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July 30, 2006
When are Children Children?
On Sunday, Israel hit a building in Qana, Lebanon, killing 34 children. The Associated Press story reporting the killing of these children was headlined "34 youths among 56 dead in Israeli strike," which seemed really peculiar to me. (The text of the story correctly reported that the victims were children. The headline was also used by many outlets that carry AP stories.)
Youths sounds just a bit less childreny, I suppose. We've already declared that all "military age male"s are terrorists. The women are collaborators. The infrastructure is all command and control centers. Trucks carrying food and aid could be munition relief. Ambulances... don't ask.
But the children pose a bit of a problem because while we have managed to dehumanize entire nations, our caring towards children is a bit more resistant to propaganda.
Ergo, all children are youths. And they will one day grow into adults, who are all terrorists (men) or collaborators (women), after first growing into youths.
But this child in Qana will not be doing any more of that pesky growing up thing, solving in one fell swoop the problem of the tension we have between continuing to care about children, and our utter lack of concern for their parents, their environment, and their well-being:
We can now feel bad for him and only him.
Posted by zeynep at 09:23 AM | Comments (3)
July 25, 2006
The Bleak Numbers
The death toll in Iraq from secterian violence has averaged a 100 a day for the past month.
Israel continues to ravage Lebanon. Hezbollah isn't killing as many or destroying as much, but it seems to be mostly because it can't.
Meanwhile, violence has broken out before DR Congo's first election since 1960. (In case you hadn't noticed since the media hardly ever covers it, that's the deadliest conflict in the world since world war II. About 4 million people have died in the past six years.. That's more than the entire population of Lebanon.).
Posted by zeynep at 09:09 PM | Comments (1)
July 13, 2006
Keep the Peace!
For weeks now, Israel has been bombing, shelling, firing into Gaza, killing untold numbers of people (oops, I meant Palestinians. Not the same thing, right?). Now it's doing the same to southern Lebanon, after Hezbullah has captured two of its soldiers. Airports, bridges, and cities have been bombed, killing perhaps dozens, perhaps more.
And yet, of course, that's just self-defense. We have a right to kill untold numbers of their civilians if they don't behave, period.
Bush criticized Hezbollah, whose guerrillas mounted a cross-border raid earlier in the week and captured the two soldiers, for thwarting efforts for peace in the Middle East."If you really want the situation to settle down, the soldiers need to be returned," the president said. "It's really sad where people are willing to take innocent life in order to stop that progress. As a matter of fact, it's pathetic."
Pressed on whether Israel's military assaults could trigger a wider war, Bush said he was concerned about any activity that would weaken or topple the Lebanese government. "Having said that, people need to protect themselves," he said of Israel.
Doesn't it sound eerily like the reasoning by the London subway bombers?
Speaking English with a distinct Yorkshire accent, the bomber identified as Mohammad Sidique Khan said he had forsaken "everything for what we believe" and went on to accuse Western civilians of being directly responsible for the terror attacks that befall them."Your democratically elected governments continuously perpetuate injustice against my people all over the world, and your support of them makes you directly responsible, just as I am directly responsible for protecting and avenging my Muslim brothers and sisters," Khan said.
Naah. If they think like that, they're terrorists. We have a right to kill their civilians, that's just self-defense.
Posted by zeynep at 07:33 AM | Comments (1)
July 12, 2006
Mumbai, Iraq, Everyday...
The horrific attacks in Mumbai, which made headlines around the world, killed about three times the number of people that were killed in political violence in on the same, routine day in Iraq (NPR news had reported 60 dead. We'll see what Iraq Body Count tallies).
The scale of violence in Iraq committed by the sectarian, government and occupation forces is frightfully high. It will take this broken country years, if not decades, to arrive at any kind of peaceful existence. Right now our moral obligation is not only to withdraw our forces, which are a negative, polarizing input to the situation, but also to do everything we can to help right things (supporting U.N. peacekeeping forces, reperations, political support...) Instead, all we hear at best is how to solve this problem for us.
All I can say is that it is a fool's dream to pretend that we can remain isolated from it all forever, that we can remain an island of prosperity and peace. The sooner we realize it, the better our chances of averting the worst consequences of the potent cauldron of devastation that is brewing, brewing and brewing..
Posted by zeynep at 07:59 AM | Comments (0)
July 02, 2006
Site down, and a repost...
The site will be down for couple more days while my Internet connection is restored (hopefully soon).
Meanwhile, I thought I'd repost a link to a piece I'd written earlier about Navy Lt. Commander Charles Swift, Lawyer of Salim Hamdan -- Hamdan of Hamdan v Rumsfeld, the court case which showed that the current Supreme Court is merely right-wing, instead of monarchist. Even the idea of a career military lawyer who displays a ferocious fight for rights of Osama Bin Ladin's driver all the way up to the highest court of the land is quintessentially, and wonderfully, American. There has been much to be ashamed off lately and I thought that this fourth of July, I'd leave it with a note of hope.
Posted by zeynep at 07:53 PM | Comments (0)