The Good Terrorists

Harold Pinter, British playwright and this year's Nobel Literature
prize winner, on Wednesday delivered a searing attack on US foreign
policy


"Direct invasion of a sovereign state has never in fact been
America's favoured method. In the main, it has preferred what it has
described as 'low intensity conflict'. Low intensity conflict means
that thousands of people die but slower than if you dropped a bomb
on them in one fell swoop. It means that you infect the heart of the
country, that you establish a malignant growth and watch the
gangrene bloom. When the populace has been subdued - or beaten to
death - the same thing - and your own friends, the military and the
great corporations, sit comfortably in power, you go before the
camera and say that democracy has prevailed. This was a commonplace
in US foreign policy in the years to which I refer.

The tragedy of Nicaragua was a highly significant case. I choose to
offer it here as a potent example of America's view of its role in
the world, both then and now.

I was present at a meeting at the US embassy in London in the late
1980s.

The United States Congress was about to decide whether to give more
money to the Contras in their campaign against the state of
Nicaragua. I was a member of a delegation speaking on behalf of
Nicaragua but the most important member of this delegation was a
Father John Metcalf. The leader of the US body was Raymond Seitz
(then number two to the ambassador, later ambassador himself).
Father Metcalf said: 'Sir, I am in charge of a parish in the north
of Nicaragua. My parishioners built a school, a health centre, a
cultural centre. We have lived in peace. A few months ago a Contra
force attacked the parish. They destroyed everything: the school,
the health centre, the cultural centre. They raped nurses and
teachers, slaughtered doctors, in the most brutal manner. They
behaved like savages. Please demand that the US government withdraw
its support from this shocking terrorist activity.'

Raymond Seitz had a very good reputation as a rational, responsible
and highly sophisticated man. He was greatly respected in diplomatic
circles. He listened, paused and then spoke with some
gravity. 'Father,' he said, 'let me tell you something. In war,
innocent people always suffer.' There was a frozen silence. We
stared at him. He did not flinch.

Innocent people, indeed, always suffer.

Finally somebody said: 'But in this case "innocent people" were the
victims of a gruesome atrocity subsidised by your government, one
among many. If Congress allows the Contras more money further
atrocities of this kind will take place. Is this not the case? Is
your government not therefore guilty of supporting acts of murder
and destruction upon the citizens of a sovereign state?'

Seitz was imperturbable. 'I don't agree that the facts as presented
support your assertions,' he said.

As we were leaving the Embassy a US aide told me that he enjoyed my
plays. I did not reply.



I believe that despite the enormous odds which exist, unflinching,
unswerving, fierce intellectual determination, as citizens, to
define the real truth of our lives and our societies is a crucial
obligation which devolves upon us all. It is in fact mandatory.

If such a determination is not embodied in our political vision we
have no hope of restoring what is so nearly lost to us - the dignity
of man."



http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,389251,00.html



"Such a Reaganite policy of military strength and moral clarity may 
not be fashionable today. But it is necessary if the United States 
is to build on the successes of this past century and to ensure our 
security and our greatness in the next. "

From;

http://www.newamericancentury.org/statementofprinciples.htm