Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Jerk

PEOPLE are increasingly exploiting the time lag imposed by the United Nations and its weapons inspectors to oppose the liberation of Iraq. Here run the little streams that make up the broad river of the Left, pacifists and defeatists, Hollywood exhibitionists, 15-minute celebrities, well-meaning but deluded clergy and hippies, the French and the Germans who resent any and all action on the part of the United States, antiglobalization freaks and others discontented by temperament, all calling for peace but actually promoting tyranny. Prominent in this crowd is the thriller writer John Le Carré. A recent article of his with the title “The United States of America Has Gone Mad” has echoed round the world.

Article isn’t quite the right word for this rant. It is a pure specimen of left-wing anti-Americanism, in its way a collector’s item to treasure, offering insight into Le Carré and the fantasies he cherishes and promotes—fantasies tragicomic in their distance from reality but which undoubtedly comprise the world-picture of the Left. There is a “Bush junta” and it is immersed in conspiracy, having planned a war for a long time. Far from being a blow to them and the entire nation, September 11 was a wonderful opportunity to distract attention away from their conspiracy and the shameless protection of their own vested interests. Confronting Saddam-Hussein, “Bush and his junta” are leading everyone to perdition in an action worse than anything in living memory, worse than McCarthyism and the Bay of Pigs, “in the long term potentially more disastrous than the Vietnam War.”

About the Author

David Pryce-Jones

David Pryce-Jones (1936–2025) was a British author and commentator and served as a senior editor of National Review.

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PEOPLE are increasingly exploiting the time lag imposed by the United Nations and its weapons inspectors to oppose the liberation of Iraq. Here run the little streams that make up the broad river of the Left, pacifists and defeatists, Hollywood exhibitionists, 15-minute celebrities, well-meaning but deluded clergy and hippies, the French and the Germans who resent any and all action on the part of the United States, antiglobalization freaks and others discontented by temperament, all calling for peace but actually promoting tyranny. Prominent in this crowd is the thriller writer John Le Carré. A recent article of his with the title “The United States of America Has Gone Mad” has echoed round the world.

Article isn’t quite the right word for this rant. It is a pure specimen of left-wing anti-Americanism, in its way a collector’s item to treasure, offering insight into Le Carré and the fantasies he cherishes and promotes—fantasies tragicomic in their distance from reality but which undoubtedly comprise the world-picture of the Left. There is a “Bush junta” and it is immersed in conspiracy, having planned a war for a long time. Far from being a blow to them and the entire nation, September 11 was a wonderful opportunity to distract attention away from their conspiracy and the shameless protection of their own vested interests. Confronting Saddam-Hussein, “Bush and his junta” are leading everyone to perdition in an action worse than anything in living memory, worse than McCarthyism and the Bay of Pigs, “in the long term potentially more disastrous than the Vietnam War.”