The Most Important Terrorism Is 'Ours'

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
1

You may or may not agree with the writer’s viewpoint, but are you aware of the figures ? The Palestinians and Chechens (and Iraqi’s) killed by state terrorism. And goodness knows how many others by state terrorims of countries not mentioned in the article.

"The world is dividing into two hostile camps: Islam and “us”. That is the unerring message from western governments, press, radio and television. For Islam, read terrorists. It is reminiscent of the cold war, when the world was divided between “Reds” and us, and even a strategy of annihilation was permissible in our defence. We now know, or we ought to know, that so much of that was a charade; released official files make clear the Soviet threat was for public consumption only.
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Seen in the one-way mirror, our leaders make grievous mistakes, but their good intentions are not in question.
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On the atrocity at Beslan, Blair is allowed to say, without irony or challenge, that “this international terrorism will not prevail”. These are the same words spoken by Mussolini soon after he had bombed civilians in Abyssinia.
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Let’s look at a few examples of the way the world is presented and the way it really is. The occupation of Iraq is presented as “a mess”: a blundering, incompetent American military up against Islamic fanatics. In truth, the occupation is a systematic, murderous assault on a civilian population by a corrupt American officer class, given licence by its superiors in Washington. Last May, the US Marines used battle tanks and helicopter gunships to attack the slums of Fallujah. They admitted killing 600 people, a figure far greater than the total number of civilians killed by the “insurgents” during the past year. The generals were candid; this futile slaughter was an act of revenge for the killing of three American mercenaries. Sixty years earlier, the SS Das Reich division killed 600 French civilians at Oradour-sur-Glane as revenge for the kidnapping of a German officer by the resistance. Is there a difference?

These days, the Americans routinely fire missiles into Falluja and other dense urban areas; they murder whole families. If the word terrorism has any modern application, it is this industrial state terrorism. The British have a different style. There are more than 40 known cases of Iraqis having died at the hands of British soldiers; just one soldier has been charged. In the current issue of the magagazine The Journalist, Lee Gordon, a freelance reporter, wrote, “Working as a Brit in Iraq is hazardous, particularly in the south where our troops have a reputation (unreported at home) for brutality.” Neither is the growing disaffection among British troops reported at home. This is so worrying the Ministry of Defence that it has moved to placate the family of 17-year-old soldier David McBride by taking him off the AWL list after he refused to fight in Iraq.
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Only by recognising the terrorism of states is it possible to understand, and deal with, acts of terrorism by groups and individuals which, however horrific, are tiny by comparison. Moreover, their source is inevitably the official terrorism for which there is no media language.
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On 7 September, a Palestinian suicide bomber killed 16 Israelis in the town of Beersheba. Every television news report allowed the Israeli government spokesman to use this tragedy to justify the building of an apartheid wall - when the wall is pivotal to the causes of Palestinian violence. Almost every news report marked the end of a five-month period of “relative peace and calm” and “a lull in the violence”. During those five months of relative peace and calm, almost 400 Palestinians were killed, 71 of them in assassinations. During the lull in the violence, more than 73 Palestinian children were killed. A 13 year old was murdered with a bullet through the heart, a five year old was shot in her face as she walked arm in arm with her two-year-old sister. The body of Mazen Majid, aged 14, was riddled with 18 Israeli bullets as he and his family fled their bulldozed home.

None of this was reported in Britain as terrorism. Most of it was not reported at all.
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The truth about Chechyna is similarly suppressed. On 4 February 2000, Russian aircraft attacked the Chechen village of Katyr Yurt. They used “vacuum bombs”, which release petrol vapour and suck people’s lungs out, and are banned under the Geneva Convention. The Russians bombed a convoy of survivors under a white flag. They murdered 363 men, women and children. It was one of countless, little known acts of terrorism in Chechnya perpetrated by the Russian state, whose leader, Vladimir Putin, has the “complete solidarity” of Tony Blair.
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http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=40&ItemID=6238

2

Dear Awam ki Awaz,

There is no doubt that war is on and people are falling on all sides but we still have not bothered learning what the war is all about. This war did not start with America and islam nor between humans alone but has been there since the life came about on this planet. It is called struggle for survival. It is a war between different species as well as within the very same species.

Now imagine the development of life from the start to date and whatever has been happening in between. This will put the present situation in context for you. You will not fail to realise that war has been on between the rulers as well as between rulers and their own people. Between kingdoms or countries and within the countries, between the cities of the same country and within the cities and villages themselves, between families as well as within the families.

Now think about each and every reason why people fight. We are fighting a war on this very forum with each other. So it is short sightedness to put the blame on one country or person. Look at your own situation within your family, clan and tribe.

World is divided between preditors and preyed, dominant and subdued, authoritarians and freedom seekers.

There is a serious conflict between religion and secularism as well as between religions and sects within each religion and within various braches of secularism.

We are fighting on the basis of conflicting group interests as well as conflicting personal interests.

You see, you want to be religious and worldly wise and free, these are conflicting interests. I want to be non-relgious, worldly wise and free. At some point we both clash because it become a case of either you get what you want or I get whay I want.

So we all have to decide, which side we individuals are on of what kind of conflict. You will see that it is a very confusing world out there and so choices to be made are not that clear cut as we may assume them to be. If you really come think, America and the west is not all that bad as muslims world will have us believe nor muslim world all that prefect. America and the west is not all that great as these people would have us believe nor muslim world all that bad.

It is time for all sides to put all their cards on the table and come clean of their covert objectives on the basis live and let live ie think about compromising seriously. This is why fundamentalism and extremism or hardliners must be driven out from our midst by ourselves. No point in pointing fingers at each other doing nothing against the bad elements within ourselves.

So my friend all wars are wars of ideas on the basis of self interests. It is time to see which people allow critical examination of their ideas and which do not. The choice is clear that those who do not allow freedom of thought and expression are the bad guys and those who do are the good guys. Any other self interests are similar if not exactly the same. This is where religion loses and secularism wins. Make all the noise you like but that is the truth. What made the usa and the west great is secular democracy not christian fundamentalism. Muslim countries are ridden with islamic fundamentalism and that guarrantees their defeat every time whenever that card is used.

Take our own country Pakstan for example and look at number of masjids and madrassas that are turning out islamic scholars rather than wolrdly wise people. If we produce more religious fanatics than scientists, doctors, lawyers, engineers etc etc then which way our country is going to go and remain on that course as a whole is obvious. So if we want to be like USA and the west, we must kick out religious fanatics and fundamentalist and throw out laws based upon religion living religious practices to individuals to decide for themselves.

This is not going to be possible unless we allow serious criticism of religion within our country and people through mass media. Our people need to be re-educated to find a new direction for themselves ie peace instead of war within and without, progress instead of stagnation and prosperity instead poverty. Let us force our religious element to be worldly wise and progressive so that our country and its people are prosperous. Let us not use our money on religious institutions but proper educational institutions like schools, colleges and universities.

http://www.religionandsecularism3.gq.nu/favorite_links.html

regards and all the best.

3

Dear Awam, There was a time when the world community had to come together to crush Fascism. Now the same community feels the same fear from Islamic side.
You have opened this topic at a political forum; otherwise I could tell you the truth hidden under the disguise of a religion.
Before you find similarities in the quotes of Tony Blair and Mussolini, and in the events of French killing Germans vs American killings in Iraq, have some patience and analyze the setup of Islam!
It was easy to crush Fascism because it was a political force, but when a dirty politics is played from behind a pyramid of religion, I am sure there is very less hope of peace and survival.

4

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by anjjan: *
Dear Awam, There was a time when the world community had to come together to crush Fascism. Now the same community feels the same fear from Islamic side.
You have opened this topic at a political forum; otherwise I could tell you the truth hidden under the disguise of a religion.
Before you find similarities in the quotes of Tony Blair and Mussolini, and in the events of French killing Germans vs American killings in Iraq, have some patience and analyze the setup of Islam!
It was easy to crush Fascism because it was a political force, but when a dirty politics is played from behind a pyramid of religion, I am sure there is very less hope of peace and survival.
[/QUOTE]

Anjann, i would like to point out a major contradiction in your post.

First, you started your message by equating fascism to Islam and you asked to analyze the set up of Islam for that. That itself suggests that you are declaring Islam as a religion of intolerance, killings and fascism. Undoubtedly, your comparison is debatable but lets move onto your next statement. You then declared that when dirty politics is played from behind a pyramid of religion, there is very little hope for peace. Now you are presenting a concept, which is in total contradiction with your first concept. Now you are admitting that there are few forces, which are politicizing the religion Islam and using it to implement their own agenda. Then why to attack the basic ideology and set-up of Islam based on action of those who are politicizing the religion for their own agenda? if it fair?

I wonder what exactly you believe in. if you believe in the first statement and consider Islam as dangerous as fascism and blames the religions Islam’s basic ideology to be responsible for this , yes I can have a debate with you but if you believe in second statement (politicizing the religion by some people for their own aganda), we may be boarding the same train.

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Dear Phoenix, I will be thankful to you if you proove me wrong.

Re contradiction, is your interpretation, though I have I have stated it very clearly.

6

The point MR Awaz is trying to make (I think….) is…

We have a discovery program about the Atocha(Madrid) killings, we have a National Geographic Program about terror unleashed by “Islamic terrorists” we have CNN’s and BBC’s rant about Beslan Massacre , BUT we have nothing about Muhammad Yousaf and his whole family being plastered by Allied bombing in IRAQ, We don’t have Taj bibi’s story who lived in Poverty in Afghanistan and her big break was when her lungs were sucked out through her mouth when a daisy cutter fell near her house…..
Oh well!! The Muslims deserve it….What’s best for them … To live and strive for a meal every day or to achieve the awards of martyrdom…