ANOTHER SIDE OF THE WAR (Mumia Abu-Jamal) : LA IMC

ANOTHER SIDE OF THE WAR

[Col. Writ. 10/25/01] Copyright '01 Mumia Abu-Jamal

... [W]e have about 50% of the world's wealth, but

only 6.3% of its population ... Our real task in the

coming period is to devise a pattern of relationships

which will have to dispense with all sentimentality...

We should cease to talk about vague and... unreal

objectives such as human rights, the raising of

living standards, and democratization.

--- George Kennan, U.S. State Dept., Policy Planning

Study 23 (1948)

We live in an awkward age of war, where discussion is

curtailed by the iron curtain of fear, and the choking fog of

uncertainty.

At this time, when the American military is embarking on

an open-ended, and virtually unlimited expedition overseas,

in search of undefined 'enemies,' and in pursuit of a goal

that seems more appropriate for international police than

an imperial military, there is a strange circumscription of

national dialogue. At this time, more than any other, U.S.

foreign policy, which should be in the very forefront of the

national debate, hides in the shadows, like sellers of

illicit, somewhat tainted substances, like crack cocaine,

or smut.

Nations, no less than people, can be caught up in the

very real grip of madness, as Nazi Germany or Fascist

Italy well-proved over a half century ago. Apartheid South

Africa, which waged armed war against children, who

were armed with little more than the righteousness of

their African resistance, is yet another. And one need not

go across the Atlantic to see similar instances of

national madness, as evidenced by the notorious MOVE

bombing in Philadelphia, where, as one cop said ominously,

"We saw the children as combatants!", or the equally

mad expressions of state terrorism as shown in Waco,

Texas, or the Ruby Ridge incidents.

"Power", to paraphrase Lord Acton's well-known axiom,

"does more than corrupts, it makes men mad."

It is precisely in this time of madness, of emotional depth

and mental unhingement, that other voices need to be heard,

and other perspectives leavened into the debate. For, if

madness has one cure, it is reason.

Mr. Enver Masud may be one of the voices that adds

some of that reason. An engineering management consultant

who once worked for the World Bank, USAID in Egypt, and

in half a dozen countries over the earth, Masud can hardly

be termed an 'Islamic fundamentalist' (what-ever that is),

or even a radical. He seems to be a fairly bourgeois fellow,

who grew up in an Indian Muslim family of wealth, means and

influence, who never really engaged the deeper waters of

his faith, until later in life. His father was the Indian ambassador

to Saudi Arabia, and his mother is the descendant of a noble

family in India.

A year ago, Masud wrote and published a book that was the

compilation of perhaps five years of commentaries written

for the little-known Washington, D.C.-based newspaper,

Eastern Times, called The War on Islam (Arlington, Va.:

Madrasah Books, 2000). In it, Masud critically engages,

questions, and controverts many of the big stories of the

day, from the 1991 report that "Libyan terrorists" were sent

to the U.S. by President M. Ghaddafi to assassinate Americans,

including the President (in fact, these were 350 Libyans,

*trained by the U.S. CIA to knock off Ghaddafi!*), to the

massacre of hundreds of Palestinians in Lebanese refugee

camps under the direction of Israeli then-defense minister

(now President) Ariel Sharon in 1982.

Using American, British, and other sources, Masud raises

important questions, and also provides remarkable answers.

While The War on Islam was published long before the

events of 11 September, 2001, it still has important lessons

for those who wish to examine an opposing view. Consider

the comments he prints of Americans who were critical of

the U.S. bombings in Sudan and (yes) Afghanistan in 1998:

"It is dangerous to divorce terrorism from politics, yet the

U.S. media continue to talk about an abstract war against

terrorism without mention of the issues or context that lie

behind them." ; or, "Terrorism is a political act, a response

to U.S. foreign policy. It is an act of war waged by people

too weak to have a conventional army or one large enough

to take on the United States."

The first quote was written by Graham E. Fuller, former

vice-chairman of the National Intelligence Council of the CIA,

for the L.A. Times (8/24/98); the second was by Charley

Reese, an ex-soldier who does a column for the Orlando

Sentinel (8/18/98), the title of which told the story: "Face It:

U.S. Foreign Policy Contribute to Acts of Terrorism."

One really wonders if these guys could, or even would,

write the same kinds of things today.

What is perhaps more troubling, is not whether either

man would write such thoughts today, but whether a

publisher of a newspaper would print it today!

As experience has shown, this is a very real question,

that becomes even more provocative in the face of

reports that a number of newspapers in the nation have

withdrawn the wildly popular comic strip, Boondocks,

because of some of its pokes at the National Security

State. Boondocks, for the few who don't know, is a

daily feature which, ala Doonesbury, pokes fun at

American political, cultural, and racial mores. Its

central character, a tiny revolutionary boy named

Huey Freeman, raises the ire of the adults around

him, with his questions, observations, and actions.

In one banned strip, he calls up the FBI's so-called

terrorist hotline, to tell them that he knows someone

who is a terrorist, and proceeds to spell, "R-E-A-G--",

for former U.S. President (and Libya bomber) Ronald

Reagan.

Although Aaron McGruder's strip runs in over 200

U.S. papers, roughly a dozen have pulled the most

recent strips since the events of the 11th of September.

Similarly, I doubt few of America's papers would run

the thoughts, opinions and ruminations of Enver Masud.

It is indeed, for this very reason that his thoughts may

prove valuable to thinking people in America, who really

take offense at how the corporate media treats adults

like kids, who need to be protected, not from bombs,

or plummeting planes, but from non-conventional

ideas.

(The War on Islam is published by The Wisdom Fund,

Madrasah Book Division, P.O. Box 2723, Arlington, VA

22202.)

===================================

THEY ARE PLANNING TO MURDER MUMIA!!

SAVE THE DATE - DECEMBER 8TH FOR MUMIA!

PLEASE PASS THE WORD!

"We are fighting the last battle to Free Mumia, and need support now

more than ever. We need donations of money, calling cards, copy cards,

etc. and we really need manpower. We need people to be in the streets

every day putting out information, demonstrating, raising money, and doing

whatever you can to help."

"Tell judge pamela dembe to hold an evidentiary hearing and a new
post-conviction relief appeal, to hear the confession of Arnold Beverly
and to let Mumia be at the hearings in his "trial". Tell mayor john
street to keep his promise and do what he can to help Mumia receive a

fair trial and to hold an independent investigation into the case. (you

can get a sample of both of these letters at http://www.freemumia.com)

pamela dembe: 1417 criminal justice center 1301 Filbert St. philadelphia
pa, 19107 Phone 215 683-7148 Fax 215 683-7150

john street: room 215 city hall philadelphia pa 19107
Phone 215 686-3000 Fax 215 686-2170"

PLEASE CONTACT:
International Concerned Family & Friends of MAJ
P.O. Box 19709, Philadelphia, PA 19143
Phone - 215-476-8812/ Fax - 215-476-6180/
E-mail - icffmaj@aol.com /www.mumia.org
AND OFFER YOUR SERVICES!

Send our brotha some LOVE and LIGHT at:
    Mumia Abu-Jamal
    AM 8335
    SCI-Greene
    175 Progress Drive
    Waynesburg, PA 15370

!! PEOPLE GET READY !!

******************************************************
This column may be reprinted and/or distributed by
electronic means, but only for non-commercial use, and
only with the inclusion of the following copyright
information:

Text (c) copyright 2001 by Mumia Abu-Jamal. All rights
reserved. Reprinted by permission of the author.
******************************************************

Mumia Abu-Jamal is the author of three books: 'Live
from Death Row', 'Death Blossoms', and 'All Things
Censored'.

Write to Mumia directly at:
Mumia Abu-Jamal AM 8335
SCI-Greene
175 Progress Drive
Waynesburg, PA 15370

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ANOTHER SIDE OF THE WAR (Mumia Abu-Jamal)