Good Ol' Bill, The Liberal Hero

Good Ol' Bill, The Liberal HeroIn his latest column for the New Statesman, John Pilger looks forward to the arrival of Bill Clinton in London where an "audience" with him will cost up to £799 a head. In examining Clinton's liberal credentials and comparing them to George W. Bush's record, Pilger illuminates what Hillary Clinton might offer America and the world as the first female president. By John Pilger08/09/07 "ICH" -- --On 14 August, you are invited to "an audience" with Bill Clinton in London. You have a choice. You can attend the "breakfast and speech" or the "brunch buffet and speech". These will take place in the white elephantine Millennium Dome, where a place in the "Kings' Row" will cost you £799. Last year, Clinton made more than £5m granting "audiences". Not only the usual corporate types attend. A few years ago, I watched a conga line of writers, journalists, publishers and others of liberal reputation shuffling towards his grotesquely paid presence at the Guardian Hay Festival. The Clinton scam is symptomatic of the death of liberalism – not its narcissistic, war-loving wing ("humanitarian intervention"), which is ascendant, but the liberalism that speaks against crimes committed in its name, while extending rungs of the economic ladder to those below. It was Clinton's promotion of the former and crushing of the latter that so inspired new Labour's "project". Clinton, not Bush, was Cool Britannia's true Mafia godfather. Keen observers of Tony Blair will recall that during one of his many farewell speeches, the sociopath did a weird impersonation of Clinton's head wiggle. Clinton is able to make a shedload a money because he is contrasted with the despised Bush as the flawed good guy who did his best for the world and brought economic boom to the US – the fabled American dream no less. Both notions are finely spun lies. What Clinton and Blair have most in common is that they are the most violent leaders of their countries in the modern era; that includes Bush. Consider Clinton's true record. In 1993, he pursued George H W Bush's invasion of Somalia. He invaded Haiti in 1994. He bombed Bosnia in 1995 and Serbia in 1999. In 1998, he bombed Afghanistan; and, at the height of his Monica Lewinsky troubles, he momentarily diverted the headline writers to a major "terrorist target" in Sudan that he ordered destroyed with an onslaught of missiles. It turned out to be sub-Saharan Africa's largest pharmaceutical plant, the only source of chloroquine, the treatment for malaria, and other drugs that were lifelines to hundreds of thousands. As a result, wrote Jonathan Belke, then of the Near East Foundation, "tens of thousands of people – many of them children – have suffered and died from malaria, tuberculosis and other treatable diseases". Long before Shock and Awe, Clinton was destroying and killing in Iraq. Under the lawless pretence of a "no-fly zone", he oversaw the longest allied aerial bombardment since the Second World War. This was hardly reported. At the same time, he imposed and tightened a Washington-led economic siege estimated to have killed a million civilians. "We think the price is worth it," said his secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, in an exquisite moment of honesty. Clinton's economic "legacy" – like Blair's – is the most unequal society Americans have known. In his last presidential year, 1999, I walked along the ocean front at Santa Monica in California and was struck by the number of middle-class homeless, "bag gents" who had lost executive jobs and families thanks largely to Clinton's North American Free Trade treaty. As for working Americans, the boasted high employment figures concealed a reversion to real wage levels of the 1970s. It was Clinton, not Bush, who wiped out the last of Roosevelt's New Deal. Back in Santa Monica the other day, I noted the bag gents had multiplied. These days, you see Good Ol' Bill, or the Comeback Kid, as he is variously known, wiggling his head on the TV news, campaigning for his wife, Hillary, among Americans who, terminally naive, still believe the Democratic Party is theirs and that "it's time to vote a woman into the White House". Together, the Clintons are known as "Billary" and rightly so. Like Good Ol' Bill, his wife has no plans to address the divisions of a society that allows 130,000 Americans to claim the wealth of millions of their fellow citizens. Like GOB, she wants to continue Iraq's torment for perhaps a decade. And she has not "ruled out" attacking Iran. Those settling down in the Kings' Row at the Millennium Dome on 14 August for breakfast or brunch with GOB, having transferred another swag to the Clinton bank account, are unlikely to reflect on the blood spilt and the epic suffering caused, or on the moral corruption of the liberal ideology that courted and acclaimed Clinton, along with the criminal Blair. But we should.This article was first published at the New Statesman



The world is lucky for having Pilger. GOB is definitely more evil than the devil himself.Hammurabi 08.09.07 - 2:37 pm #

He bombed Fmr. Yugoslavia to late.They let Yugoslav army to kill 200,000 Bosnians.They shoul bomb Serbia in 1992 at save those people.bilhajr 08.09.07 - 2:39 pm #

Oooohh!Clinton has a worse record than Bush.Nice.Good show, Mr Pilger.BigPearl 08.09.07 - 3:25 pm #

Hey Bilhajr,200,000 Bosnians? Where are the mass graves? The biggest victims in the war were Serbs - refugees, deaths, destruction........Even the UN confirmed that the Sarejevo market bombing was done by the Bosnians against there own people to gain world opinion. Shame on you and your distorted little nationalism. Yugoslavia was a GREAT country. Now, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia and Macedonia are all "ripe for the picking" to be exploited by the west and their inhumane corporations. You, like the Ustashi, Chetniks and Bosniaks, who provoked the war with the help of German and US interests; will soon long for "the good old days" of FRY. Indeed, many former Yugoslavs have already reverted back to a state of "Yugonostalgia", reserecting their Tito photos and memories of a time when Yugoslavs where not the slaves of of the west.ratko 08.09.07 - 3:28 pm #

This is the problem with all american administrations, there is no continuity from one president to the next. At the end of the day they are all criminals.Gamal Akabani 08.09.07 - 3:49 pm #

Pilger's assertion that Clinton has more blood on his hands than GWB can hardly be correct if the Johns Hopkins analysis is credible. GWB is directly responsible for the deaths of a million Iraqis, or will be shortly as the tolls mount.As much as Pilger deserves praise for his courage and independence, he should not make comparisons between Clinton and Bush without factoring in 911, in which Bush was complicit, and the war on terror, which is a direct assault on the Constitutional foundation of American life. One cannot make the connection between Clinton and political terror, nor did he employ convicted criminals, like Eliot Abrams and others. He did not operate his administration like a criminal cabal.Bill was not a cryptofascist.This is not to say Ole Bill was not a devout servant of the oligarchy.A president can either use the military or lose it. It is to say that GWB is a monster by comparison. There are shades of blackcruxpuppy 08.09.07 - 3:57 pm #

I've never said anything about SFRJ, that was nice country, until Butcher from Balkan took a power,Nobody from Bosnia didn't go to Serbia and burn down cities and villages, slaughter civilians.That was done by regular Yugoslav army under Milosevic rule.From your point of view people from Serebrenica committed suicide.In two days Serbs slaughter 8,000 people.And what I said before they've should bombarded Yugoslavia in 1992 when they destroyed Vukovar, slaughter thousands people in Bijeljina, Brcko, Foca, Zvornik , Visegrad.... Mabe you don't know but Serb Ortodox church built Church o mass grave in Konjevic Polje, near Srebrenica. One of the few justified military use by USA was in former Yugoslavia, but for 200,000 people to late.bilhajr 08.09.07 - 4:21 pm #

There are shades of black -cruxpuppy 08.09.07 - 3:57 pm #Black has nothing to do with what goes on in the White Supremacist house.Anonymous 08.09.07 - 4:58 pm #

Slobo was a kurva, but so was Bosnia political leaders and Croat political leaders. True, nobody from Bosnia went to Serbia to burn villages but Bosnian Serb villages were burnt. As for Croatia, not too many Serbs are left, after a considerable Serbian population lived in Croatia for hundreds of years (this was the biggest ethnic cleansing). I am happy you agree SFRJ was a nice country. Sad that the West used Slobo, Tujman and Itzebegovic to manipulate their people into killing themselves. You line up a Serb, Croat and Bosnian Muslim and no western person could tell them apart. We speak the same language, eat burek, dance to good music and are passionate people - why did we slaughter each another? We should be together and strong!We are not Serbs, Bosnians or Croats - we are Yugoslavs!ratko 08.09.07 - 5:02 pm #

Many have blood on their hands, particularly the the mass media and so called left gate keepers who cannot cope with an examination of the material that proves that 9/11 was an 'inside job'. Even the videos show the explosions in WTC, 1, 2 and 7 (not hit with a plane). Pilger should save his crocodile tears.optimist.optimist 08.09.07 - 6:28 pm #

John Pilger must have a hardon for the Clintons.either that or his neo-con clothes are showing through.This story is all based on lies and half truths.Example...He talks of there being more bombing in Iraq during the no fly zone then there was in ww2.If that was true what heck did they bomb?Iraq was a strong viable country with a prosperous economy,not a bombarded war torn country as old John boy says.Clinton allso never lied to the american people or the world about another country,and then go and attack it without provocation or aproval from the UN or anyone else.All anyone has to do is ask themselves,is America and the world better off for what Bush has done or what Clinton did.We are up to our ears in debt,the dollar is devalueing steadily,the rich are geting richer,and the poor poorer.Our infrastruture is decaying as we speak,allong with our reputation as a peace loveing country.Clinton was right on with shooting for alternative fuels and the kyoto treaty to stop global warming,which Bush repealed and said global warming was shaky science.One of the first things Bush did when the supreme court elected him was to repeal the usry law for the big oil companies so that the sky was the limit for theire priceing of fuel.John boy has to be scratching the bottom of the barrel when he has to bring up high dollar speking events of Bills.Well we wont have to worry about Bush ever doing that,unless its showing off his new coloring books hes trying to hawk.Enough said!!Guy Smith 08.09.07 - 6:53 pm #

Ratko, I agree with you. The Ustashe did a MASSIVE job of genociding Serbs. I believe about 800,000 died, and so brutally were they killed that even the Nazis were amazed. We don't hear about this. Funny about that.And I had heard that Sarajevo was bombed by Bosnian radicals (the KLA - a murderous, drug running group aligned with NATO), and that it is correct that they would kill "their own" if they didn't agree with their methods. Or just to blame it on the Serbs. Whatever suited at the time.I don't know what a kurva is, but I believe from everything I've read that Milosevic was just a fairly normal politician. BUT... he didn't want to sell public assets. From the "internationalists" point of view, this was bad, and worth bombing the country for. They got sold all right, at bargain basement prices.Also, I believe Milosevic did a wonderful job of defending himself and the Serbs in the kangaroo court at the Hague. I believe, as he did, that he was murdered by drugs, as they couldn't get sufficient evidence to charge him after years of trial.As for the thousands of dead Bosnians, apparently 17 different groups went (through the UN) to search for those bodies. They were simply not found.Propaganda and lies are always needed to get the people to kill each other. In Gulf War I it was the Kuwaiti babies being tipped out of their incubators onto the concrete floor to die by Iraqi soldiers. Later it was proven that Hill & Knowles had done a job on that, and the girl was the daughter of one of the Kuwait leaders and had never been to the hospital she cried crocodile tears about. Bush Snr used this, of course, to get the west really mad at Hussein and the Iraqis.To go bomb Afghanistan the story was that 19 hijackers had brought down the towers, which a great many now understand was an inside job.To invade Iraq it was those WMD. Always it's lies, and we still don't get it. We still send our boys as cannon fodder for the "internationalists", who are the only beneficiaries of these horrific wars.Daphne O'Brien 08.09.07 - 7:08 pm #

He invaded Haiti? What? Marines were sent there to ensure the reinstallation of left wing President Aristide after he had been overthrown by right wing thugs. But there was no bloodshed. He bombed Bosnia and Serbia? Had he not done that we would be hearing how he allowed the genocide to continue because there was no oil in Yugoslavia. The bit about Sudan is lifted straight from the right wing talking points in the US. America was a much better place for the poor and working people under Clinton. The number living in poverty shrank greatly and we were respected the world over. Pilger can do better than this. Clinton worse than Bush? What utter BULLSHIT!Thomas Doyle 08.09.07 - 7:52 pm #

Furthermore it should be noted that the Bush regime sent the Marines back to Haiti to help overthrown Aristide. It should also be noted that the NeoCons opposed the humanitarian mission in Yugoslavia because it was not "in Americas strategic interests" (no oil). Instead they had wanted Clinton to invade Iraq. Whatever you are smoking Pilger, I want none of it.Thomas Doyle 08.09.07 - 8:06 pm #

"He bombed Bosnia and Serbia? Had he not done that we would be hearing how he allowed the genocide to continue because there was no oil in Yugoslavia."There's a cynic in me that believes part of this might be right.Clinton set Bush up pretending to give a flying fook about genocide, yes indeedy.Franz 08.09.07 - 8:19 pm #

Maybe G.W. Bush did not make the world love US, but he made more people in the world see what US is about. More than Clinton did. Clinton managed to deceive most of the world (and continues to do it). US, together with NATO, did everything possible to push Yugoslavia into the civil war. I personally hold Clinton and his gand responsible for the ethnic clensing in the Yugoslavia, Serbs killing Bosnians and vice versa, Croats doing their own killings. This was all possible because US and NATO destabilised the great country of Yugoslavia. Before the country descended into the civil war, all the ethnic minorities live together in peace. US and NATO destroyed that peace. In the end, Bush, with all his lies about 911, WMD in Iraq, etc. is more honest about his objectives than Clinton ever been.Wes S 08.09.07 - 8:22 pm #

Though I think Clinton deserves credit for his juggling act with the domestic economy, and putting up a good front in what the western media sold everyone as "ongoing Genocide's" in the Balkan's, and Africa, John Pilger has a good point. Good ole Bill still served the Puppetmaster's, and as a bone (no pun intended!) he got some "Boy Perk's", and a license to print money from speaking engagements like all President's end up doing anyway. Billy was just better looking, and better at covering his Seamen stains than the current shrivel dick in the job that's all! He wasn't nearly as good a liar as the little swaggering cowboy.What's Hillary got to look forward to if elected, a Kosher vibrating Oval Office Chair and edible undies from AIPAC? You can bet she'll do the same thing in planning for her comfie retirement with the exception of the cutsie trademark headshake. Maybe she'll get Blair under the desk practicing U.S. foreign policy speeches now that he's been reassigned to Gaza duty - then Bush can set Condi up in his new digs in Parguay for weekend retreats. Ah, the good life eh??? Better living through Viagra!Well spotted "Big Pearl"! I like your wit!Angel Gabriel 08.09.07 - 8:22 pm #

Sorry there Wes, I always thought Bill looked better in a Sharkskin Suit than the bowlegged little cowpoke! Georgie's lack of literacy of the English language, and his smirky little chicken-like head bob keeps Bill slightly in the lead toward leaving "No Goat's behind".Angel Gabriel 08.09.07 - 8:32 pm #

Hi Angel Gabriel,If it looks like the clown, it must be the one. Personally I feel that women were attracted to Bill because of the power and money, not his good looks.Wes S 08.09.07 - 8:46 pm #

Thomas Doyle thinks there was no bloodshed in the "fake" bringing back of Aristide in Haiti? Think again. And read "Hideous Dream" by Stan Goff, who was a Green Beret over there. He left the army in disgust after Haiti.Angel Gabriel said: "Billy was just better looking, and better at covering his Seamen stains than the current shrivel dick in the job that's all! He wasn't nearly as good a liar as the little swaggering cowboy."Actually, I think Clinton was a "better" liar than Bush Jnr. Bush is blatant. Clinton was clever. Clinton got away with a lot more than Bush Jnr, as he was believed more.Daphne O'Brien 08.09.07 - 9:07 pm #

Most all US Presidents were better liers then Georgie. He could not put a proper sentence together if it were a matter of life or death.I think Clinton was a good lier, but most of us were working, and respected in the world.Clinton took his orders from the same corporate gang that rules the bushes.Just think if there is a election and Hillary is elected there would be a total of 24 years of Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton.Whats the world coming to.anthny 08.09.07 - 9:27 pm #

John Pilger is a man of great INTEGRITY. Read his coverage of the killing fields in Cambodia and know many lives were spared because of his unstinting efforts. He was a brave fellow war correspondent in Indochina. I know, I was there. And I salute him for having the intellectual honesty to expose what a danger the Clintons are. Bush is evil, so are the Clintons.MAJ Glenn MacDonald, USAR (Ret Homepage 08.09.07 - 10:28 pm #

Con artist Bill Clinton...(I voted Greens.) Okay, Clinton put more cops on the streets...(Mercs for the rich.) And he killed those poor kids in Waco and Oklahoma City. (Some may disagree with me. Watch documentaries on Google Video or Information Clearing House(.info). Oh, and Bill let his brother rot in the Pen for coke...And let the CIA fly tons of coke into MENA, Arkansas during the 80's...(Check out the MENA Connection, on Google Video.) Cutting short the rag on Clinton? The Republicans are through...Ron Paul may win the primary. (I like the dude.) But a Democrat will win. Unfortunately, a CFR member. Obama or Clinton. (Kuchinich is the long shot. I like him too.)I'll vote either Unity 08 or Greens. Cause I don't see Ron Paul or Dennis Kuchinich winning the primaries.Peace out! Bring our brothers and sisters home. NOW!Heyman Nationwide 08.09.07 - 10:48 pm