The Liberal Defence of Murder (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781844672400)

A war that has killed over a million Iraqis was a 'humanitarian intervention', the US army is a force for liberation, and the main threat to world peace is posed by Islam.

Those are the arguments of a host of liberal commentators, ranging from Christopher Hitchens to Kanan Makiya, Michael Ignatieff, Paul Berman, and Bernard-Henri Levy. In this critical intervention, Richard Seymour unearths the history of liberal justifications for empire, showing how savage policies of conquest--including genocide and slavery--have been retailed as charitable missions.

From the Cold War to the War on Terror, Seymour argues that the colonial tropes of 'civilization' and 'progress' still shape liberal pro-war discourse, and still conceal the same bloody realities.

Author: Richard Seymour
ISBN-10: 1844672409
ISBN-13: 9781844672400
Publisher: Verso
Language: English
Published: 10/01/2008
Pages: 358
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.57lbs
Size: 9.46h x 6.32w x 1.25d

About the Author
Richard Seymour lives, works and writes in London. He runs the Lenin's Tomb website, which comments on the War on Terror, Islamophobia and neoliberalism.