Paul: Yes, killing hundreds of thousands of people to keep down the price of oil is mindless violence. I would never argue that the US government is not capable of mindless murder, assassinations, etc. Allende in Chile, Lumumba in Africa, a whole bunch of other people in the US during Operation COINTELPRO, the invasion of Grenada, the bombing of Panama, etc. makes this point. The distinction between terrorism and a legitimate liberation struggle comes down to the distinction between self-defense and malicious murder. Now, you are correct that I do not "understand" the purpose of the WTC attack. But, I am not along in this. President Qadafi, who was the subject of a US assassination attempt (in clear violation of American law) has also condemned attack on the WTC. The goal of the perpetrators was simply to excite pure terror among the American population. Well, they accomplished that. peace, plm At 02:31 PM 9/17/01 -0400, you wrote: >"Patrick L. Mason" <pmason@garnet.acns.fsu.edu> said, on 09/17/01: > >... > > >For me, there is unbridgeable moral chasm between mindless murder and > >legitimate self-defense/liberation struggles. > > >peace, > >patrick l. mason > >I agree. > >May I move the question one step? When the United States government kills >750,000 children of Iraq during and since the Gulf War (directly, and >through diseases and starvation), is this "mindless"? > >I ask because the way you put your statement almost seems that the only >problem is being able to understand. So, if the U.S. government is not >"mindlessly" murdering, it is less morally repulsive. > >If I don't express myself well enough, I'm sorry. This is not easy times. > >Paul Z.
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