Bush in Babylon: The Recolonisation of Iraq

That's the name of a book by Tariq Ali that I read before Bush invaded Iraq. One thing is for sure - Tariq Ali was pretty confident that we'd get our asses kicked over there. He's one of the very few - maybe only - guy who seemed almost certain that we'd leave Iraq with our tail between our legs. Give the dude his props.

Check out his appearance concerning this book on Democracy Now!. It's an eye-opener, even after you think you've heard it all.

I was reminded of this book when I saw this little article, talking about how U.S. troops fucked up Babylon while trying to defend themselves.

The book was pretty good, but it had a lot of middle-eastern and Iraqi history which I just couldn't appreciate - it was too complicated. I really liked the author's style, though. Straight. Tough. Some good UK-type prose in there. He seemed to be very much a Chomsky-type guy - just dishing it out to imperialist countries - not giving a flying fuck about who was listening or how much the truth hurt them. You gotta respect that.

The dude's got a serious vocabulary, and apparently a serious command of history. And he's not from the white/Christian-type English/American background - so we get a whole new perspective.