New Chomsky Interview: "U.S. Is A Leading Terrorist State"

[MMMMMM]

If that were all Chomsky was saying I wouldn't have a problem with it (unless it was merely a catalog of things taken out of context when the context actually makes significant difference). The problem is that I feel Chomsky is saying more than that, and is supporting some of his positions in an intellectually dishonest manner as well. Chomsky appears to me to have an agenda to unfairly portray the USA as the worst country in the world, and my impression is enhanced because the countries which actually are the worst and most guilty of human rights abuses do not receive commensurate criticism from him.

[brad]

like i said alex jones had chomsky on his show and pretty much totally trashed him although even alex jones admits that chomsky has some good points.

i think alex jones main fault finding of chomsky is his perception that chomsky may advocate a UN style solution or global rather than national sovereignty.

personally i find it more disturbing that a national guard officer is quoted in the detroit free press as saying 'we're prepared to shoot grandmothers if they run quarantine' (in the event of a bio attack and quarantine) than i am about china executing dissidents and selling thier organs. maybe its just me.

[MMMMMM]

I don't think it's just you...it's just that you live in the U.S. If you lived in China you would probably find the other more disturbing. That which seems more likely to affect us usually evokes the stronger emotional response. Considering things logically or morally, executing dissidents is far worse than planning to enforce a possibly necessary quarantine with lethal force as a last option.

[brad]

well its not the thing itself but rather the underlying philosophy.

new years eve party im talking to friend of friend who is a cop. i bring up alan dershowitz and his plan of 'torture warrants'. cop thinks its a good idea, says US is not a 3rd world country it 'wont be abused'. very disturbing i think. of course we wont know for 50 years.

[MMMMMM]

I agree it's a bit worrisome, but bear in mind that, at least in the interview with Dershowitz which I read, he was speaking of torture only in regards to obtaining information from terrorists--that instead of shipping them off to other countries for such purposes, maybe we should acknowledge it and get it out in the open, so to speak, with appropriate safeguards. He wasn't advocating it with regards to the general criminal or citizen populations. The cop you spoke with may not have realized this, and that to me is more worrisome than Dershowitz's position outlined above.

[cero_z]

"And if the Kuwaitis don't fear him it's only because they know the USA will defend them as it was before"
The "Kuwaitis" aren't grateful for our "defense", nor should they be. What we did to Kuwait and its people is equivalent to sinking their boat in order to evict pirates. Kuwait is in shambles as a result of our invasion.The Kuwaitis who are grateful are the staggeringly few royals who stood to lose their oil empire to Iraq.

[MMMMMM]

cero z: "Kuwait is in shambles as a result of our invasion."

Iraq, not the U.S.A., invaded Kuwait.

Given Saddam's record of atrocities inflicted on his own people, should it be supposed that if Saddam had overwhelmed Kuwait, that the common Kuwaiti people would have fared any better than his own people do under his despotic rule?

Here is an excerpt from a BBC news report, titled Kuwait's Hidden War Scars:

(excerpt)...The Kuwait National Museum was completely looted by the Iraqis

The museum's priceless collections of Islamic artefacts were looted and almost every room gutted by fire. Today, it is an eerie place, with pigeons flying around in the burnt-out rafters.

Out in the desert, a damaged pumping station in the Al Ahmadi field south of the capital is the only reminder of the hellish inferno left by Iraqi troops as they retreated.

More than 600 of Kuwait's oil wells were torched, on the orders of the Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. But the wells have been repaired and are again flowing with the black liquid that is Kuwait's lifeblood.

Invasion trauma

A decade after the Iraqi invasion, those who have Kuwaiti citizenship have kept their place as one of the richest national groups in the world.


Scientists are still assessing the long-term impact on the environment and the nation's health. Cancer rates are on the increase, although they are still not sure of the cause.

The last 10 years has not just been about rebuilding Kuwait's infrastructure.

Many Kuwaitis are still struggling to deal with the effects of being tortured, while they were held prisoner, either in Kuwait or in Iraq.

"Everything in Kuwait, all the buildings, have been renovated, but the inside of the people needs time to be renovated," said Dr Abdullah al Hammadi, who runs the emirate's main torture rehabilitation centre.


Some 22,000 Kuwaitis were detained at some point during the occupation and today many are suffering from depression, anxiety attacks and other symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Dr al Hammadi said a large number have resorted to drug and alcohol abuse.

22,000 Kuwaitis were detained by Iraquis and live with the consequences

His biggest worry is the incidence of behavioural problems among young people who were either tortured themselves or who witnessed others suffering such abuses.

"We've noticed in the last few years that crime and violence among Kuwaiti juveniles has increased," he said, adding that those involved are mostly young people who have had traumatic wartime experiences.

Worst of all, the doctor said, in some of these cases, juveniles have actually inflicted torture on their victims.


Some Kuwaiti families are trying to cope with another post-war trauma, of not knowing what has happened to their loved ones.

These are the relatives of the so-called "Missing", the 605 people Kuwait says Iraq is still holding. The "Missing" have become a highly emotive issue in the emirate.

Abdul Hameed al Attar, who has heard nothing of his son since he was arrested in the dying days of the occupation, said: "Even if he is dead, I want to see him."

Baghdad, however, has repeatedly denied holding anybody and has refused to cooperate with an international committee set up to resolve the issue.

It accuses Kuwait of failing to provide information on 1,150 Iraqis missing since 1991.

Iraq's intransigence on the issue, coupled with the belligerent statements it often makes about the emirate, means Kuwaitis are still deeply fearful of their northern neighbour.


Many people say they believe Saddam Hussein would try to invade again, if he had the chance.


Kuwait's Defence Minister, Sheikh Salem al Sabah
Only the continued presence of American and British troops, they say, prevents him from doing so. And you hear such fears expressed at the highest levels of government.

Kuwait's Defence Minister, Sheikh Salem al Sabah, made his feelings clear in an interview with BBC News Online.

Kuwaitis still fear the possiblity of another Iraqi invasion

Asked if the country still feels threatened by Iraq, he answered: "Yes we do, yes we do, yes we do.

"It is built in their mind and their thoughts that Kuwait is a part of Iraq, and Kuwait being rich and more advanced, with technologies and what have you, they feel jealous from it. And they will keep threatening the Kuwaiti security."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/861753.stm