From: alexboko@umich.edu
Date: Sun Mar 16 2003 - 19:09:10 MST
From: "Alex Future Bokov" <alexboko@umich.edu>
X-Mailer: YaBB
The links:
http://news.google.com/news?num=30&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=cluster:www%2ekansascityH£H
2ecom%2fmld%2fkansascity%2fnews%2fbreaking%5fnews%2f5407570%2ehtm
or just
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&q=rachel.corey
First of all let me put my political cards on the table:
1. Rachel Corey was most likely my political opposite. I'm sure we'll learn as
this story develops that she subscribed to some sort of collectivist, statist
ideology, and that she had a history of anti-American sentiment that some on
this list would doubtless describe as knee-jerk.
2. She deliberately put herself in harm's way, and became a contender for
2003's Darwin Awards result.
That being said, it is still an undisputed fact that an Israeli Army bulldozer
crushed to death an American citizen engaged in nonviolent, unarmed, political
protest. When someone like Saddam Hussein does that to "his own" citizens, we
add that to the long list of reasons justifying his ouster. What do we about a
foreign government killing one of "our own" citizens?
Now, before you say the obvious, follow the links. The on-the-scene photos
and eyewitness accounts you will find by perusing the links above cast heavy
suspicion on her death being at all accidental.
Continuing...
The fact that Corey was a commie pinko leftist politically-correct peacenick
is completely irrelevant to this case. What's relevant is the fact that, SHE
WAS AN AMERICAN CITIZEN. I don't care what she believed, what kind of person
she was, or if her views were in accord with the current administration's
foreign policy objectives. The only justification of HAVING a foreign policy
that I even come close to buying is that if some banana republic death-squad
threatens my life, Uncle Sam is going to make some son-of-a-bitch pay, no
questions asked about who I vote for or why. If my country can't or won't back
me up at that level, then it looks like there's some false advertising going
on, and a few million citizens are entitled to having their 'protection money'
refunded.
Don't get me wrong-- the US government just might do the right thing on this
one. They might demand a public apology from the Israeli government, along
with proof that concrete measures have been taken to prevent this from ever
happening again. They might withold foreign aid until these conditions are
met. They might issue a travel advisory to US citizens travelling to Israel
that it's not a safe destination for them if they have political disagreements
with the local government despite that government's claims of being friendly
and democratic. The US government *might* do the right thing, and my faith in
it will be somewhat restored if it does, but I'm not holding my breath.
---- This message was posted by Alex Future Bokov to the Extropians 2003 board on ExI BBS. <http://www.extropy.org/bbs/index.php?board=67;action=display;threadid=55202>
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