Topic: US, UK abusing power in 'war', says Chomsky - Part 1

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11/27/2001 (9:50)

ISLAMABAD, Nov 26: Prof Noam Chomsky on Monday accused the United States and Britain of being
above the international law and using 'unlawful force' in their so-called fight against terrorism.

Giving a lecture at a function organized jointly by Dawn Group of Newspapers and Eqbal Ahmad Foundation at Convention Centre in the federal capital, the visiting American scholar gave examples of Sudan, Somalia and Nicaragua where the United States had been involved in the killing of thousands of innocent civilians.

'Terrorism is a weapon of the weak, but mostly used by the strong', the professor told a glittering gathering of around 1,500 politicians, government ministers, intellectuals, scholars, academicians, serving and retired civil and military hierarchy.

The two-hour lecture was followed by a question-answer session during which the American scholar answered questions relating to several current issues.

At the dais, Mr Chomsky was flanked by the Editor of Dawn, Saleem Asmi, and chairperson of Eqbal Ahmad Foundation, Prof Pervez Hoodbhoy. Resident Editor Dawn, Islamabad, M. Ziauddin and Herald's correspondent Zafar Abbass acted as moderators.

The scholar said the US government's military action in Nicaragua was more 'devastating' than the Sept 11 terrorist attacks.

This was a reference to 1982 events in Nicaragua when Contras, who were fully supported by the American government, started promoting anti-Sandinista activities and carrying out attacks in which 30,000 people were killed.

Prof Chomsky said Nicaragua was in no position to attack the United States so it followed a legal course by approaching the International Court of Justice, which held the US responsible for the events. Nicaragua then also took its case to the United Nations.

He said instead of taking its case against Osama or other terrorists to the international court of justice or other similar forums, the United States attacked Afghanistan.

'The US should have pursued the same path,' Mr Chomsky said. 'But the US does not want to establish that it is subordinate to anyone (in the world).' He said President Bush, on the recommendation of his speech writers, was speaking the language of violence by legitimizing the acts of violence in Afghanistan and in other parts of the world.

Agreeing with a questioner that the US superiority had been 'partly eroded' by the Sept 11 attacks, the professor said both President Bush and Osama bin Laden were almost speaking the same language.

'While President Bush says they (allied forces) are going to drive out the evil from the land (world), Osama says they (Muslim militants) are going to drive out infidels from the Muslim land,' he remarked.

Mr Chomsky regretted that humans were not only engaged in the large-scale destruction of other biological species, but also of their own specie and referred to Sept 11 and later events to prove his point. 'This specie has surely developed the capacity to do just that and an extra bit with the cold and calculated savagery assaults on each other,' he said. However, he asserted, that there was a need to find out the reasons for this tragedy.

Mr Chomsky said the scale of human catastrophe that had already taken place since Sept 11 and that might follow could only be guessed. But he warned that the projections on which policy decisions were being taken, and commentaries based, were enough to tell us that the world was being directed by its leaders towards a direction that no decent person would like to see.

'The crimes of Sept 11 are in the historic turning point, but not because of their scale, rather because of the choice of targets,' he said, adding that it was for the first time since British bombed Washington in 1814 that the American territory had been attacked and threatened.

During the past two centuries, he recalled, the US had remained an invader and annihilated the indigenous population, conquered the Mexico and intervened validly in the surrounding regions, overpowered Philippines and killed hundreds and thousands of Filipinos in the chase.

He said during this period America extended its force throughout the world. 'The number of victims of US savagery are huge right upto the present moment,' the visiting US scholar said. 'For the first time, almost in two centuries, the guns have been pointed in the opposite direction. And it is a historic change.'

He said the same was true about the Europeans' past, though Europe had also suffered a murderous destruction during the internal civil wars. 'However, the Europeans conquered most of the world, leaving a colossal trail of destruction,' he said. 'The list of crimes is long and horrendous - it is a change, a dramatic change. And it is not surprising that Europe must be shocked by these murderous terrorist atrocities of Sept 11.'

He said while the Sept 11 incidents would not change the world affairs, these had raised several questions that must be addressed very carefully, if the attacks were to be analysed.