Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Is there a good terrorist?

Early today 2 bombs went of among spectators, about 100 yards from the finishing line at the Boston Marathon in the US. It was an improvised device filled with ball bearings which killed 3 and injured more than 140 people. Lots of people lost their feet and legs. President Obama was quick off the block, calling it a terrorist attack. In September 2012 the administration thought the attack on the consulate in Benghazi in Libya, which killed ambassador Christopher Stevens, along with 3 other Americans, was a reaction to the film " the Innocence of Muslims " until they found that it was a pre-planned terrorist attack. This angered the Republicans so much that they did not allow Susan Rice to become Secretary of State. While this attack occupied all news channels little attention was paid to bombs that went off in Baghdad, Kirkuk and Nassriyah in Iraq yesterday killing 20 and injuring 195 people, a result of the American invasion of Iraq, which killed half a million people. The greatest puzzle is why this is classed as a terrorist attack and not the one on 14 December 2012 when Adam Lanza shot his mother, Nancy at home and then went to Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut and shot to death 20 children, all between the ages of 5 and 10 years, and 6 adult members of the staff. Or the one on 20 July 2012 when James Egan Holmes shot to death 12 and injured 58 people watching the movie " The Dark Knight Rises " at Century movie theater in Aurora, Colorado. Adam Lanza had 2 handguns, a 10 mm Glock and a 9 mm Sig Sauer with plenty of ammunition. He also had a shotgun in his car. Each of the children who died had at least 11 bullets in his or her body. Yet even today US lawmakers are unable to agree on background checks for people wanting to buy guns. In 2010, there were 11,078 homicides and 19,392 suicides related to firearms making guns the biggest killer of American citizens. After the Newtown tragedy Mr Wayne Lapierre, Executive Vice President of the National Rifle Association said that the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. So will Mr Lapierre say now that the only way to stop a bad guy with a bomb is a good guy with a bomb? No. Because the second amendment in the US constitution makes it legal to carry guns and because it seems not so bad if Americans kill Americans. However, this bomb blast will be seen as the work of the " other " which is what sets it apart and makes it so horrifying. In the subconscious of every American is the knowledge that the US is the biggest genocidal country in the world. Hundreds are being killed in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen and in Africa by drones operated from thousands of miles away in the US. The US insists it kills " suspected terrorists ", locals say they were innocent people. That is what makes this bombing so terrifying. What if the sons, brothers or fathers of those dead come looking for revenge?

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