why sudden silence?
Jon Ford
jonmfordster@hotmail.com
Thu, 15 Nov 2001 13:53:40 -0800
<html><div style='background-color:'><DIV>
<P>Roger-- great reply to Hitchens' smug little piece. He does sound a lot like Bob, doesn't he? Must be contagious!</P>
<P>Jon</P></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>From: Roger Baker <RCBAKER@EDEN.INFOHWY.COM>
<DIV></DIV>>To: austin-ghetto-list@pairlist.net
<DIV></DIV>>Subject: Re: why sudden silence?
<DIV></DIV>>Date: Thu, 15 Nov 2001 14:50:29 -0800
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>On Thursday, November 15, 2001, at 08:14 AM, telebob x wrote:
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>>Gee, what has happened to the usual drumbeat of defeat from Roger,
<DIV></DIV>>>Jon, et al ? Shocking!
<DIV></DIV>>>The USA did something right again. And not for the wrong reasons
<DIV></DIV>>>either.
<DIV></DIV>>>
<DIV></DIV>>>tele
<DIV></DIV>>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>OK already. You can't bomb your way to security in the modern world.
<DIV></DIV>>What we have done
<DIV></DIV>>in the case of Afghanistan is to create a malignant tumor of misery
<DIV></DIV>>that may well topple the
<DIV></DIV>>really big dominos of Pakistan, where the population is ten times
<DIV></DIV>>the size of Afghanistan, or
<DIV></DIV>>Saudi Arabia, from whence the terrorists and oil come.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>I also reply to Hitchens at the bottom, whose journalistic skirts
<DIV></DIV>>teleboob is hiding behind,
<DIV></DIV>>rather than expressing a sound opinion of his own.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>But first, the following bit of sensible perspective on the big
<DIV></DIV>>picture from Z mag. -- Roger
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>*****************************************************
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>> http://www.zmag.org/ZNET.htm
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>The Irish Times
<DIV></DIV>>November 14, 2001
<DIV></DIV>>Â
<DIV></DIV>>Kabul's fall is no mark of US success
<DIV></DIV>>By Vincent Browne
<DIV></DIV>>Â
<DIV></DIV>>Â
<DIV></DIV>>The "success" in replacing the Taliban with the Northern Alliance in
<DIV></DIV>>Kabul, even if followed by the capture of Osama bin Laden and his al
<DIV></DIV>>Queda associates, almost certainly will make no difference to the
<DIV></DIV>>security threat to the US and the West from terrorism. It may do the
<DIV></DIV>>reverse.
<DIV></DIV>>Â
<DIV></DIV>>The scale of the threat to America and its allies is documented
<DIV></DIV>>again and again in a multitude of reports from official US
<DIV></DIV>>commissions and organizations over the last few years. These reports
<DIV></DIV>>describe the nature of the terrorist organizations that pose these
<DIV></DIV>>threats - the absence of hierarchical structures, the loose
<DIV></DIV>>connections between them, the spread of these organizations
<DIV></DIV>>throughout the world and within America, the lessening of reliance
<DIV></DIV>>on state sponsors, and the danger that one or more of these groups
<DIV></DIV>>may acquire nuclear or biological weapons. They also emphasize the
<DIV></DIV>>vulnerability of the US to attack from these organizations.
<DIV></DIV>>Â
<DIV></DIV>>In Countering the Changing Threat of International Terrorism, a
<DIV></DIV>>report by the National Commission on Terrorism, published in June of
<DIV></DIV>>last year, the following observation is made: "If al Queda and Osama
<DIV></DIV>>bin Laden were to disappear tomorrow, the United States would still
<DIV></DIV>>have potential terrorist threats from a growing number of groups
<DIV></DIV>>opposed to perceived American hegemony."
<DIV></DIV>>Â
<DIV></DIV>>The same report stated: "Because groups based on ideological or
<DIV></DIV>>religious motives may lack a specific political or nationalistic
<DIV></DIV>>agenda, they have less need for a hierarchical structure". It says
<DIV></DIV>>these groups "operate in the United States as well as abroad. Their
<DIV></DIV>>funding and logistical networks cross borders, are less dependent on
<DIV></DIV>>state sponsors and are harder to disrupt with economic sanctions.
<DIV></DIV>>Their objectives are more deadly (than terrorist groups of a decade
<DIV></DIV>>or two ago)".
<DIV></DIV>>Â
<DIV></DIV>>The US Commission on National Security, co-chaired by former US
<DIV></DIV>>senator and presidential candidate, Gary Hart, stated in a report
<DIV></DIV>>published on February 15th of this year: "Attacks on American
<DIV></DIV>>citizens on American soil, possibly causing heavy casualties, are
<DIV></DIV>>likely over the next quarter century. These attacks may involve
<DIV></DIV>>weapons of mass destruction and weapons of mass disruption."
<DIV></DIV>>Â
<DIV></DIV>>A report in January of this year on the US Department of Energy's
<DIV></DIV>>non-proliferation programmes with Russia, chaired by former US
<DIV></DIV>>senator Howard Baker, and former presidential counsellor, Lloyd
<DIV></DIV>>Cutler, is the most alarming. It says the old Soviet Union had a
<DIV></DIV>>nuclear arsenal of 40,000 weapons, over a thousand metric tons of
<DIV></DIV>>nuclear materials, vast quantities of chemical and biological
<DIV></DIV>>materials and thousands of missiles. The quantity of remaining
<DIV></DIV>>highly enriched uranium (HEU) is enough to make more than 4,000
<DIV></DIV>>additional nuclear weapons.
<DIV></DIV>>Â
<DIV></DIV>>The US and Russian governments engaged in what is known as the
<DIV></DIV>>"contract of the century" to destroy a great deal of this material
<DIV></DIV>>and to bring the remainder under secure control. But a great
<DIV></DIV>>proportion remains in insecure conditions. Worse, those "guarding"
<DIV></DIV>>this material are given a strong incentive to give some of it to
<DIV></DIV>>terrorists because of inadequate pay - often no pay at all for
<DIV></DIV>>months on end - and chaotic military control arrangements. The
<DIV></DIV>>report records a number of scarifying episodes:
<DIV></DIV>>Â
<DIV></DIV>>In late 1998, conspirators at a Ministry of Autonomic Energy
<DIV></DIV>>facility in Chelyabinsk were caught attempting to steal fissile
<DIV></DIV>>material of a quantity just short of that needed for one nuclear
<DIV></DIV>>device.
<DIV></DIV>>Â
<DIV></DIV>>In early 1998, the mayor of Krasnoyarsk-45, a closed nuclear city
<DIV></DIV>>that stores enough HEU for hundreds of nuclear weapons, wrote to the
<DIV></DIV>>governor of Krasnoyarsk warning that a social explosion in the city
<DIV></DIV>>was unavoidable unless urgent action was taken to pay nuclear
<DIV></DIV>>scientists and other workers, who had been unpaid for several
<DIV></DIV>>months.
<DIV></DIV>>Â
<DIV></DIV>>In December 1998, an employee of Russia's premier nuclear weapons
<DIV></DIV>>laboratory in Sarov was arrested for espionage and charged with
<DIV></DIV>>attempting to sell documents on nuclear weapons designs to agents of
<DIV></DIV>>Iraq and Afghanistan for $3 million.
<DIV></DIV>>Â
<DIV></DIV>>Former US Senator Sam Nunn, who is co-chair of the Nuclear Threat
<DIV></DIV>>Initiative, told the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on
<DIV></DIV>>September 5th this year: "I am convinced the threat of a biological
<DIV></DIV>>weapons attack on the Untied States in as urgent as it is real." He
<DIV></DIV>>pointed out that the former Soviet Union engaged in a massive
<DIV></DIV>>programme of biological weapons manufacture, at one time employing
<DIV></DIV>>870,000 scientists. They manufactured 22 tons of smallpox, a tiny
<DIV></DIV>>fraction of which, if unleashed on the United States, would have
<DIV></DIV>>devastating effects.
<DIV></DIV>>Â
<DIV></DIV>>A report by the advisory panel to assess domestic response to
<DIV></DIV>>capabilities for terrorism involving weapons of mass destruction,
<DIV></DIV>>says: "The United States has no coherent, functional national
<DIV></DIV>>strategy for combating terrorism."
<DIV></DIV>>Â
<DIV></DIV>>Aside from a single sentence in the Gary Hart report, there is no
<DIV></DIV>>attempt in any of these documents to decipher why terrorists might
<DIV></DIV>>want to attack America and what America might do to address the
<DIV></DIV>>reasons for the hostility. This seems all the more surprising given
<DIV></DIV>>the scale of the threat and the vulnerability of America to
<DIV></DIV>>terrorist attack.
<DIV></DIV>>Â
<DIV></DIV>>And the reasons appear straightforward: the presence of American
<DIV></DIV>>troops in the Muslim holy land of Saudi Arabia; the historic
<DIV></DIV>>injustice perpetrated on the Palestinian people, an injustice
<DIV></DIV>>reinforced daily with the might of American arms; the sanctions on
<DIV></DIV>>Iraq and the frequent bombings of that country; and above all, the
<DIV></DIV>>perception that America is at war with the Islamic world. That
<DIV></DIV>>perception will have been reinforced hugely by the bombardment of
<DIV></DIV>>Afghanistan. Even after the fall of Kabul, America seems more
<DIV></DIV>>vulnerable.
<DIV></DIV>>Â
<DIV></DIV>>Â *************************************************
<DIV></DIV>>Â
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>>Ha ha ha
<DIV></DIV>>>by
<DIV></DIV>>>Christopher Hitchens
<DIV></DIV>>>Wednesday November 14, 2001
<DIV></DIV>>>The Guardian
<DIV></DIV>>>
<DIV></DIV>>>There was a time in my life when I did a fair bit of
<DIV></DIV>>>work for the tempestuous Lucretia Stewart, then editor
<DIV></DIV>>>of the American Express travel magazine, Departures.
<DIV></DIV>>>Together, we evolved a harmless satire of the slightly
<DIV></DIV>>>drivelling style employed by the journalists of
<DIV></DIV>>>tourism. "Land of Contrasts" was our shorthand for it.
<DIV></DIV>>>("Jerusalem: an enthralling blend of old and new."
<DIV></DIV>>>"South Africa: a harmony in black and white."
<DIV></DIV>>>"Belfast, where ancient meets modern.") It was as you
<DIV></DIV>>>can see, no difficult task. I began to notice a few
<DIV></DIV>>>weeks ago that my enemies in the "peace" movement had
<DIV></DIV>>>decided to borrow from this tattered style book. The
<DIV></DIV>>>mantra, especially in the letters to this newspaper,
<DIV></DIV>>>was: "Afghanistan, where the world's richest country
<DIV></DIV>>>rains bombs on the world's poorest country."
<DIV></DIV>>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Isn't this true?
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>>Poor fools. They should never have tried to beat me at
<DIV></DIV>>>this game. What about, "Afghanistan, where the world's
<DIV></DIV>>>most open society confronts the world's most closed
<DIV></DIV>>>one"?
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Bush is eliminating civil rights at an appalling rate in the name
<DIV></DIV>>of fighting terrorism, is he not? Here are some recent marching
<DIV></DIV>>orders for a newspaper:
<DIV></DIV>>Â
<DIV></DIV>>" 'Don't Put Civilian Casualties on Page One'
<DIV></DIV>>Â
<DIV></DIV>>Per Hal's order, DO NOT USE photos on Page 1A showing civilian
<DIV></DIV>>casualties from the U.S. war on Afghanistan. [Note: "Hal" is News
<DIV></DIV>>Herald executive editor Hal Foster.] Our sister paper in Fort Walton
<DIV></DIV>>Beach has done so and received hundreds and hundreds of threatening
<DIV></DIV>>e-mails and the like.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Also per Hal's order, DO NOT USE wire stories which lead with
<DIV></DIV>>civilian
<DIV></DIV>>casualties from the U.S. war on Afghanistan. They should be
<DIV></DIV>>mentioned
<DIV></DIV>>further down in the story. If the story needs rewriting to play down
<DIV></DIV>>the
<DIV></DIV>>civilian casualties, DO IT."
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>>"Where American women pilots kill the men who
<DIV></DIV>>>enslave women." "Where the world's most indiscriminate
<DIV></DIV>>>bombers are bombed by the world's most accurate ones."
<DIV></DIV>>>"Where the largest number of poor people applaud the
<DIV></DIV>>>bombing of their own regime." I could go on. (I think
<DIV></DIV>>>number four may need a little work.) But there are
<DIV></DIV>>>some suggested contrasts for the "doves" to paste into
<DIV></DIV>>>their scrapbook. Incidentally, when they look at their
<DIV></DIV>>>scrapbooks they will be able to re-read themselves
<DIV></DIV>>>saying things like, "The bombing of Kosovo is driving
<DIV></DIV>>>the Serbs into the arms of Milosevic."
<DIV></DIV>>>
<DIV></DIV>>>If the silly policy of a Ramadan pause had been
<DIV></DIV>>>adopted, the citizens of Kabul would have still been
<DIV></DIV>>>under a regime of medieval cruelty, and their
<DIV></DIV>>>oppresssors would have been busily regrouping, not
<DIV></DIV>>>praying. Anyhow, what a damn-fool proposal to start
<DIV></DIV>>>with. I don't stop insulting the Christian coalition
<DIV></DIV>>>at Eastertime. Come Yom Kippur I tend to step up my
<DIV></DIV>>>scornful remarks about Zionism. Whatever happened to
<DIV></DIV>>>the robust secularism that used to help characterise
<DIV></DIV>>>the left? And why is it suddenly only the injured
<DIV></DIV>>>feelings of Muslims that count?
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Starvation in northern Afghanistan should be a primary issue for
<DIV></DIV>>those who value human life. Will we now deliver the needed aid on
<DIV></DIV>>the
<DIV></DIV>>needed scale to prevent mass starvation or do we primarily care
<DIV></DIV>>about American lives like Bush?
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>>A couple of years ago,
<DIV></DIV>>>the same people were striking pompous attitudes about
<DIV></DIV>>>the need to avoid offending Serbian and therefore
<DIV></DIV>>>Russian Orthodox sensitivities. Except that those
<DIV></DIV>>>sensitive people, or their leaders, were engaged in
<DIV></DIV>>>putting the Muslims of Europe to the sword...
<DIV></DIV>>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>We are indeed the avenging angels of the world, but is our might
<DIV></DIV>>used to
<DIV></DIV>>promote justice or for expansionist corporate greed? When and where
<DIV></DIV>>does
<DIV></DIV>>the CIA intervene?
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>>There's no pleasing some people, but as a charter
<DIV></DIV>>>supporter of CND I can remember a time when the peace
<DIV></DIV>>>movement was not an auxiliary to dictators and
<DIV></DIV>>>aggressors in trouble. Looking at some of the
<DIV></DIV>>>mind-rotting tripe that comes my way from much of
<DIV></DIV>>>today's left, I get the impression that they go to bed
<DIV></DIV>>>saying: what have I done for Saddam Hussein or good
<DIV></DIV>>>old Slobodan or the Taliban today?
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Is terrorism a symptom of deeper problems -- or is it the primary
<DIV></DIV>>problem for which bombs are the appropriate cure?
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>>
<DIV></DIV>>>Well, ha ha ha, and yah, boo. It was obvious from the
<DIV></DIV>>>very start that the United States had no alternative
<DIV></DIV>>>but to do what it has done. It was also obvious that
<DIV></DIV>>>defeat was impossible. The Taliban will soon be
<DIV></DIV>>>history. Al-Qaida will take longer. There will be
<DIV></DIV>>>other mutants to fight.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>By bombing enough innocent civilians for it to become known
<DIV></DIV>>through the world of Islam and putting the Northern Alliance
<DIV></DIV>>in power, we have set the stage for later problems. Do we walk
<DIV></DIV>>away from the mess and tell the United Nations to clean it up?
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>The points of potential vulnerabilty multiply in complex societies,
<DIV></DIV>>and these weak points become targets for the disaffected when
<DIV></DIV>>the narrow economic interests of the (corporate) empire undermine
<DIV></DIV>>the possibility of legitimate democratic opposition (like Bush is
<DIV></DIV>>trying to do here).
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>>But if, as the peaceniks like
<DIV></DIV>>>to moan, more Bin Ladens will spring up to take his
<DIV></DIV>>>place, I can offer this assurance: should that be the
<DIV></DIV>>>case, there are many many more who will also spring up
<DIV></DIV>>>to kill him all over again. And there are more of us
<DIV></DIV>>>and we are both smarter and nicer, as well as
<DIV></DIV>>>surprisingly insistent that our culture demands
<DIV></DIV>>>respect, too.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>We're good and rich and wise and individualistic while Muslims
<DIV></DIV>>with their adamant moral principles are poor and bad? Do we
<DIV></DIV>>enough nukes to back that point of view over the long run?
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>>
<DIV></DIV>>>∑ Christopher Hitchens is a columnist for Vanity Fair.
<DIV></DIV>>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Which is a much better source than, say, da Newyawkah.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
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