Synopses & Reviews
Milan Rai's previous book became an international bestseller in the run-up to war. Regime Unchanged picks up where War Plan Iraq left off: it is a shocking, brilliantly persuasive account of the conflict and its aftermath that is essential reading for anyone who cares about peace and democracy.
Regime Unchanged shows how the US government has involved itself in a political quagmire in Iraq that threatens to evolve into a long and bloody conflict. As the number of US casualties rise every day, and fighting continues, the idea that the war is won has begun to fade. The longer the chaos continues, the more the conflict threatens to engulf other regions already bitterly opposed to American intervention.
Rigorously dissecting official propaganda and media misrepresentation, Regime Unchanged documents the real aftermath of the war. Milan Rai presents damning evidence that Ba‘athists were deliberately restored to power. In the confusion of the first month of Iraq's ‘liberation, the US and Britain pursued a path very similar to that taken in liberated territories after WWII: demobilization of resistance movements, and the restoration of collaborators and fascists. Regime Unchanged demonstrates that this was not a war for disarmament, or for ‘regime change, but a war for power.
Milan Rai examines how Washington undermined and finally shut down the UN weapons inspectors' efforts to disarm Iraq peacefully - just as they were on the brink of a new and decisive phase of inspections.
Rai also shows how the power of the global anti-war movement came very close to stopping the war against Iraq: he reveals exclusive evidence that the British Government was forced to frantically draw up contingency plans to withdraw from the US invasion force only days before the war was due to begin - because of the power of worldwide protest.
Synopsis
This work dissects official propaganda to argue that public support for the war on Iraq was secured through lies and distortions. Two crucial distortions involved misrepresenting the UN Resolutions on Iraq, and lying about the position of President Chirac in the weeks before the war. The author of the popular "Arrow Anti-War Briefings" also reveals that the British Government was forced to frantically draw up contingency plans to withdraw from the invasion force only days before the war began, in large part because of the power of the global anti-war movement.
Synopsis
Includes bibliographical references (p. 197-223) and index.
Synopsis
Fresh look at Kurdistan Iraq today, including the role of central government and international forces, and the region's political and economic future.
About the Author
Milan Rai founded the British branch of Voices in the Wilderness and co-founded the anti-war group ARROW, a London-based direct action and anti-war information group. His two previous books are War Plan Iraq and Chomsky's Politics. In 1993 he was awarded the Frank Cousins Peace Award for Research by the Transport and General Workers' Union.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Map
Echoing Voices
Introduction: Tony Blair Wobbled—We Nearly Derailed The War
1. Argument Over—The War Was Wrong
2. ‘Regime Change—A Prior Commitment
3. First Strike—The February 2001 Bombing Of Baghdad
4. Sickly Inhibitions—The Political Significance Of 11 September
5. George Bush Lied—Misconnecting Iraq, WMD And Terrorism
6. The First Ultimatum—The Five Demands
7. Disaster Strikes—Iraq Accepts The Weapons Inspectors
8. The Minefield—Resolution 1441: Designed To Be Refused
9. No Smoke, No Gun—No Evidence Discovered
10. Colin Powell Lied—Turning On The Inspectors
11. Inspection Was An Option—Qualitative Disarmament
12. Blitzing Dr Blix—UNMOVIC Resists
13. The Censored Document—Destroying The Inspectors
14. Authority And Power—US-UK Versus The UN
15. Regime Reloaded—Re-Nazifying Iraq
16. Hitler Won—False De-Nazification
17. Coup dÉtat—The US Wanted A Coup
18. Why ‘Regime Stabilization?—Turkey and Saudi Arabia Need Saddamism
19. Crushing the Resistance—After WWII: Betraying The Anti-Fascists
20. Regime Revolutions—De-Ba‘athification?
21. Shia Power—A Looming Confrontation With The People Of Iraq
22. Sunni Rage—After Falluja
23. Capitalisms War
24. Regime Unchanged
Postscript—What Would You Have Done?
Notes
Contributor Notes
Index