Reader reactions to ‘The War
on Error begins’
The many faces of
terrorism
Why is it only non-state groups that use terrorist tactics, according to many? Was the Serbian and Croatian campaign of genocide against Bosnians not terrorism… or the Serbs in Kosovo.... and hello... 8,000 innocent men murdered in a couple of days time in Srebenica. And then the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the fire bombing of Dresden.... ALL done to commit mass murder of innocent people for political purposes. How many victims are we talking about there?
And then what to think of denying adequate food
and water to starving people around the world... that kills more than all of
the above each year...do we label that terrorism – not officially? But it
definitely kills innocent people through neglect, at best.
B. van Driel
Brussels, Belgium
April 2007
A question of support
I think
the issue isn’t with the fact that you have violent extremists in every culture
and nation. You do, at least in most. The problem is with the level of support
they get from the general population in those countries.
Kahana
Chai in Israel is not only outlawed, it’s not socially legitimised either. I
don’t know of a single person who supports them. Support for these wackos?
Maybe among the more extreme settlers. Mainstream Israel does not accept their
views, let alone any violent actions on their part.
The Etzel
is the group in charge of the famous terror attack in the King of David hotel.
Even they had their excuses, saying they did inform the British about the bomb,
and never meant for any civilians to be hurt (you have to admit, this is a lot
more than what the Muslim suicide bombers do). Either way, Etzel and Lehi, were
social and political outcasts in Israel. The first thing that Ben Gurion did
when Israel was established was to outlaw both of these organisations and
simply take their weapons away from them, by force. They were detested to the
extent that Ben Gurion would never call Begin by name.
I think
the same goes for the other groups you mentioned. How much support does the KKK
get in mainstream America? How much support does the Supreme Truth group get in
mainstream Japan? I don't know about Sri Lanka and the other places you
mentioned, frankly, but if you look at the Western world and check how much
support does the IRA receive in Ireland today, you get a clear picture.
Now,
check the support for Hizbullah, Hamas’s suicide bombers, the Islamic Jihad and
Al Qaeda in the Muslim world. See the problem? I have talked to Palestinians,
Israeli Palestinians and people from the territories. Today, with the internet,
I don’t even need the media for that. I talk to people from the Arab world on
Skype and Yahoo all the time. There is huge support for the terrorist groups,
Khaled. Sometimes people will go on to explain how they wish me no harm and
want peace. At the same time, they will glorify Al Qaeda, Hizbullah and Hamas.
They think these people somehow rectify something, defend the (lost?) Arab
honour, or whatever. The bottom line is, as far as I can see, the average
Muslim in the Arab world today, supports terrorist groups. We can discuss the
whys of this phenomena, but it’s there, and I think it’s a huge problem.
A El Hashahar
Pardes Hana, Israel
April 2007
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