Art, lies, and politics: Harold Pinter speaks

Here’s a surprising excerpt from Harold Pinter’s Nobel acceptance speech:

Hundreds of thousands of deaths took place. … Did they take place? And are they in all cases attributable to [Saddam Hussein’s] policy? The answer is yes they did take place and they are attributable to [Saddam Hussein’s] policy. But you wouldn’t know it.

It never happened. Nothing ever happened. Even while it was happening it wasn’t happening. It didn’t matter. It was of no interest. The crimes of the [Hussein government] have been systematic, constant, vicious, remorseless, but very few people have actually talked about them. You have to hand it to [the Hussein regime]. It has exercised a quite clinical manipulation of power worldwide while masquerading as a force for universal good. It’s a brilliant, even witty, highly successful act of hypnosis.

Pinter said that? Really? He accused Saddam Hussein of being a murderous dictator responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis?

No, not really. this is what he actually said. (Words in bold were replaced in the paragraphs above.)

Hundreds of thousands of deaths took place throughout these countries. Did they take place? And are they in all cases attributable to US foreign policy? The answer is yes they did take place and they are attributable to American foreign policy. But you wouldn’t know it.

It never happened. Nothing ever happened. Even while it was happening it wasn’t happening. It didn’t matter. It was of no interest. The crimes of the United States have been systematic, constant, vicious, remorseless, but very few people have actually talked about them. You have to hand it to America. It has exercised a quite clinical manipulation of power worldwide while masquerading as a force for universal good. It’s a brilliant, even witty, highly successful act of hypnosis.

Pinter mentioned Saddam only twice in his speech, once in such vague terms as to make you wonder if Pinter really thinks that the torture, rape, and murder of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis under Hussein’s rule mattered:

Let me make it quite clear that in quoting from Neruda’s poem I am in no way comparing Republican Spain to Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. I quote Neruda because nowhere in contemporary poetry have I read such a powerful visceral description of the bombing of civilians.

So, he acknowledges that Saddam is Not Quite All That Good, but it doesn’t matter. The Americans are worse.

I’m not one of those that think critics of the Bush administration are all wrong, traitors, or terrorist sympathizers. I have many, many problems with the Bush administration, and frankly would not vote for Bush if he could run for re-election.

But I think that his war critics–especially the really shrill ones, like Harold Pinter–have failed to acknowledge that Saddam Hussein’s Iraq was a festering swamp of repression, murder, torture, fear, and terror–and that Saddam Hussein was responsible for two “hot” wars (Iran, Kuwait) and one proxy war (Israel), and also gave terrorists safe haven and assistance.

When the Harold Pinters of the world acknowledge these facts and emphasize them in their speeches, I will listen to what they have to say. Until then, it’s pretty much, “Blahblahblah, Bush evil, Blahblahblah, America bad.”

I tune it out.