Here are some brief media reports of “terrorist” acts in Beirut, Europe, the Persian Gulf, and Afghanistan. These acts were committed by Arabs, Muslims, and Westerners. That acts were shocking, they always are. Note the aftermath. It is almost as shocking as the acts themselves, in fact more so because the aftermath reflects how humans are valued differently in the West. Now a comparison is in order:
Feb. 2012: “The U.S. paid $50,000 in compensation for each villager killed and $11,000 for each person wounded in a shooting rampage allegedly carried out by a rogue American soldier in southern Afghanistan, Afghan officials said Sunday. The families were told that the money came from President Barack Obama. The unusually large payouts……….”
Feb. 2011: “Paul Wolfowitz has been branded ‘pathetic’ after launching an extraordinary attack on the families of those who lost loved ones in the Lockerbie bombing. The former deputy Secretary of Defense said the U.S. had buckled under pressure from grieving relatives to normalise relations with Libya so they could walk away with $10million each in compensation………….”
Nov. 2008: “The U.S. said Sunday it has begun transferring more than $500 million in Libyan compensation money to the families of American victims of the 1988 Pan Am 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland. More money is on the way to complete the settlement, but $504 million of $536 million to be distributed to the families was moved from the U.S. Treasury to a private account administered by Lockerbie families’ lawyers on Friday, the top American diplomat for the Mideast said. David Welch spoke to reporters aboard U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s plane as she returned to Washington from the Middle East. He said he expected the rest of the Lockerbie payments would be made soon as soon as administrative details were worked out. The cash comes from a $1.5 billion fund for U.S. victims of Libyan-linked terrorism in the 1980s that Libya finished paying into last month………”
Sept. 2007: “WASHINGTON — Iran must pay $2.65 billion to the families of the 241 U.S. service members killed in the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, a federal judge declared Friday in a ruling that left survivors and families shedding tears of joy. U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth described his ruling as the largest-ever such judgment by an American court against another country. “These individuals, whose hearts and souls were forever broken, waited patiently for nearly a quarter century for justice to be done,” he said………………”
“On July 3, 1988, an Iranian aircraft registered on the radar screen of the USS Vincennes. The U.S. Navy officers on the bridge identified the approaching aircraft as an Iranian Air Force F-14 Tomcat. Though they would later claim that they tried to reach the aircraft on military and civilian frequencies, they failed to try air traffic control, which would have probably cleared the air. Instead, as the aircraft drew nearer, the Americans fired two guided missiles at their target: a civilian Airbus A300B2, killing 290 civilians, including 66 children, en route to Dubai…… Reza, who served as a volunteer Basiji from 1987-1988 and teaches chemistry now, admits he doesn’t think about what happened too often. “Still, when I do,” he said, “I remember how nobody cared! These were Iranian civilians who were killed and there was no condemnation.”……..”
The Huffington Post report, the first one I quoted up there, calls the $50k and $10k “unusually large payouts“. What they mean is “unusually large payouts for the life and limb of Afghans, non-Westerners“.
I have commented before on Lockerbie vs. Iran Air 655. Clearly, a white man or woman, a white child, is worth much more than an Afghan or an Iranian or an Arab (man or woman or child). Reading through these reports, I wonder: is it possible that they are? Maybe they are.
Cheers
mhg
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