The following Editorial was published in "The Guardian", newspaper of
the Communist Party of Australia in its issue of Wednesday, October
30th, 2002.
Contact address: 65 Campbell Street, Surry Hills. Sydney. 2010 Australia.
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Editorial: "War on terrorism"
Faced with growing scepticism and massive opposition to any war against
Iraq, those who are now almost hysterical in their promotion of the "war
on terrorism" (and John Howard is in the forefront), require a
continuous stream of terrorist act to keep up the momentum.
An objective look at the major terrorist acts of the last few months
raises some interesting questions.
First of all, it is worth recalling that the Taliban and al Qaida were
financed, armed and trained by the US to fight against the Soviet Union.
They were then referred to as "freedom fighters". In the course of this
campaign the bin Laden family which is centred in Saudi Arabia and not
Afghanistan, became close business partners of the Bush family. There is
no indication that these links have been severed.
Did this organisation actually turn on the United States or are some of
its leaders still in the pay of the US and, like contract killers, are
prepared to do any required job for their paymaster? And who benefitted
by their actions?
The Bush administration used the destruction of the World Trade Centre
to launch its worldwide "war on terrorism", to line up many other
governments to join in this "war" and to mark down for occupation or
destruction any government that did not fall into line.
Each "terrorist act" has its perpetrators and its political objectives.
Any study of a major terrorist act involves consideration of its
political context and the asking of the question: whose interests are
being served?
There are three recent major terrorist acts and a number of smaller ones.
Firstly, the bombing of the French tanker off the shores of Yemen. Why
should al Qaida, if it is genuinely anti-US, want to bomb a French ship
when the French Government was taking a leading role in opposition to
the US war against Iraq in the UN Security Council?
The purpose of the attack on the tanker may well have been to put
pressure on France to abandon this position and to warn France that it
was not immune from terrorist acts in the future.
Then comes Bali. No organisation has claimed responsibility for this
terrorist act (or for the attack on the French tanker) and the continual
assertions coming from the Australian Government that it was the work of
Jemaah Islamia have so far not been supported by any facts and have been
specifically rejected by Indonesian authorities.
In practical terms it has allowed the US, Britain and Australia to put
considerable pressure on Indonesia to join the "war against terrorism",
to arrest the leader of Jemaah Islamiah and to raise the question of
stationing Australian, US and British police and other forces in Indonesia.
Furthermore, it has been used both in Indonesia and Australia to justify
sweeping legislation that severely restricts democratic rights in both
countries. It has also been used in an attempt to frighten Australians
and to justify the use of Australian forces in this so-called "war" at a
time when a majority of Australians are strongly opposed to
participation in a war against Iraq.
This is how the Bali incident has been used irrespective of who may have
undertaken the atrocity.
And now comes the occupation of the Moscow theatre by Chechen
separatists. Those involved in this terrorist act have been clearly
identified. But what is not so well known is that the Chechens have been
and are being supported by forces within the European Union and by the
US, even though they have made platitudinous statements about Chechen
"terrorists". The mass media has scarcely been able to hide their
sympathy for the Chechens.
The Russian Government is also among those strongly opposing any US war
against Iraq. Is the Chechen action being used in the same way as the
bombing of the French oil tanker and the Bali incident?
The "war on terrorism" is a campaign launched by imperialism to justify
war against any number of countries, to justify their occupation and the
taking over of their economy by the transnational corporations. It is by
these means they are attempting to re-impose worldwide colonialism
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