[This position, from a Russian sociologist, worths reading. I don't know
if it makes any sense or not; you will know better, I think - Artur]
"Bin Laden? Better Be Sure"
by
Boris Kagarlitsky, Moscow Times
The terrorist attack on New York has
already been compared to
Pearl Harbor and the loss of the Kursk
submarine. Mikhail
Gorbachev likened it to Chernobyl, which
is probably a very
accurate analogy in terms of the shock
and ignominy experienced
by the U.S. administration. In both
cases, we saw incompetence
and helplessness initially, followed by
desperate attempts at
official face-saving.
There is, however, one analogy that does
not seem to have
occurred to anyone: the burning of the
Reichstag. The anti-Arab
and anti-Moslem hysteria that has
followed around the globe in
the wake of the catastrophe simply calls
out for comparison with
the events of the 1930s. The U.S.
authorities immediately started
the search for the guilty among Arabs,
Osama bin Laden cropped
up almost immediately as prime suspect
and alternative versions
have barely been entertained. In the
minutes immediately following
the explosions, it seems there was no
doubt whatsoever regarding
the "Arab" source of the attacks.
However, the more evidence
and arguments adduced in support of the
"Arab version," the
more shaky it seems to become. In a
television appearance
immediately after the explosions, the
well-known pundit
Vyacheslav Nikonov noted that the guilty
would undoubtedly be
found, and if not, they would be
"nominated," adding cynically: "It
would be in Russia's interest if the
Taliban and bin Laden were
nominated." To give him his due,
Alexander Gordon -- who
spoke on two TV programs -- pointed out
that it could be
far-right militia groups (such as those
behind the Oklahoma City
bombing) and not Islamic terrorists at
all. Analysts have
emphasized how easy it would be to carry
out each individual
element of the terrorist operation:
smuggling knives aboard a
plane, breaking into the cockpit, etc.
However to coordinate all these actions
in different parts of the
country without making a single serious
blunder is devilishly hard.
The crime committed on Sept. 11 must have
required enormous
efforts in management, control and
logistics. The strength of
Islamic terrorism is in the simplicity of
organization and its
unpredictability. All groups operate
autonomously. Even the destruction of
command centers doesn't
have a major impact, insofar as every one
of Allah's warriors is
capable of acting on his own. The attacks
on New York and
Washington were very carefully
coordinated, the minutest details
were thoroughly thought through, and at
no stage were there
serious lapses. It would appear that the
operation was organized
and carried out by people who had free
passage around the
country and were considered to be above
suspicion. If they are
professionals, they did not acquire their
experience in
underground terrorist groups. It cannot
be excluded that the
attacks were organized by forces within
the United States, and
this would have to be people with
considerable military
experience. Why is it that no seems even
to consider a conspiracy
by far-right groups as a possibility? The
masterminds could easily
have covertly used people of Arab
nationality to carry out the
attacks. Whoever it is behind the
Washington and New York
attacks, in Russia and Israel they have
already played a role
comparable to the burning of the
Reichstag. Far-right politicians --
"upholders of the values of western
civilisation" -- have already
spoken out calling for revenge. Over and
over, one and the same
thing is repeated: "Moslems are subhuman
barbarians and you
cannot conduct negotiations with them.
They are not like us, and
thus our criteria of democracy and human
rights do not apply to
them." "No need to fear unpopular
measures," some say. "No
need to limit ourselves to democratic
conventions," others chime
in. At a minimum they are after: arrests
without warrants, mass
deportations and wide-scale searches.
Already reports are
coming from the United States of racist
attacks against Islamic
communities. It is clear that mass
repressions will lead to mass
resistance. That is how you make enemies.
Do those who are
trying to scare us with the Moslem threat
really not understand
that? They understand it full well. They
simply believe that a final
solution is possible -- if not globally,
then at least on a more
limited territory. As a maximum, they are
baying for ethnic
cleansing and genocide.
26/09/2001 . 23:56
Boris Kagarlitsky is a Moscow-based sociologist.
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