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November 02, 2001
Terrorism works
By Noam Chomsky
Starting with the common assumption that what happened on 11 September is a historic event -- one which will change history -- the question we should be asking is exactly why is this so? Another question has to do with the "War Against Terrorism". Exactly what is it? And there is a related question, namely, what is terrorism?
By far the most important question that we must ask ourselves after 11 September is what is happening right now? Implicit in this question is the question of what we can do about it. According to The New York Times there are seven to eight million people in Afghanistan on the verge of starvation. That was true actually before 11 September. They were surviving on international aid. On 16 September, the Times reported that "the US demanded from Pakistan the elimination of truck convoys that provide much of the food and other supplies to Afghanistan's civilian population." As far as I could determine, there was no reaction in the US to the demand to impose massive starvation on millions of people. The threat of military strikes right after 11 September forced the removal of international aid workers that crippled the assistance programmes. "The country was on a lifeline and we just cut the line," the New York Times Magazine quoted an aid worker as saying. Full Article
Making The Rubble Bounce
By Walden Bello
After over two weeks of Anglo-American bombardment of Afghanistan, once one gets beyond the sound and fury of American bombs and the smokescreen of CNN propaganda, it appears that in the war between the United States and Osama bin Laden, the latter is coming out ahead. Full Article
US faces Gulf static
By Ayman Ali
This week's telephone call from US President George W. Bush to Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdel-Aziz was meant to defuse the tense standoff between Riyadh and Washington, which developed as a result of recent media exchanges. Some American lawmakers publicly accused Saudi Arabia of not helping in the so-called "US- led campaign against terrorism." A pro- Israeli Congressman went further, accusing the Saudi government of failing to stop anti- American and anti-Israeli rhetoric appearing in local media and mosque sermons.
The first response was an official Saudi statement which proclaimed that "the vicious campaign being waged against the Kingdom in the Western media is nothing but the manifestation of a deep-rooted hatred directed against Islam and the Kingdom's adherence to the book of God and the Sunnah of his Prophet." Full Article
Uzbekistan's Human Rights Problem
By Matt Bivens thenation.com
In the markets, on the streets, even in the privacy of their homes or cars, the people of Uzbekistan are sphinxlike. They think things are going...well, as best as could be expected. Not good...but not bad. They are canny traders of information, offering little, but quickly asking, "And what do you think about Uzbekistan?" and then listening with neither expression nor comment. They shake their heads in sympathy for the September 11 victims. But they have nothing to say about the three-week-old US airbase here--nothing. Some even express surprise to hear of the existence of an American military presence on formerly Soviet territory, a base from which we may (or may not) be dropping bombs and special forces into Afghanistan. It's probably feigned surprise, but considering the Pentagon-sponsored news blackout--not one journalist has been allowed within two miles of the base--ignorance is plausible. Full Article
As Civil Casualties Rise, Pashtun Tribes of Pakistan Side with Talebans
La Repubblica
The incessant rain of bombs that is falling on Afghanistan has had the effect of convincing thousands of members of the Pashtun Tribes in Pakistani territory to cross the border to join their fellow Talebans in the Jihad against the infidels, reports Rome's daily newspaper La Repubblica. Full Article
Northern Alliance Stalled; American Fighting With Taliban
Al Jazeera
Despite increased air strikes by the United States and news that may indicate otherwise, Arabic-language news television network Al Jazeera reports that Northern Alliance efforts have stalled. Full Article
