Yemen, Underwear bomber, 5 jihadists and Cuba?
Perhaps this isn’t the best time to bring up the issue of defining terrorism but I can’t help it given the conflicting views that persist.
First there is the five US citizen’s captured in Pakistan and accused of being terrorists. These 5 men (ages 19-25) deny any link to al Qaeda or any plan to carry out a terrorist attack. One of them said “we are not terrorists…we are jihadists, and jihad is not terrorism. They see jihad as their religious right, to study Islam, to care for the sick, or to fight against the foreign forces occupying a Muslim country - Afghanistan. It is their God given duty “to help the helpless Muslims” who are in trouble, who are bleeding and who are being victimized by Western forces. What’s odd is that these men were all from Alexandria, VA. It would seem the would be of more service to Al Qaeda, if they were terrorists, finding targets around the Potomac, than in facing US soldiers and high tech weapons on hair trigger in the mountains of Afganistan.
Second, after the terror attempt by the underwear bomber, new flight restrictions were added to 14 countries. Cuba was one of them. Cuba? There are more Jewish terrorists than there are Cuban terrorists. Cuban leaders are communists not religious. And, their most radical youth are skateboarders. Cuba? Our nation risks all credibility in putting Cuba on a terrorist watch list. If nothing else it’s a distraction from what our intelligence agencies should be doing. Maybe that’s why we didn’t catch an obvious terrorist like the underwear bomber.
Third, on a “Current/Vanguard” investigative journalist program “America’s Secret War with Iran” a group of Iranian dissidence called the PJAC were interviewed. They were based about 50 Kilometers inside Iraq away from the Iranian border. From Iraq they conduct occasional attacks against the Iranian Regime which they obviously have issues with. Iranian forces see these trouble makers who kill both Iranian soldiers and civilians as “terrorists”. In fact, the PJAC is an Iranian Kurdish offshoot of Pakistan’s Kurdish PKK. The PKK is an organization that attacks our ally Turkey putting them on our nations list of officially targeted terrorist groups. Did you keep all this straight? I think I’m finally getting it. If we don’t like someone we call them terrorists. If they are terrorizing someone we don’t like… they’re not terrorists.
Meanwhile, “Yemen’s fragile government is in a delicate balancing act between it allegiance to the US – and tribal, political and religious forces that resent US interference in Yemen and sympathize with al – Qaeda’s ideology” reported the Washington Post (“Yemen walks fine line in aiding US” 1-5-10). The government’s “survival depends on powerful tribal and social groups” that “have strong connections to al-Qaeda.” Opposition politicians in Yemen’s parliament warn “many Yemenis will support al-Qaeda if the conflict escalates.” It appears some “Tribal leaders and lawmakers in the south are furious about what they say was a US sponsored airstrike on civilians” December 17. The government says it targeted “militants and their relatives”. It is feared that “Yemen’s security forces” have been “infiltrated by al-Qaeda sympathizers”. Given the results of 7 CIA officials killed by a double agent in Afghanistan – Yemen could get real messy. Assuming those killed by US assisted air strikes were not civilians…do “militants and their relatives” deserve to be bombed into little pieces with only suspicion of being al Qaeda sympathizers? How terrorizing can that be for other al Qaeda sympathizers in south Yemen who fear they and their relatives could be vaporized without a warning or a trial? Remind me who again are the terrorists? And what again are we fighting for? Oh yes! I almost forgot. They’re sitting on our oil.
First there is the five US citizen’s captured in Pakistan and accused of being terrorists. These 5 men (ages 19-25) deny any link to al Qaeda or any plan to carry out a terrorist attack. One of them said “we are not terrorists…we are jihadists, and jihad is not terrorism. They see jihad as their religious right, to study Islam, to care for the sick, or to fight against the foreign forces occupying a Muslim country - Afghanistan. It is their God given duty “to help the helpless Muslims” who are in trouble, who are bleeding and who are being victimized by Western forces. What’s odd is that these men were all from Alexandria, VA. It would seem the would be of more service to Al Qaeda, if they were terrorists, finding targets around the Potomac, than in facing US soldiers and high tech weapons on hair trigger in the mountains of Afganistan.
Second, after the terror attempt by the underwear bomber, new flight restrictions were added to 14 countries. Cuba was one of them. Cuba? There are more Jewish terrorists than there are Cuban terrorists. Cuban leaders are communists not religious. And, their most radical youth are skateboarders. Cuba? Our nation risks all credibility in putting Cuba on a terrorist watch list. If nothing else it’s a distraction from what our intelligence agencies should be doing. Maybe that’s why we didn’t catch an obvious terrorist like the underwear bomber.
Third, on a “Current/Vanguard” investigative journalist program “America’s Secret War with Iran” a group of Iranian dissidence called the PJAC were interviewed. They were based about 50 Kilometers inside Iraq away from the Iranian border. From Iraq they conduct occasional attacks against the Iranian Regime which they obviously have issues with. Iranian forces see these trouble makers who kill both Iranian soldiers and civilians as “terrorists”. In fact, the PJAC is an Iranian Kurdish offshoot of Pakistan’s Kurdish PKK. The PKK is an organization that attacks our ally Turkey putting them on our nations list of officially targeted terrorist groups. Did you keep all this straight? I think I’m finally getting it. If we don’t like someone we call them terrorists. If they are terrorizing someone we don’t like… they’re not terrorists.
Meanwhile, “Yemen’s fragile government is in a delicate balancing act between it allegiance to the US – and tribal, political and religious forces that resent US interference in Yemen and sympathize with al – Qaeda’s ideology” reported the Washington Post (“Yemen walks fine line in aiding US” 1-5-10). The government’s “survival depends on powerful tribal and social groups” that “have strong connections to al-Qaeda.” Opposition politicians in Yemen’s parliament warn “many Yemenis will support al-Qaeda if the conflict escalates.” It appears some “Tribal leaders and lawmakers in the south are furious about what they say was a US sponsored airstrike on civilians” December 17. The government says it targeted “militants and their relatives”. It is feared that “Yemen’s security forces” have been “infiltrated by al-Qaeda sympathizers”. Given the results of 7 CIA officials killed by a double agent in Afghanistan – Yemen could get real messy. Assuming those killed by US assisted air strikes were not civilians…do “militants and their relatives” deserve to be bombed into little pieces with only suspicion of being al Qaeda sympathizers? How terrorizing can that be for other al Qaeda sympathizers in south Yemen who fear they and their relatives could be vaporized without a warning or a trial? Remind me who again are the terrorists? And what again are we fighting for? Oh yes! I almost forgot. They’re sitting on our oil.
posted by Chuck Woolery at 10:25 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home