La politique (éditoriale) de l’autruche

Le Lieutenant général Odom est en général classé comme conservateur. (Il fut directeur du renseignement à l’état-major de l’U.S. Army puis directeur du National Security Council dans les années-Regan, de 1981 à 1988.) Il est également, aujourd’hui, considéré comme un des commentateurs les plus compétents en matière de stratégie militaire (il est expert au Hudson Institute). Ses prises de position ont un intérêt public évident.

Odom s’est opposé à la guerre en Irak au nom de l’absence d’impératif ou d’intérêt stratégique de ce conflit pour les USA. Depuis quelques semaines, il défend l’argument du désengagement inconditionnel, dit “cut and run” (on arrête et on s’en va). Il a exprimé cette thèse dans plusieurs articles publiés sur Internet. C’est une prise de position importante. Une version de cet article proposée au New York Times a été refusée.

Odom, interrogé par Amy Goodman, de la radio Democracy Now!, donne ses explications de l’incident. Il explique le refus du journal comme étant le reflet d’une attitude générale de l’establishment de refus d’envisager la simple possibilité d’un retrait : il y a comme une sorte de paralysie du jugement (« They know that we're in trouble, and they're just not willing to face up to the reality that we are going to have to one day pick up and leave… »)

Ci-dessous, le passage de l’interview consacré à cette affaire:

AMY GOODMAN: Now, you wrote this piece. It’s appearing a bit on the internet and some local papers. But you offered it to The New York Times as an op-ed piece?

LT. GEN. WILLIAM ODOM: I didn't offer this exact version. I offered a draft op-ed. This is considerably longer than would be accepted as an op-ed.

AMY GOODMAN: But the idea was to call for cutting and running?

LT. GEN. WILLIAM ODOM: Yeah. I said exactly [inaudible] the earlier the better. The idea of staying the course makes no sense at all.

AMY GOODMAN: Have you gotten other op-ed pieces printed in Times?

LT. GEN. WILLIAM ODOM: Maybe 15 or 20, maybe 30 in the past ten years.

AMY GOODMAN: What did they say about this one?

LT. GEN. WILLIAM ODOM: Well, they didn't say. They just didn't take it.

AMY GOODMAN: Why do you think that is?

LT. GEN. WILLIAM ODOM: I really don't know. Maybe they just overlooked it. Maybe they didn't think my writing style was up to previous ventures. But I think the message would have been worth the — if they didn't like the structure of the piece, ask me to trim it or edit it. But I really don't know.

There is a tendency, it seems to me, among both Democrats and Republicans, to really get nervous about doing anything. They know that we're in trouble, and they're just not willing to face up to the reality that we are going to have to one day pick up and leave and that you’re almost — as I said in the piece, the structure of this piece, essentially saying that all of the things that the administration says will happen if we leave are already happening or they're irrelevant.

Mis en ligne le 5 octobre 2005 à 08H34