Repost: Democracy Versus Terrorism

(Raw text, sorry but no links could be restored) Conservative MP for Lichfield, Michael Fabricant, describes Israel as a "bulwark of democracy". From a War on Terror debate on 4th July: "Fundamentalist Islamists do not hate the west because of Israel; they hate Israel because the state of Israel is a bulwark of democracy, Judeo-Christian ethics of tolerance, western progress and freedom in the middle east." - Michael Fabricant, MP. Just so you know this is what a 'bulwark of democracy, judeo-Christian ethics of tolerance, western progress and freedom' looks like: Amnesty slams Israel 'war crimes' Israel: Offensive stops when Hezbollah stops Six civilians die is Israeli rocket attack FACTBOX-Israel's offensive to free captured soldier UN Says Gaza facing health disaster UN Blames Israel for humanitarian crisis, harm to children in Gaza Gerald Kaufman, MP: Quotes from Israeli newspaper on Gaza Offensive Gerald Kaufman, MP: On Israeli Democracy and pre-independence terrorism And this is what terrorism looks like: Hamas terrorism, violence bring chaos to Gaza strip Hamas works to fire rockets deeper into Israel Israeli army confirms soldier's death by Palestinian militant's gunfire Gaza militants say fired chemical-tipped warhead Palestinian militants fire rockets into Israel But if you still can't spot the difference between democracy and terrorism using those articles, Dr Chris Scanlon puts it more bluntly in a letter written to the Independent, 8th July 2006: A brief Guide to Foreign Policy Sir: Just so everyone is clear: it is "bad" for North Korea to fire missiles into the open sea, even though it is "really-not-that-bad" for Israel to fire missiles into power stations, bridges, and apartment blocks. Meanwhile: Iran, which had opposed Saddam (who was once "relatively good" but is now "very bad"), is still just "bad". Saudi Arabia, a feudal totalitarian state with legalised sexual apartheid ("bad"?) is nonetheless "good", but don't ask any awkward questions. The United Sates may now kidnap and torture innocent civilians (this was previously "bad", but is now "okay, if outsourced"). Similarly, some of our allies may, from time to time, need to boil people alive (literally, in the case of President Karimov), and whilst not "good" it would be a crass liberal simplification to call this "bad". DR CHRIS SCANLAN OXFORD So I hope you can now tell the difference between democracy and terrorism. Tags: Abandon All Fear T-Shirts Add to del.icio.us