Chomsky on Terror and immanent starvation of 4 million afghans

[Victor <vrosado@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Lenin would have clipped all extraneous text before replying to a message, so 
should you.
~~~~~~~~~
1. What¹s Happening Right Now?

Starvation of 3 to 4 Million People

Well let¹s start with right now. I¹ll talk about the situation in
Afghanistan. I¹ll just keep to uncontroversial sources like the New York
Times [crowd laughter]. According to the New York Times there are 7 to 8
million people in Afghanistan on the verge of starvation. That was true
actually before September 11th. They were surviving on international aid. On
September 16th, the Times reported, I¹m quoting it, that the United States
demanded from Pakistan the elimination of truck convoys that provide much of
the food and other supplies to Afghanistan¹s civilian population. As far as
I could determine there was no reaction in the United States or for that
matter in Europe. I was on national radio all over Europe the next day.
There was no reaction in the United States or in Europe to my knowledge to
the demand to impose massive starvation on millions of people. The threat of
military strikes right after September?..around that time forced the removal
of international aid workers that crippled the assistance programs.
Actually, I am quoting again from the New York Times. Refugees reaching
Pakistan after arduous journeys from AF are describing scenes of desperation
and fear at home as the threat of American led military attacks turns their
long running misery into a potential catastrophe. The country was on a
lifeline and we just cut the line. Quoting an evacuated aid worker, in the
New York Times Magazine.

The World Food Program, the UN program, which is the main one by far, were
able to resume after 3 weeks in early October, they began to resume at a
lower level, resume food shipments. They don¹t have international aid
workers within, so the distribution system is hampered. That was suspended
as soon as the bombing began. They then resumed but at a lower pace while
aid agencies leveled scathing condemnations of US airdrops, condemning them
as propaganda tools which are probably doing more harm than good. That
happens to be quoting the London Financial Times but it is easy to continue.
After the first week of bombing, the New York Times reported on a back page
inside a column on something else, that by the arithmetic of the United
Nations there will soon be 7.5 million Afghans in acute need of even a loaf
of bread and there are only a few weeks left before the harsh winter will
make deliveries to many areas totally impossible, continuing to quote, but
with bombs falling the delivery rate is down to 1?2 of what is needed.
Casual comment. Which tells us that Western civilization is anticipating the
slaughter of, well do the arithmetic, 3-4 million people or something like
that. On the same day, the leader of Western civilization dismissed with
contempt, once again, offers of negotiation for delivery of the alleged
target, Osama bin Laden, and a request for some evidence to substantiate the
demand for total capitulation. It was dismissed. On the same day the Special
Rapporteur of the UN in charge of food pleaded with the United States to
stop the bombing to try to save millions of victims. As far as I¹m aware
that was unreported. That was Monday. Yesterday the major aid agencies OXFAM
and Christian Aid and others joined in that plea. You can¹t find a report in
the New York Times. There was a line in the Boston Globe, hidden in a story
about another topic, Kashmir.


Full text:
http://www.zmag.org/GlobalWatch/chomskymit.htm