On Sat, 25 Feb 2006, Jonathan Schwarz was cited has aving blogged:
> http://www.tinyrevolution.com/mt/archives/000812.html
>
> Did you know Iraqi prime minster Ibrahim Jafari is a Chomsky admirer?
>
> Man, things are REALLY not going according to plan.
I think there's a lot less here than meets the eye; I think this quote was ripped from context and made a bit misleading. If you put it back in context, context, it looks more like Jaafari is citing the book to show off that he reads in English and understands how the West thinks -- and is inadvertantly showing off just how little he understands.
And while Kaplan found his cite surprising, he didn't think it meant much. The title of his article is "The case for staying in Iraq."
Here's the paragraphs where the quote appears:
<quote>
Another casualty has been the authority of Prime Minister Ibrahim
Jafari, whom the ministries routinely ignore. On the day the
preliminary results of December's elections were announced, Jafari
invites the election commissioners for dinner. The liberal activist
Mustafa Al Kadhimiy wrangles two invitations, and, as we wait at the
gate, Jafari's guards radio back and forth on their
walkie-talkies--signing off with what, even in Iraq, stands out as
religious phrasing: "Yes, believer." A concrete path leads to a
footbridge and then across a moat, winding around Jafari's villa until
it ends in a heated tent, which, Mustafa notes disapprovingly, is of
Iranian vintage. But it is Jafari's relations with Iraq, not Iran,
that most concern American officials here. Unlike his predecessor,
Iyad Allawi, Jafari has a reputation for being cerebral, detached,
and, most of all, weak.
His dinner guests look utterly exhausted. "The Sunni parties attack
us," explains chief electoral officer Adil Al Lami. "We receive
violence, assassination attempts." One commissioner seems to be on the
brink of a nervous collapse. But not Jafari. As the commissioners pick
at their kebobs, the prime minister announces that he has completed
one of Thomas L. Friedman's books. Have I read The Lexus and the Olive
Tree? As a television in the corner of the room conveys images of the
carnage outside, Jafari admits to being partial to the works of Noam
Chomsky. Why won't Chomsky come to Iraq? he asks. The commissioners
don't know what to say. And, apart from expressing doubts about a
Chomsky visit, neither do I. Later, asked if the prime minister
offered this line of conversation for the benefit of a visiting
American, a source close to Jafari responds, "No, this is how he talks
in public. No one understands what he is talking about. But
Iraqis--they like this. If they can't understand him, they think he
knows something." Indeed, Jafari has become well-known for delivering
inscrutable speeches that wander from Western philosophy to Arab
literature and back again, leaving even seasoned translators
perplexed. The confusion extends to his deliberations with the
Americans. "Today, with our current government," Jafari tells me, "we
tell the MNF [multinational forces] when to go. ... The MNF wait for
our orders." Yet, when pressed on his relationship with coalition
forces, Jafari sounds a more humble--and increasingly familiar--note.
"If they leave today," he says, "we would be defeated."
The full article is at:
URL: http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20060306&s=kaplan030606
And you can access it using cypherpunk.
Michael