Wednesday, April 02, 2003

Gerard Henderson attacks Chomsky and other critics of US policy
A feeble by attempt by Henderson, who writes like a paid up member of the Washington/Israel lobby:

'Power and Terror (there is also a book of the same name) depicts the US as one of the worst terrorist states in the world. Indeed, Chomsky spends little time in the documentary criticising any nation except the US and its allies. In the Middle East, for example, it is Israel and Turkey which are singled out for criticism, not Libya or Syria.'

Chomsky has pointed out time and again that it is morally appropriate and in fact a responsibility for a citizen to criticise the crimes of one's own country, as it is here that some change or influence might be made. Attacking Genghis Khan, Hitler, or Stalin might be worthy in a scholarly sense, but it doesnt help the current situation and in fact is a typical device of propaganda, to focus laser-like on the official enemies while ignoring completely one's own crimes. Chomsky's focus has always been the foreign policy of his own country and its allies that are supported and enabled by the US. Hence the criticism of Israel and Turkey, which is very much to the point. His book on Palestine (FT) is a devastating expose of the criminal and dangerous US/Israeli policy; while in recent years he has been nearly alone in highlighting US support for Turkish crimes against the Kurds and the silence/complicity of 'intellectuals' just like Henderson.

Chomsky has described Washington as the world capital of terrorism and a mountain of evidence over more than 50 years forces one to accept the conclusion. As he says, the best way for us to stop terrorism is to stop participating in it.

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