Iraq and the Death of Freedom

Even as the 'manufactured consent' against Iraq bleeds and discontent gathers albeit slowly, John Pilger illuminates the small struggles against massive tyrannies:

Day after day, night after night, season upon season, he remains a beacon, illuminating the great crime of Iraq and the cowardice of the House of Commons. As we talked, two women brought him a Christmas meal and mulled wine. They thanked him, shook his hand and hurried on. He had never seen them before. "That's typical of the public," he said. A man in a pinstriped suit and tie emerged from the fog, carrying a small wreath. "I intend to place this at the Cenotaph and read out the names of the dead in Iraq," he said to Brian, who cautioned him: "You'll spend the night in the cells, mate." We watched him stride off and lay his wreath. His head bowed, he appeared to be whispering. Thirty years ago, I watched dissidents do something similar outside the walls of the Kremlin.

Meanwhile, the economist Joseph Stiglitz has published a report stating that the cost of the Iraq war is likely to be between 1 to 2 trillion dollars. The 'benevolence' of the Bush administration is amazing in its scale and Quixotism.

"Our estimates are very conservative, and it could be that the final costs will be much higher. And it should be noted they do not include the costs of the conflict to either Iraq or the UK.

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