Britain Suddenly Discovers the "T" Word By Steven Plaut Well, I...

Britain Suddenly Discovers the "T" Word

By Steven Plaut

Well, I am sure you were all relieved to hear that neither Red Ken Livingstone, the commie mayor of London, nor George Galloway, the British pro-Baathist MP, were among the victims of the al-Qaeda bombers in London.

Incredibly, the British press is actually using the "T" word. Yes, they are referring to the London Underground perps as terrorists. Why is this so unusual? Because the British media have been religiously scrupulous in referring to all terrorists and mass murderers who attack Jews as "activists" and "militants".

It is suddenly like a parallel universe out there, not the one with which we are familiar. The ‘’activists'’ and ‘’militants'’ are suddenly referred to as ‘’terrorists.'’ Even the Guardian and the BBC have discovered the ‘’T'’ word. The governments of Europe, which ordinarily spend their days insisting that Israel deal with terrorists through capitulation, were suddenly enraged, expressing their disgust.

It was suddenly not a legitimate form of protest against occupation to mass-murder civilians. The British newspapers did not not issue special editions documenting the abuses of human rights by Britain, nor bemoan the ‘’grievances'’ of those angry at the UK. Not a single Euro-politician made a speech denouncing the illegal British occupations of the Channel Islands and Gibraltar.

The World Court in the Hague did not begin an indictment of the UK for the conditions of its illegal occupation of Cornwall, not to mention Scotland, Wales and Ulster. Museum and convention hall exhibits were not opened documenting the social and economic inequalities that plague British Moslems, which obviously are what really drove the London bombers.

And the BBC has not demanded that the Brits re-examine their own behavior, to discover which manifestation of their arrogance provoked the Al-Qaida savages. The networks were not full of messages about how Moslems regard Gibraltar as their own holy land and that only their liberation to Moslem control can bring peace.

The European parliament did not send millions of Euros to fund leftist politicial organizations in London devoted to encouraging British soldiers to refuse orders and to desert and refure to serve in the army. There were no protests against British plans to implement ‘’profiling'’ at its airports and train stations. The Scandinavians did not demand that the UK open up dialogue with the bombers, and British liberals did not lecture their countrymen about how there are no police nor military problems to the challenges of terrorism. Human rights groups did not demand that any captured subway terrorists be treated as prisoners of war with full Geneva Convention privileges and good lawyers.

And unlikein Israel, British leftist professors are not (yet) marching in solidarity with the bombers and demanding that the world establish a boycott of British universities because of the grievances of the bombers. British poets have not sung the praises of the bombers. Students on British campuses are not marching with al-Qaida banners and posters of Saddam, nor do they chant, ‘’In Blood and Fire we will redeem thee, Gibraltara.'’ British schools are not teaching the poetry composed by al-Qaida poets, nor did the Opposition in the Parliament demand that the British national anthem change its words to make British Moslems feel more welcome and less alienated in the UK. British citizens who engage in espionage for al-Qaida are not declared candidates for a Nobel Peace Prize, voted rector of a Scotland University, nor have their posters carried in peace marches.

The State Department Washington did not threaten trade sanctions against Britian if it took military action against the bombers. Not a single newscast referred to the Isle of Wight nor Wessex as a settlement. The British left did not send reps to Geneva and Oslo to negotiate secretly with the bombers. French politicians did not puff themselves up and lecture the British about their cruelty and insensitivity. Kofi Annan did not demand that talks begin. The International Solidarity Movement failed to send crews of human shields to protect the homes of al-Qaida members in Northern London. Yale students did not announce a campaign to divest from the UK. Tikkun magazine did not devote a special issue to the suffering and pain of the bombers. Special teach-ins on human rights abuses by the UK were not held at Berkeley, nor did the students re-enact street theater in which cruel bobbies bully poor Pakistani passengers getting on trains with large suitcases. Jimmy Carter did not offer to serve as liaison between the government of London and the bombers.

We will know that the world has reverted to normality when it discovers that the Madrid bombings were all somehow the fault of the Jews. Some neonazi and "anarchist-nazi" web sites are already spreading the invention that Israeli Finance Minister Bibi Netanyahu was warned in advance of the attacks and so stayed in his British hotel, and so the same conspiracy kooks who claim Dem Joos knocked down the WTC on 9-11 have a new "theory".

Counterpunch, always to be relied upon to support anti-Western terrorists even when they target Alexander Kockburn’s own homeland, has already come out with an article that support the terrorist bombers. It runs a piece by notorious British neonazi Gilad Atzmon, famous for his justifying the burning own of synagogues and so openly anti-Semitic that large numbers of British leftists are urging the Socialist Workers Party in the UK to cut all ties with him. Atzmon writes about the London bombings that the real lesson should be:

"It tells us that we must never again give our votes to war criminals. More than anything else it tells us that we have a moral duty. It is down to us to stop our governments. It is our duty to stand up and to demand the resignation of Blair who is responsible for the death of so many Iraqis and arguably now many Innocent Britons. We must remember that voting in a non-ethical politician makes us all into active shareholders in a criminal company…. It tells us that we must never again give our votes to war criminals."

Cockburn is truly a disciple of Oswald Mosley.