Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id XAA15508 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Mon, 29 Apr 2002 23:28:12 +0100 X-Originating-IP: [209.240.222.132] From: "Scott Chase" <ecphoric@hotmail.com> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Subject: RE: Bush's War on Terrorism Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2002 18:22:22 -0400 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Message-ID: <F214rB0Xn2Pi1Y7PeGb000003fa@hotmail.com> X-OriginalArrivalTime: 29 Apr 2002 22:22:22.0283 (UTC) FILETIME=[551411B0:01C1EFCC] Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
>From: Vincent Campbell <v.p.campbell@stir.ac.uk>
>Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
>To: "'memetics@mmu.ac.uk'" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk>
>Subject: RE: Bush's War on Terrorism
>Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2002 16:13:13 +0100
>
> <So it would be nice if they spent it on shcools and hospitals, the
> > truth is they most often spend it on guns and building armies. As for
> > Palestine not having an army, what do you think all those people
>shooting
> > back at the Israelis are? Just because they don't wear uniforms doesn't
> > mean they are not organized for waging war. If not stopped by Israel,
> > Arafat would be getting shiploads of arms from Iran and other countries.
> > It's more a matter of their isolation than their desire that keeps them
> > from
> > having as big an army as Iraq.>
> >
> With the cynic's hat on, big nations give financial aid in order to
>get in back in terms of arms sales, buildng contracts, drug sales etc. etc.
>which is why it never has the official intent.
>
> On the second bit you're right, that's the point of the suicide
>bombers- what do you do when you have no organised military means of self
>defence, you use yourself as a weapon. Suicide bombers are an indication
>of
>just how limited the Palestinians have been by Israel, and by the
>international community's refusal to do anything about Israel.
>
>
And you can make that point without condoning the actions of the suicide
bombers. Though their actions are hard to justify they are the product of
the situation they have been born into one of oppression and being perceived
as lesser than human. How politically correct has it become to bash
Palestinians? Here in the US making some ethnic slur about them might yield
more cheers than jeers, not unlike it was for Iranians back in the early
80's and onward.
I'm not an expert on the biographical details of Arafat's life, but wasn't
he a product of the refugee camps? In the way one group treats another
there's a danger that the former will create a monster in the latter. But
this goes both ways because it just may be the perception Israelis have of
their Palestinian and other Arab neighbors bellicose intentions that has
resulted in some, like Sharon, adopting a hard line mentality. Would this be
kinda like a positive feedback loop that continuously escalates where
animosities of Palestinian and Israeli hardliners for each other hits the
threshold point and boils over until cooler heads prevail...
I really think that the U.S. needs to take a serious, in-depth look at our
relationship with Israel and their behavior towards other peoples. It might
be time for a little "tough love" or modifying the apron strings. The
perception of the Arab and Muslim world towards us is at stake, not to
mention the self-detemination of the Palestinians. Israel got their state,
now its time to allow the Palestinians to achieve some degree of respectful
existence, maybe along the lines of pre 1967 borders.
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