The Unmentionable Source of Terrorism

[kalian]

http://pilger.carlton.com/print

The current threat of attacks in countries whose governments have close alliances with Washington is the latest stage in a long struggle against the empires of the west, their rapacious crusades and domination. The motivation of those who plant bombs in railway carriages derives directly from this truth. What is different today is that the weak have learned how to attack the strong, and the western crusaders' most recent colonial terrorism (as many as 55,000 Iraqis killed) exposes "us" to retaliation.

The source of much of this danger is Israel. A creation, then guardian of the west's empire in the Middle East, the Zionist state remains the cause of more regional grievance and sheer terror than all the Muslim states combined. Read the melancholy Palestinian Monitor on the internet; it chronicles the equivalent of Madrid's horror week after week, month after month, in occupied Palestine. No front pages in the west acknowledge this enduring bloodbath, let alone mourn its victims. Moreover, the Israeli army, a terrorist organisation by any reasonable measure, is protected and rewarded in the west.

In its current human rights report, the Foreign Office criticises Israel for its "worrying disregard for human rights" and "the impact that the continuing Israeli occupation and the associated military occupations have had on the lives of ordinary Palestinians".

Yet the Blair government has secretly authorised the sale of vast quantities of arms and terror equipment to Israel. These include leg-irons, electric shock belts and chemical and biological agents. No matter that Israel has defied more United Nations resolutions than any other state since the founding of the world body. Last October, the UN General Assembly voted by 144 to four to condemn the wall that Israel has cut through the heart of the West Bank, annexing the best agricultural land, including the aquifer system that provides most of the Palestinians' water. Israel, as usual, ignored the world.

...more...

Author: John Pilger

[Ms. Clio]

1. John Pilger is one of the few real journalists left on this sorry planet

Thanks for the link.

[kalian]

2. You're welcome....

and please share this link far and wide. I'm sure this thread will
be locked soon enough. Very sensitive topic BTW...

[Ms. Clio]

3. Yes

As a historian, I am well aware of the hysterical denial that can engulf anyone who attempts to broach "sensitive topics."

The truth sometimes hurts like bloody hell.

[teryang]

4. the defense industry prospers where

...Israel is concerned. The many interminable wars and crises in the middle east are a good reason to sell weapons, deploy ships, aircraft and troops and spend a continent load of money. Because there is profit in it and fortunes to made at someone else's expense, they could care less about oppression, aggression, death and the like.

Fundamentally, it's a racist policy, dispossessed Arabs and dead Arabs don't count but money does. The old money wasps are making boatloads of money on the centralized war state, it's better than selling opium to the Chinese or heroin and cocaine to Americans. Colonialism also bleeds off the aggression of lower class young men with military training (but no capital) and a predeliction for danger and a quick buck. These types might not be to happy or competitive with the prospects in an economy based upon peaceful civilian pursuits. The level of compensation has been declining steadily for over thirty years.

Colonialism and war provide an outlet for pressures that build up in a rigid class society. It's the 19th Century Rhodesian solution of Benjamin Disraeli.

[scottxyz]

5. I never really thought of it this way

Basically sounds like he's saying that Israel is an outpost the "West" plunked down in the middle of the Muslim world.

Kind of makes a lot of sense, now that you put it that way.

Could it be that the "West" ALWAYS knew they'd be needing that oil from that part of the world - and throwing in a Jewish state in the midst of all those Muslim ones would be a great way to keep the whole place destabilized enough to that we'd have an excuse to police it? (And in the meantime make tons of dough by arming the Muslims and the Jews to the teeth.)

[teryang]

6. There is a theory that Israel blocked

...the major pipelines from Iraq to Haifa, then blocked the tapline from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to Sidon thereby serving to elevate oil prices in times of plenty. The 1973 war and Opec response served a similar purpose. Now, American foreign policy hinges on undoing the uprisings which resulted in nationalization of our "proprietary" oil resources in their countries: Libya, Iraq, Iran, and now I'm including Saudi Arabia on this list which has more recently bought out western interests in Aramco.