[lbo-talk] Hersh: How a secret Pentagon program came to Abu Ghraib

[C. G. Estabrook]

I think it's clear what stood in the way of going after the perpetrators
of 9/11 by means of "a police operation conducted under the auspices of
the UN on behalf of the international community as a whole, against a
criminal conspiracy, whose members should be hunted down and brought
before an international court" -- as historian Michael Howard (among
others) suggested.  It wasn't the lack of a police force.

Assume that, in the fall of 2001, forces from UNOTKIDN (UN Office for
Terrorist Kinesis, Informatics, and Dire Noetics -- headed by three
generals, a Brazilian, an Iranian, and an Indian) demands the extradition
of Osama bin Laden from Afghanistan and that the Taliban replies (as they
did) that they want evidence of of ObL's involvement, and that he be tried
before Muslim judges.  UNOTKIDN provides the evidence, establishes the
court, and ObL and his lieutenants in Afghanistan are delivered up for
trial, convicted, and imprisoned (UNOTKIDN troops' aiding in the arrest,
if necessary).

The Bush administration loses its War on Terrorism and hence its excuse
for seizing Iraq; it is reduced to bleating that "there might be other bin
Ladens out there" -- with some justice, because the grievances that
produced al Qaeda (Iraq sanctions, Palestinian oppression, US-backed
right-wing governments in the oil states) still exist.  But the emergency
that covered the Bushies' vicious incompetence is gone, along with the
fear that they were able to generate in the US populace. --CGE

On Mon, 17 May 2004, Doug Henwood wrote:
> 
> We can, but that ain't happening soon. So, please tell me, who'd do
> this police work that Cockburn and Chomsky talked about? Now, today,
> in the real world?
> 
> I'd love it if CGE could answer this question too, rather than pasting
> in quotes from Chomsky.
>