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George W. Bush and his Neocons’ systematic slaughter of language and their
strategic redefinition and repetition of powerful words like freedom, good,
evil, democracy, and particularly terrorism has been pivotal in their
weapons of mass deception machine.
In official US documents, terrorism is defined as “the
calculated use of violence or threat of violence to attain
goals that are political, religious, or ideological in nature.
This is done through intimidation, coercion, or instilling
fear.” But alongside the seemingly neutral definition
Noam Chomsky argues “there is also a propagandistic
usage, which unfortunately is the standard one: the term
‘terrorism’ is used to refer to terrorist acts
committed by enemies against us or our allies.” Who
is a terrorist depends on who you are asking and when you
are asking them. Even Nazis harshly condemned terrorism
and carried out what they called “counter-terrorism”
against partisans fighting their occupying army.
People living in colonial servitude
have throughout history resorted to terrorist strikes at
visible symbols of their oppression, with varying degrees
of success. Palestine has been under occupation for over
three decades. The killing of innocent multitudes is an
ancient practice, but even a passing familiarity with the
historical record leads to the conclusion that “counter-terrorism”
by powerful states has a far more chilling record, than
the “terrorism” of small groups.
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Nicaragua: In the 1980s, tens of thousands of people died
and the country was substantially destroyed under severely
violent attacks from the US. Nicaragua went to the World
Court, which then demanded the US to stop the attacks, but
instead the US completely rejected the judgment with contempt
and answered with an immediate escalation of the attacks.
The US is the only country convicted for international terrorism,
and it (joined only by Israel) even rejected the Security
Council resolution for Nicaragua demanding the US to observe
international law. The bullying did not stop in the 80s
with Nicaragua and the World Court.
The Bush administration often gives more violent ultimatums
than other ‘tyrants’ accused by them. On September 14th,
2001, the former gave the nations of the world the following
“choice”: “Join us, or face destruction.”
Counter-terrorism is not the opposite of terrorism, but
a more organized and systematic version of it.
That is what I, and others, think about this very dangerous,
but also promising, historical moment we are experiencing.
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