More Timely Than Ever!

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Why They Commit Terrorism

See Update.
I want to plead guilty, and I’m going to plead guilty 100 times over because until the hour the U.S. pulls its forces from Iraq and Afghanistan, and stops the drone strikes in Somalia and Yemen and in Pakistan, and stops the occupation of Muslim lands, and stops killing the Muslims, and stops reporting the Muslims to its government, we will be attacking U.S., and I plead guilty to that.
--Faisal Shahzad, on pleading guilty to attempting to set off a car bomb in Times Square

Asked by the judge why he would want to kill civilians, Shahzad said: "Well, the people select the government. We consider them all the same"

“Including the children?” the judge asked.

“Well, the drone hits in Afghanistan and Iraq, they don’t see children; they don’t see anybody. They kill women, children. They kill everybody. It’s a war. And in war, they kill people. They’re killing all Muslims.”

Any further questions?

UPDATE July 3, 2010
The neocons work overtime to keep Americans from understanding why terrorists do what they do. See Glenn Greenwald's discussion of Charles Krauthammer's latest attempt.

Also see Greenwald's excellent deconstruction of the word terrorism. What distinguishes a terrorist from a freedom fighter is not some objective feature about reality.

5 comments:

Eric Hanneken said...

You know, as an individualist, I have an easy response to Faisal Shahzad: You tried to kill the wrong people. No one in Times Square murdered innocent men, women, and children in Pakistan. Two wrongs don't make a right.

But what do the People's Romantics have to say about this? If "we are the government," then aren't we responsible for what we do? What can they say to answer Faisal Shahzad? Only Americans who are old enough to vote are legitimate targets? Only registered voters? What?

MarkZ said...

Let this serve as a reminder that the US government isn't the only aggressor here.

Anonymous said...

You're correct, Erik. And we should never condone harm being done to innocent people of any nationality, for any reason. But, at the very least, it's important for Americans to realize WHY people like Shahzad do the terrible things they do.

winston smith said...

it reminds me of a saying that i can't get out of my head "Terrorism is the war of the poor, and war is the terrorism of the rich." by Peter Ustinov

Sheldon Richman said...

Good quote by Ustinov.