August 18, 2003
Quote Of The Moment #0007
On June 22, this blog noted the disappearance of a Boeing 727 from Luanda Airport in Angola -- and that U.S. officials feared that it "may be in the hands of terrorists".
Two months later, the big old jet airliner is still at large, prompting today's Quote, from State Department Spokesman Phil Reeker: "Basically, we don't know where it is. But we really need to find out. This is a serious matter."
Yeah, no shit!
A new report ranking the United States as "the fourth most likely of 186 countries to be the target of a terrorist attack within the next 12 months" might, er, heighten the urgency.
Of course, there's still that other option for reducing the likelihood of continued attacks upon U.S. "interests" -- most recently propounded here a few weeks ago: stop fucking over the Third World, and its inhabitants will stop using the methods available to them to hit back.
Killing Hope author and former State Department employee William Blum put this option rather eloquently last week in a piece on the Counterpunch website:
As I've written elsewhere: If I were the president, I could stop terrorist attacks against the United States in a few days. Permanently. I would first apologize -- very publicly and very sincerely -- to all the widows and orphans, the impoverished and the tortured, and all the many millions of other victims of American imperialism. Then I would announce that America's global military interventions have come to an end. I would then inform Israel that it is no longer the 51st state of the union but -- oddly enough -- a foreign country. Then I would reduce the military budget by at least 90% and use the savings to pay reparations to the victims and repair the damage from the many American bombings, invasions, and sanctions. There would be enough money. One year of our military budget is equal to more than $20,000 per hour for every hour since Jesus Christ was born. That's one year. That's what I'd do on my first three days in the White House.
On the fourth day, I'd probably be assassinated.
Posted by Eddie Tews at August 18, 2003 06:00 PM
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