{"id":3845,"date":"2020-12-25T13:01:18","date_gmt":"2020-12-25T13:01:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=143535"},"modified":"2020-12-25T13:01:18","modified_gmt":"2020-12-25T13:01:18","slug":"the-united-states-of-america-has-gone-mad-john-le-carre-on-iraq-war-israel-u-s-militarism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2020\/12\/25\/the-united-states-of-america-has-gone-mad-john-le-carre-on-iraq-war-israel-u-s-militarism\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThe United States of America Has Gone Mad\u201d: John le Carr\u00e9 on Iraq War, Israel & U.S. Militarism"},"content":{"rendered":"
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.<\/p>\n
AMY<\/span> GOODMAN<\/span>:<\/strong> In this special broadcast, we spend the hour remembering the world-renowned British novelist John le Carr\u00e9. He died on December 12th at the age of 89. Le Carr\u00e9 was a master writer of spy novels, in a career that spanned more than half a century. He worked in the British Secret Service from the late 1950s until the early ’60s, at the height of the Cold War, which was the topic of his early novels. His third novel, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold<\/em>, became an international best-seller. Le Carr\u00e9’s gritty depiction of the realities of the spy world contrasted sharply with the characters in Ian Fleming\u2019s James Bond series.<\/p>\n This is a clip from the film adaptation of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold<\/em>, starring Richard Burton as Alec Leamas, an alcoholic cynical British spy.<\/p>\n ALEC<\/span> LEAMAS<\/span><\/strong>: [played by Richard Burton] What the hell do you think spies are? Model philosophers measuring everything they do against the word of God or Karl Marx? They\u2019re not. They\u2019re just a bunch of seedy, squalid bastards like me, little men, drunkards, queers, henpecked husbands, civil servants, playing cowboys and Indians to brighten their rotten little lives. Do you think they sit like monks in a cell, balancing right against wrong?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Yesterday I would have killed Mundt, because I thought him evil and an enemy. But not today. Today he\u2019s evil and my friend. London needs him. They need him so that the great, moronic masses you admire so much can sleep soundly in their flea-bitten beds again. They need him for the safety of ordinary, crummy people like you and me.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n AMY<\/span> GOODMAN<\/span>:<\/strong> John le Carr\u00e9 continued writing, expanding with a series featuring his British spymaster George Smiley, including the hit novel Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy<\/em>. As the Cold War ended, John le Carr\u00e9 continued to write prolifically, shifting focus to the inequities of globalization, unchecked multinational corporate power, and the role national spy services play in protecting corporate interests.<\/p>\n Perhaps best known among his many post-Cold War novels is The Constant Gardener<\/em>, depicting a pharmaceutical company\u2019s exploitation of unwitting Kenyans for dangerous, sometimes fatal, drug tests. In this clip from the film adaptation of The Constant Gardener<\/em>, an activist, who is later killed by the pharmaceutical corporation, played by Rachel Weisz, confronts a government official, played by Ralph Fiennes, about war.<\/p>\n TESSA<\/span> QUAYLE<\/span>:<\/strong> [played by Rachel Weisz] Excuse me? Excuse me?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n JUSTIN<\/span> QUAYLE<\/span>:<\/strong> [played by Ralph Fiennes] Yeah?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n TESSA<\/span> QUAYLE<\/span>:<\/strong> Excuse me.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n JUSTIN<\/span> QUAYLE<\/span>:<\/strong> Yeah, sorry.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n TESSA<\/span> QUAYLE<\/span>:<\/strong> Sir, I\u2019ve just got one question. I just wondered: Whose map is Britain using when it completely ignores the United Nations and decides to invade Iraq? Or do you think it\u2019s more diplomatic to bend the will of a superpower and politely take part in Vietnam the sequel?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n JUSTIN<\/span> QUAYLE<\/span>:<\/strong> Well, I can\u2019t speak for Sir Bernard.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n TESSA<\/span> QUAYLE<\/span>:<\/strong> Oh, I thought that\u2019s why you were here.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n JUSTIN<\/span> QUAYLE<\/span>:<\/strong> I mean, diplomats have to go where they\u2019re sent.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n TESSA<\/span> QUAYLE<\/span>:<\/strong> So do Labradors.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n JUSTIN<\/span> QUAYLE<\/span>:<\/strong> Ouch. Well, I think that, no, Sir Bernard would no doubt argue that when peaceful means are exhausted, then \u2014<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n
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