From: joedees@bellsouth.net
Date: Tue Aug 13 2002 - 16:14:44 MDT
On 13 Aug 2002 at 22:42, Andy Brice wrote:
> From: <joedees@bellsouth.net>
> ...
> > Besides, more than half of Palestinians polled support suicide
> > bombings.
> > I would indeed consider that majority unethical, in thought if not
> > in action.
>
> Unethical indeed. But also a sign of desperation and hopelessness.
> Apart from terrorism or complete submission to the Israeli state, what
> other choices do they have? Israel has backed the Palestians into a
> corner.
>
I think that recently it is largely the other way around; the Palestinian
militants, through 70+ suicide bombings in the past two years, have
forced the Israeli government into taking the defensive measures that it
has. If the Palestinian violence would stop, I'm quite sure that the
restrictions would be eased, and soon.
>
> I would suggest that if the USA wants to confront a state in the
> middle east that is threatening the stability of the region,
> oppressing vast numbers of people and has ready access to weapons of
> mass destruction, then it should confront Israel before it confronts
> Iraq. Iraq has already had its infrastructure completely destroyed and
> I am unconvinced about its ability to threaten anyone, especially if
> the UN inspectors are let back in.
>
But they won't be, it seems; saying that they might be appears to have
been just a diversionary propaganda ploy by Saddam Hussein.
>
> Or could be that the USA's main interest is in securing Iraq's oil
> reserves?
>
Nope. There is plenty of oil to go around, especially with the new
caspian sea fields coming on line soon. The US just doesn't want Iraq
to choke off Saudi Arabia's oil exports.
>
> Andy Brice
>
>
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