tp162.xml

tp162.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2003-03-03

Who's the Terrorist?

The United States of America is the largest terrorist organization in the
world. THAT is what the guys who blew up the WTC and Pentagon wanted us to
acknowledge. And have we? I think not.

Terrorism is defined as: attacking civilian populations to create political
leverage. Were the guys who attacked the WTC and Pentagon terrorists? Sure
they were. They were doing what we've been doing for decades: attacking
strategic centers and ignoring collateral damage to civilians. Anyone
remember Vietnam? Agent Orange? Napalm. Remember a little girl running down
a road naked, burning from napalm? But that was then and this
was...Well...How about blockading Iraq, causing hundreds of thousands of
civilian deaths over a period of almost ten years now. Asked about the
horrendous human consequences of the sanctions, Madeleine Albright (U.S.
ambassador to the UN and later Secretary of State) declared that, the price
is worth it. In case you need a translation here she is saying that
terrorism is worth it. I think Osama would agree.

Or how about sending cruise missiles into the Sudan to blow up a
pharmaceutical plant causing eventual suffering and death to tens of
thousands more? And, SIMULTANEOUSLY ruining a negotiation whereby the
Taliban had agreed to hand over bin Laden to the Saudis. Is that shooting
yourself in the head or what? How about the U.S. arming the Turks to push
the Kurds -- men, women, and children -- back over the border into Iraq to
irritate Saddam? How about condoning genocide in Cambodia because they are
friendlies, they oppose Vietnam? How about staying silent when Indonesia
invades East Timor because our mineral and petroleum corporations want to
stay on good terms with the Indonesian government? Or when Indonesian
soldiers shoot workers to crush labor unions at U.S. mines?

But this is not the same, you say. That was war, these were innocent
civilians! No one who works in the Pentagon effecting these massacres is an
innocent civilian. And what about the WTC? Civilians? Do you know what they
did there? And what they are now doing somewhere else? Men and women sit at
computers clicking on mice. Click -- a billion dollars leaves Taiwan and
100,000 people lose their jobs. Click -- a billion dollars is invested in
Bolivia where 100,000 peasants are removed from their land to make way for
another strip mine. Click -- close down that factory in South Carolina and
move it to Mexico. Click -- what next? America is 4% of the global
population consuming 24% of the global resources. The earth would have to be
six times bigger than it is for everyone alive to enjoy the same standard of
living. And yet the world is being sold on the benefits of participating in
the global economy? An economy that cannot work!...But what about all those
poor souls in the planes and on the ground, the incredibly heroic firemen?
As Osama would say, quoting Madeline, the price is worth it. Click --