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The worlds worst terrorists are based in Washington
By John Pilger*
http://www.users.bigpond.com/nlevine/worstterrorists.html
In recent years Muslims have been the greatest sufferers from state
terrorism
BY KNOWINGLY killing innocent people, for political ends President
Clinton is a terrorist. By supporting his action, the PM and the Defence
Secretary are accomplices. The dictionary meaning of terrorism allows no
other interpretation; the rest is wilful obfuscation, or propaganda. What
matter now is our informed reaction.
We have been through this many times before, with the lies echoed
predictably from Downing Street. In l986, there was the evil Colonel
Gaddafi, whose country President Reagan bombed from bases in Britain,
killing mostly women and children
In l990, there was the evil Gen. Noreiga, said to be a dangerous drugs
trafficker, whose capture by US marines required a full-scale invasion of
his country and the death by bombing of at least 2000 Panamanians, mainly
the poorest of the poor in their barrios. Noriega and drugs had precious
little to do with it. The aim was to put Panama, its canal and its US
bases under direct American sovereignty, managed by other Noriegas.
In the same year, there was the truly evil Saddam Hussain, another one
of Bushs and Reagans old pals, whose regime they had armed and backed
(along with Margaret Thatcher, who sent most of her cabinet to Baghdad as
supplicants or arms salesmen! Saddams use of American and British
weapons in his attack on the evil mullahs in Iran in l980 was perfectly
acceptable. A million people died in that forgotten war; and the
American and British arms industries never looked back.
Alas, Saddam, the nominal victor then attacked the wrong country, Kuwait,
which is effectively an Anglo-American oil protectorate. He was clearly
unreliable: an uppity bastard, as one State Department briefer
described him more in sorrow than anger. Punishing the uppity bastard
cost as many as 200,000 Iraqi lives, according to a study by the Medical
Educational rust. These were ordinary Iraqis who died during and
immediately after a period of military and economic carnage whose true
scale has never been appreciated outside the Middle East.
This old fashioned colonial massacre was called the Gulf War. The dead
included thousands of Kurdish and Shia people who were Saddams bitter
opponents and whom Bush had called upon to rise up against their
oppressor. Long after it was over. New York Newsday revealed from
official sources, that three brigades of the US lst Mechanised Infantry
Division The Big Red One had used snowploughs mounted on tanks to
bury alive Iraqi conscripts in more than seventy miles of trenches. A
brigade commander said, For all I know; we could have killed thousands.
This is a war crime. -------
Soon after he was elected in l992 Clinton attacked Baghdad with 23 Cruise
missiles. These destroyed a residential area, killing, once again, most
women and children, including Iraqs most distinguished artist, Leila
al-Attar.
Interviewed on his way to church with his wife, Clinton said, I feel
quite good about this, and I think the American people feel quite good
about it. The pretext for the attack was an Iraqi plot to kill George
Bush on a visit to Kuwait. There was no hard evidence and the plot story
is now widely regarded as fake.
Two years ago, Clinton attacked Iraq again, this time insisting that he
was defending Kurds against Saddam Hussain, who must pay the price.
Once again civilians televisions unpeople, I call them paid the
price. ------
Tony Blair said he wept for the children who were killed in Omagh by a
terrorist act; but he is silent on the children who die in Iraq as a
result of one of the most enduring terrorist acts of the late 20th
century, -- the cameras had also shown glimpses of Iraqs silent
holocaust, the consequences of the imposition of economic sanctions by
the United States and Britain under the usual UN flag of convenience.
According to the Food and Agricultural Organisation over a million babies
have died. Baby food and enriched powered milk are blockaded, along with
vital equipment: stethoscopes, X-ray machines, medical swabs, scanners
and water purifiers. ---
All of course, are unpeople the victims of an unerring pattern of
ruthless, lawless terrorism, imperialist by nature and infinitely greater
than that of any Islamic or Irish group. It is time to stop sniggering at
the distractions of this rampant power and to recognise the truth about
it and speak out.
John Pilger is a British Journalist, and produced the documentary on Iraq
entitled "Paying The Price." A must see...Read some more of his articles
here: http://www.users.bigpond.com/nlevine/thearchive.html.
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