I haven’t been blogging for quite a while so I decided to ease myself back into it with an easy one – commentary on the latest blog post by noted linguist Noam Chomsky:
It’s increasingly clear that the operation was a planned assassination, multiply violating elementary norms of international law.
Chomsky speaks of “norms of international law”, but there is no international constitution that has been duly ratified by the people. Chomsky’s “international law” is nothing more than the laws Chomsky would apply if he were dictator of the world.
There is much talk of bin Laden’s “confession,” but that is rather like my confession that I won the Boston Marathon. He boasted of what he regarded as a great achievement.
There is a difference between boasting about murdering thousands of human beings and lying about winning the Boston Marathon. Bin Laden confessed to an act of war and the murder of civilians. Chomsky “confessed” to something trivial that is not illegal (although all marathons will be a violation of international law when I rule the world). Also note that Chomsky’s “argument” could be used to invalidate any and all confessions – the confessor didn’t commit the crime, he just considered the crime a great achievement that he wishes he had committed.
There is also much media discussion of Washington’s anger that Pakistan didn’t turn over bin Laden, though surely elements of the military and security forces were aware of his presence in Abbottabad. Less is said about Pakistani anger that the U.S. invaded their territory to carry out a political assassination.
Washington is angry that Pakistan didn’t turn over bin Laden because he is a mass-murderer. Pakistan is angry that we invaded Pakistani territory to kill a mass-murderer. Moral advantage: Washington.
Anti-American fervor is already very high in Pakistan, and these events are likely to exacerbate it.
Only if Pakistanis are so evil that their anti-American fervor is exacerbated by the death of a man who gleefully took credit for the killing of thousands of innocent civilians.
We might ask ourselves how we would be reacting if Iraqi commandos landed at George W. Bush’s compound, assassinated him, and dumped his body in the Atlantic.
I would answer myself that I would be strongly against it, because I am on the side of America and not al Qaeda-Iraq. If Taliban commandos landed at President Obama’s compound and assassinated him, and dumped his body in the Atlantic, I would be strongly against that, because I am on the side of America. If anti-linguistics terrorists landed at Noam Chomsky’s Martha’s Vineyard compound, assassinated him, and dumped his body in the Atlantic, I would be strongly against it because Noam Chomsky is not a mass-murderer – he is merely the mass-murderers’ not-so-useful idiot.
Uncontroversially, his crimes vastly exceed bin Laden’s …
I don’t think the noted linguist understands the meaning of the word “uncontroversially”. No, it does not mean “whatever dumb ass notion Noam Chomsky believes”.
There’s more to say about [Cuban airline bomber Orlando] Bosch, who just died peacefully in Florida, including reference to the “Bush doctrine” that societies that harbor terrorists are as guilty as the terrorists themselves and should be treated accordingly. No one seemed to notice that Bush was calling for invasion and destruction of the U.S. and murder of its criminal president.
Orlando Bosch was an anti-Castro terrorist who received a pardon from President George H. W. Bush. Chomsky seems to be arguing that because of this pardon and refusal to extradite, Cuba would be justified in attacking the United States. In Noam Chomsky’s world, moral equivalence only goes one way. The only morally righteous circle is the one occupied by murderous dictators like Saddam Hussein and Fidel Castro.
Same with the name, Operation Geronimo. The imperial mentality is so profound, throughout western society, that no one can perceive that they are glorifying bin Laden by identifying him with courageous resistance against genocidal invaders.
I agree that Osama bin Laden is unworthy of the codename “Geronimo”. My suggestion would have been “Chomsky”. I’m sure he would have been honored.
