In an appreciated post Gary writes: I am struck by two things. First, while I acknowledge and approve the statements by politicians and talking-heads warning against anti-Arab & anti-Islam backlash, I think these statements have by-and-large been insufficiently forceful. The attacks by Americans against their dark-skinned neighbors are so repugnant to the democratic values Bush et al. claim to be defending that they deserve coverage at least comparable to the treatment that the most heinous hate-crimes get in more normal times -- page one, above-the-fold; lead story on the nightly news, etc. Indeed, in the present circumstances such stories deserve even more prominent treatment. ______________ As Jerry has intimated, such sympathy may well prove incompatible with the demonization needed for war, especially a war in which many innocent muslims may die. That is, if the American people really do understand that the islamic jehadi no more represents muslims than mcveigh's militias reflect white america, then people will be too soft about the mass killing of innocents and the ongoing death of iraqi civilians. This would throw a wrench in rumsfeld's and cheney's mad plans (such as they can be made out). In today's NYT my old friend Somini Sengupta was able to document the expulsion of Arabs and Arab Americans from commercial flights. The story was tucked away on p. B8, I believe. And we know that the NYT is a much better paper than what passes for journalism in the US. the other thing which the media seems to have proven incapable of doing is DETAILING how the US created the islamic jehadi, then abandoned it as well as the the pakistani and afghani societies that were distorted and destroyed in the successful attempt to destroy the evil empire. this left many youth no where to go but the islamic seminaries; there was no marshall plan for the reconstruction of Central Asia. people were left to suffer and scavenge in the rubble. it feels like treason to say that US policy (esp that of the CIA) is responsible for the slaughter of innocents in the WTC. one is reminded of George Schultz who responded to a request to enquire into the causes of Palestinian terrorism: "There is no connection with any cause. It's wrong." now it seems that the cia wants the right to fund unsavory types again, i.e., to create a new proto fascist force to destroy the one for which it no longer has any use. Rumsfeld seems all too willing to simply annihilate the networks which the US is itself created, no matter how much more the Afghani and Pakistani people will have to suffer..."incidentally". Rakesh
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