[Austin-ghetto-list] TERRORISM!!!!!!!!!!!
Jon Ford
jonmfordster@hotmail.com
Tue, 18 Sep 2001 14:26:43 -0700
Great articles, Roger-- these guys have got it right.
Jon
>From: Roger Baker <rcbaker@infohiwy.net>
>Reply-To: rcbaker@eden.infohwy.com
>To: austin-ghetto-list@pairlist.net
>Subject: [Austin-ghetto-list] TERRORISM!!!!!!!!!!!
>Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2001 13:01:51 -0500
>
>
>[both these pieces seem to make uncommonly good sense. The first came
>from the Methodists via a Texas green and the second from Jay Hanson on
>one of the energy lists. -- Roger]
>
>
> > > How to defeat bin Laden
> > >
> > > By Michael T. Klare
> > > (professor of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College)
> > >
> > > Sept. 13, 2001 | If, as appears increasingly likely, groups
> > > associated with terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden are found to be
> > > responsible for Tuesday's murderous attacks in New York and
> > > Washington, the United States would be fully justified in taking
> > > vigorous action to apprehend and punish him and to put his terror
> > > networks out of business. The question then becomes: What strategy
> > > will best accomplish this objective?
> > >
> > > There are many in Washington and around the country who believe that
> > > the United States should declare war on bin Laden -- along with any
> > > governments that have given him assistance of one sort or another --
> > > and employ the full weight of American military power to accomplish
> > > this purpose. Such action would undoubtedly help restore confidence
> > > in the power of the American nation, and provide a degree of
> > > satisfaction to those who crave retribution for Tuesday's horrific
> > > attacks. But we must also ask: Will it achieve the goal of
> > > eradicating bin Laden's networks and eliminating the terrorist threat
> > > to the United States? There are good reasons to suspect that it will
> > > not.
> > >
> > > The image of American aircraft and missiles bombing Arab states and
> > > producing massive casualties -- many of them, inevitably, civilians
> > > with no ties to Islam -- will surely confirm the belief among many
> > > ordinary Muslims that bin Laden is right: that the United States is
> > >
> > > intent on tormenting and subduing the Islamic world. As Bruce Shapiro
> > > has observed, out of the rubble of American attacks will come
> > > thousands of new volunteers for bin Laden's anti-American jihad.
> > >
> > > Even more troubling, it is highly unlikely that such action will
> > > actually succeed in crippling bin Laden's underground networks.
> > > Unlike conventional military forces, these groups do not maintain
> > > fixed bases and installations but move from one camouflaged location
> > > to another -- all over the world. (Several of the terrorists
> > > suspected of involvement in Tuesday's attacks are now thought to have
> > > spent the past year hiding in a quiet, inconspicuous neighborhood in
> > > Hamburg, Germany.) Some of these groups may get caught in the U.S.
> > > attacks, but others will surely escape -- and remain in position to
> > > conduct new acts of terrorism.
> > >
> > > As an alternative to military action of this sort, I propose a
> > > strategy that combines global law enforcement collaboration plus
> > > moral and religious combat. It would compel the Bush administration
> > > to drop its war rhetoric and instead treat its hunt for bin Laden as
> > > a criminal investigation.
> > >
> > > It will not be possible to put bin Laden's networks out of operation
> > > without the cooperation of police and intelligence personnel all over
> > > the globe--including the Islamic world. The best way to do this is
> > > to brand bin Laden and his associates as mass murderers who are
> > > sought for trial and punishment under U.S. law -- as has been done
> > > with other suspected terrorists. Then, the United States should order
> > > a massive global manhunt to capture bin Laden and all of his
> > > associates, wherever they dwell. It will be much harder for an
> > > Islamic government to refuse our requests for assistance in tracking
> > > down and arresting bin Laden's associates if we indict them for
> > > multiple murders and portray this as a criminal matter. The
> > > deliberate murder of innocents is a crime and an abomination in all
> > > societies -- Islamic ones no less than any others.
> > >
> > > Furthermore, to prevent the recruitment of additional volunteers into
> > > bin Laden's networks (or others of their type), we have to take
> > > pains to show that he is the enemy of authentic Islam. Bin Laden
> > > has succeeded in recruiting followers up until now--volunteers who
> > > are willing to sacrifice their lives--because he has been able to
> > > portray himself as the true defender of Islam. Now, we must seek out
> > > and ally ourselves with the vast number of Muslims who are repelled
> > > and horrified by the death of so many innocent people in New York and
> > > Washington. We must encourage influential Muslim clerics to condemn
> > > bin Laden as an enemy of true Islamic belief. Only in this way can we
> > > silence him (and his kind) forever.
> > >
> > > To win over peace-minded Muslims to our side in this struggle, we
> > > will, of course, have to show greater sympathy for their concerns.
> > > This includes, for example, the plight of ordinary Palestinians in
> > > the West Bank and Gaza, and the suffering of the Iraqi civilians who
> > > are denied basic goods and medicine due to the U.S.-backed economic
> > > sanctions. This need not entail a sudden about-face in U.S. policy,
> > > but would require greater public recognition of others' pain and
> > > suffering. After all, we are now victims too -- and this gives us a
> > > common basis upon which to ask for their assistance in a common
> > > struggle against violence and terrorism.
> > >
> > > I know that the calls for military action will grow in volume. And I
> > > share a sense of outrage against those who killed so many of our
> > > countrymen and women. But I want the campaign against bin Laden to
> > > succeed -- both in a practical and a moral sense. Battle cries like
> > > that of Sen. Zell Miller, who called on the U.S. Thursday to "bomb
> > > the hell out of Afghanistan" for harboring bin Laden, may make us
> > > feel momentarily elated. But in the long run, it is only the pursuit
> > > of justice that can secure a peaceful world. The best way to
> > > accomplish this is for the U.S. to treat bin Laden as a criminal
> > > fugitive, not an enemy of war.
>
> *************************************************
>
>
> TALK IS CHEAP:
> AMERICA'S DANGEROUS APPROACH TO TERRORISM
>
>By: Daniel Sargis
>
>In the year A.D. 64, Nero, the Roman Emperor, decided that the Christians,
>who were viewed as antisocial scum, should be eradicated and preceded to
>crucify them in the arena, throw them to wild animals, and burn them alive
>as living torches to light Nero's garden at his Golden House. 2000 years
>later the Roman Empire is a dusty chapter in a boring history book and
>Christianity is one of the dominant world religions.
>
>On August 4 of 1964 President of The United States, Lyndon B. Johnson,
>issued an immediate response to acts of aggression committed by the North
>Vietnamese against the United States in the Gulf Of Tonkin:
> My fellow Americans: - As President and Commander in
> Chief, it is my duty to the American people to report
> that renewed hostile actions against United States ships
> on the high seas in the Gulf of Tonkin have today
> required me to order the military forces of the United
> States to take action in reply.
>
>Ten years and 50,000 dead Americans later, the last helicopter lifted off
>the roof of the United States Embassy in Saigon as the United States
>retreated in disgrace from a war with no winners.
>
>The Soviet Army invaded Afghanistan on Christmas Eve 1979 with some of the
>heaviest armed and equipped divisions known to military history. During ten
>years of warfare utilizing some of the world's best weapons, artillery and
>combat aircraft the Soviet Union inflicted a ruthlessness on the Afghan
>people few in America would understand or tolerate. "Before the war, the
>Afghan population is estimated to have been somewhat more than fifteen
>million people. Over five million --- a third of the country --- became
>refugees, mostly in Pakistan and Iran; the United Nations High Commissioner
>for Refugees called this ``migratory genocide. Millions more became
>refugees
>within the country, swelling the population of Kabul. Another million
>people
>were killed, either in fighting, or in massacres by Soviet troops, or by
>sheer starvation."
>
>Ten years later, in 1989, the Soviets withdrew in humiliating defeat from
>Afghanistan minus almost 500,000 Soviet casualties and combat losses.
>
>On September 12, 2001, in response to the terrorism of September 11,
>President George W. Bush proclaimed:
>
> The American people need to know that we're facing a
> different enemy than we have ever faced. This enemy hides
> in shadows, and has no regard for human life. This is an
> enemy who preys on innocent and unsuspecting people, then
> runs for cover. But it won't be able to run for cover
> forever. This is an enemy that tries to hide. But it
> won't be able to hide forever. This is an enemy that
> thinks its harbors are safe. But they won't be safe
> forever.
>
>The simple fact of the matter is that the "new terrorism" is no more unique
>than the "new economy" was. And, the future policy for eradicating the "new
>terrorism" is more rife with dangerous downside than was the "tech bubble"
>of the "new economy".
>
>Just as there were basic fundamentals like revenues and earnings that the
>"new economy" mistakenly thought could be ignored there are basic
>fundamentals to understanding terrorism. If the fundamentals of terrorism
>are ignored in a knee-jerk military response the consequences will
>surely be
>direr than the destruction of equity valuations.
>
>It is easy to kill a terrorist. The problem lies with the reproductive rate
>of terrorism when that terrorism is perceived to be legitimate by the
>populations of host nations. Simply stated, if terrorists are harbored in
>countries where their goals are perceived to be legitimate, they are viewed
>by the people of the harboring nations as revolutionaries or even patriots.
>Consequently, when they are killed, martyrdom is the result.
>
>For every terrorist transformed by murder into a martyr, ten more will be
>created.
>
>Nations harbor terrorists because the nation's populace shares a
>commonality
>with the perceived acts of injustice that the terrorists' acts seek to
>avenge.
>
>Fundamentalist terrorism is rationality in the face of irrationality. The
>acts of the terrorist seem irrationally inhumane to those upon whom the
>terrorism is inflicted. To the terrorist these same acts are a rational
>port
>of last resort. People commit suicide when all other avenues of hope are
>perceived to be lost.
>
>Eliminating terrorism, like losing weight, is a healthy idea but it is
>multi-dimensional.
>
>A healthy weight loss program calls for eliminating calories but also for
>finding and addressing the root cause of excessive eating. A person who
>only
>embarks on a starvation diet may lose some pounds in the short term but
>without a lifestyle change failure is guaranteed.
>
>If the world hopes to truly eliminate the present scourge of terrorism the
>journey must first start with an analysis of the underlying grievances of
>the terrorists. No, this is not pandering to the terrorist; it is the only
>way to strategically prevail against them.
>
>If the United States wishes to wage a truly effective war against terrorism
>it must first delegitimize the terrorists in their own neighborhood. The
>perceived underlying injustices that created the base for terrorist support
>must be addressed. If the perceived injustices are not addressed, terrorism
>will just keep reproducing itself because it will continue to exist in a
>nurturing environment (its host countries).
>
>If history is any guide, it is a certainty that the short-term conquest
>of a
>people by an empire solely through the use of force is the first step
>down a
>slippery slope of self-destruction for the empire.
>
>If the United States removes legitimacy from the terrorist by addressing
>the
>grievances that help to nourish the terrorism, it can then successfully
>excise the malignancy from the world. If however the United States believes
>that it can kill terrorism by the sole means of massive retaliatory
>strikes,
>like morphine for a cancer patient, it may feel good for a while but the
>outcome is exponential cell growth and failure.
>
>In this very dangerous time of high emotions may we, as a nation, pray that
>logical heads prevail. Let America truly learn the lesson of all the
>Vietnams and take a system-wide strategic approach to terrorism and not
>become mired down in the failed hope of killing this disease one cell at a
>time.
>
>
>
>Your message didn't show up on the list? Complaints or compliments?
>Drop me (Tom Robertson) a note at t1r@bellatlantic.net
>
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