cover image Mobilizing Democracy: Changing the Us Role in the Middle East

Mobilizing Democracy: Changing the Us Role in the Middle East

Greg Bates. Common Courage Press, $12.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-9628838-0-4

Offering the perspectives of political activists, scholars and pacifists, the 16 pieces in this collection provide a useful counterpoint to the mainstream media's current discussions of the Middle East. In an interview, Noam Chomsky and Eqbal Ahmad argue that the U.S. consistently opposes independent nationalism in the Third World in order to retain control of natural resources, and that despite avowals to the contrary, the U.S. wants a military, not a diplomatic, solution to the conflict with Saddam Hussein. Sheila Ryan concludes that after 45 years of a Middle East policy based on anti-Soviet ``containment,'' the U.S. is now guided by its determination to control Europe's and Japan's source of oil. Denis F. Doyon views the war as an opportunity to build a multiracial, multicultural peace movement. Nancy Murray and Hady Amr argue for ``linkage'' (addressing problems throughout the Middle East as interrelated) and for lobbying Congress to change its policy regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Cpl. Erik Larsen of the Marine Reserves declares himself a conscientious objector, saying, ``I'll be damned if I'm going to be a part of this militaristic feeding frenzy.'' Bates is publisher of Common Courage. (Apr.)