Al-Q Honcho Hit

Yoshie Furuhashi furuhashi.1 at osu.edu
Tue Nov 5 15:44:49 PST 2002



>Yoshie Furuhashi:
>> What's worse than (3) already happened, though not in Tennessee: the
>> bombing of MOVE in Philadelphia on May 13, 1985, incinerating an
>> entire city block; and the burning of 76 men, women, and children in
>> the assault on the Branch Davidians in Waco on April 19, 1993.
>>
>> I guess demoralization is already pretty far gone. It's no wonder
>> that right-wing Belligerent Observers take assassination of
>> foreigners in stride.
>
>No, events like the bombing of MOVE and the slaughter of
>the Branch Davidians were subsequently held, however
>hypocritically, to be mistakes or "overreactions", by and
>large. By contrast, the hit in Yemen is being celebrated
>as a success, which gives it a profoundly different
>character. I'm not noticing the moral deficiencies of
>individuals, but the demoralization of a whole society.
>
>-- Gordon

As far as assassination of foreigners and other covert actions and overt military strikes against them (short of wars) are concerned, I'm not sure if there was any active opposition to them among Americans before the hit in Yemen. Political assassination is still prohibited on paper, but "Presidents since Mr Ford have often been accused of sidestepping the executive order by launching targeted military attacks primarily to kill leaders" (@ <http://www.guardian.co.uk/bush/story/0,7369,773574,00.html>). "Covert actions" have not been really covert, regularly discussed in the corporate media, with no loud objection from Americans excepting confirmed leftists (and even leftists couldn't mount any sizable protests against them). The US government conducted well advertised military strikes that ostensibly targeted its enemies as well: e.g., "In 1986, after a bomb killed two Americans in a Berlin nightclub, the U.S. charged that Qaddafi was behind it and conducted major air strikes against Libya, killing dozens of civilians, including Qaddafi's daughter" (@ <http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Sept_11_2001/ConsequencesEmpire_MEast.html>); and "Following bomb blasts at the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in August, President Clinton ordered missile strikes against targets in Afghanistan and Sudan" in 1998 (@ <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/1998/08/98/us_strikes/155347.stm>). How do such attacks differ from the rocket attack in Yemen, except that the latter used a drone, which is a new technical development? -- Yoshie

* Calendar of Events in Columbus: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html> * Anti-War Activist Resources: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/activist.html> * Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osu.edu/students/CJP/>



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