'Bombing His Own People?'

[col. writ. 3/5/11] (c) '11 Mumia Abu-Jamal


  As pro and anti-government forces battle for supremacy in the cities and deserts
of Libya, in North Africa, the tenor and tone of U.S./Western reporting puts the
lie to the often heard claim of journalistic objectivity.

  The cheer-leading seems more apt for ESPN than on the nation's leading newscasts,
spurred on, of course, by U.S. enmity against Col. Moammar Khaddafy, who has long
been a thorn in the side of U.S. Imperial designs on the region.

  Let us not pretend that American efforts are caused by solicitude for the
suffering Libyan people, for easily 10 (or perhaps, 30!) times that number
suffered under Egypt's President-for-life (and trusty U.S. ally), Husni Mubarak,
and the U.S. turned a deaf ear for decades to their cries.

  Only when the people rose up, and took the stage, did the U.S. start mumbling
phrases about 'human rights' , and concerns about 'violence'.

  This, from a government that secretly sent (and may still be sending) men to
Egyptian hellholes to be tortured via rendition --and killed by the dreaded
secret police.

  Indeed, anyone with a smattering of American history cannot even hear the media
and political charges of a government attacking or bombing 'its own people'
without cringing. For U.S. National Guard  fired semi-automatic weapons at
unarmed students in Kent State University, Ohio, killing 4 kids who were
protesting the Vietnam war.

  Shortly thereafter, 2 Black kids were shot and killed by cops at Jackson State
University, Mississippi, during a similar protest.

  Philadelphia, PA was the site of a government bombing a home, killing men, women
and babies. This was the MOVE Bombing of May 13, 1985, where 11 people were
bombed to death, and a whole city block reduced to smoldering rubble.

  Were any of these bombers 'brought to justice?'

  And when Israel unleashed Operation Cast Lead against the Occupied Territories in
Gaza, killing over 1,400 Palestinians - men, women, children, and the elderly --
and a respected South African judge, Richard Goldstone issued a report calling
the strafings, bombings and high caliber shooting of civilians "war crimes", what
did the Obama  administration do?  Did it criticize the bombers, or the judge?

  Well -- guess. (If you guessed the judge, you were right, and it gives you some
idea of how much the U.S. government cares about human rights, violence,
governments bombing unarmed civilians, or the suffering of Arabs under repressive
regimes)

  Here's the lesson: Rebels, in every nation, catch hell.