10:40 AM :: Stephen (contact)

The Hollywood Conspiracy: After vigorously criticizing writer Tariq Ali on this site, I decided to borrow his book The Clash of Fundamentalisms from a friend, to see if I had been unduly harsh. I haven't finished reading it yet, but bizarre paragraphs like this don't exactly inspire confidence:

After 11 September there was much talk of re-entering Somalia to avenge the debacle of 1992. On 17 October 2001 a meeting of Hollywood chiefs 'committed themselves to new initiatives in support of the war on terrorism' [sic--the source is not indicated]. The first of these is a disgusting, racist, $90 million film, Black Hawk Down, whose design is embarrassingly obvious: to stir primitive patriotic sentiments to justify a war in Somalia if it becomes necessary. Its washington premiere was graced by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and veteran war criminal Oliver North. (p. 281)

While we're on the subject of the "embarrassingly obvious," we might note that the aforementioned Washington premiere took place on Dec. 18, 2001. So, had a $90 million film really been planned, cast, filmed, and distributed in only two months? Of course not--the publicity machine was already up and running in February, seven months before 9/11 and well before director Ridley Scott had joined the conspiracy to re-invade Somalia. (And the bestselling book had been published in 1999.)

I'll reserve judgment on the book as a whole, but it still surprises me that the most elaborate conspiracies are proposed when the facts are easiest to check...