Common Sense for the Twenty-First Century

War Against Terror

5 War Against Terror November 6, 2001 What is happening in Afghanistan today? According to the New York Times, there are seven to eight million people in Afghanistan on the verge of starvation. Now, that was before September 11. Then on September 16 the New York Times reported that the United States demanded from Pakistan the elimination of truck convoys that provide much of the food for Afghanistan’s civilian population. This was an effort to impose massive starvation on millions of people. The World Food Program of the United Nations was able to resume aid in early October but distribution was hampered for lack of workers within Afghanistan. Aid agencies began to oppose U.S. airdrops of food as probably doing more harm than good. Doctors Without Borders said that their aid was being hampered by the U.S. bombing. There was also concern of U.S. food drops landing in areas covered with millions of land mines. Now, the New York Times reports that just before the harsh winter, 7.5 million Afghanis are in acute need of food. Simultaneous with this report Mr. Bush refused any offer of negotiations. On the same day, the Special Rapporteur of the United Nations in charge of food pleaded with the U.S. to stop the bombing to prevent millions of victims from starving. This plea was joined by Oxfam and other aid agencies. We can expect the death of millions within a few weeks as winter moves into Afghanistan. Some twenty years ago, the Reagan administration began declaring that the war against international terrorism would be the core of our foreign policy. One case is best documented because the judgments of the International Court of Justice, the World Court and the United Nations Security Council. It is a case of terrorism that was even more extreme than the 6 events of September 11. It was the Reagan/U.S. war against Nicaragua which left some 40,000 dead and a country in ruins. Nicaragua responded, not by terrorism, but by taking the case to the World Court. They had no problem putting together the evidence. The World Court accepted the case of Nicaragua vs. United States and ruled in favor of Nicaragua. The Court identified the unlawful use of force (which is another word for terrorism) by the U.S. and ordered the U.S. to terminate the crime and pay reparations of some 17 billion dollars. The U.S. dismissed the Court’s judgment and thereby disempowerd the court by not accepting its jurisdiction. Then Nicaragua went to the Security Council with a resolution asking that all states observe international law. The United States vetoed the resolution. Now we stand as the only nation on record to be condemned by the World Court for international terrorism and for vetoing a Security Council resolution to observe international law. Nicaragua then went to the General Assembly with a similar resolution regarding international law. The United States, Israel and El Salvador voted against the resolution. The following year there were only two votes against the observation of international law: the U.S. and Israel. The response of the U.S. to the World Court and Security Council was to escalate the war in Nicaragua. The terrorist army of mercenaries was ordered to attack soft targets and keep away from the Nicaraguan army. They attacked agricultural collectives, health clinics and civilian communities with the help of the most modern communications equipment. Time magazine cheered the victory of the Contras by saying the success of these methods “. . . to wreck the economy and prosecute a long and deadly war until the exhausted natives overthrow the unwanted government themselves” with a cost to us that us that is minimal and leaving the victims with wrecked bridges, sabotaged power stations and ruined farms. Indeed, terrorism works. Terrorism is not the weapon of the weak. Nazi terror claimed it was protecting local populations from terror. We began using these methods under the title of “low intensity warfare.” The very thought that Nicaragua might have the right to defend itself was considered outrageous. Just think, they rumored that Nicaragua was getting MIG jets from USSR. They were breaking the rule that we were the only nation that could sell jet fighters to Latin America. These MIGs were said to be a threat to the U.S. According to Reagan, Nicaragua was only a two-day march from Harlingen, Texas. The U.S. actually declared a national emergency in 1985...