It is sad indeed that we can sit at our distance and in our comfort and blithely debate the 'strategy' of laying seige to, bombing and starving masses of men, women and children, manipulated on one side by self-righteous and self-serving neo-imperial powers, and on the other by a power-hungry and tyrannical despot and his death squads. It is horrifying and it is tragic. I also feel for the soldiers on both sides of this for whom this is not their war--the Iraqi conscripts prodded by guns in front and behind (not unlike the Russians in WWII, with their 'political officers'), and the American and US troops paying for someone else's geopolitical and domestic gambles with their lives.
I'm also tired of seeing this stuff about an 'Arab' or 'Muslim' revolt. Does an action in France or the US or Brazil demand a response from 'the Christian world'? No, because there is at least some recognizance of the profound cultural and political differences between all the varieties of Christian worshippers. Why is the same not accorded to Muslims or Arabs? This Jihad bullshit is old--as old as the European Crusades that swept through the same middle east, and with as much hatred and wanton destruction and desire to remake the world in one image as any other. Just because the lunatic fringe of bin Laden et al want to see a clash of civilizations doesn't mean we have to oblige them. Pablo ***** Pablo Shiladitya Bose Research Coordinator, Ethics of Development-Induced Displacement Project Research Associate, Centre for Refugee Studies Doctoral Candidate, Faculty of Environmental Studies York University, Toronto, Canada Tel: (416) 736-2100 ext. 20559 ___________________________________________________________ FoIB Mailing List - Bits, Analysis, Digital Group Therapy http://www.ianbell.com
