``....I was sitting across from Ali and could not waste the opportunity. `I've read your essay, which was terrific, and I've followed your critiques of U.S. complicity with this and that -- most but not all of which I sympathize with,' I said. `But I wonder what would constitute an appropriate response to Pearl's murder on the part of the United States?...''' [Peter K fwd, Ali v Hitchens, Michael Berube]
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The situation seems to be parallel to Ariel Sharon's creation of facts on the ground in the tradition of Began's drive for illegal settlements. Create the condition of virtual hostages, and the inevitable when it occurs, provides the pretext for prolonged occupation and attack.
At least Robert Fisk had written that he knew in advance he was exposing himself. When the attack came, he was of course surprised, and thankfully escaped. But he at least had the brutal honesty to state the obvious. In the eyes of local people, whether he liked it or not, he represented the oppressor and he knew he was both depending on local good will and risking his life in honoring it.
Pearl must have known the same thing. The US military was certainly not shy about it. They provided no cover, no support, and actively resisted journalists presence---no doubt for both US policy cover, and for plausible denial of responsibility for individual safety---what else are State Department advisories for? However the US is more than willing to use the murder or any other attack against US subjects as a pretext for tracking, trapping and murdering their geo-political adversaries. So Pearl could be considered bait, just another pretext. Can one have a moral position on bait?
The situation with suicide bombers is similar. Israel enforces a brutal occupying oppression, then screams murder and terror when the resistance attacks. Same game.
Tariq Ali's problem, probably because he is a nice middle class guy, is he isn't cynical enough about Israel, the US government, or Islamic dictatorships. In the face of any individual humanity, they are all amoral. Some are just more bloody and obvious about it than others.