[wordup] Chomsky on "The New War Against Terror"

[Adam Shand]

There's a lot of interesting critism of Chomsky's talk on the K5 web site,
I haven't had a chance to read it yet but am sending this to ya'll mostly
as a reminder to myself to listen in. :-)

Adam.

Via: http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2001/10/19/204933/33
From: http://web.mit.edu/tac/www/chomsky-18oct01-16k.ram

Chomsky on "The New War Against Terror"
By srichman
Sun Oct 21st, 2001 at 03:54:51 PM PST

Last night, I attended a talk by Noam Chomsky titled "The New War Against
Terror" (the "old" war, Chomsky reminds us, began 20 years ago when the
incoming Reagan administration stated that the fight against international
terrorism would form the core of its foreign policy). The lecture was
educational, expectedly incendiary, and thought provoking, and is
something that everyone--Chomsky haters and admirers alike--should hear.

Chomsky discussed a range of issues surrounding the events leading up to
and stemming from September 11, from the origins and motivations of the
terrorists to logical policy choices going forward.

One contentious highlight was his explication of the United States' role
as the leading perpetrator of international terrorism. Chomsky offers
several pieces of recent history to support his claim, and explains how
the nomenclature of terrorism and the conspicuous lack of social and
scholarly discourse on these events have made us oblivious to American
terror.

Another highlight was Chomsky's observation (again, with factual support)
that the military campaign in Afghanistan has prevented aid workers from
delivering food to millions of Afghanis on the brink of starvation. With
their deaths imminent, the United States, Chomsky claims, is on the verge
of committing mass genocide against innocent Afghanis, and you and I are
complicit with this.

If your ears have two hours to kill, check it out.