The Powell River Peak, Canada
Jan 20 2007

Book on conflict a must-read

By Dennis Peacock
01/18/2007

Another year has drawn to a close. I’ve avoided making many New
Year’s resolutions, as most never see the light of day. However, one
resolution that I don’t have to worry about is to read Robert Fisk’s,
The Great War for Civilization, subtitled, The Conquest of the Middle
East. I read it in 2006.

However, for anyone who is in the least bit interested in events in
the Middle East (virtually every Canadian should be, since Canadian
soldiers are fighting and dying in Afghanistan) their New Year’s
resolution should be to read Robert Fisk’s, The Great War for
Civilization.

It’s not any easy read at 1,000 pages, 1,100 if the index is read.
But it is virtually everything readers ever wanted to know about that
unfortunate area of the world. The Algerian civil war is horribly
cruel. Fisk takes readers right back to the Armenian genocide, the
original modern Holocaust, which set the pattern for future
genocides, including that of the Jews.

Fisk is in Afghanistan when the Russians roll in, personally
witnessing one more attempt to control that virtually ungovernable
country. He reports on the brutal Iran-Iraq war of eight years, first
from the Iraqi, then the Iranian side. He rides a Iranian helicopter
right up to the frontlines, but strangely, when he tries to report on
the deaths of thousands of Iranian soldiers from poison gas used by
the Iraqis, no one in the West seems much interested. Saddam Hussein
is our ally at this time.

Fisk is also around during the first Gulf War, when Norman
Swartzkopf, under orders from George Bush Sr., reluctantly halts his
army in front of Baghdad, allowing Saddam to turn his republican
guard against Shiites, Kurds, and Swamp Arabs, who have risen in
revolt in expectation of support from coalition forces. These
unfortunates are slaughtered by the tens of thousands, while American
and British tanks, trucks, and troops sit motionless in the desert,
and Saddam Hussein remains in power for a while longer.

During the second Gulf War, Fisk is once again in Baghdad. He has
visited hospitals, viewing the victims, many of them young children,
wounded by American bombs and cruise missiles. He wonders just how
George W. Bush can think that this coming invasion of Iraq can have
any success. When the Americans arrive, Fisk correctly predicts the
coming insurgency. His only surprise is that it starts so soon.

Fisk plays no favourites and interviews anyone, including Osama Bin
Laden, twice. His section on Israel is a good antidote for Israel’s
response to the spring 2006 kidnapping of two of its soldiers,
turning it into a bombing campaign in Lebanon that attacks bridges,
roads, a clearly marked UN post, and its supposed allies, the
Lebanese army.

This, according to our foreign minister, is a measured response. But
don’t take my word for it. Grab a copy of Robert Fisk’s, The Great
War for Civilization. Readers could do a lot worse in 2007.

Dennis Peacock, who keeps in touch with world affairs, used to be a
commercial fisherman. A former Powell River resident, he now lives in
Clearwater, BC.