Ever
since 9/11, I have been arguing that the ‘war against terror’ is
immoral and counterproductive. It sanctions the the use of state
terror—-bombing raids, tortures, countless civilian deaths in
Afghanistan and Iraq—-against Islamo-anarchists whose numbers are
small, but whose reach is deadly. The solution then, as now is
political, not military. The British ruling elite understood this
perfectly well in the case of Ireland. Security measures, anti-terror
laws rushed through Parliament, identity cards, a general curtailment
of civil liberties of British citizens will not solve the problem. If
anything, they will push young Muslims in the direction of a mindless
violence. …

At the beginning of the G8 meeting, Tony Blair
suggested that ‘poverty was the cause of terrorism’. This was advanced
thinking for a reactionary politician like him, but it is not so. The
principal cause of this violence is the violence that is being
inflicted on the people of the Muslim world. The bombing of innocent
people is equally barbaric in Baghdad, Jenin, Kabul as it is in New
York, Madrid or London. And unless this is recognized the horrors will
continue. (source)

—–