass popular entertainment, we can make Gulf, which looks at the social and econom- sense of Schlosser's proposition that the ic effects of UN sanctions on Iraq, the false mainstream and underground economies are pretext for war over supposed WMD, two sides of the same coin. anthrax terrorist attacks on US soil and the There are some truly tragic and cautionary corruption of human rights discourse. tales told in Reefer Madness—originally an Ahmed prepared most of his book before essay, now expanded into book form. the US/UK invasion of Iraq, but includes a Schlosser laments that American society has substantial postscript written in late April. become so at odds with itself that it's "like a He reports on the ruthless US control of personality beginning to decompose". The information and routine killing of non- harshness of its laws and the penalties in embedded journalists, the huge number of these three areas—sex, drugs and cheap civilian casualties caused by Operation labour—are symptomatic of a much larger Shock and Awe, US failure to protect civil- problem affecting this supposedly great ians and provide humanitarian assistance, nation. Schlosser concludes that black mar- and bribing of senior military and adminis- kets, while they'll always be with us, will tration figures in Saddam Hussein's inner fade in importance if only public and private circle to effect the "regime change". He morality can be consistent. BEHIND THE WAR ON TERROR by Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed Clairview Books, UK, 2003 ISBN 1-902636-44-9 (346pp tpb) Availability: Clairview Books website, http://www.clairviewbooks.com Ra readers should recall the extract and review we ran in NEXUS 9/05 of Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed's The War on Freedom, his analysis of events surrounding 9/11. For his new book, Behind the War on Terror, Ahmed investigates the secret histo- ry of Western—particularly Anglo- American—manoeuvrings in the Middle East since the fall of the Ottoman Empire and up to today's US-led War on Iraq. Ahmed argues that the so-called War on Terror has roots traceable to the immediate post-WWII period, its political climate char- acterised by US planning for the global expansion of its military might and econom- ic power, which was essential for securing access to foreign oil and gas resources. But for US (and UK) neocolonialism to have legitimacy, a global threat had to be manu- factured to justify military interventions— which is why the US needs bogeymen like Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. Ahmed's perceptive analysis is divided into two parts: the 1991 Gulf War Massacre and the history and strategic context of Western state terrorism; and Bleeding the Gulf, which looks at the social and econom- ic effects of UN sanctions on Iraq, the false pretext for war over supposed WMD, anthrax terrorist attacks on US soil and the corruption of human rights discourse. Ahmed prepared most of his book before the US/UK invasion of Iraq, but includes a substantial postscript written in late April. He reports on the ruthless US control of information and routine killing of non- embedded journalists, the huge number of civilian casualties caused by Operation Shock and Awe, US failure to protect civil- ians and provide humanitarian assistance, and bribing of senior military and adminis- tration figures in Saddam Hussein's inner circle to effect the "regime change". He NEXUS 71 OCTOBER — NOVEMBER 2003 www.nexusmagazine.com