-Caveat Lector-
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From: Christopher Ruby <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: SNET: MUST READ: Now, I Am the Terrorist - So Are You!
Date sent: Sat, 22 Mar 2003 16:28:31 -0700
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Now, I Am the Terrorist
By William Rivers Pitt
T r u t h o u t | Perspective
Friday 21 March 2003
The city of Baghdad, founded in 762 A.D. under the name Madinat as-Salam -- 'City of
Peace' -- is this day a lake of fire. The opening stage of the Bush administration's
"Shock and Awe" attack plan began as night fell on Iraq, and lived terribly up to its
terrible name. CBS news is reporting that great swaths of residential neighborhoods
within Baghdad have been engulfed in flames. One can trust, perhaps, the ability of a
cruise missile to hit a bullseye from many miles away. One cannot be so precise in
predicting which way the resulting fires will blow.
In the great earthquake in San Francisco in 1906, people were not killed so much by
the shaking. They were killed by the firestorm that sucked the air from their lungs and
reduced them to ash before they could flee. So it seems to be today in Baghdad.
Baghdad is a city of 5 million people, half of whom are under the age of fifteen,
most of whom are too poor to flee. Now, a great many of those people are dead, burned
in
their homes and on their streets.
The American television media provided all of us with a Dresden-eye view of the
attack. Huge mushroom clouds bloomed from the streets as buildings blazed and fell. The
thunder of the explosions was so loud that television speakers became distorted with
the
sound of the concussion. The sky lit up as though the sun was rising. It was a fitting
image, for a new day in world history has dawned.
Much has been made of the precision of our vaunted arsenal of bombs and missiles, as
if they can go into a building and find the second door on the left before they
explode.
The truth is far more dire. When a B-2 bomber drops a 2,000 lb. JDAM munition, everyone
and everything within a 120 meter radius is instantly killed. Anyone within a 365 meter
radius risks severe shrapnel wounds. To be totally safe, one must be 1,000 meters away
from the epicenter of the explosion. Imagine how many homes can fit into 1,000 meters,
and never mind the firestorm.
American Marines have died securing petroleum facilities, and in a helicopter
crash. If Iraqi forces do not surrender soon, American forces will attack Baghdad from
the ground. The loss of life among our people will grow exponentially if a Stalingrad-
style fight unfolds in Baghdad and Tikrit. On Tom Brokaw's CBS News broadcast, the
father of one of the soldiers killed in the helicopter crash held a picture of his son
to
the camera and shouted, "Take a look, Bush. You killed my only son."
Those who stand against this attack are dunned as "Not supporting the troops." One
might suggest the best way to support troops is to see them brought home safely. One
might also suggest that support continues after the shooting stops. This does not
appear
to be on the agenda for the Republican Party. A vote along party lines today in the
House Budget Committee slashed $9.7 billion from veterans disability compensation
programs, as well as from other programs. These cuts, pushed through the committee by
the majority-holding Republicans, are part of the plan to see Bush's new $1.57 trillion
tax cut through. Wave that flag, George.
Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld, when asked by a reporter whether the Iraqi people
would cheer Americans after this attack, stated that Baghdad's civilians would welcome
us. This defies known history in Japan and Germany and Vietnam; those populations,
after
absorbing saturation bombing, hardened their resistance. American television purported
to show Iraqi civilians cheering a soldier who tore down a picture of Hussein, but a
Sky
News reporter walking Baghdad's streets reported that, to a man, everyone he spoke with
spat hatred and derision for this American attack.
On September 11th, I sat in numb horror as the images of carnage unfolded before me
on the television. On that day, I was the victim of terrorism, along with every other
American. Today, I sit in numbed horror as more carnage unfolds. Hundreds of massive
missiles have rained down on a city far away, killing indiscriminately among the young,
the infirm, the old and the innocent. My government did this. My nation did this. My
leaders did this. Today, I am the terrorist.
So are you.
There is no justification for this attack.Saddam Hussein and his forces had been
effectively disarmed by the first Gulf War, by the UNSCOM inspections, and by the more
recent UNMOVIC inspections. According to Hussein Kamel, son-in-law to Saddam Hussein
whose comments to the UN in 1991 were recently reported in a buried Newsweek story,
Iraq
was pretty much disarmed of mass destruction weapons even before the first war. The
Bush
administration, in pushing for this war, has foisted lie after lie after lie upon the
American people and the world. The world didn't buy it, but they weren't dependent upon
lapdog media sources like ours for their data.
We are the terrorists now, stupid underinformed terrorists who dance to the tune of
a corporate media machine that will profit wildly from this attack. NBC, MSNBC and CNBC
are owned by General Electric, one of the largest defense contractors on earth. They
will be paid handsomely in military contracts because of this, as they always have
been.
Yet GE gives us the news we need to understand what is happening.
Americans are not often afforded the opportunity to witness a war crime live on
television. Today's actions bring to mind a war crime from a generation ago: The
shooting
of a prisoner by Vietnamese General and American ally Nguyen Ngoc Loan. General Loan
put
a pistol to the head of this bound prisoner and blew his brains into the street, an
image
that millions of Americans saw after it had taken place. We are here again today. The
poverty of the Iraqi people leaves them bound, unable to escape the wave of steel. We
have blown their brains out. We have incinerated them in place. We will continue to do
so, and you can watch it from your couch. Today, you are the terrorist.
So am I.
###
William Rivers Pitt is a New York Times bestselling author of two books - "War On
Iraq" (with Scott Ritter) available now from Context Books, and "The Greatest Sedition
is
Silence," available in May 2003 from Pluto Press. He teaches high school in Boston, MA.
Scott Lowery contributed research to this report.
� Copyright 2003 by TruthOut.org
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------
"But for added amusement, George W. Bush and his friends used to
tuck firecrackers into the mouths of frogs, throw them in the air, and
watch them explode." [Linda McQuaig, "Don't let Bush light Iraq fire"
(12-15-2002) - The Toronto Star - a story told by a childhood friend
described in a New York Times profile for the 2000 election
campaign.]
http://www.all-creatures.org/aip/nl-3nov2000-frogs.html
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