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   Vol.65/No.36            September 24, 2001 
 
 
Letters
 
Israel is already at war
I'm not sure I agree with some of the formulations in the editorial, "Back the Palestinian struggle" in the September 10 issue that says that "the accelerated course of the Israeli rulers is headed toward a war." It also refers to "the Israeli government's drive to war." I think it would be more accurate to say that Israel is already at war. What they are energetically preparing is a massive escalation. This is recognized implicitly by the Zionist calls for a "short war" reported elsewhere in the same issue. A "long war" is already underway. The targeted assassinations, tank attacks, air strikes, armed assaults, and other aggression are acts of war. It is only the distorted coverage of the capitalist media that dulls us to their full significance.

Imagine for a moment that this was happening somewhere else. Suppose Argentina, for some reason, began carrying out similar acts of aggression against Chile. Is there any doubt that armies would be massed across the border within days, preparing for full-scale hostilities?

This isn't an academic question. It affects the level of urgency in calls for protests now, not just "when the war starts," as antiwar forces sometimes advocate. Current protests should also feature the demand, "Stop Israel's war against the Palestinians."

Dave Morrow
Oakland, California
 
 
FBI raid
On September 5 the FBI raided the offices of InfoCom Corporation in Richardson, Texas, and closed down the web sites of several Muslim and pro-Palestine organizations, including the Islamic Society of North America, the Muslim Students' Association, the Islamic Association for Palestine, and the Holy Lands Foundation.

The InfoCom hosts a number of different sites and is a portal for Middle East web sites. The raid was carried out by the North Texas Joint Terrorism Task Force. Agents from the Dept. of Commerce, Dept. of State Security Service, the INS, the IRS, and the Customs Service and the Secret Service also took part in the raid. It is reportedly part of a two-year investigation. FBI special Agent Lori Bailey told reporters that they were executing a search warrant. No other details on why the raid was conducted were given, the search warrant application is under seal by a federal judge.

This FBI-coordinated raid has little or nothing to do with "terrorism" or preventing "terrorism." It is intended to intimidate opponents of Zionism and to stigmatize Moslems and Arabs. It should be seen as an attack on the First Amendment rights of all people in this country and as an attack on all people around the world who oppose the actions of the U.S. ruling class and its government.

Robin Maisel
Los Angeles, California

The letters column is an open forum for all viewpoints on subjects of interest to working people.

Please keep your letters brief. Where necessary they will be abridged. Please indicate if you prefer that your initials be used rather than your full name.  
 
 
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