Monday, July 22, 2013

The Fire This Time: U.S. War Crimes in the Gulf

1992, first edition, from Thunder's Mouth Press
Ramsey Clark
The Fire This Time: U.S. War Crimes in the Gulf
Bought new for $21.95
Hardcover in good condition
B-

Like If You Love This Planet, this book is a downer, and of course the title has gotten more ironic over time.  (Clark would call for the impeachment of both Presidents Bush.)  But, maybe because I felt less personally responsible, I found this book easier to take.  I will admit that one reason why I became relatively apolitical last decade is that I felt like recent history was repeating itself and it was pointless to get angry and sad all over again.  So I stopped paying as much attention to world events.  But rereading this book took me back to the early '90s, in a different way than rereading Faludi and Wolf.  I found myself wondering why I still harbor so much hatred towards Reagan and not towards his successor.  The lies, hypocrisy, and cruelty made me sad and angry as if more than 20 years hadn't passed.  

I will say that the book does have some of the hallmarks of a rush job, including redundancies.  Clark is not the writer Chomsky or Cockburn is, but I did appreciate in particular his look at "The Role of the American Media in the Gulf Crisis."

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