Violent Changes

To Civilisation, if I can Find Her



`First, find and punish the men responsible, Laden if it was him. Not by landing a gigantic force in a ravaged country, but by the same kind



of tight, focused operation that found gruesome



success on September 11,` says Dilip D`Souza.

Attack on the US: The Complete Coverage

WOW,Dilip ARE YOU SURE ,WE NEED TO BE COMPLIMENTING THEM SO SOON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dilip D`Souza

To Civilisation, If I Can Find Her

I hear there`s a war on the way. I hear it`s going to be between the civilised world and the rest. Between the free democracies of the world and the rest. Between barbarians and the rest. Terrorism, my Prime Minister Vajpayee said the other day, is a `great threat to our people, our values and our way of life.` The attack on America, he went on, `is a stark and terrible reminder of the power and reach of the terrorists to destroy innocent lives and challenge the civilised order in this world.` And in this coming war, President Bush announced, `you`re either with us or against us,` forgive me if not quite in those words. `Us,` it`s safe to assume, refers to this civilised world.



So as an ordinary human being, horrified and angered by the brutality of September 11, in the fond belief that I`m somewhat civilised, I`m anxious to choose my side. But I`m somewhat baffled as well. I look for this civilisation and I begin to wonder: just where is it?

When Chile`s elected leader Salvador Allende was murdered and one of the century`s worst dictators Auguste Pinochet, put in place to spend a generation molesting that country and killing its citizens, was that civilisation? When a vast Soviet army overran Afghanistan and reduced that once fabled country to rubble, its proud people so devastated and demoralised that they cannot rise to shake off the tormentors who drove out the Soviets, well, was that civilisation?

When Rwanda`s Hutus erupted in a hellish orgy of hatred and slaughtered their Tutsi countrymen for three months and the rest of the world preferred to look the other way, even quibbled over whether this genocide really was genocide, now was that civilisation? When, perhaps inspired by a hate-spewing figure whom a perverse Afghan cabal fiercely protects, maniacs with knives hijack planes and pilot them into two towering buildings and a squat one, taking 6,000 unsuspecting humans with them to fiery deaths, hey, is that civilisation?

When in the capital of the world`s most populous democracy, a prime minister is assassinated and that is excuse enough to slaughter 3,000 Sikhs, and the country -- India, of course -- has not for 17 years found the will to punish the powerful men who led that slaughter, hello, is that civilisation? When Russians and Chechens maul and murder each other in arguably the world`s most vicious war, look upon each other as just vermin to be exterminated, hmm, is that civilisation? When Israel elects a leader whose idea of negotiating peace is to shove ever more Jewish settlements down Palestinian throats, devoting ever more of his country`s armed forces to ``protecting`` these illogical and unsustainable enclaves, thereby spilling ever more blood in that Holy Land, tell me won`t you please tell me, is that civilisation?

I could go on, you know. South Africa, the Congo, Bombay, Turkey, Cambodia, Nicaragua: I could really go on and so could you.

So when this is the wealth of civilisation on display, year round, the world over, it`s enough to leave a man scratching a hairy scalp in despair. Just where are the values that are `under threat,` the `civilised order` that`s being destroyed? And what`s a man to do when he`s told `you`re either with us or against us`? Where does his revulsion at, for example, the American role in Allende`s murder and Pinochet`s regime place him: with or against? Is he `with us` because he thinks the hijacking pilots, the men who murder in Kashmir, are terrorist scum? Or is he `against us` because he thinks the murderers of the Sikhs are also terrorist scum?

Now I hardly mean to say that there are no principles of civilised life that are worth protecting. Nor that they suffer no threats today. Nor even do I want to introduce a meaningless moral relativism into the debates we are all wrestling with these days. The assaults on the WTC and the Pentagon were, as Robert Fisk says, crimes against humanity. Period.

But I do mean to say, let`s be careful when we rush to stake our claim to be good. Let`s be careful when we talk so easily of civilisational struggles between Good and Evil. Partly because we all have our dark little secrets that will come tumbling out. But mostly because this is an empty exercise in futility. It produces the grotesque scenario that is unfolding before our eyes: the massing of a mighty military machine to launch an assault on possibly the world`s most ruined and desperate society; and these preparations cheered on by my country. Such an assault will kill precisely the wrong people, ruin that society even more, and leave all the hatreds intact, ready to strike again in more spectacularly horrific fashion.

There`s no good there, and certainly no civilisation. That is no war against terrorism that I want to be part of, that I want my country to be part of, that I want fought at all. That is, to repeat, just futility.

It is futile because it can never stamp out terrorism, just as the mere spraying of pesticides never eradicates malaria. You do eradicate malaria by starving its carriers of the conditions in which they thrive. In much the same way, as so many have pointed out, you destroy terrorism by addressing the conditions that spawn terrorists.

Which means: no longer must we tolerate a world in which a minority lives pampered, wealthy, protected lives while the majority scrounges outside for the next gulp of water. That applies to the USA and Bangladesh just as much as it applies to Malabar Hill and the homeless beggars who roam its streets. (Why must a civilised world think it is acceptable that some of its residents sift through garbage for food?). No longer must justice be so selective that it is injustice above all. That applies to murdered Palestinians and disappeared Chileans just as much as it applies to the silent victims of riots in India. (Why must a civilised world think it is acceptable that riots ``just happen`` and so are normal?). No longer must corrupt or hate-mongering ``leaders`` be allowed to hold power, escape their crimes, just because they serve particular political purposes. That applies to Pinochet and Mobutu and Mubarak and Nawaz Sharif just as much as it applies to Thackeray and Jayalalithaa. (And yes, why must a civilised world think a Mobutu must be propped up only because he claims to be a bulwark against Marxism?).

In short, and we might as well face it: terrorism didn`t just arrive on our planet one recent morning. Oppression, poverty and injustice produce the hatreds that send terrorists to flight school in Florida. Tackling those enormous but never insurmountable problems, understanding that if they persist we are all threatened, will choke off terrorism.

In that sense, the planes that sliced into the WTC were true children of this globalization we hear so much about. With one cataclysmic explosion, they woke up America and the entire globe. Not just to the ``power and reach of the terrorists``, but also to the consequences of the illusion that ``we`` are safe behind our gates and barbed wire and security guards and immigration laws and eyes that are so firmly shut to the misery that wallows beyond their lids. Whoever ``we`` are, the misery now belongs to us all. It always did, but if we chose not to know it before, we know now. We can`t afford not to. `No man is an island,` John Donne did indeed write in 1623, but take more heed of what he wrote only a few words later:

Any man`s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

Yes: after the bell tolled so horribly in NYC and DC, let`s know that it tolled for us. How must ``we`` respond?

First, find and punish the men responsible, bin Laden if it was him. Not by landing a gigantic force in a ravaged country, but by the same kind of tight, focused operation that found gruesome success on September 11. I am no military man, so I have no idea how difficult that will be. But however difficult, it is the only way to get the culprits.

That done, open `our` eyes to all that`s around us. Free of political bias, free of hypocrisy, free of hollow words about ``our`` civilised values and their ``barbarity`` and everybody`s religion. Let`s understand that the way we live, the choices we make, the things we do, the policies we follow, cannot but leave their mark. In all humility, let`s each recognize our own mistakes and failures, whether religious, societal, political or personal. Let`s rebuild beginning from that foundation. I have no idea how difficult all that will be either. But however difficult, it is the only way to launch a successful assault on terrorism.

If it happens, that kind of introspection is far more than the way to eradicate terrorism, more even than the only possible silver lining to the sickness of September 11. It is the very meaning of civilisation.

Hamidm:

You might also have added that the Palestinians rejected the UN Partition Plan of 1947 that Israel had accepted, which would have given them a territory equal to half that of Israel today (certainly much more than what they are willing to settle for today) and Jerusalem. The Israelis did not control Jerusalem (at least not the Palestinian/Arab quarter) until 1967. I remember the response of the eloquent Hanan Ashrawi when she was asked about this during the Arafat-Barak negotiations last year...`Blunders have been made`... is all she would say.

[The carefree, innocent days of the 90’s were truly gone...]

Yeah!..., thanks a lot to the NSA, CIA, FBI and all those three letter sleuths... i just happened to read this:

http://www.michaelmoore.com/2001_0912.html

Quite interesting... and to quote this guy:

[We abhor terrorism — unless we’re the ones doing the terrorizing.]

How sadly true.

Five Muslim protestors killed in India

LUCKNOW: Five people were killed on Thursday after police fired on demonstrators protesting the arrest of leaders of a banned Islamic student organisation in this northern Indian city. The violence erupted after a police crackdown to seal off the offices of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), which came hours after New Delhi imposed a nationwide ban on the radical Muslim group.

Officials in New Delhi said the group was outlawed following reports that some SIMI leaders had close links with Islamic separatist groups such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen in Kashmir. They said intelligence reports also linked SIMI to a string of bombings in the states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and New Delhi and added the attacks were conducted on the behest of Hizbul Mujahideen.

Home Minister L K Advani warned of ``firm action`` against the SIMI. Hundreds of police personnel were deployed in Lucknow with shoot-on-sight orders, officials said. A police spokesman said that five people had been killed and added that an indefinite curfew had been imposed in parts of the city after police put down protests over the arrest of three local SIMI leaders. Police also arrested 67 SIMI supporters and leaders on Thursday throughout Uttar Pradesh, officials here added.

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One more thing to my previous post - as Dawn reports, the EU mission to Pakistan has lifted those dumb trade quotas they used to have. Dawn reports that the US is planning the same. ``Trade not Aid`` was something that people way back in the 1960`s used to ask for (a Latin American economist whose name I forget was at the forefront on this). But politicians in the west would succumb to domestic political pressures from farmers. Looks like the need to ``drain the swamps`` that breed terrorism is finally being recognized. This summer in Pakistan I had wondered what all these youngsters being taught in madrassas were going to do when they grew up, lacking any marketable skill. So, if we get the Pakistan economy moving, this should go a long way in solving the problem. And this would be to the advantage of everyone, not the least of which is India (with the minor exception of those morbidly opposed to being stood up by the formation of a separate country in 1947, and these people will not matter any more) which would then have Pakistan at peace with itself and with India.

I pray that things keep to move in this direction.

hamidm #33 You get partial credit on this one. You are right insofar as you indicate that even if there was peace in the middle east, there would still be trouble. However, peace in the middle east would definitely lower blood pressures all around, and thus help ``drain the swamps`` that feed terrorism. If you dont believe me, look at the tremendous pressure now being put on Israel (including a few choice words personally delivered to Sharon by the British foreign secretary) to try and make peace. Furthermore, the underlying cause of terrorism is not merely blind following of an ideology (again if you dont believe me, read what people from Bush down are now saying across the world), but something else. The economist article on the subject, which indicated reasons like envy and resentment of the riches and power of the US is closer to the truth although neither the terrorists nor the Islam bashers in South Asia will accept that.

ras siddiqui #34,

good article

CHANGE TO NON-VIOLENCE,

What ever happebed to the freedom fighters of kashmir, the people in revolt against the oppression of the indians. They have gone to fight another war in another jihadic frontier. At last there is the proof, kashmir violence will not stop with meetings, it will stop only with hardware actions, like the one now.

Bijli 35

You prove my point. US has intervened in hundreds of places. Few of them other than some mad countries have promoted terrorism and then come to Chowk to defend it.

Ras,

Thanks for the article. I`m glad someone else was picking up on this text/subtext theme, or the mainstream media talking through both sides of its mouth. And I am not particuarly happy to have this feling confirmed.

Btw, some NYorkers aren`t thrilled at Mayor Guilliani`s hemming and hawing about a third term in office, which does violate NY state law. NY columnist Jimmy Breslin (sorry ladies and gents, have to drag him into this again) summed the Mayor up in this phrase: A small man looking for a balcony...

regards

If, as most would agree, the atrocities of September 11th are just that - atrocities of the worst kind, inexcusable and unjustifiable - then we cannot attach conditionalities to our condemnation of them, or the search for justice in their wake.

America`s many wrongs should not form part of any such discussion. Talk of chickens coming home to roost and reaping the whirlwind is specious and dangerous. Militant Islam would exist, and does exist, in spite of (or not solely because of) American imperialism or Zionism. It is the principle of western society that militant Islam is so vehemently, violently, opposed to. It wants to throw acid in the face of the unveiled woman, for no other reason than the fact that she is unveiled.

Jawahara, a beautiful article. Thank you.

There is a complex ,in genuinely decent ppl. that they cant say ``NO``.

ITS AS IF SOME PPL. FEEL GUILTY WHEN THEY SAY ..NO!!

How else can you explain Saudi ,Kuwaiti ,during Desert Storm ,when America pushed itself into their country & asked for permission later SO TO SAY .You understand what im saying by that.The gulf countries Qatar,Bagrain,UAE,& Doha have had to say forced YES too.

I feel for Pervaiz Musharaf bechara ,yes ,i dont envy his position ,leave alone volunteer for it as he has done.



Ever since the United States Army massacred 300 Lakotas in 1890, American

forces have intervened elsewhere around the globe 100 times. Indeed the

United States has sent troops abroad or militarily struck other countries`

territory 216 times since independence from Britain. Since 1945 the United

States has intervened in more than 20 countries throughout the world.

Since World War II, the United States actually dropped bombs on 23

countries. These include: China 1945-46, Korea 1950-53, China 1950-53,

Guatemala 1954, Indonesia 1958, Cuba 1959-60, Guatemala 1960, Congo 1964,

Peru 1965, Laos 1964-73, Vietnam 1961-73, Cambodia 1969-70, Guatemala

1967-69, Grenada 1983, Lebanon 1984, Libya 1986, El Salvador 1980s,

Nicaragua 1980s, Panama 1989, Iraq 1991-1999, Sudan 1998, Afghanistan 1998,

and Yugoslavia 1999.

Post World War II, the United States has also assisted in over 20 different

coups throughout the world, and the CIA was responsible for half a dozen

assassinations of political heads of state.

The following is a comprehensive summary of the imperialist strategy of the

United States over the span of the past century:

Argentina - 1890 - Troops sent to Buenos Aires to

protect business interests.

Chile - 1891 - Marines sent to Chile and clashed with

nationalist rebels.

Haiti - 1891 - American troops suppress a revolt by

Black workers on United States-claimed Navassa Island.

Hawaii - 1893 - Navy sent to Hawaii to overthrow the

independent kingdom - Hawaii annexed by the United

States.

Nicaragua - 1894 - Troops occupied Bluefields, a city

on the Caribbean Sea, for a month.

China - 1894-95 - Navy, Army, and Marines landed

during the Sino-Japanese War.

Korea - 1894-96 - Troops kept in Seoul during the war.

Panama - 1895 - Army, Navy, and Marines landed in the

port city of Corinto.

China - 1894-1900 - Troops occupied China during the

Boxer Rebellion.

Philippines - 1898-1910 - Navy and Army troops landed

after the Philippines fell during the Spanish-American

War; 600,000 Filipinos were killed.

Cuba - 1898-1902 - Troops seized Cuba in the

Spanish-American War; the United States still

maintains troops at Guantanamo Bay today.

Puerto Rico - 1898 - present - Troops seized Puerto

Rico in the Spanish-American War and still occupy

Puerto Rico today.

Nicaragua - 1898 - Marines landed at the port of San

Juan del Sur.

Samoa - 1899 - Troops landed as a result over the

battle for succession to the throne.

Panama - 1901-14 - Navy supported the revolution when

Panama claimed independence from Colombia. American

troops have occupied the Canal Zone since 1901 when

construction for the canal began.

Honduras - 1903 - Marines landed to intervene during a

revolution.

Dominican Rep 1903-04 - Troops landed to protect

American interests during a revolution.

Korea - 1904-05 - Marines landed during the

Russo-Japanese War.

Cuba - 1906-09 - Troops landed during an election.

Nicaragua - 1907 - Troops landed and a protectorate

was set up.

Honduras - 1907 - Marines landed during Honduras` war

with Nicaragua.

Panama - 1908 - Marines sent in during Panama`s

election.

Nicaragua - 1910 - Marines landed for a second time in

Bluefields and Corinto.

Honduras - 1911 - Troops sent in to protect American

interests during Honduras` civil war.

China - 1911-41 - Navy and troops sent to China during

continuous flare-ups.

Cuba - 1912 - Troops sent in to protect American

interests in Havana.

Panama - 1912 - Marines landed during Panama`s

election.

Honduras - 1912 - Troops sent in to protect American

interests.

Nicaragua - 1912-33 - Troops occupied Nicaragua and

fought guerrillas during its 20-year civil war.

Mexico - 1913 - Navy evacuated Americans during

revolution.

Dominican Rep 1914 - Navy fought with rebels over

Santo Domingo.

Mexico - 1914-18 - Navy and troops sent in to

intervene against nationalists.

Haiti - 1914-34 - Troops occupied Haiti after a

revolution and occupied Haiti for 19 years.

Dominican Rep 1916-24 - Marines occupied the Dominican

Republic for eight years.

Cuba - 1917-33 - Troops landed and occupied Cuba for

16 years; Cuba became an economic protectorate.

World War I - 1917-18 - Navy and Army sent to Europe

to fight the Axis powers.

Russia - 1918-22 - Navy and troops sent to eastern

Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution; Army made five

landings.

Honduras - 1919 - Marines sent during Honduras`

national elections.

Guatemala - 1920 - Troops occupied Guatemala for two

weeks during a union strike.

Turkey - 1922 - Troops fought nationalists in Smyrna.

China - 1922-27 - Navy and Army troops deployed during

a nationalist revolt.

Honduras - 1924-25 - Troops landed twice during a

national election.

Panama - 1925 - Troops sent in to put down a general

strike.

China - 1927-34 - Marines sent in and stationed for

seven years throughout China.

El Salvador - 1932 - Naval warships deployed during

the FMLN revolt under Marti.

World War II - 1941-45 - Military fought the Axis

powers: Japan, Germany, and Italy.

Yugoslavia - 1946 - Navy deployed off the coast of

Yugoslavia in response to the downing of an American

plane.

Uruguay - 1947 - Bombers deployed as a show of

military force.

Greece - 1947-49 - United States operations insured a

victory for the far right in national ``elections.``

Germany - 1948 - Military deployed in response to the

Berlin blockade; the Berlin airlift lasts 444 days.

Philippines - 1948-54 - The CIA directed a civil war

against the Filipino Huk revolt.

Puerto Rico - 1950 - Military helped crush an

independence rebellion in Ponce.

Korean War - 1951-53 - Military sent in during the

war.

Iran - 1953 - The CIA orchestrated the overthrow of

democratically elected Mossadegh and restored the Shah

to power.

Vietnam - 1954 - The United States offered weapons to

the French in the battle against Ho Chi Minh and the

Viet Minh.

Guatemala - 1954 - The CIA overthrew the

democratically elected Arbenz and placed Colonel Armas

in power.

Egypt - 1956 - Marines deployed to evacuate foreigners

after Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal.

Lebanon - 1958 - Navy supported an Army occupation of

Lebanon during its civil war.

Panama - 1958 - Troops landed after Panamanians

demonstrations threatened the Canal Zone.

Vietnam - 1950s-75 - Vietnam War.

Cuba - 1961 - The CIA-directed Bay of Pigs invasions

failed to overthrow the Castro government.

Cuba - 1962 - The Navy quarantines Cuba during the

Cuban Missile Crisis.

Laos - 1962 - Military occupied Laos during its civil

war against the Pathet Lao guerrillas.

Panama - 1964 - Troops sent in and Panamanians shot

while protesting the United States presence in the

Canal Zone.

Indonesia - 1965 - The CIA orchestrated a military

coup.

Dominican Rep- 1965-66 - Troops deployed during a

national election.

Guatemala - 1966-67 - Green Berets sent in.

Cambodia - 1969-75 - Military sent in after the

Vietnam War expanded into Cambodia.

Oman - 1970 - Marines landed to direct a possible

invasion into Iran.

Laos - 1971-75 - Americans carpet-bomb the countryside

during Laos` civil war.

Chile - 1973 - The CIA orchestrated a coup, killing

President Allende who had been popularly elected. The

CIA helped to establish a military regime under

General Pinochet.

Cambodia - 1975 - Twenty-eight Americans killed in an

effort to retrieve the crew of the Mayaquez, which had

been seized.

Angola - 1976-92 - The CIA backed South African rebels

fighting against Marxist Angola.

Iran - 1980 - Americans aborted a rescue attempt to

liberate 52 hostages seized in the Teheran embassy.

Libya - 1981 - American fighters shoot down two Libyan

fighters.

El Salvador - 1981-92 - The CIA, troops, and advisers

aid in El Salvador`s war against the FMLN.

Nicaragua - 1981-90 - The CIA and NSC directed the

Contra War against the Sandinistas.

Lebanon - 1982-84 - Marines occupied Beirut during

Lebanon`s civil war; 241 were killed in the American

barracks and Reagan ``redeployed`` the troops to the

Mediterranean.

Honduras - 1983-89 - Troops sent in to build bases

near the Honduran border.

Grenada - 1983-84 - American invasion overthrew the

Maurice Bishop government.

Iran - 1984 - American fighters shot down two Iranian

planes over the Persian Gulf.

Libya - 1986 - American fighters hit targets in and

around the capital city of Tripoli.

Bolivia - 1986 - The Army assisted government troops

on raids of cocaine areas.

Iran - 1987-88 - The United States intervened on the

side of Iraq during the Iran-Iraq War.

Libya - 1989 - Navy shot down two more Libyan jets.

Virgin Islands - 1989 - Troops landed during unrest

among Virgin Island peoples.

Philippines - 1989 - Air Force provided air cover for

government during coup.

Panama - 1989-90 - 27,000 Americans landed in

overthrow of President Noriega; over 2,000 Panama

civilians were killed.

Liberia - 1990 - Troops entered Liberia to evacuate

foreigners during civil war.

Saudi Arabia - 1990-91 - American troops sent to Saudi

Arabia, which was a staging area in the war against

Iraq.

Kuwait - 1991 - Troops sent into Kuwait to turn back

Saddam Hussein.

Somalia - 1992-94 - Troops occupied Somalia during

civil war.

Bosnia - 1993-95 - Air Force jets bombed ``no-fly zone``

during civil war in Yugoslavia.

Haiti - 1994-96 - American troops and Navy provided a

blockade against Haiti`s military government. The CIA

restored Aristide to power.

Zaire - 1996-97 - Marines sent into Rwanda Hutus`

refugee camps in the area where the Congo revolution

began.

Albania - 1997 - Troops deployed during evacuation of

foreigners.

Sudan - 1998 - American missiles destroyed a

pharmaceutical complex where alleged nerve gas

components were manufactured.

Afghanistan - 1998 - Missiles launched towards alleged

Afghan terrorist training camps.

Yugoslavia - 1999 - Bombings and missile attacks

carried out by the United States in conjunction with

NATO in the 11 week war against Milosevic.

Iraq - 1998-2001 - Missiles launched into Baghdad and

other large Iraq cities for four days. American jets

enforced ``no-fly zone`` and continued to hit Iraqi

targets since December 1998.

These * *100 * * instances of American military

intervention did not include times when the United

States:

(1) deployed military police overseas;

(2) mobilized the National Guard;

(3) sent Navy ships off the coast of numerous

countries as a show of strength;

(4) sent additional troops to areas where Americans

were already stationed;

(5) carried out covert actions where American forces

were not under the direct rule of an American command;

(6) used small hostage rescue units;

(7) used American pilots to fly foreign planes;

(8) carried out military training and advisory

programs which did not involve direct combat.

U. S. Government Assassination Plots



Following is a list of prominent foreign leaders whose assassination

(or planning for same) the United States has been involved in since

the end of Second World War. The list does not include several

assassinations in various parts of the world carried out by anti-Castro

Cubans employed by CIA and headquartered in the United States:

LIST A: NON MUSLIMS

1949 - KIm Koo, Korean opposition leader

1950`s - CIA/Neo-Nazi hit list of numerous political figures in

West Germany

1955 - Jose` Antonio Remon, President of Panama

1950`s Chou En-lai, Prime Minister of China, several attempts

on his life

1951 - Kim Il Sung, Premiere of North Korea

1950s (mid) - Claro M. Recto, Philippines opposition leader

1955 - Jawar Lal Nehru, Prime Minister of India

1959 and 1963 - Norodom Sihanouk, leader of Cambodia

1950s-70s - Jose Figueres, President of Costa Rica,

two attempts on his life

1961 - Francois ``Papa Doc``Duvalier, leader of Haiti

1961 - Patrice Lumumba , Prime Minister of Congo (Zaire)

1961 - Gen. Rafael Trujillo, leader of Dominican Republic

1963 - Ngo Dinh Diem, President of South Vietnam

1960s - Fidel Castro, President of Cuba, more than

15 attempts on his life

1960s - Raul Castro, high official in government of Cuba

1965 - Francisco Caamanao, Dominican Republic opposition leader

1965 - Pierre Ngendandumwe, Prime Minister of Burundi

1965-6 - Charles de Gaulle, President of France

1967 - Che Guevara, Cuban leader

1970 - Salvadore Allende, President of Chile

1970 - General Rene Schneider, Commander-in-Chief of Army, Chile

1970s and 1981 - Gen. Omar Torrijos, leader of Panama

1972 - General Manuel Noriega, Chief of Panama Intelligence

1975 - Mobutu Sese Seko, President of Zaire

1976 - Michael Manley, Prime Minister of Jamaica

1983 - Miguel d`Escoto, Foreign Minister of Nicaragua

1984 - The nine commandantes of the Sandanista

National Directorate

1980`s - Dr. Gerald Bull, Canadian Ballistics Scientist

assassinated by Mossad in Belgium.

Partial List of Muslim Leaders Assassinated or

Attempted Assassinations

1950`s Sukarno, President of Indonesia

1957 Gamal Abdul Nasser, President of Egypt

1960 Brigadier General, Abdul Karim Kassem, Leader of Iraq

1980-86 Muammar Qaddafi, Leader of Libya, several plots and

attempts upon his life

1982 Ayatullah Khomeini, Leader of Iran

1983 General Ahmed Dlimi, Moroccan army Commander

1985 Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Fadllallah, Lebanese Shiite Leader

(80 people killed in that attempt)

1991 Saddam Hussein, Leader of Iraq

Reference: Blum, William, ``KILLING HOPE - U.S. Military and

CIA Interventions Since World War II,`` Appendix III

U.S. Government Assassination Plots, page 453,

Common Courage Press, Monroe, Maine 1995. ISBN 1-56751-052-3

Very likely Victims :

April 4, 1979 - Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Leader of Pakistan, for pursuing making

of

Nuclear Bomb.

August, 1988. General Ziaul Haq, Military Leader of Pakistan.

1995 - Murtaza Bhutto, Son of ZUlfiqar Ali Bhutto, Anti-American

would-be Leader - Pakistan.

March 25, 1975 - King Faisal of Saudi Arabia through his Nephew, Saudi

Arabia

for imposing 1973 Oil Embargo.

August 24, 1999. Mullah Mohammad Omar, in Kandhar, Afghanistan.

|

``À``List of Known Assassination Plots

1950`s Sukarno, President of Indonesia

1957 Gamal Abdul Nasser, President

2001 Since early this year more than 40 Palestinian leaders assassinated

through surrogate Israel.

I wish that this lady would write for CHOWK too..

From The News International (Jang Group) Pakistan


Identify the real enemy

Comment

By Mariana Baabar

ISLAMABAD: It was the United States of America at its best. It was the United States of America at its worst. Out of the rubble of concrete, steel and political confusion two men emerged who shared a mutual trait--common sense, combined with humility. After September 11, these qualities were in short supply.

Secretary of State Colin Powell and Mayor R Giuliani of New York City, steered the superpower out of the political and administrative anarchy, and only tomorrow will tell if they have really succeeded.

Giuliani, who was stepping down from office in the midst of personal problems was the local hero that the nation desperately needed. Seen around New York with his trade mark baseball cap, from the time he set his eyes on the twin infernos, till date, Giuliani was under no illusion that there would be some sort of miracle and a big number of survivors would emerge.

Without giving up for a single moment on rescue efforts, two weeks after the disaster, he has proven right. He never raised false hopes, even as the streets of Manhattan were lined day and night with people hoping against hope that some signs of life would emerge from the rubble.

Today, there is not a single person in New York who wants to see him leave his office. The Big Apple will never forget him even as he is determined to use the wreckage of the two World Trade Centers to create a monument, for the two giants that dominated the landscape of New York.

On the other hand it was refreshing for us, to watch Colin Powell refusing to act like a hot headed General, desperate for war to get even and resort to short term measures. Even in public statements he refused to shoot from the hip. His was the voice of sanity, something which was needed more by his inexperienced President.

It was again Powell, who in dozens of press briefings and interviews, gave indications that unlike the first impression that the Bush administration was preparing for an immediate strike inside Afghanistan. The General did not appear apologetic to remember lessons from history and was in no hurry to see American forces trapped in unfriendly terrain. At the time anyway Bush appeared convinced.

Many in Washington are ready to give credit to Powell for initiating a process that have lifted some sanctions on Pakistan, and President Bush appears to be convinced of keeping Pakistan (military government notwithstanding) on its side, for a campaign against terrorism that will see the face of war, as never seen before.

It was again only after the most gruesome attack on the United States, that the propaganda and shadows that the chicken Washington had been chasing ever since the fall of the Soviet Union, came home to roost. The propaganda of Islamic fundamentalism, which had served as a diet for unsuspecting Americans, suddenly surfaced in different cites and there was genuine fear that the backlash had the potential of turning into a nightmare that the Bush administration could do without.

Suddenly from the President of the United States to commentators on television, great pains were being taken to explain to the people that Islam was a religion of peace and that terrorism was terrorism and there was no such thing as `Islamic terrorism`. But the ground realities on the streets were proving otherwise and for many who paid for the American propaganda, the price was innocent lives. The new `version` of Islam had come too late.

It is the same mindset, in its quest for perceived threats, those who coined the term ``the Islamic bomb`` are today ready to once again demonstrate their own version of ``selective morality``. Suddenly it is all right to do business with those who possessed the `Islamic bomb`.

In the days to come the United States of America will need more people who think like Giuliani and Powell. President Bush could do well with their sane advice and refrain from commenting on the length of people`s beards.

Because today it is `beards`, `turbans`, `Arabs`, `Asians` and `shalwar kamizes` that are perceived as threats by the ordinary American. Little do they realise that the real enemy is elsewhere. The real enemy is the so called `strategic interests` of the United States and it is time that America redefines these interests.

(The writer has just returned from New York.)

temporal #3

....... i understand your emotional response and we are all sympathetic to the palestinian condition, BUT if the palestinian question was resolved tomorrow, as it well might be, do you really think that the militant islamists would give up their jihad against the infidels, heretics and apostates ? .... i doubt it ..... and really it is quite silly to blame america for tha miserable condition of the ummah .......

.......... and let us not forget that the arabs contolled arafat`s palestine till 1967 and they chose not to give it to him ... not to mention the fact that they refused to let the jews pray at their silly wall for twenty years .... at least we have been able to pray at the dome under israeli occupation ...... don`t get me wrong, i am not apologising for the israelis, but the fact is that we have been our owm worst enemies ......

.... the islamists, or whatever they call themselves, are ideologically opposed to modernity and civil society and will not be pacified even if america withdrew from the world ....