Book reviews

Make love, not war

By Alison Jenner

In the past few years alone, we have seen the kind of atrocities that war and violence can cause. From the horrifying images of
the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York, to the recent war in Iraq, these hostilities cause immense damage to human
life as well to international relations. This page serves as our vote for peace.

Let us fight no more.

Against War with Iraq: An Anti-War Primer by Michael Ratner, Jennie Green and Barbara Olshansky

Six months have passed since May 1, 2003, when U.S. President George W. Bush declared that the U.S. had won the war in Iraq. However, since his declaration, one of the main reasons the U.S. gave for going to war with Iraq, possession of weapons of mass destruction, has yet to be vindicated.

Against War With Iraq: An Anti-War Primer disputes the sincerity of the claim by the U.S. that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction and therefore was a threat to the U.S. The authors argue that this U.S. accusations against Iraq were hypocritical because the U.S. provided Iraq with financial assistance when the regime used chemical weapons against the Kurds in 1988.
The authors present a powerful case against the unjust war in Iraq. This 78-page book also argues that the war is illegal, because it lacks backing from the United Nations Security Council.

The authors also argue that war will not solve the problem of terrorism but, in fact, may make the world more dangerous and susceptible to further attacks.

Published just before the war in Iraq began, the book possesses the core information and analysis needed to understand the issues surrounding this war.

 

Terrorism And War by Howard Zinn

Two years ago, viewers around the world were shocked by the devastating images they saw on television of the World Trade Center in New York crumbling down like pieces of Lego. When Howard Zinn saw those images, reality hit him hard in the face.

He says in his book, “I thought also about the fact that when I was a bombardier in the air force, dropping bombs from 30,000 feet, I did not see any human beings. It occurred to me that scenes like the ones that appeared on televisions. . . must have been taking place down below in these cities in Europe that I was bombing, but it didn’t mean anything to me.”

Zinn's book is a compilation of seven interviews between himself and Anthony Arnove in the months following 9-11. In the book, Zinn addresses issues such as the bombing of Afghanistan, the war on terrorism and the 9-11 attack. Zinn’s book stresses two important points: governments lie, and war is a form of terrorism.

He argues that there is no such thing as a just war as the ends do not justify the means. He emphasizes that the U.S. should look for alternative solutions to avoid violence.

This compact book is very easy to read and holds a lot of dense material, including reference notes, contact information for anti-war organizations and even excerpts of the Geneva Protocols.

 

9-11 by Noam Chomsky

Noam Chomsky is perhaps one of the better-known anti-war authors around. His book, 9-11, is a collection of interviews with Chomsky by a variety of interviewers conducted shortly after the attack on the twin towers in New York. It is packed with information about globalization, the war on terrorism, press freedom and instances of U.S. abuse of power.

Chomsky’s book does not try to rationalize the World Trade Centre attacks two years ago, but instead prompts the reader to look at the cause and effect of events that led to the attacks. He lists U.S. actions in Nicaragua as well as the bombing of a pharmaceutical plant in Sudan as examples of U.S. arrogance that angered many countries.

In Chomsky’s view, the U.S. is a leading terrorist state. He reminds us that it is the only country that has been condemned for international terrorism. He also writes at the start of the book that the attack was so shocking to the U.S. because this was the first time the tables have turned on the country.

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