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Arab Summit to "Define Terrorism"

offerorofferor Member Posts: 8,625 ✭✭
edited April 2002 in General Discussion
I won't do the cut and paste thing with the latest news article on this, but apparently the Arab countries have decided to organize a summit meeting for themselves to define what terrorism is. Why the Arabs think a summit to define terrorism is necessary, and why only Arabs are invited, is either a complete mystery or laughably obvious. Could this be a summit to validate attacks on malls, supermarkets and nightclubs as being politically correct acts of war? Interesting that instead of paying close attention to world opinion to find out what terror is, the Arabs seem to need their own meeting to "define" terrorism. What do you want to bet military action gets lumped in as terrorist action? Or even more specifically, what do you want to bet there are already written plans in Arab briefcases to go to the summit and submit "military occupation" on the list of so-called terrorist acts? I believe Usama once called US troops in Saudi Arabia "occupation" even though we were invited there to repel Sadaam from Kuwait. And then, of course, there is the Palestinians' copious use of the term "occupation" to describe Israeli settlements in politically inappropriate places. But, to get back to the headline, isn't it silly that the Arab nations need to gather for a solemn summit to define terrorism for themselves? Do you suppose they think they can then more solemnly disagree with Mr. Bush or the Israelis or Tony Blair? The very fact that there are so many Arabs in the world means that once they gather for an agreement, they can no longer assert they are a tiny Arab minority which "needs" to resort to terrorism to achieve anything.
"The 2nd Amendment is about security, not hunting. Long live the gun shows, and reasonable access to FFLs. Join the NRA -- I'm a Life Member."[This message has been edited by offeror (edited 04-01-2002).]
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Comments

  • GreenLanternGreenLantern Member Posts: 1,647 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Yeah, it is kind of preposterous to think that their definition would be anywhere close to the generally excepted definition of terrorism. They'll just define it in a way that suits their need or slanted perspective. Much the way many arabs believe that on 9/11, X number of Jews didn't show up for work at the WTC.
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  • RedlegRedleg Member Posts: 417 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Kind of like the pot calling the kettle black, isn't it?
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  • S&W ManS&W Man Member Posts: 208 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Don't know why they need a summit. Arafat defined the Palenstines idea of Terrorism today. He said that the Isralie Army were terrorists and the Isralies were commiting terrorist acst against the Palenstines.
    The second admendment GUARANTEES the other nine and the Constitution!
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  • gruntledgruntled Member Posts: 8,218 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    The Israeli Army is the direct decendant of the original terrorist organizations in the area. The Hagana, Irgun, Stern Gang & others were all folded into the Israeli Army & all of their early leaders were members of these terrorist gangs. The simple fact is that we made widespread use of terrorism during WWII & when the Germans & Japanese responded they were tried for war crimes. The victor writes the history.
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  • scott5792scott5792 Member Posts: 300 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Wasn't Mandella one too. The way I understood, he was a butcher.Was this misinformation?Scott
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  • offerorofferor Member Posts: 8,625 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Gruntled --The irony is that when the Hagana and Irgun were fighting for a nation of their own they thought they were fighting for a place called "Palestine" -- according to Leon Uris in Exodus. I assume he knew what he was talking about.
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  • offerorofferor Member Posts: 8,625 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    One more comment -- that era pretty much ended with the United Nations vote, and since at some point it becomes appropriate to stop casting about old ashes, I'd say a settlement based on a UN vote is a good place to draw the line. If we don't, then by your yardstick the Palestinians would forever carry the stigma of Hamas and the rest even beyond some future peace agreement that creates THEIR homeland. I'm sure they have quite enough fodder for their cycle of violence without rehashing the old Irgun/Hagana business. Not to mention that I'm not at all sure the targeting of ununiformed civilians was a significant strategy of theirs in any case.
    "The 2nd Amendment is about security, not hunting. Long live the gun shows, and reasonable access to FFLs. Join the NRA -- I'm a Life Member."
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  • gruntledgruntled Member Posts: 8,218 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    The terrorizing of civilians was a major part of their program. That was how they forced Arabs to sell their land & forced them to flee. That is the entire reason why there are about four million refugees. Inthe former Yugoslavia we called it "ethnic cleansing" & we went to war to stop it.Note: The following is from the offical Israeli web page. Note that Sharon joined the Haganah in about 1942. There is a good deal of information about him available on the web. Ariel Sharon, MKPrime MinisterMinister of Immigrant Absorption (Likud) Ariel ('Arik') Sharon was born in 1928 in Kfar Malal. He served in the IDF for more than 25 years, retiring with the rank of Major-General. He holds an LL.B in Law from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1962).Sharon joined the Haganah at the age of 14. During the 1948 War of Independence, he commanded an infantry company in the Alexandroni Brigade. In 1953, he founded and led the "101" special commando unit which carried out retaliatory operations
    [This message has been edited by gruntled (edited 04-02-2002).]
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  • offerorofferor Member Posts: 8,625 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I don't know. The State of Israel seems to have global standing as a nation. If there are 4 million refugees, where are they refugees from? Seems to me there are Arabs in Arab nations, and a lot of Jews in Israel, which has a certain balance to it. I'm no expert, but if the UN created a nation, whether it's called Palestine or Israel, it's by definition not occupied territory. There may be some occupied land in or near the nation of Israel, and I hope that the peace settlement deals with that appropriately. But for Arafat to plead for U.S. or U.N. intervention to stop Israel's retaliatory military action against the suicide bombings while at the same time telling his friends in Arabic that some day the Palestinian flag will fly over the churches, mosques, and synagogues of Jerusalem strikes me as foolish. He's like the little kid who says something to his friends in pig-latin so the other kid who is the butt of his joke won't get it. He's not helping his case with that, or with a boatload of arms from Iran or Iraq, while complaining about being victimized. Civilization over time tends to become more civilized. It may well be that the world will no longer tolerate the barbaric methods of former generations. How do you justify using the old tools then? The correct answer is, you can't. They've gone out of fashion, hopefully for good. So even if we agree that the Irgun used bombs on civilians 50 years ago every day of the week, it hopefully won't help us justify anything now. Can't we draw a line in the sand and get past terrorism, as a race? Like I said somewhere on another thread, the boat left the Palestinians behind on this issue. The Palestinians are left holding terrorism like the retirees were left holding Enron stock -- suddenly, we're going to have to find another solution...
    "The 2nd Amendment is about security, not hunting. Long live the gun shows, and reasonable access to FFLs. Join the NRA -- I'm a Life Member."
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