THE RECORD
September 26, 2001
Editor's Corner
As the last issue was being printed the World Trade
Center in NYC was being reduced to rubble. Can I say
that I was surprised? The answer is no. I was
certainly appalled by this terrible and disgusting turn
of events, but not surprised. If one paid much
attention to world affairs beyond the sanitized version
presented by most North American media, then only the
most oblivious Pollyanna would have failed to recognize
the potential and even probability that something like
this was bound to happen. This is not to say that it
was justified. In a civilized world killing people to
make your point is never justified. Period. But, that
conditions in the world have come to such a state that
this kind of terror can be expected should give us all
cause to ask what has gone wrong.
Almost as disgusting as this act of terror has been the
official US response to it. From the very beginning
the mainstream media, lead by CNN which seems to have
become a propaganda arm of the US government, has been
couching their reporting in the rhetoric of war and
vengeance, conditioning people to support further acts
of violence and a reduction in civil liberties rather
than a rational and intelligent examination of what the
real problem is and how to fix it.
It is certainly time that we had a "war" against
terrorism, in fact seriously combating terrorism is
something that is way over due. However, if there is
to be any success in ending or even significantly
reducing terrorism, then the world must consider all
terrorism and terrorists, not just selected ones. This
means coming to grips with the fact that one of the
biggest perpetrators of terrorism in the last 50 years
has been the US government. Any action by the US to
remedy terrorism that does not include serious self
examination and a public acknowledgment of the US role
in terrorist activities, and in creating a world where
we now face such brutality as the events of September
11, will be an action built on hypocrisy.
The Americans are framing their response to the WTC
attack as a defense of liberty and freedom, yet all
around the world there are people whose liberty and
freedom have been crushed by the US. The United
States of the last half century is a United States that
has conducted itself in violation of its own founding
principles. In 1776 Thomas Jefferson wrote in the
Declaration of Independence that "We hold these truths
to be self evident, that all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty
and the pursuit of happiness." Yet, when designing US
foreign policy all people are not considered or treated
as equals, and life, liberty and such are rights
readily alienated if they clash with economic
interests. From Guatemala and Iran in the early 50s to
the brutal terrorist regimes in Chile, El Salvador and
other Latin American countries that were created and or
supported by US money and training, the record of US
participation in murder, mass murder, torture and other
atrocities is dismal. The list of US supported
butchers is long, including Saddam Hussein and Osama
Bin Laden, the latest targets of condemnation.
It is heartening to see that papers both in the US and
overseas are now starting to run articles critical of
the US government response to this crisis. Maybe some
common sense will still prevail. William Mandel in
California wrote "The time has come to realize that the
motivation that brought about our Revolutionary War in
1776 is the strongest single force active in the world
today. People will be independent, no matter what
Washington, Wall Street, and Silicon Valley want to do
with and in their countries. The United States must
either adapt to that or suffer the fate of ancient
Rome." Words our leaders should wisely consider when
setting out to deal with terrorism.
Jerry West
Copyright 2001, West's International
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Thanks to Bill Mandel for his great piece from which I stole the quote.
-- Jerry West Editor/publisher/janitor ---------------------------------------------------- THE RECORD News and Views from Nootka Sound & Canada's West Coast An independent, progressive regional publication http://www.island.net/~record/
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