Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84 exptools; site ihlpg.UUCP Path: utzoo!lsuc!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!ihnp4!ihlpg!tan From: tan@ihlpg.UUCP (Bill Tanenbaum) Newsgroups: net.politics Subject: re: Death to baby killers, NOW! Message-ID: <1566@ihlpg.UUCP> Date: Mon, 20-Jan-86 23:27:06 EST Article-I.D.: ihlpg.1566 Posted: Mon Jan 20 23:27:06 1986 Date-Received: Wed, 22-Jan-86 05:52:01 EST References: Upon request <202@aero.ARPA> <483@whuts.UUCP> Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories Lines: 107 Tim Sevener shows his usual predilection for answering arguments with irrelevencies. In response to two individuals advocating the assassination of Kaddafi he writes: > 1)provide the evidence that Libya actually supported Abu Nydal. > The Reagan administration has yet to provide it. Austria, the country > which was the *victim* of the attack, has stated that they will join > sanctions *when solid evidence is presented to prove any country's > support*. The Austrian government says it has yet to see such evidence. > The only "evidence" we have is Reagan's claim that he "knows" but can't > say what his evidence is. Given that the Reagan administration has > provided fabrications in the past, such as the argument that bee feces > were evidence of "Yellow Rain" chemical warfare, such evidence which > *cannot be revealed* hardly seems convincing. --- As Tim himself admits later in this very posting, the evidence linking Libya with terrorism is overwhelming. The outcry against Kaddafi is not based solely on the Rome-Vienna attacks, but on a long history. At least Tim's comments above are relevent, unlike those that follow. --- > 2)South Africa some months ago blew up two Gulf oil refineries in Angola. > The South African forces were caught in the act and the South African > government admitted to the bombing. Were there calls for assassinating > P.W. Botha and obliterating his reprehensible apartheid regime? --- Obviously irrelevant to Kaddafi. The elimination of Botha would do nothing to change South Africa's policies. The elimination of Kaddafi would certainly change Libya's. Also, the blowing up of those refineries is an act of war against Angola, not terrorism. --- > The South African government is currently illegally occupying one > country (Namibia) and openly launching attacks against Angola and > Mozambique. Surely this qualifies as a *genuine* threat to regional > security in Southern Africa. Has Reagan called for absolute sanctions > against South Africa until it leaves Namibia? Of course not. --- All correct but totally irrelevant to Kaddafi. --- > 3)Some time ago there *was* a terrorist attack *in the capitol of the > United States*. It was the bombing of a former member of the Chilean > government under Allende by Pinochet's police forces. Did we hear > anxious calls to "blow up Pinochet"? --- No. Neither did we hear calls to blow up Kaddafi when his paid agent shot an anti-Kaddafi Libyan student in Colorado. Assassinating political opponents is one thing. The mass killing innocent people at random is quite another. --- > 4)While Reagan and the American media wail against terrorism conducted > by the "enemy" they *never even mention* our own support for > terrorist campaigns against innocent civilians in Nicaragua and now > (thanks to Jerry Falwell, Jack Kemp and friends) in Angola. > Yet there was an interesting letter in the NYTimes (Jan. 9) from > Edgar Chamorro, a former leader of the contras who quit in disgust. > Here is an interesting statement he made in his letter: > [Long anti-Contra stuff omitted] --- There are civil wars going on in Nicaragua and Angola. Innocent civilians always suffer in civil wars. One cannot fault the U.S. for the one in Angola. The U. S. is a major instigator of the one in Nicaragua. All this is totally irrelevent to Kaddafi. Terrorism in Nicaragua is a byproduct of civil war. --- > Michael and Gary, my conclusion is that you have been duped by the > Reagan administration which seeks to exploit *certain* acts of > terrorism for its own political ends. --- I hardly think Michael and Gary needed Reagan's cue. --- > The media has fallen right > in step with Reagan's approach without a falter. --- That's because they agree with him on Kaddafi. So does much of the British media, despite the stand of the British government. --- > Yes, I think we *must* oppose terrorism and the massacre of > innocent civilians anywhere it occurs. Whether Libya was behind > the latest bombings there is no doubt that they have provided > support for terrorist organizations. But it is the grossest hypocrisy > to say that it is *wrong* for Libya to support terrorists but > perfectly acceptable for *us* to do so. Moreover it is an > incredible bias on the part of the media to *fail to even mention > this hypocrisy*! When Pinochet bombs his enemy on the streets of > Washington, D.C. this is just as *wrong* as Khaddafy shooting his > enemies on the streets of London. But which hits the headlines > as "exported terrorism"? ---- Goddamn it, Tim. You either have a short memory or are deliberately lying. The killing of Orlando Letelier made big, big news. Pinochet was portrayed in the news (perhaps accurately) as a monster. The widespread disappearance of his opponents in Chile was given wide coverage. If Kaddafi had confined his attacks to Libyan political opponents, the outcry would have been muted. The London outrage was firing from the Libyan embassy randomly into a crowd of demonstratong students, killing a British policewoman. ---- > *THINK* for god's sake before salivating for flesh and carnage. > tim sevener whuxn!orb ---- I have thought. There are valid political reasons for not assassinating Kaddafi. The repercussions might be devastating. However, I challenge you to name one other individual in the world whose demise would do more good. Botha, Gorbachev, Khomeini, Pinochet, (insert your enemy here), would be replaced by someone similar, perhaps better, perhaps worse. But, with his buddy Idi Amin gone, Kaddafi stands out as one of a kind. -- Bill Tanenbaum - AT&T Bell Labs - Naperville IL ihnp4!ihlpg!tan