British Government's Definition of Terrorism:

"Terrorism is the use, or threat, of action which is violent, damaging or disrupting and is intended to influence the government or intimidate the public and is for for the purpose of advancing a political, religious or ideological cause."



Tony Blair, 12 April, 1999, talking about NATO's actions in Kosovo.

"We will carry on pounding day after day, until our objectives are secured."

Mr Murdoch on China,

"The truth is-and we Americans don't like to admit it-that authoritarian societies can work."

"Everybody's worried about stopping terrorism. Well, there's a really easy way: stop participating in it. "

Noam Chomsky

I was reminded of a quote of a US ambassador during the Reagan years when he talked about the "unpeople" of the world living "miserable lives" and therefore not important if they are the victims of our crimes.

I was thinking of this when watching the news reporting the death of 5 UK soldiers who were killed by an Afghani police officer. We had the interviews of family members and fellow soldiers. It was followed by today's news of Gordon Brown's recommitment of his intentions to keep British troops in Afghanistan. Clips from his speech were followed up by interviews with a military 'analyst' and the mother whose son is in Afghanistan. This took place on a so-called 'alternative' news channel.

The victims of crimes usually have a different view of things. What is outstanding about all this coverage is that even the concept of asking the local population for their views on what should be done in their country is unthinkable. What would we think if a country invaded the UK, killed a few thousand people in bombing raids and then discussed amongst themselves what the next course of action should be but no matter what that they should support their 'boys on the frontline'? Also you would have the President or Prime Minister of that country arguing, quite rightly, that continuing the occupation is necessary to stop international terrorism. What would we as the victims think of that?

Does anyone even realize how the Taliban came into existence? Well, they were a very disparate, small group in Afghanistan opposing a government of Noor Mohammed Taraki. His government instituted such outrageous reforms such as legalizing unions, canceling all debts of farmers, introducing progressive tax and giving men and women the chance to go to school. Even after the Soviet army left in 1989 most of the local population fought on the side of the government for another 3 years but succumbed to the seemingly bottomless pot of the estimated $6 billion war chest provided to the fanatics courtesy of the CIA. We all know what happened after that.

The "unpeople" who have a history like that might have a more relevant opinion on their own affairs if anyone bothered to report it.

"The example of a successful elected Marxist government in Chile would surly have an impact-and even precedent value for-other parts of the world, especially in Italy; the imitative spread of similar phenomena elsewhere would in turn significantly affect the world balance and our own position in it"

"The death toll [in Nicaragua] was equivalent in per capita terms to 2.25 million in the United States, greater than all wars in American history combined, including the Civil War."

He warned President Kennedy that "the distribution of land and other forms of national wealth greatly favours the propertied classes.....and the poor and underprivileged, stimulated by the example of the Cuban Revolution, are now demanding opportunities for a decent living."

"The official death toll.....is 3200. The actual toll is commonly estimated at about double that figure. As a proportion of the population, the corresponding figure for the US would be between 50,000 and 100,000. An official enquiry 30 years after the coup found evidence of 30,000 cases of torture-some 700,000 in the US equivalent."

One of today's headlines was the trial in the Hague of Radovan Karadzic. We had the pictures of weeping women and forensic scientists at sites with buried bodies, etc. Phrases like 'ethnic cleansing' were used. A quote from one of the prosecutors at the trial in the Hague is as follows:

"When you speak to a woman who tells you that 21 members of her family have been assassinated, you can easily measure the importance of this trial."

There are people with similar experiences that are from Chile, East Timor, Argentina, Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Panama, Brazil, Columbia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Iraq, Palestine, Haiti, South Africa, Angola, Sudan, Uganda, areas of Yugoslavia that were bombed by NATO, Rwanda, just to name a few. Ask yourself why the people responsible for these crimes are NOT on trial.

This is just another example of the truism that war crimes are committed by 'others'. We are involved in 'conflicts', 'transitions', 'right to self defense' or 'defending democracy'.

Orwell must be having a huge laugh.

"The fact that a person who committed an act which constitutes a crime under international law acted as a Head of State or responsible Government official does not relieve him from responsibility under international law."

"The Arab and Kurd now know what real bombing means in casualties and damage. Within forty-five minutes a full-size village can be practically wiped out and a third of its inhabitants killed or injured."

"The Arab and Kurd now know what real bombing means in casualties and damage. Within forty-five minutes a full-size village can be practically wiped out and a third of its inhabitants killed or injured."

Quite often,

"One would get a signal that a certain Kurdish village would have to be bombed..."

Would it be possible for Trenchard to take control of Iraq? This would entail:

"the provision of some kind of asphyxiating bombs calculated to cause disablement of some kind but not death...for use in preliminary operations against turbulent tribes."

"I do not agree that the dog in a manger has the final right to the manger even though he may have lain there for a very long time. I do not admit that right. I do not admit for instance, that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America or the black people of Australia. I do not admit that a wrong has been done to these people by the fact that a stronger race, a higher-grade race, a more worldly wise race to put it that way, has come in and taken
their place,"

"Propaganda is to democracy what the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state"

I found the recent controversy regarding the racist remark made by someone on Strictly Come Dancing rather interesting. For me it highlighted the huge divide between classes in the UK. When the reality TV contestant Jade Goody made exactly the same remark she was labelled uncouth and so on. When an upper class male says the same thing it is almost laughed off. So if you say a certain word and you are from a working class background you are racist but if you say the same word and from "better stock" then there is no problem.

The furore over the HEY HEY racist sketch is quite understandable but being from there doesn't surprise me. Just the other week on ABC's Media Watch program it showed another TV 'presenter', Sam Newman, was shown to call an Asian man a 'monkey' and showed a photo of him and Serena Williams to prove his point. This is also a highly rating show. There are also innumerable examples of right week extremist radio presenters spouting blatant hatred against minority groups. For anyone not from Australia type Alan Jones into Youtube and you will hear. The problem is the extremely weak media watchdogs who are next to useless. I can't see it changing anytime soon unfortunately.

By Noam Chomsky

"If the Nuremberg laws were applied, then every post-war American president would have been hanged."