Nick Cohen just after September 11th
Writing in the New Statesman in October 2001 he managed to criticise the BBC for NOT debating whether UK support of the war in Afghanistan hade made us more of target:British involvement doesn't merely endanger the luckless citizens of Afghanistan. Like so many others, I had resolved to be coy about the consequences for "homeland security" of British subservience - no one wants to be called a coward in wartime. I changed my mind when a New York radio station phoned. "Aren't the British scared that Blair is turning them into a target for Bin Laden?" asked a concerned interviewer. Well, yes, many are, I replied, astonished that broadcasters in New York of all cities were asking questions that the BBC dodged.
...So there you have it. A prime minister who discards parliamentary democracy and cabinet government, then spins against his colleagues so that his indiscriminate love for the United States can override national interests. Britain reduced to being the American poodle my comrades on the left always said it was. Perhaps it is time to embrace the Pinters and Pilgers as brothers and accept that, although they got Kosovo horribly wrong, they have Afghanistan just right.
Coming soon - "Why it is right to be Anti-American" by Nick Cohen (really, I am not making this up).
posted by Matthew @ 7/09/2006 03:37:00 PM
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