Samir Amin on Islam

[Reed Tryte]

>Reed Tryte:
>
>>> "I hate and despise Hezbollah and Palestinian
>>> suicide-murderers, as they ought to be called,
>>> but they'd have to work day and night for
>>> years to equal the total of civilians killed
>>> in Lebanon alone, or by Sharon alone."
>>
>>Hmm. That sounds like he's asserting that Hezbollah
>>and Palestinian terrorism on its worst day is 
>>no worse than Israeli foreign policy on a good 
>>day. I just hope there's an English-born contrarian
>>writer around to call him soft on Islamo-fascism.
>>
>>I assume there's a fair amount of tension in 
>>Hitchens' mind between the fact that his view of 
>>Al-Qaida and the Likud view of Hamas are exactly 
>>the same. I wonder how this tension will be 
>>resolved?
>
>All cuteness aside, the difference is Israel invaded 
>Lebanon and the occupied territories. What did the 
>US do to Al-Qaida? He said the above on CPSAN and 
>that contrarian Andrew Sullivan went ballistic.
>
>Peter

I don't think the question is phrased correctly --
that's like asking, what did Israel do to Hamas?
Israel, at certain times and in certain ways,
supported Hamas, just as the US supported what was to
become Al-Qaida. 

The question with Israel is what it's done to people
in the occupied territories and Lebanon. That's why
there's support for psychos like (some of) Hamas and
Hezbollah. The question with the US is what it's done
to people in the Arab and Muslim world. 

I can't believe you don't know the gruesome history of
the US in the mideast and elsewhere in the Muslim
world, so I won't run through it here. But if Hitchens
can say that about Israel, anyone can just as
legitimately say, "I hate and despise Al-Qaida
suicide-murderers, but they'd have to work day and
night for years to equal the total of civilians killed
in Iraq and Indonesia."

Hitchens seems to have forgotten this history in its
entirety, except for mentioning the "embarrassing
American bases in Saudi Arabia." What does he mean by
this? Are they "embarrassing" to the Pentagon? Or are
they "embarrassing" to Hitchens because they're a sign
of the ugly US policy in the region, one he wants to
say has nothing to do with the growth and goals of
Al-Qaida?

I'm just surprised that all this hadn't come back and
bit us in the ass sooner. But in any case, I think
it's really sort of crazy to ask, "What did the US do
to Al-Qaida?" It's like Israelis asking the equivalent
question.

I'm not surprised that Sullivan went ballistic.
Hitchens is being completely inconsistent -- these are
fairly similar situations, and Hitchens is taking a
progressive position in one and the Sharon position in
the other. Of course, it's true Israel &
Hamas/Hezbollah and the US & Al-Qaida aren't EXACTLY
analogous. Fortunately, our upcoming invasion of Iraq
will soon remedy that.

__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.
http://mailplus.yahoo.com