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alternative perspectives on the "war on terrorism"
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Operation enduring war
Howard Zinn, The Progressive, March, 2002
No light is visible in this war on terrorism, for, as the President
says, "These enemies view the entire world as a battlefield, and we must
pursue them wherever they are." It seems necessary for the nation to
remain frightened. The enemy is everywhere. "The campaign may not be
finished on our watch," Bush says. He will pass on the job to the next
President, and perhaps the next and the next.
[The complete article]
Iraq and the Bush doctrine
Toby Dodge, The Observer, March 24, 2002
Hardliners in the US administration around Secretary of Defence
Donald Rumsfeld, his deputy Paul Wolfowitz and their ideological
godfather Richard Pearle, are using the fall-out from the New York and
Washington attacks to rework the United States understanding of state
sovereignty in the developing world. The concerns with democracy and
human rights that dominated foreign policy in the Clinton era never sat
comfortably with right-wing Republican promotion of US interests to the
exclusion of all else. Instead, as the present attitude towards Egypt
highlights, states in the developing world will be allowed to treat
their populations as they please, as long as they conform to certain
rules. These concern the suppression of all terrorist activity on their
territory, the transparency of banking and trade arrangements, and the
disavowal of weapons of mass destruction.
[The complete article]
News Flash!
U.S. not center of the world, radicals claim
Norman Solomon, Utne Reader, March 2002
There were unconfirmed reports yesterday that the United States is
not the center of the world. The White House had no immediate comment on
the reports, which set off a firestorm of controversy in the nation’s
capital.
[The complete article]
No end in sight
Paul Rogers, Open Democracy, March 20, 2002
The intense fighting near Gardez portends a deeper, lengthier war in
Afghanistan than early claims of US ‘victory’ implied. If three
putative ‘last stands’ have not eclipsed even Taliban resistance, where
is the ‘war on terror’ going?
[The complete article]
From U.S., the ABC's of Jihad
Violent Soviet-era textbooks complicate Afghan education efforts
Joe Stephens and David B. Ottaway, Washington Post, March 23, 2002
In the twilight of the Cold War, the United States spent millions of
dollars to supply Afghan schoolchildren with textbooks filled with
violent images and militant Islamic teachings, part of covert attempts
to spur resistance to the Soviet occupation.
[The complete article]
The unbearable lightness of being American
The nation is still at war, but the public may be moving on
Richard Blow, Tom Paine.com, March 20, 2002
Six months after September 11th, the Bush administration has a
little problem. It wants to marshall public support to attack Iraq. But
it also wants to control what Americans know about the war in
Afghanistan. President Bush can't have things both ways -- especially
amidst a growing number of signs that Americans are losing interest in
events overseas.
[The complete article]
Londonistan
Could an attack on Saddam fuel British unrest?
Patricia Zengerle, Tom Paine.com, March 18, 2002
Experts on international terrorism say the heartland of violent
Islamic extremism is now none of the official fronts of the war on
terror. They say its center is Western Europe -- mainly, but not
exclusively, Britain, which granted asylum to a stream of Muslim
militants during the 1990s and where the tradition of freedom of
expression that once sheltered Karl Marx has now extended to the
widespread, and very open, cause of jihad.
[The complete article]
Destruction wrought by Israel tallied in millions
Thalif Deen, Inter Press Service, March 21, 2002
Israeli military attacks in the West Bank and Gaza are estimated to
have destroyed some 22 million dollars worth of Palestinian
infrastructure financed by the United Nations and European Union (EU).
[The complete article]
The Taliban fish have swum away
Isabel Hilton, The Guardian, March 21, 2002
So you think you know what's happening in Afghanistan? Try this:
Operation Anaconda - the 11-day battle for the Shah-i-Kot valley - was
described by General Tommy Franks as an "unqualified and absolute
success". But the only thing we know for certain was that eight US
soldiers died and 50 were wounded. The rest is concealed less by the fog
of war than the smokescreen of US military secrecy.
[The complete article]
Al Qaeda's ploy: parry and run
Ilene R. Prusher, Christian Science Monitor, March 22, 2002
No one said winning this war would be easy. But the toppling of the
Taliban last October may have given an inappropriately optimistic view
of the US military's ability to quickly squelch its assailants. Now,
pro-government Afghan forces cite several reasons why the US-run
campaign against Al Qaeda and the Taliban has not been effective:
American military intelligence is weak, often comes from sources who
work for both sides, and is sometimes too slow to be effective.
[The complete article]
'Intended' U.S. target mystifies villagers - Dec. 1 bombing of tractor killed 8
John Ward Anderson, Washington Post, March 22, 2002
"America says it has the technology to see tiny things on the ground
[from fighter planes]. Why did they drop a bomb on an open tractor with
no weapons, just women and children, in the middle of the desert in
broad daylight?"
[The complete article]
General Wesley Clark warns of unwinnable guerrilla war
Ben Fenton, Telegraph, March 23, 2002
The former commander of Nato forces in Europe fears that America,
Britain and their allies could become embroiled in an unwinnable
guerrilla war in Afghanistan.
[The complete article]
Cluster bombs and political action
The politics of pain and pleasure
Robert Jensen, Counterpunch, March 20, 2002
It is long past the time for all of us to start to see, to identify,
to articulate the pain of systematized brutality. It is time to
recognize that much of that pain is the result of a system designed to
ensure our pleasures.
[The complete article]
Denis Halliday: Interview with the former head of the U.N.'s humanitarian program in Iraq
Hadani Ditmars, Salon, March 20, 2002
Although it's been four years since Denis Halliday resigned from his
post as head of the United Nations humanitarian program in Iraq in
protest over what he called the West's "genocidal" sanctions, he is
still very much a man with a mission. After running the "oil-for-food"
program, which uses Iraqi oil revenues to distribute basic food rations
and medical aid to Iraqi civilians, Halliday turned his attention to
spreading the word about sanctions-related suffering.
[The complete article]
Why won't Tommy talk?
Homeland security chief Tom Ridge continues to rebuff congressional efforts to have him testify about post-9-11 America
Arianna Huffington, Salon, March 20, 2002
Let me get this straight: While Tom Ridge and his Office of Homeland
Security were spending months looking at swatches before unveiling
their colorful terror alerts, their partners in safety over at the INS
were routinely approving student visas for Mohamed Atta and Marwan
Al-Shehhi?
[The complete article]
The madness of occupation
Lori Allen, Counterpunch, March 19, 2002
A friend in the US recently remarked, "How can we hear about what's
happening to people in refugee camps and not be shocked? We're taught to
feel sorry for refugees." But it seems that Israeli propaganda has been
singularly successful, so much so that the Palestinians are denied even
the world's pity. American policy seems content to follow the belief,
as Israeli propaganda implies and its policy assumes, that every
Palestinian is a potential or actual gunman or terrorist or suicide
bomber.
[The complete article]
Arab-Afghan fighter reveals al Qaeda's inner workings
Franz Shurmann, Pacific News Service, March 18, 2002
Though the war in Afghanistan has been front-page news for weeks,
little has been revealed in Western media about life in al Qaeda camps
in Afghanistan, and what has happened to Arab-Afghan fighters after al
Qaeda's collapse. A citizen of the United Arab Emirates who spent two
years in bin Laden's camp revealed his own personal experiences to
Muhammad Ash-Shafi'i, a reporter with the prestigious, London-based
As-Sharq al-Ausat on March 8.
[The complete article]
Message from young Israeli soldiers and vets -- withdraw from Occupied Lands
Ian Urbina And Peretz Kidron, Pacific News Service, March 19, 2002
As Washington becomes more involved in trying to bring peace to the
Middle East, envoys should listen to increasingly dissident voices among
honored Israeli veteran officers and young soldiers. They view
occupation as repression and many see it as an obstacle to any
discussion at all.
[The complete article]
Does Blair know what he's getting into?
Christopher Hitchens, The Guardian, March 20, 2002
The term "poodle" has now become so universal, as an easy
description of Tony Blair's relationship with George Bush, that it has
begun to lose both bite and bark. The truth of the matter is that, by
speaking plainly and with intelligence, the British government could
make an actual difference not just to the way that Washington decides
what to do about Iraq, but also to what Washington decides to do.
[The complete article]
Kurds oppose US attack on Saddam
George Baghdadi, Dawn, March 20, 2002
The Kurdish opposition to US strikes against Saddam Hussein is
significant, analysts say. Among possible opposition players, they are
the only people with a fighting force.
[The complete article]
Human Rights Watch documents warlord brutality in Northern Afghanistan
Peter Bouckaert and Saman Zia-Zarifi, Washington Post, March 20, 2002
America helped put these abusive warlords back in power: They
provided the Afghan troops the United States needed to get rid of the
Taliban and al Qaeda. Now America and its allies need to act fast to
ensure that these same warlords do not destroy what has been
accomplished so far.
[The complete article]
Georgia: US opens new front in war on terror
Bush sends in 200 crack troops at a cost of $64m to tackle a few dozen militants
Ian Traynor, The Guardian, March 20, 2002
In the isolated highland village of Duisi, the young Muslim men
dress in camouflage fatigues and carry guns. Some sport Taliban-style
crewcuts and bushy beards. The crackle of two-way radios is common.
Outsiders are extremely unwelcome. The air of suspicion and tension is
palpable. They are braced for war.
[The complete article]
Letters exchanged between Edward W Said and Nobel laureate, Kenzaburo Oe
Asahi.com, March 2002
Correspondence between Palestinean commentator, Professor Edward W
Said and the Japanese author and recipient of the 1994 Nobel Prize in
Literature, Kenzaburo Oe:
"Japan's youth should avoid assimilation into cultural imperialism"
"Indiscriminate hostility makes Muslims enemies of the state"
"Islamic society misunderstood, concern over idea of 'axis of evil' "
"Education, not war, in hand with understanding instead of hostility"
(When following these links, you may be given the option of
downloading a Japanese character display file. This is not required for
viewing the articles.)
Part One
Part Two
America's bioterror
George Monbiot, The Guardian, March 19, 2002
Bush has pledged to eliminate weapons of mass destruction. He should start at home.
[The complete article]
Exactly what is terrorism?
Perspectives on Terrorism: Christian Science Monitor
Can one man be both hero and terrorist? Consider Ireland's Michael
Collins. In the fall of 1920, Collins' band of "Twelve Apostles"
assassinated 14 British officers in an effort to win independence. Many
say Collins was a patriot. But was he a terrorist? Telling the
difference between violent struggle for freedom and terrorist activity
can be difficult. But the Bush Doctrine - the "with us or with the
terrorists" foreign policy that followed Sept. 11 - requires that it be
done. So what is terrorism?
[The complete article]
Taking tea with the dissident
Exiled in London, like so many of his compatriots, Saad Badr feels he can do little to bring about change in Iraq
Brian Whitaker, The Guardian, March 19, 2002
There are 310,000 Iraqis in Britain, most of whom arrived after the
1991 Gulf war. London, by a quirk of history, is also the political hub
of the Arab world, or at least the dissenting elements within it.
Washington may have the might and the money, but London is where the
conspiracies are hatched.
[The complete article]
Terror war and oil expand US sphere of influence
Scott Peterson, The Christian Science Monitor, March 19, 2002
As the Roman Empire spread two millenniums ago, maps had to be
redrawn to reflect new realities. In similar fashion, the expansion of
the British Empire kept cartographers at their drawing boards, reshaping
territories from Southern Africa to India to Hong Kong. Now, as the
United States wages its war on terrorism in Afghanistan – and deploys
troops for the first time in the energy-rich regions of Central Asia and
the Caucasus – the borders of a new American empire appear to be
forming.
[The complete article]
'Hostile' US blamed as human rights chief quits UN post
Martha Kearns, Irish Independent, March 19, 2002
The US Government is being blamed for Mary Robinson's decision to
step down as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Washington officials
had been critical of the former Irish President's position on its
bombing of Afghanistan and the treatment of Taliban and al-Qa'ida
prisoners at Quantanamo Bay. And human rights activists are blaming
those officials for her decision, announced yesterday, saying it showed
that the will of the US had prevailed against Mrs Robinson's supporters.
[The complete article]
Yemeni sheikhs threaten revolt over US build-up
Nick Pelham, Daily Telegraph, March 16, 2002
Yemen paid heavily for its verbal support for Iraq in the 1991 Gulf
war but, since September 11, President Ali Abdullah Saleh has warned
tribesmen and Islamist groups not to jeopardise his burgeoning ties with
Washington. Now, amid signs of an anti-American backlash, the
government has sought to play down the relationship.
[The complete article]
Nuclear fears abound
World Press, Los Angeles Times, March 17 2002
The Pentagon's Nuclear Posture Review, disclosed recently in The
Times, raised a fierce outcry in the international press. The nations
targeted for possible preemptive nuclear strikes--Russia, China, North
Korea, Iraq, Iran, Syria and Libya--were predictably outraged. But U.S.
allies--from South Korea to tiny Papua New Guinea--were also concerned,
warning that U.S. nuclear brinkmanship would put the world at risk. What
follows is a sampling of opinion from foreign newspapers.
[The complete article]
We mustn't be panicked into a war with Saddam
Robert Harris, Daily Telegraph, March 19, 2002
We are in danger, at the instigation of an understandably vengeful
America, of being panicked into a war with Iraq, which may well not be
justified by past experience of terrorism and which may lead to massive
casualties.
[The complete article]
Bush's war:
Where is it going and what should we do about it?
Joseph Gerson, ZNet, March 18, 2002
Last spring, our elusive National CEO, Dick Cheney , told the New
Yorker that "the arrangement [for] the twenty-first century is most
assuredly being shaped right now...the United States will continue to be
the dominant political, economic and military power in the world." Even
then, Cheney, Rumsfeld and others were modeling themselves after
Captain Alfred T. Mahan and Teddy Roosevelt who charted the way to
global empire at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th
centuries, with the aim of reinforcing the Pentagon's commitment to
"Full Spectrum Dominance" with new generations of high-tech and nuclear
weapons and by monopolizing the militarization of space. Their goal, as
Space Command's Vision for 2020 Report states is to "control" space to
"dominate" earth.
[The complete article]
This war is farcical, but it is easier to cry than to laugh
The campaign increasingly lacks credibility, from Afghanistan to Iraq
Peter Preston, The Guardian, March 18, 2002
"Do you call me a fool, boy?" "All thy other titles thou hast given
away; that thou wast born with." We're talking about King Lear and
President George W - about the thin grey line between tragedy and
comedy, between pathos and bathos. And we are walking the line. This war
on terror, for the moment, is still a Ridley Scott sort of movie: all
clenched jaws and derring-do. Not many laughs. But Robert Altman is
waiting in the wings, ready to take over as black hawks go down and
black farces begin.
[The complete article]
The Betrayal of Basra
Saddam Hussein's Iraqi opponents learn that the enemy of your enemy is not always your friend
Chuck Sudetic, Mother Jones (via Utne Reader)
For 10 years, the United States has been the staunchest advocate of
maintaining a tight blockade on Iraq’s access to foreign goods and its
oil revenues. These restrictions have failed to loosen Saddam’s grip on
power. They have failed to force him to give up what is left of Iraq’s
chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons programs. What the sanctions
have done, however, is kill. And they have killed more civilians than
all the chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons used in human history.
[The complete article]
Smaller, deeper, hotter – the new nukes
Paul Rogers, Open Democracy, March 14, 2002
The hegemony of the Republican right in Washington has combined with
advancing military strategy to make the use of smaller, tactical
nuclear weapons by the U.S. conceivable. Is this a new way of thinking,
or the culmination of a long-term dream?
[The complete article]
Arab states united in rejecting attack on Saddam
Robert Fisk, The Independent, March 18, 2002
Rarely can an American vice-president have met such a rebuff from
America's Arab allies. Not a single Arab king, prince or president has
been prepared to endorse a US attack on Iraq.
[The complete article]
THE LEFT
The new empire loyalists
Former leftists turned US military cheerleaders are helping snuff out its traditions of dissent
Tariq Ali, The Guardian, March 16, 2002
Exactly one year before the hijackers hit the Pentagon, Chalmers
Johnson, a distinguished American academic, staunch supporter of the US
during the wars in Korea and Vietnam, and one-time senior analyst for
the CIA, tried to alert his fellow-citizens to the dangers that lay
ahead. He offered a trenchant critique of his country's post-cold war
imperial policies: "Blowback," he prophesied, "is shorthand for saying
that a nation reaps what it sows, even if it does not fully know or
understand what it has sown.
[The complete article]
How anti-Americanism betrays the left
John Lloyd, The Observer, March 17, 2002
War, or its prospect, forces decisions and divisions which are
deeper than those of peacetime. The decisions which must be made concern
lives: not, now, just those of the military who are commanded to risk
them, but of the many more civilians who are at risk from modern wars,
and who are the prime targets of modern terror.
[The complete article]
Fear of Them, fear of Us
Robert Kuttner, Boston Globe, March 13, 2002
I'm not a particularly fearful fellow. But I haven't been this
frightened since, say, October 1962. And I have two opposite but
reinforcing fears. One is fear of Them. The other is fear of Us.
[The complete article]
Dubious Iraqi link
David Ignatius, Washington Post, March 15, 2002
How can the United States sell a war against Iraq to skeptical Arabs
and Europeans? A good start would be to level with them and admit there
is no solid evidence linking Baghdad to Osama bin Laden's terrorist
attacks against America.
[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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