Terrorism Should Be Redefined
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September 26, 2001
ABSTRACT: TehranTimes.com
Ever since the September 11 deadly attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the United States has been saying that the attacks had been masterminded by Saudi-born dissident Osama Bin Laden, but Washington has so far not provided any evidence showing bin Laden's complicity in the attacks.
Under this pretext, Washington has been planning wide-ranging military operations against Afghanistan, forcing thousands of innocent Afghans to flee their homes for fear of their lives and seek shelter in neighboring countries.
These unilateral military operations have drawn angry reactions from the Islamic world and even reservations from some U.S. allies for several reasons. First of all, Washington has not yet provided any strong evidence implicating bin Laden in attacks on New York and Washington. Secondly, even if there is concrete evidence to show bin Laden's complicity, innocent Afghans should not pay for his wrongdoing. Finally, it is the responsibility of the United Nations to investigate the case and inflict punishment on the culprits. Any unilateral punitive action runs counter to the international law.
While the U.S. is mobilizing all its military forces for a far-flung military aggression against Afghanistan, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Monday that Washington would soon release evidence linking bin Laden to attacks. Furthermore, the visiting British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said in Tehran on Tuesday that he was seeking advice from Iranian leaders on Afghanistan and would share with Tehran evidence of bin Laden's role in the attacks.
Supposing there is enough evidence to implicate Bin Laden in the attacks, it still seems that the U.S. and British officials have not grasped Iran's stance on the issue properly. The Iranian officials have often said that they condemn the massacre of innocent civilians in Afghanistan, and that the UN should intervene in order to bring the real culprits to justice without inflicting any harm on the innocent Afghans.
The White House officials have also been saying that their military campaign is aimed at fighting terrorism in over 60 countries. Although terrorism is abhorred by the people throughout the world and rooting out terrorism should be supported by all countries in the world, the drawback of the U.S. campaign against terrorism is that the U.S. officials have no clear definition of terrorism. In other words, they tend to equate the legitimate resistance of some nations against foreign occupation with terrorism.
The world knows very well that the Zionist regime has been established on the occupied land of the oppressed Palestinians. Besides, in the years after its illegitimate inception, the Zionist regime waged several wars against neighboring Arab countries like Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon, occupying and even annexing their territories. The United Nations Security Council has issued several resolutions in the past several decades, condemning Zionist aggressions and requiring this regime to pull out of the occupied territories unconditionally. However, enjoying Washington's blind support, the Zionist regime has ignored all the UN resolutions.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has considered it a religious duty to express political and moral support for the Palestinians and Lebanese people who have long suffered from the aggressive and expansionist policies of the Zionist entity. However, the U.S. officials have often condemned Iran's support for the Lebanese and Palestinians whom Washington, under the influence of the strong Zionist lobby in the United States, views as terrorists!
As the latest instance of this condemnation, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Monday that Iran has to halt its support for "terrorism" if it wants to be part of a U.S.-led anti-terror coalition.
In a similar move, the new U.S. ambassador to Beirut presented a list of Palestinian and Lebanese freedom fighters to Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, asking him to hand over those so-called "terrorists". However, the Lebanese prime minister made it clear to the new U.S. ambassador that Washington should differentiate between those struggling against the occupiers for the liberation of their homeland and the terrorists who target lives of innocent people for certain objectives.
Therefore, if the U.S. officials want to achieve success in their campaign against terrorism and win the support of other nations in this regard, first they will have to redefine the concept of terrorism.
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Copyright, TehranTimes.com, 2001.
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