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Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2001 16:47:10 -0500
To: Matthew Gaylor <<a href="mailto:freematt@coil.com">freematt@coil.com</a>>
From: Matthew Gaylor <<a href="mailto:freematt@coil.com">freematt@coil.com</a>>
Subject: Le Monde Diplomatique On An Enemy. At Last
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<p>
[Note from Matthew Gaylor: As an anti-communist who has worked over
the years overtly and covertly against the interests of communists
there are portions of this Op-Ed that I disagree with- But I do
think the writer has a point when he concludes with "At a stroke the
attacks of 11 September restored what had been missing for the US
since the collapse of the Soviet Union 10 years ago - an enemy. At
last. The enemy may be known officially as "terrorism", but everyone
knows that its real name is radical Islam. And we can now expect
alarming side-effects, including a modern McCarthyism directed at the
opponents of globalisation..."]
<p>
Pubdate: October, 2001
Source: Le Monde Diplomatique (France)
Address: 21 bis, rue Claude-Bernard 75005 Paris - France
Copyright: 2001 Le Monde Diplomatique
Email: <a href="mailto:dispatch@Monde-diplomatique.fr">dispatch@Monde-diplomatique.fr</a>
Fax: +33 1 42 17 21 00
URL: <<a href="http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/index.html>">http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/index.html></a>
<p>
AN ENEMY. AT LAST
<p>
By Ignacio Ramonet
<p>
ON 11 September aircraft were diverted from their normal flight routines.
With fanatics at their controls, they headed for the heart of a big city,
intent on destroying the symbols of a hated political system. In the
explosions that followed, buildings were shattered. The survivors fled the
wreckage. The media were on the spot, broadcasting live.
<p>
I am not talking about New York in 2001 but Santiago de Chile on 11
September 1973. With the complicity of the United States, General Augusto
Pinochet staged his coup against the socialist government of Salvador
Allende, which began with the bombardment of the presidential palace by the
air force. Dozens of people were killed. It was the start of a regime of
terror that was to continue for 15 years.
<p>
With all compassion for the innocent victims of the attacks on New York, it
has to be said that, of all countries, the US cannot be described as
"innocent". It has a long history of involvement in violent, illegal and
often clandestine political actions in Latin America, Africa, the Middle
East and Asia, all with accompanying personal tragedies of death,
disappearances, torture, imprisonment and exile.
<p>
The present rampant pro-Americanism of the West's politicians and media
should not blind us to a harsh but obvious truth. Throughout the world, and
particularly in the countries of the South, the most common public reaction
to the attacks in New York and Washington has been that "what happened in
New York was sad, but the US deserved it".
<p>
To trace the roots of such a reaction, it is worth recalling that
throughout the cold war (1948-89) the US was involved in a crusade against
communism. Sometimes that involved mass extermination: thousands of
communists killed in Iran; 200,000 opposition leftists killed in Guatemala;
almost 1m communists killed in Indonesia. Atrocities filled the pages of
the black book of American imperialism during those years - the years that
also saw the horrors of the Vietnam war (1962-75).
<p>
This, too, was marketed as a battle between good and evil. But during that
time Washington seemed to think that giving support to "terrorists" was not
necessarily immoral. Through the CIA the US consciously endorsed projects
of murder, hijacking, sabotage and assassination: in Cuba against the
government of Fidel Castro, in Nicaragua against the Sandinistas, and in
Afghanistan against the Soviets. Particularly in Afghanistan during the
1970s, with the support of two countries that could hardly be called
democratic (Saudi Arabia and Pakistan), Washington encouraged the creation
of Islamic detachments who were recruited in the ArabIslamic world and made
up of what the press called then "freedom fighters".
<p>
As we now know, that was the very environment in which the CIA first
enlisted and trained Osama bin Laden (see article by Selig S Harrison, page 2).
<p>
Since 1991 the US has emerged as the world's only superpower, effectively
marginalising the United Nations. The US promised to inaugurate a more
equitable new world order, and it was on that basis that the US embarked on
the war against Iraq. But it has remained scandalously partisan towards
Israel, to the detriment of the rights of the Palestinians (1). Despite
international protests it has also maintained an unrelenting embargo
against Iraq, causing the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians while
preserving the regime in power. All this has outraged public opinion in the
Arab-Islamic world and sowed the seeds for the spread of a radical Islamic
antiAmericanism.
<p>
Osama bin Laden is a creation of the US. Now, with all the violence of Dr
Frankenstein's creation, he has turned against his maker. In assembling a
war coalition against him, the US is prepared to rely on Saudi Arabia and
Pakistan, both of which for the past 30 years have contributed most to the
spread of radical Islamic networks around the world, where necessary using
terrorism.
<p>
The men around President George W Bush are veterans of the cold war. They
may have reason to be pleased with the current events, which are, in a
sense, a godsend. At a stroke the attacks of 11 September restored what
had been missing for the US since the collapse of the Soviet Union 10 years
ago - an enemy. At last. The enemy may be known officially as "terrorism",
but everyone knows that its real name is radical Islam. And we can now
expect alarming side-effects, including a modern McCarthyism directed at
the opponents of globalisation. You enjoyed anti-communism? You're going to
love anti-Islamism.
<p>
Translated by Ed Emery
<p>
(1) See Alain Gresh, Israel, Palestine, Verites sur un conflit, Fayard,
Paris, 2001.
<p>
<hr>
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
---
<p>
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