[MLB-WIRELESS] Re: we are all terrorists

[Olaf]

Sydney author Bob Ellis has written an interesting article about the
current crisis re terrorism and the way it is being reported. The
article is entitled "Let's hear the truth, not lies".


Let's hear the truth, not lies
By Bob Ellis

A LOT of lies told in the last two weeks have hurt the things we believe
in, or believed in once, and they should, perhaps, be listed.

That the attack on the World Trade Centre was the "worst terrorist act
in history". Not by a long chalk. The firebombing of Dresden killed
135,000 people, the atomic bombing of Hiroshima 120,000 people, and at
Nagasaki 80,000 people. None of these were military targets, and their
fiery ruin, by the British and the Americans, was terrorism. The 800,000
killed in a few weeks in Rwanda, probably, outstrips even these.

That the young hijackers were "cowards who strike and run away". No,
they were very brave and they did not run away. They eagerly died for
their cause at the point of impact over New York.

That the terrorist attack was "an act of madness". It was not. It
achieved a sane end, a real truce in Israel, and it powerfully
publicised the daily suffering of the Third World under the unfeeling
market capitalism of the First World.

That it "unified world leadership behind George W. Bush". This is not
so. Most world leaders think him dangerously erratic and deplore his
inadvertent use of anti-Muslim vocabulary likely to unify the Arab world
against him.

Most think a world-wide hunt for a man who looks like 40 million other
men is lunacy. The man is rich, he could shave off his beard, buy a
Mexican passport, settle in Austin, Texas and open a bookshop and no-one
would know.

That the evil boffin behind the fiery act was Osama bin Laden. Almost
certainly not so. The hijackers put on scarlet headscarves, as Shi'ites
do when about to die in a jihad. bin Laden is a Sunni. Shi'ites and
Sunnis are mortal enemies and fought in the 1980s a war much like World
War I against each other, when bin Laden was in his twenties. He is most
unlikely to have involved a sworn foe in his plans.

That terrorism can be ended by a long, careful, world-wide war against
it. No way. Terrorism has been around since the first wars of
Cro-Magnons and Neanderthals and a feature of the Middle East since
1400BC. Joshua's armies were terrorists. King David was a terrorist.
George Washington was a terrorist. Michael Collins. Begin. Nelson
Mandela. Sharon's pre-emptive shooting and rocket bombing of suspects
is terrorism. Belfast will suffer terrorist acts for decades yet, and
so will those parts of Spain attacked by the Basques and so, while a
Chechnyan yet lives, will Russia.

That "infinite justice" is possible. It is not. A thousand Iraqi
children die of starvation each month because of American policy. This
is in no way just, and the future suicide bombers who are their siblings
and cousins know it.

That "many Afghans" fleeing the Taliban are "not genuine refugees".
Anyone fleeing the Taliban, which forbids paid work and medical
treatment to women, is a refugee from a tyranny.

That Afghans coming here on boats are "queue-jumpers". There is no queue
in Afghanistan. There is no Australian embassy. There is no place to
queue up. No place at all. Mostly a lot of rubble. And across the border
in the stinking refugee camps of Pakistan, children die daily. It makes
no sense to "queue" in these conditions.

That the Tampa boat people were "hijackers", or some of them were. If
they were they can be tried in an international court for piracy and be
hanged for it. Ruddock does not believe they should be. This being so,
he was lying.

That the Tampa boat people were not prisoners, and were "free to go
anywhere except Australia". They were prisoners, forbidden phone calls,
faxes, e-mails and visits by Red Cross. Photographers were forbidden
access to them. Reporters could not speak to them.

These have been some of the lies told in the past three weeks. They make
us wonder what the free Press is for. If it only ever slavishly
publishes the Official Story of one side of politics it is not free, or
else it is so incompetent as to shame us all.

In a time of war and rumours of war it is important that the truth be
known. If the Australian Press is hiding it or any fraction of it we
should know why.






At 02:31 AM 08-10-01 -0700, clae wrote:
>
>apologies to those who recieve this twice, there's some important stuff
>here
>
>from the FBI's definition of terrorists:  
>
>http://www.fbi.gov/congress/congress01/freeh051001.htm
>
>"The second category of domestic terrorists, left-wing
>groups, generally profess a revolutionary socialist doctrine
>and view themselves as protectors of the people against the
>"dehumanizing effects" of capitalism and imperialism. They
>aim to bring about change in the United States through
>revolution rather than through the established political
>process."
>
>"Anarchists and extremist socialist groups -- many of which,
>such as the Workers'World Party, Reclaim the Streets, and Carnival
>Against Capitalism -- have an international presence and, at
>times, also represent a potential threat in the United
>States. For example, anarchists, operating individually and
>in groups, caused much of the damage during the 1999 World
>Trade Organization ministerial meeting in Seattle."
>
>
>
>
>
>=====
>"Life is strange.  People are even stranger."
>            - Uri Geller
>
>__________________________________________________
>Do You Yahoo!?
>NEW from Yahoo! GeoCities - quick and easy web site hosting, just
$8.95/month.
>http://geocities.yahoo.com/ps/info1
>
>


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