Roger, I just want to take you up on a couple of things.
Firstly, I may be wrong but you
seem to equate my sympathetic comments on mistreated Palestinian civilians (and my disparagement of Mark's glib analogy re. American Indians) with some kind of approval of suicide bombers! What can I say? Only that 1 + 1 doesn't equal 7 to the power of 11, not in my universe anyway. But let’s look at one of your own analogies:
Quote:
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Can we say it's wrong for Iraqi insurgents to kill citizens lining up for jobs that will pay them subsistance wages, but it's okay for Palestinians to do the same?
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While you are careful to distinguish Iraqi “insurgents” from ordinary Iraqi civilians (whom, after all, your friendly troops are trying to bring democracy to), you make no such distinction with Palestinians. Now, doesn’t that tell you something?
Then there's your use of that old bugbear-word, 'terrorism'. In terms of lexical abuse, only fellow members of that distinguished Dead Abstract Noun Club ('freedom' and 'democracy' for instance) come anywhere close. Of COURSE 9/11 was an act of terrorism (in fact terrorism is rather an understatement) and of course any suicide bombing is also an act of terrorism. Can 'legitimate' armies commit acts of terrorism? Was 'shock and awe' an act of terrorism? I think, at the very least, such things are open to debate.
I'm just very tired of people thinking they can use the word terrorist/ism with as much impunity as, say, words like AK47 or toothpaste. I'm sorry, but if you care
at all what words actually mean, then you will know it is best to handle the word terrorism (along with 'freedom', 'democracy' etc.) like a phial of nitroglycerine. Robert Fisk is always going on about this, a small sane voice in the wilderness for all the difference he makes. But I love him for trying anyway.
Anyway Roger, we CAN agree on one thing, that “the morality of one's cause does not exempt one from all other forms of morality.” I am right with you there. And good ol immoral 'terrorism' is being put in practice right now in the Middle East, by the hawks on
both (nay, ALL) sides.
[This message has been edited by Mark Granier (edited July 22, 2006).]