"Andrew" says that this article:
Artistes writers flay US war on terror
WASHINGTON-A group of leading American writers, actors and academics have signed a statement denouncing America's anti-terrorism war to advance a political agenda and an openly imperial policy towards the world.
"We call on all Americans to resist the war and repression that has been loosed on the world by the Bush administration," the statement said adding: "It is unjust, immoral and illegitimate. We choose to make common cause with the people of the world."
The statement called "Not In Our Name", says the government has "declared a war without limit and instituted stark new measures of repression". They also criticise the media for failing to challenge the direction the government has taken. They hoped the statement would be published by US media but the latter did not oblige.
They include the musicians Laurie Anderson and Mos Def, the actors Ossie Davis and Ed Asner, the writers Alice Walker, Russell Banks, Barbara Kingsolver and Grace Paley, and the playwrights Eve Ensler and Tony Kushner. Martin Luther King III, Gloria Steinem, Noam Chomsky, Edward Said and Rabbi Michael Lerner have added their names, making this the widest ranging group of opponents of government policy since September 11.
It seeks to dispel impression in the world that there was no dissent in the US to the bombing of Afghanistan and the plans for a war against Iraq. The statement, said: "We are confronting a new openly imperial policy towards the world and a domestic policy that manufactures and manipulates fear to curtail rights."
Underscoring their own shock over horrific September 11 carnage which they mourned, they also recalled similar scenes in Baghdad, Panama City and, a generation ago, Vietnam. They said they join the anguished questioning of millions of Americans who asked why such a thing could happen.
"But the mourning had barely begun, when the highest leaders of the land unleashed a spirit of revenge. They put out a simplistic script of "good v evil" that was taken up by a pliant and intimidated media. They told us that asking why these terrible events had happened verged on treason. There was to be no debate. There were by definition no valid political or moral questions. The only possible answer was to be war abroad and repression at home. "
"In our name, the Bush administration, with near unanimity from Congress, not only attacked Afghanistan but arrogated to itself and its allies the right to rain down military force anywhere and anytime. The brutal repercussions have been felt from the Philippines to Palestine. The government now openly prepares to wage all-out war on Iraq - a country which has no connection to the horror of September 11. What kind of world will this become if the US government has a blank cheque to drop commandos, assassins, and bombs wherever it wants."
Pikser, a screenwriter who wrote Bulworth, a satire on American politics in which Warren Beatty played a politician who finally decided to speak his mind, said some people had been reluctant to add their names despite agreeing to it in principle, because they think it might jeopardise other things they're involved in." Mr Kissinger, one of the organisers of the first anti-Vietnam war marches on Washington in 1965, said he was receiving about 60 emails a day from people who wanted to add their name to the list.
"It's a shame that there's not a voice of opposition coming out of the United States," he said. The statement was viewed as an indication of a growing feeling that the administration is promoting its own agenda on the back of the attacks. Support for the president's policies remains high, however, and those who appear critical of them have been accused of lacking patriotism.
It was announced last week that Bill Maher, host of the television show Politically Incorrect, has not had his contract renewed by ABC. Maher was criticised for an exchange six days after September 11 in which he and a guest agreed that whatever else the hijackers were, they were not "cowardly."
Source: Pakistani Newspaper
demonstrates Lefty fondness for Fundamentalist Islam.
Glenn Reynolds agrees.
Okay.
This is the kind of 15 degrees of guilt by association separation that David Horowitz would be proud of, unless I'm really missing something...
