I abhor those who chose to kill large numbers of non-combatants.
On 2001, September 11th, the world was horrified by an attack, clearly against the world trade center (as the ultimate symbol of capitalism) and the pentagon (as the ultimate symbol of the U.S.A.'s military-industrial complex), in which thousands of civilians have died. I do not care whether the perpetrators consider these victims to be `collateral damage' or `accomplices of the régime for which they worked'; nor do I care what (if anything, but I am confident there is something) these attacks were `revenge' for: I still consider their deaths to be an atrocity.
By the same token, when the U.S.A. and its allies (my own elected government included) have attacked civilian targets (whether intentionally or - by keeping the `brave' bomb-droppers (as opposed to the `cowardly' pilots who laid down their lives to ensure their attacks hit their targets exactly) a safe distance from the defenders' anti-aircraft weaponry, hence too far away to be sure of hitting their intended targets - `accidentally' as yet more `collateral damage') I am obliged to consider such attacks to be attrocities.
It is purposeless to claim that the latter are `revenge' - for what else do our governments suppose the former to be ? Likewise, it is purposeless to ask `what else can we do ?' - for the same question is doubtless on the lips of those who have committed this attrocity, having tried every `legitimate' means of obtaining redress for whatever wrongs they believe they have suffered at the hands of the world's rich and powerful (as symbolised by the WTC and pentagon). The world is so thoroughly controlled by a minority that the vast majority are left powerless to protect themselves from injustice - powerless, even, to have their greivances heard.
As yet, we are ignorant of the perpetrators and their motives (for all that our governments claim to know that the C.I.A.'s now-reviled ex-client did it): yet one can point to the world's oppressed billions, who have tried every means at their disposal to awaken those with wealth to the hideous abuses by which that wealth is obtained. They have (under the stern oversight of Western observers) elected governments which pursue their interests: and seen those governments ousted by military forces aided, trained and equipped by the C.I.A. They have participated in peaceful protests and strikes, demanding decent pay and working conditions, only to watch the organisers `disappear' while thugs aided and equipped by the C.I.A. `punish' those who were involved and rape their kinswomen. Is it any surprise, amongst those billions with a motive, that we cannot find decisive evidence to identify the actual perpetrators ? Yet any attack against the innocent, among those billions, will swell the numbers of those who shall be willing to act on that motive.
One fifth of the world's population shall survive the next month, as best they can, on no more than the 20 gigadollars the U.S.A.'s congress first allocated as a downpayment towards military `reprisals'. Beyond doubt, the U.S.A. can only afford such largesse by virtue of the profits its corporations make through their control of the economies of most other nations, most notably those in which live most of the above-mentioned fifth of the world's population; whose pittance of pay (of order one dollar per day) would be greater if only they could participate in free negotiation over pay and conditions (without the negotiator fearing C.I.A.-trained death squads) or elect governments who would look out for their interests (without fear of being deposed to make way for someone more subservient to the wishes of multi-national corporations).
Revenge breeds itself by seducing those who have been harmed into harming others. An eye for an eye leaves everyone blind - not just those who were involved at the outset, but also everyone that gets caught in the cross-fire or sees their neighbours blinded by it.
Written by Eddy.