Russia’s brave journalists silenced – and poisoned
Tuesday, September 7, 2004, 02:22
The great Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya was poisoned on her way to Beslan from Moscow, after two unsuccessful attempts to board previous flights. Her courageous and honest reporting from Chechnya has for years rubbed the Russian government the wrong way. While she recovers in hospital, many believe that she (and several of her colleagues) have been deliberately “prevented” from reaching Beslan and from reporting what they saw.In October 2002, the Chechen rebels who had stormed a Moscow theater (an event which also ended tragically after the Russian forces launched an assault) requested her presence during negotiations with the government. She immediately left Los Angeles, where she was about to receive a Courage in Journalism Award from the International Women’s Media Foundation. She later wrote this very poignant article about her experience in the theater. Her reporting on Russia’s involvement in Chechnya is incomparable; may she still tell the world much more.
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After the massacre in Beslan
Tuesday, September 7, 2004, 01:16
In the past few days, several news organizations asked me to comment on the awful hostage situation in Beslan, even before reports surfaced that some of the terrorists were Arab. The calls came from people knowing my area of expertise full well, who yet instinctively turned to people like me to analyze an area that is - geographically - far from the Middle East.No matter where it happens, terrorism automatically conjures the Middle East and Islam, a notion that gets all too often substantiated by the revelation of the perpetrators’ origins, or the causes they claim to defend. I have found myself countless times in the seemingly impossible position of explaining my aversion to such acts of violence (especially suicide bombings) against unarmed Israeli civilians, while supporting the Palestinian cause full-heartedly. At the other end of the spectrum, it is frustrating to attempt explaining the context in which such attacks happen without being accused, ludicrously, of justifying terrorism.
This evening, a television report from Grozny, Chechnya’s demolished capital, showed gloomy residents who were simply at a loss for words, horrified by what happened in Beslan, and apprehensive about the consequences they might face from a Russian government and army whose brutality they have been enduring for over a decade. In front of a Moscow mosque, a few Muslim men hovered quietly, equally afraid; one of them angrily faced the camera and damned the terrorists, unable to comprehend how they could have attacked women and children.
The outrage in the Muslim world has been immense, but it is not the first time Muslims have reacted like this to terrorism. This time, however, Muslim condemnations were heard in the West.
In spite of the horror which fills us at the thought and sight of such actions, and leaving aside media and government propaganda of all sorts, we still must face the facts: terrorist acts are all despicable, and the fanatics who commit many of them are lost cases which can only be fought with every means available. But – and it is an important but – there are also those terrorists who consider themselves to be retaliating for similar acts of violence committed against their people, or who believe that this is the only option they have to coerce foreign governments into leaving them alone and taking them out of their misery. In such a state of affairs, something can still be done to stop the horror. Many governments (including the Russian and the Israeli) must be held accountable for the suffering they have inflicted on two sets of people: those who they govern lawfully, and those who they rule illegally and whose lives they have violated.
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Chalabi's back
Monday, September 6, 2004, 00:07
Ahmad Chalabi gave an interview on Al Arabiya on Thursday, managing to sound like every Arab regime - and even the Bush administration - by blaming everyone for whatever has gone wrong – in this particular case, the attempt on his life which killed two of his bodyguards. It could be terrorists, Saddam loyalists, other parties, and foreign forces, he said. (Who else is left, especially when considering that members of the government could fall under any of these categories, depending on the source you ask?) More importantly, the once very secular Chalabi gave another sign of his increasing proximity to Shi'a circles, by lamenting in detail the despicable living conditions in Sadr City, the slum of Baghdad formerly known as Saddam City inhabited mostly by poor Shi'a Iraqis.
In October 2003, Chalabi showed his sudden religiosity by siding with Sistani over the inclusion of Shari’a law in TAL (the Transitional Administrative Law). Now, he is championing the cause of Muqtada Sadr’s followers, having realized the considerable potential of their support.
Somehow, he seems to be getting stronger and has thwarted every American and Iraqi government attempt to sideline him. Watch out for more prophetic statements from Chalabi; remember, after the raid on his house, he asked the US to “let my people go.”
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Questions on terrorism
Monday, September 6, 2004, 00:04
No suicide bombers had attacked Israel for six months, Israeli officials said repeatedly on Tuesday as they tried to justify the wall cutting off the West Bank (and eating into Palestinian territory) from Israel. The way to stop terror, they argued ad nauseam, is to extend the wall (declared illegal by the International Court of Justice). It brings Israel security, they said. Only suicide bombers are breaking the peace and quiet, most media reported unquestioningly.In the same six-month period, however, 436 Palestinians were killed by Israel, but who would know? No breaking news ever announce these horrific deaths by bullets, bombs, missiles, and makeshift houses crumbling over helpless innocents. No international outcry ever ensues following countless Israeli attacks on people (3.5 million of them) caged in bits of territory their grandparents called home.
All human and legal conventions, including the Geneva Conventions, have been violated repeatedly by Israel, but the only terrorism that brings outrage to the world is that committed by Palestinians. Don’t both qualify as terrorism?
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