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alternative perspectives on the "war on terrorism"
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Friends of terrorism: Bush's decision to bring back Otto Reich exposes the hypocrisy of the war against terror
Duncan Campbell, The Guardian, February 8, 2002
His name may sound like that of a character from a Mel Brooks
musical but Otto Reich is real enough. He has just been appointed by
President Bush as assistant secretary of state for western hemisphere
affairs - and both the manner of his appointment and the role he will
now play have profound implications for a part of the world often
disregarded since September 11.
[The complete article]
Republican agenda rules the war on terrorism
Simon Tisdall, The Guardian, February 7, 2002
The war against terrorism has given Bush the purpose and platform he
so signally lacked after Al Gore finally conceded defeat in November
2000. On the "war against terrorism" washing line is now being pegged a
whole conservative political agenda which the population at large did
not vote for but which it is - for the time being at least - unable or
unwilling to oppose.
[The complete article]
US commandos kill innocents, CIA pays off kin - a model program?
David Corn, The Nation, February 7, 2002
There are hundreds of Afghan civilians--perhaps more--who have been
killed or harmed by U.S. bombs. Rumsfeld has said, "we mourn every
civilian death." If that is true, then the Bush Administration should
build upon the C.I.A.'s latest program in Afghanistan and compensate all
civilians who have been the victims of Pentagon errors. If the C.I.A.
supports restitution, how unpatriotic can it be?
[The complete article]
America and the world: an abyss of perception
Paul Rogers, Open Democracy, February 5, 2002
President Bush’s supremely confident state of the union speech won
acclaim in the US heartland. But the rest of the world hears a different
tune. There may be trouble ahead.
[The complete article]
UN defies Bush's characterization of Iran
Inter-Press-Service (via Asia Times), February 8, 2002
Iran, a country maligned by the United States, remains a key player
in sustaining peace and stability in Kabul, the UN's highest-ranking
official in Afghanistan said on Wednesday. "Iran is a very important
neighbor - and they are not going to go away," said Lakhdar Brahimi, the
UN's special envoy for Afghanistan.
[The complete article]
France upbraids U.S. as 'simplistic'
Suzanne Daley, New York Times (via IHT), February 7, 2002
Frustration with President Bush's worldview burst into the open in
Paris today, as Foreign Minister Hubert Védrine openly criticized
Washington's approach to terrorism as "simplistic."
[The complete article]
The Bush Era
William Kristol and Robert Kagan, Weekly Standard, February 11, 2002
When the editors of the Weekly Standard describe "The Bush Era",
it's worth paying attention. These aren't just editorialists; they
belong to a cadre of unelected policymakers that currently wield more
power than any healthy democracy should have to endure.
[The complete article]
Time to rethink meaning of human progress
John W. Dower, Professor of History, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Asahi Shimbun, January 29, 2002
Why should this be a moment when one loses faith in the idea of
progress? The answer, I think, is twofold. First, the Sept. 11 attacks
and subsequent mobilization for war have given enormous power to an
administration that represents, with but few exceptions (such as
Secretary of State Colin Powell), the most conservative and right-wing
political forces in the United States. And second, the war also has
evoked popular strains of ultranationalism that are alarming to behold
in a country possessed of such enormous and unrivaled power.
[The complete article]
In Uzbekistan repression gets a green light
Adolat Ramzieva , AlterNet, February 5, 2002
The unfolding story of the U.S.-Uzbek love affair is a one of a
tyranny being propped up for political expediency. Washington is turning
its ideological cheek to secure bases and to make potentially useful
friends. Tashkent, in turn, like other repressive regimes that have
jumped on the "Enduring Freedom" bandwagon, is eager to get U.S. and
international validation to brand all opposition as "terrorism."
[The complete article]
Relatives of September 11 victims expose human toll of US war in Afghanistan
Jeremy Johnson, World Socialist, February 2, 2002
Relatives of several of the victims of the September 11 terrorist
attacks spoke at a public meeting in Brooklyn, New York on January 27,
after returning from an eight-day trip to Afghanistan. They reported on
the plight of Afghan civilians whose lives have been devastated by the
US war on their country.
[The complete article]
A no-questions-asked war
David Corn, AlterNet, February 1, 2002
Within the public discourse, there appears to be no space for considering the excesses of the war on terrorism.
[The complete article]
Please
release my friend Daniel Pearl - 'I don't know if Osama bin Laden is
alive. I suspect he is. I want him to do everything he can to secure
Daniel's release'
Robert Fisk, The Independent, February 4, 2002
Dialogue among civilizations
Seyed Mohammad Khatami, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, November 9, 2001
Last week, the Bush administration designated Iran as one of the
states in the so-called "axis of evil." Iran has been accused, amongst
other things, of attempting to exert influence on its neighboring state,
Afghanistan - a privilage that has already been claimed as the
prerogative of the United States. Since Iran, we are told, should not
only be regarded with suspicion, but must in fact be reigned in with
unveiled threats, this seems like a good time to review President
Khatami's address to the United Nations General Assembly, delivered on
November 9, 2001. In 1998, Iran initiated a proposal that 2001 be
designated by the United Nations as The Year of Dialogue among
Civilizations. In the aftermath of September 11, President Khatami
renewed his appeal that all nations pursue such a dialogue:
[The complete text of President Khatami's address]
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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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