Andreas Broeckmann on Thu, 15 Apr 1999 11:38:35 +0100 |
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Syndicate: (fwd) Let's Bomb Turkey, A Modest Proposal |
Date: Fri, 09 Apr 1999 01:22:21 -0700 From: Daniel del Solar <dsolar@well.com> Subject: [n5m3-debates] Let's Bomb Turkey, A Modest Proposal Let's Bomb Turkey ARTHUR HOPPE Monday, April 5, 1999 OUR LEADERS say we must keep on bombing Kosovo to save the Kosovars from being killed by the Serbs instead. People of good will can't help but applaud our humanitarian efforts, but I think we should stop bombing Kosovo and start bombing Turkey. The Serbs may have been kicking the Kosovars around lately, but Turkey has been oppressing the Kurds for nigh on 80 years. True, the Turks may not have slaughtered as many innocent citizens in recent weeks as the Serbs have, but over the years the Turks have built up a pretty darned impressive record of executing dissidents, burning villages and driving peasants into exile. Some will say that we can't stand idly by while 2 million Kosovars are being hounded by the evil Serbs. Nonsense, we are very good at standing idly by. Look how idly we stood by when the Hutus were hacking to death 800,000 Rwandans. Of course the Rwandans were not only black, but had no oil fields to speak of. Instead of bombing Kosovo in the humanitarian spirit, I say we should make diplomatic protests to Belgrade. Diplomatic protests worked just as well in punishing oppressors in China, South Africa and Latin America as did our bombs in Vietnam, Libya and Iraq. From all accounts, all our bombs have accomplished so far in Kosovo is to drive the Serbians into committing more and more atrocities. But if we must bomb someone to save our national honor, I say we should bomb Turkey. First of all, great big Turkey is easier to hit than tiny little Kosovo. Second, there are 25 million Kurds to save with our bombs -- more than ten times the number of persecuted Kosovars. To be sure, there are a few obstacles to bombing Turkey. For one thing, she's our staunch NATO ally. That means the Kurds who are fighting for freedom are not freedom fighters. Our State Department has officially labeled them as terrorists and rightly so. As you know, a freedom fighter is fighting for independence from someone we don't like; a terrorist is fighting for independence from someone we do. So the Kurds are official terrorists, and we certainly can't engage in a humanitarian bombing campaign in favor of terrorists. What about China? China is no friend of ours. Therefore, those fighting for freedom in China are freedom fighters, not terrorists. But China is awfully big, and it has nuclear missiles, too. There's no sense getting carried away by our humanitarian feelings. Then we have East Timor. The inhabitants declared the Democratic Republic of East Timor in 1975, and the Indonesians have been kicking them around ever since. As I recall, though, the Indonesians are our pals these days, so the East Timorians may well be terrorists. Anyway, ``Democratic Republic'' sounds vaguely communistic, and we certainly don't want to waste our vast arsenal of humanitarianism on a bunch of commies. Sri Lanka's a likely candidate. The Sri Lankans have been butchering the rebel Tamil Tigers for years. Unfortunately, I'm not sure who's on our side. But what about the Congo? Or Burkina Faso? Or maybe . . . Anyway, there are oppressed people all over the world who deserve our humanitarian bombs. So what have the Kosovars done to merit our magnanimous concern? Arthur Hoppe's column appears Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. It is also available at sfgate.com. E-mail: hoppe@sfgate.com The American Kurdish Information Network 2623 Connecticut Avenue NW # 1 Washington, DC 20008-1522 Tel: 202.483.6444 Fax: 202.483.6476 The American Kurdish Information Network (AKIN) provides a public service to foster Kurdish-American understanding and friendship ------Syndicate mailinglist-------------------- Syndicate network for media culture and media art information and archive: http://www.v2.nl/east/ to unsubscribe, write to <syndicate-request@aec.at> in the body of the msg: unsubscribe your@email.adress