Nick Cohen
British journalist.
Contents
'Lobbying hard for war'
In February 2003, the Independent columnist Johann Hari (who has since apologised for his pro-war stance [1]) identified Cohen as one of a group of centre-left figures 'lobbying hard' for the US/UK invasion of Iraq:
A year ago, the proposals for a second Gulf War seemed very much the brainchild of the American right. The intellectual arguments backing the conflict emerged almost entirely from hard-right US think-tanks and senators. But then, a funny thing happened: a significant portion of the dissident left began to come out, in dribs and drabs, for overthrowing Saddam by force. There is now a considerable school of British centre-left thinkers and commentators who are lobbying hard for war, so that the Iraqi people can be freed: Christopher Hitchens, Nick Cohen, John Lloyd, Julie Burchill, Roger Alton and David Aaronovitch.[2]
Critic of the Bush administration
In 2002, Cohen was a sharp critic of US foreign policy:
- the deployment of 'anti-Americanism' as an insult which brands anyone who opposes Bush and his British sidekick as racist doesn't work. The same logic which Defense Planning Guidance uses to imagine a world where America can be the only grown-up also allows double standards which have destroyed the moral authority America held after 11 September. How can America (and Britain) declare war against Iraq for possessing weapons of mass destruction when the US won't accept any controls on its nuclear, chemical or biological weapons? How can the US call Saddam Hussein a war criminal, when it won't accept the jurisdiction of an international criminal court?[3]
Support for the Iraqi National Congress
Cohen expressed support for Ahmad Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress in April 2002, after visiting it's London offices and interviewing Latif Rashid.[4]
Affiliations
- Euston Manifesto - signatory
- Catalyst - National Council member
- The Observer - columnist
- New Statesman - columnist
- Democratiya - advisory board member
- Unite Against Terror - signatory
Website
Books
- Cruel Britannia, Verso, 1999.
- Pretty Straight Guys, Faber, 2003.
- What’s Left?, 4th Estate, 2007.
Notes
- ↑ Johann Hari, After three years, after 150,000 dead, why I was wrong about Iraq, JohannHari.com, 18 March 2006
- ↑ Johann Hari, ‘Whose side are you on?’, Independent, 25 February 2003
- ↑ With a friend like this..., by Nick Cohen, The Observer, 7 April 2002.
- ↑ Our enemy's enemies, by Nick Cohen, The Observer, 14 April 2002.
