BY DERYA SAZAK
MILLIYET- Columnist Derya Sazak comments on Tariq Ali’s new book ‘Bush in Babylon.’ A summary of his column is as follows:
Following its publication in the US and Britain, antiwar crusader Tariq Ali’s new book ‘Bush in Babylon’: The Recolonisation of Iraq’ has just come out in Turkey. Pakistani-born Ali is one of the leading activists of the 1968 generation. He has worked for peace in Vietnam and Palestine, and he currently works in London as an editor for the journal New Left Review. I once interviewed him just after Sept. 11. After speaking with Iraqi exiles, he wrote on the US war in Iraq in his new book. ‘If you want to know how Iraqi children really see the invasion, look them straight in the eye!’ he writes.
Turkey is preparing to send soldiers to Iraq. According to Ali, the occupation is still crawling along. He thinks a broader national resistance might rise in the future. If the Iraqi Communist Party, some Kurdish organizations and Shiites join up the resistance, wouldn’t this frustrate the US’ plans to stay in Iraq indefinitely? In his book, Ali also writes about Iraq’s being divided up ‘de facto.’ He thinks the rising resistance to the occupation will cause Iraq’s Balkanization. He also emphasizes the future of 2 million Kurds living in Baghdad. As we consider sending troops to our troubled neighbor, this book is an indispensable guide.