9-11 Book

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by: Noam Chomsky

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Customer Reviews
Average Rating: Rating: - Atrocities Abound Although the book is quite unique--being a collection of interviews--the content is more than pleasing. Noam Chomsky is asked by journalists from abroad about 9-11 and the events leading up to it along with an aftermath. Chomsky's opinions are those of a humanist, consistently stating its not necessary for countless civilians to die. In Noam's way, he leaves no room for rebuttal. His statements and opinions are backed with facts that cannot be argued. Purchase this book, quite the bargain indeed! Rating: - A Taste of What is Out There. A short read which is simply a set of interviews conducted with Chomsky after the 9-11 tragedy. Obviously this book wasn't meant to provide any details, there is nothing in this book that isn't covered in MUCH greater detail in Chomsky's other works, this book was really rushed to print to provide curious readers (who'll probably search "9-11" as a keyword) with basics that they won't read or hear from mainstream media. If the reader has little background in US foreign policy or mid east politics, then this book might prove worthless in terms of gaining detail, but this book does give the reader some information that can be used as a guide to further research. For example: One might not have previously been aware of certain policies the US has in southwest Asia, this book makes mention of some of these policies, and the reader's focus now turns to finding more about these policies from other sources. Chomsky meant for this book to act as a keyword to attract a larger audience to important issues. The book is short and lacks detail, but has the veritable punchlines to attract the curiosity of the laity. The book is inexpensive and can be read in one sitting easily. So it's okay for curious readers who just want to get the gist of what is rarely (if ever) heard in the mainstream media. Rating: - Flawed and irritating. In this series of interviews conducted by fawning journalists, Chomsky does the following things: (1) lambaste the US incessantly for past military interventions, (2) analyze the causes of the attacks of 9/11 and (3) suggest that the US seek justice by proper, legal means instead of by military action. (1) doesn't really need to be discussed here; that can be discussed in reviews about his other books. Suffice it to say that Chomsky claims that US foreign policy is completely driven by corporate interests (weapons manufacturers, oil companies, etc) who influence the federal government to commit atrocities and prop up tyrants in foreign countries. Regarding (2), Chomsky notes that Osama bin Laden has communicated to us via his camcorder that he wants the US completely out of the Middle East. Bin Laden wants the US to remove its troops from Saudi Arabia and stop supplying aid to the "not properly Islamic" government of Saudi Arabia, Israel, and other nations. Chomsky correctly mentions that these demands are religiously motivated; however, this point is easily lost when Chomsky rips the US for its military campaigns in Third World countries, leading one to believe that the attacks of 9/11 were a desperate act of retaliation by members of an oppressed nation. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth: bin Laden's suicide pilots were all well-to-do Saudis. The attacks were motivated by a fundamemtalist and militant strain of Islam, not by poverty and oppression. Point (3) is completely off base. Chomsky suggests that the US seek to find and apprehend the perpetrators and sponsors of the attacks by proper, legal means (under the aegis of the UN). Chomsky tries to draw an analogy with the activities of the IRA, noting that the UK doesn't drop bombs on Boston when the Irish Republican Army attacks. However, this analogy is fatally flawed for the simple reason that the Taliban neither had the ability nor the inclination to capture al-Qaeda forces. (Incidentally, the conclusion above holds if one replaces "US" with "Israel," "Taliban" with "PLO", and "al-Qaeda" with "Hamas".) It is true that the US could have done more to minimize civilian casualties (e.g. send in its own ground troops instead of relying exclusively on bombing and Northern Alliancs proxy troops), but it's ridiculous to think that there might have been a completely civil method of administering justice to al-Qaeda. Finally, it's quite obvious that all of the journalists conducting these interviews are huge Chomsky fans, and that makes reading this book very irritating.

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