Iraq: The Borrowed Kettle

Iraq: The Borrowed Kettle

In order to render the strange logic of dreams, Freud quoted the old joke about the borrowed kettle: (1) I never borrowed a kettle from you, (2) I returned it to you unbroken, (3) the kettle was already broken when I got it from you. Such an enumeration of inconsistent arguments, of course, confirms exactly what it attempts to denyâ€”that I returned a broken kettle to you ...

That same inconsistency, ÂŽiÂžek argues, characterized the justification of the attack on Iraq: A link between Saddamâ€™s regime and al-Qaeda was transformed into the threat posed by the regime to the region, which was then further transformed into the threat posed to everyone (but the US and Britain especially) by weapons of mass destruction. When no significant weapons were found, we were treated to the same bizarre logic: OK, the two labs we found donâ€™t really prove anything, but even if there are no WMD in Iraq, there are other good reasons to topple a tyrant like Saddam ...

Iraq: The Borrowed Kettle analyzes the background that such inconsistent argumentation conceals and, simultaneously, cannot help but highlight: what were the actual ideological and political stakes of the attack on Iraq? In classic ÂŽiÂžekian style, it spares nothing and nobody, neither pathetically impotent pacifism nor hypocritical sympathy with the suffering of the Iraqi people.

Praise for Welcome to the Desert of the Real:

â€˜ÂŽiÂžek is a stimulating writer; with a knack for turning scenes from movies into little parables, and he is adept at spotting other peopleâ€™s nonsense.â€™ New Yorker

â€˜ÂŽiÂžekâ€™s book is perhaps particularly helpful in understanding the â€˜we wished for it,â€™ from his reading of the terrifying predictability of the American response.â€™ parallax
Country USA
Manufacturer Verso
Binding Hardcover
ReleaseDate 2004-07-17
UnitCount 1
UPCs 001844670015
EANs 9781844670017

Country	USA
Manufacturer	Verso
Binding	Hardcover
ReleaseDate	2004-07-17
UnitCount	1
UPCs	001844670015
EANs	9781844670017