War and Rhetoric

After observing the media, both television and the press lately and their reporting of the unfortunate business in Iraq, I felt I should comment. So here goes!!

To start with, the consept put by the pro war lobby in relation to Iraq that the opposition to the war is "aiding and comforting Saddam Hussein" and is therefore irellevant to the debate as said by John Howard (PM of Australia). Such rhetoric is insulting to say the least and this one was related to an offence "Aiding and Comforting the Enemy", and it was almost like the PM insisting that all the opposition to his decision for Australia to assist the US in its fight against Iraq is working for the Enemy, namely Saddam Hussein. Such rhetoric are lies and an insult to our intelligence.

All this is reminiscent of George W Bush's now famous "You are either with us or against us" speech. Such binary thinking in this multi-polar world is peculiar to say the least. We can certainly identify our enemies, however, they vary. There is the Hamas and LFPA (Liberation Front for the Liberation of Palestine I think) in Israel that committed many terrorist attacks in the west and currently in Israel itself, in the false belief that it will get Israeli settlers out of the West Bank and establish an independant Palestinian State. I say false, because just from my observations over the last 30 years I have been aware of that conflict, nothing has been achieved to benefit the Palestinian within Israel by these criminal acts. The other terrorists are in the South American area and the Arabian Peninsula exported to Palestine and Afghanistan. Then more recently terrorism is being used in Chechnya and elsewhere, no longer sponsored by the communists, but more likely nationalists.