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Jon Qwelane

London blasts 'were inevitable'

2005-07-18 09:33
line
<b>President Bush leaves the White House in Washington for a bicycle ride in Quantico. (Manuel Balce Ceneta, AP)</b>

President Bush leaves the White House in Washington for a bicycle ride in Quantico. (Manuel Balce Ceneta, AP)

Multimedia   ·   User Galleries   ·   News in Pictures Send us your pictures  ·  Send us your stories

Today I would have loved to have responded to News24 users after some of them took me apart for comments I made in last week's column.

I had stated in the column that I wished to contribute to the uMsholozi trust fund for former deputy president Jacob Zuma.

One seemingly sensible reader from Namaqualand made a very interesting case, but then added that I "support a crook".

The man clearly has joined those who have already found uMsholozi guilty even before he has been to court.

What would have been wrong if Hilary Squires had recused himself from the Schabir Shaik trial, given the huge mountain of baggage he drags about from his days in the illegitimate regime of Ian Smith?

Surely, given the circumstances, he had a duty to do so?

Anyway, let me share some thoughts on the horrible events in London almost two weeks ago which, to my mind, were not really unexpected and are an inevitable consequence of George Bush's "war on terror" which, I must say, kills and maims innocents indiscriminately in the so-called hunt for "terrorists" and their allies.

Let us not forget that this "war" is fought most savagely.

British prime minister Tony Blair called the unprecedented London attacks on commuter trains and a passenger bus "barbaric" and other uncomplimentary and unsavoury epithets.

That is because his collusion with Bush in the massacre of innocents when scatter bombs and guided missiles rain death and havoc on Iraqi and Afghan towns and villages results in what is casually termed "collateral damage".

The 'war on terror'

The boot is now firmly on the other foot and there can be no prevaricating for Blair, Bush and their allies.

It must all be understood in the context of the "war on terror" that civilian massacres, shocking as they no doubt are, must happen to protagonists on both sides of this battle.

Of course I am not untouched by the death and destruction to Londoners, and the loss of life to more than 50 innocents.

I am very sad about ALL "collateral damage", whether to the so-called and self-defined "terrorists" or to the "civilised" crowd.

I am desperately sorry for all the thousands of those black-robed widows and mothers in Afghanistan and Iraq, whose husbands and sons were killed in the fierce rain of bombs and missiles that fell on them, and which were fired from ships anchored offshore in Pakistan, Turkey and other Bush-friendly countries.

I am very sorry for the many children who were killed and maimed in the murderous attacks by the "civilised" west, their only sin being that they were born in the "wrong" places and were necessarily of a "wrong" colour and a hated and "wrong" religion.

And yes, I am sorry for those poor Londoners for suffering the consequences of the stupidity of their obdurate leaders Blair and Jack Straw, who lied and continue to lie knowingly about the reasons they attacked Iraq in the first place - there never were any so-called weapons of mass destruction, and both Straw and Blair know this as much as Bush does.

At any rate, what are we to make of the "intelligence" given to them about the mythical weapons of mass destruction, and yet the same "intelligence" was dangerously non-existent to uncover the plots leading to the events of 9/11 and now London?

  • Send your comments to Jon or discuss this column now in our debating forum.

    Disclaimer: News24 encourages freedom of speech and the expression of diverse views. The views of users published on News24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of News24.

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