Tuesday, June 06, 2006

STATE TERRORISM

The word 'terrorism' is often associated within an asymmetrical context to refer to the methods used by those without destructive force that often accompanies formal militaries, and is not recognized formally as complying with the 'rules of war' (what a fucked up term?), as if only those hegemonic states can willfully use violence and destructive means to coerce various populations (i.e. operation phoenix and everything else in Vietnam, Guatemala, El Salvador, East Timor, East Pakistan [Bangladesh], Nicaragua, ect...ect..). States are often the subject of historical acts of what anyone would define as terrorism, but being the authors of history more often than not, can justify the insanity and terror of the state in opposition to all those who oppose the state (or would rather just replace any given nation with a new one). Lets take a look at the record of one nation that seems to enjoy denouncing others for their atrocities (while of course ignoring and trying to justify its own). This is a very incomplete list and should be supplemented by a visit to the National Security Archives (published online by Gorge Washington University) or a book documenting the Federal Governments complicancy to any sort of international law (while holding its law to be divine, the law of 'pre-emptive' destruction) and matches most definitions of 'terrorism' par excellence.
1) Which is the only country in the world to have dropped bombs on over twenty different countries since 1945?

2) Which is the only country to have used nuclear weapons?

3) Which country was responsible for a car bomb which killed 80 civilians in Beirut in 1985, in a botched assassination attempt,.

4) Which country's illegal bombing of Libya in 1986 was described by the UN Legal Committee as a "classic case" of terrorism?

5) Which country rejected the order of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to terminate its "unlawful use of force" against Nicaragua in 1986, and then vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling on all states to observe international law?

6) Which country was accused by a UN-sponsored truth commission of providing "direct and indirect support" for "acts of genocide" against the Mayan Indians in Guatemala during the 1980s?

7) Which country unilaterally withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty in December 2001?

8) Which country renounced the efforts to negotiate a verification process for the Biological Weapons Convention and brought an international conference on the matter to a halt in July 2001?

9) Which country prevented the United Nations from curbing the gun trade at a small arms conference in July 2001?

10) Aside from Somalia, which is the only other country in the world to have refused to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child?

11) Which is the only Western country which allows the death penalty to be applied to children?

12) Which is the only G7 country to have refused to sign the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, forbidding the use of landmines?

13) Which is the only G7 country to have voted against the creation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 1998?

14) Which was the only other country to join with Israel in opposing a 1987 General Assembly resolution condemning international terrorism?

15) Which country refuses to fully pay its debts to the United Nations yet reserves its right to veto United Nations resolutions?


The answer to each question is? The United States Of America

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