Gordon Campbell interviews Robert Fisk

[Nostalgia]

Robert Fisk at the Copthorne Hotel, Mt Victoria Wellington September 2008

Campbell: The Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has said that the US has been sent into Iraq on a mission from God. Leaving aside the sentiment, how does that sort of language resonate in the Middle East ?

Fisk: Well, it just re-inforces the view first put forward by Bin Laden that it is a crusade, and always has been a crusade. I worked out for a magazine article that we now have 22 times as many military forces per head of population in the Muslim world than the Crusaders had in the 12th century. And then when you hear what Palin says, you can understand what Arabs think…

Look, when people start talking that they’re on theological missions, first of all they will lose the war. Secondly, they’re cracked. Blair, more and more after Iraq, talks about God. But God apparently didn’t give him any advice. He didn’t say to Blair in February 2003 look Tony, this Iraq thing may not be such a good idea. They go on wars for God but they don’t talk to God about it first. God has views about politics, I’d imagine.

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