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alternative perspectives on the "war on terrorism"
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Rebellion grows among Israeli reserve officers
Phil Reeves, The Independent, February 1, 2002
Israel's armed forces are struggling to contain the most serious
internal challenge of the 16-month Palestinian intifada after more than
100 combat reservist soldiers signed a petition saying they would not
serve in the occupied territories.
[The complete article]
Innocent Muslims killed as Bush allies 'crusade'
Jonathan Miller and Rob Lemkin, The Observer, February 3, 2002
Syed Kaing Mabbul was a coconut farmer on the exquisitely beautiful
island of Basilan in the southern Philippines, the hottest new target in
President George W. Bush's global war on terrorism. His misfortune, his
mother told us, is that he has the same name as a commander of the Abu
Sayyaf, a bloodthirsty group of Islamic extremists financed by robbery,
piracy, ransom and - in the past, at least - by Osama bin Laden.
[The complete article]
Government gangsterism at work
Ted Rall, AlterNet, January 31, 2002
Unbridled legal hypocrisy is a recurring theme of the
ideologically-impoverished Bush imperium. When it suits their immediate
aims, the Bushies wield the law like a club. As soon as the law proves
inconvenient, however, they chuck it out the window like a gum wrapper.
[The complete article]
'Axis of evil' crumbles under scrutiny
Michael T. Klare, Pacific News Service, January 31, 2002
The president's rousing words will hinder rather than help American efforts to make the world a safer place.
[The complete article]
Shall we leave it to the experts?
Arundhati Roy, The Nation, February 18, 2002
Fifty years after independence, India is still struggling with the
legacy of colonialism, still flinching from the "cultural insult." As
citizens we're still caught up in the business of "disproving" the white
world's definition of us. Intellectually and emotionally, we have just
begun to grapple with communal and caste politics that threaten to tear
our society apart. But meanwhile, something new looms on our horizon. On
the face of it, it's just ordinary, day-to-day business. It lacks the
drama, the large-format, epic magnificence of war or genocide or famine.
It's dull in comparison. It makes bad TV. It has to do with boring
things like jobs, money, water supply, electricity, irrigation. But it
also has to do with a process of barbaric dispossession on a scale that
has few parallels in history. You may have guessed by now that I'm
talking about the modern version of globalization.
[The complete article]
Letter from Pôrto Alegre
Marc Cooper, The Nation, February 1, 2002
Flanked by swaying palms and under a sky streaked with flaming
orange and pink, more than 50,000 people from around the world filled a
water-side amphitheater and, singing "Another World Is Possible,"
celebrated the official opening of the second World Social Forum.
[The complete article]
World Social Forum opens with an attack on the American-led war on terrorism
Robert E. Sullivan, Earth Times, January 31, 2002
The World Social Forum (WSF), a gathering of some 10,000 peasants,
intellectuals, teachers workers, and social activists of many stripes
joining here to join in a fight against "neo liberal globalization"
began Wednesday with an attack on the American-led War on Terrorism.
[The complete article]
When should we fight?
King Kaufman, Salon, January 31, 2002
With the war on terrorism expanding, Salon talks to a group of
average Americans about the U.S. military's role in the world today.
[The complete article]
Saudi bomb victim's torture ordeal - and Britain's silence
Paul Kelso, The Guardian, January 31, 2002
A British victim of a terrorist explosion in Riyadh was tortured by
Saudi secret police and forced to confess to the bombing in which he was
injured, the Guardian can reveal. Ron Jones, 48, a tax adviser from
Scotland, was seized from the hospital bed where he was recovering from
the explosion by agents from the feared interior ministry, and taken to
an interrogation centre where he was systematically tortured for 67
days.
[The complete article]
George Bush's delusion - Tragedy does not give America a free hand
Leader, The Guardian, January 31, 2002
A tendency among politicians to exploit the September 11 tragedy has
been apparent from the very first. In Israel, Russia and China,
governments were quick to use America's agony to justify the
unjustifiable in Palestine, Chechnya and in Xinjiang. Pakistan's
ostracised regime found in September 11 a return route to international
acceptance. Its arch rival India, in its turn, used one crisis to
dramatise another, in Kashmir. From Tehran to Khartoum to Harare,
political leaders climbed aboard the anti-terrorism bandwagon with a
view to domestic advantage as well as Washington's aid and approbation.
Even Tony Blair's post-September 11 empathy offensive was not totally
devoid of similar calculations.
[The complete article]
Both saviour and victim - Black Hawk Down creates a new and dangerous myth of American nationhood
George Monbiot, The Guardian, January 29, 2002
The more powerful a nation becomes, the more it asserts its
victimhood. In contemporary British eyes, the greatest atrocities of the
18th and 19th centuries were those perpetrated on compatriots in the
Black Hole of Calcutta or during the Indian mutiny and the siege of
Khartoum. The extreme manifestations of the white man's burden, these
events came to symbolise the barbarism and ingratitude of the savage
races the British had sought to rescue from their darkness. Today the
attack on New York is discussed as if it were the worst thing to have
happened to any nation in recent times. Few would deny that it was a
major atrocity, but we are required to offer the American people a
unique and exclusive sympathy. Now that demand is being extended to
earlier American losses.
[The complete article]
"PoWs or common criminals, they're entitled to protection"
Judge Richard Goldstone, international human rights expert, tells Clare Dyer why al-Qaida suspects must not be tried in secret
The Guardian, January 30, 2002
Judge Richard Goldstone is a worried man. What's troubling him is
America's response so far to the atrocities of September 11. The way the
US deals with the captives of its war on terrorism, he believes, will
be crucial to preserving the fragile coalition put together for a battle
the superpower, for all its might, will not be able to fight alone. And
behind his concerns is a fear that America's reaction to the loss of
belief in its invulnerability could even damage the edifice of
international humanitarian law built up in the aftermath of the second
world war and the Holocaust.
[The complete article]
The real opposition to globalisation will not be on Manhattan's streets
Paul Vallely, The Independent, 30 January, 2002
The "anti-globalisation" movement has always been a ragbag alliance.
A motley collection of crusties, anarchists, revolutionary socialists
and lovers of recreational violence has routinely made the headlines
with its hatred for the culture of modern capitalism. But the vast
majority of protesters were environmentalists, human rights activists,
trade unionists and aid agency campaigners who were not so much against
globalisation as demanding globalisation of a different kind.
[The complete article]
Dubya's dream
Jonathan Freedland, The Guardian, January 30, 2002
This is the state of the union address George W should have given to Congress last night - but didn't dare
Americans need to expand their view of the world
Arlene Stein, Newsday, January 29, 2002
Today, many Americans are experiencing a newfound sense of
solidarity. But the promise of national togetherness without a sense of
its limits is hollow indeed. That's why many, while recognizing the
importance of banding together now, have been pushed toward a renewed
sense of internationalism. Across the nation, there is a thirst for
knowledge about Islam, the Mideast, Afghanistan, foreign policy, even
germ warfare and an answer to that vexing question: Why do they hate us
so?
[The complete story]
The next clash of civilisations?
Paul Kingsnorth, Open Democracy, January 16, 2002
To travel through the ‘developing’ lands during the current war is
to encounter a level of anger and protest against the West that reveals a
core fissure in global politics. Not the terrorist challenge to the
civilised world, but rising opposition from communities across the globe
to the stifling embrace of materialist consumerism.
[The complete article]
The media: Pro-US tendency is seen in survey
Mark Jurkowitz, Boston Globe, January 28, 2002
In November, a survey by the Pew Research Center indicated that the
public's traditionally jaundiced view of the news media had warmed
significantly. Compared with just a few months earlier, the proportion
of people who felt journalists ''stand up for America'' grew from 43
percent to 69 percent while those inclined to believe the press
''protects democracy'' rose from 46 percent to 60 percent.
[The complete article]
The Bush administration may form coalitions when it suits the
United States but its overriding mission is to show the world why the
American way is best
Paul Rogers, The Observer, January 27, 2002
There was much talk of coalitions after the traumatic events of last
September. Critics of Washington's policies hoped that their agenda of
international cooperation would find new favour. They have been
disappointed. What is right for America is regarded by the White House
as right for the world.
[The complete article]
How two football-mad English lads ended up in chains at Camp
X-Ray - Families baffled and distressed by fate of friends who
disappeared
Steven Morris and Jeevan Vasagar, The Guardian, January 28, 2002
As teenagers, they rebelled against family and teachers as so many
youngsters do, by smoking, drinking or causing mischief on their estate.
After school they did well, one becoming a law student, the other
working full time but finding time to do voluntary work at a community
centre. Yesterday the secret life of childhood pals Shafiq Rasul and
Asif Iqbal emerged to the astonishment of their friends and bewilderment
of their families. The Foreign Office confirmed that Rasul, 24, and
Iqbal, 20, who grew up in Tipton, West Midlands, are being held as
suspected Taliban or al-Qaida members in Camp X-Ray, the US detention
centre at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
[The complete article]
Long after the air raids, bomblets bring more death
Suzanne Goldenberg, The Guardian, January 28, 2002
They are tiny, silent killers, dropped from the bellies of the
American bombs that pulverised the Taliban defences, and striking long
after the air war on Afghanistan has ended.
[The complete article]
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HOME
September 11 and the declaration of a "war on terrorism," has
forced Americans to look at the World in a new light. No one can afford
any longer to define the limits of their concerns by refusing to look
beyond this nation's borders. If the freedom that every American
cherishes, is not to become a freedom bound within a fortress, then
every American will need to understand and respect the needs and
concerns of the rest of the World. To this end, The War in Context
invites anyone with interest and an open mind to listen to the critical
discourse in which the policies and actions of the Bush administration
are now being questioned. This debate, which is engaging inquiring minds
inside and outside America, will hopefully inform the development of a
sustainable new world order - a world order in which America is as much
shaped by the World as is the World shaped by America.
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