Posted on 01/02/2002 8:52:04 AM PST by Prodigal Son
I think there's plenty of evidence to condemn bin Laden as it is, so I think Mandela's wrong. But I thought it should be pointed out that he's not making excuses for what happened, nor is he saying that the attacks were justified in any way.
Well, it seems to me that there are two ways to determine that someone is anything: First would be to try them in court and get a conviction (which seems to be the complaint here) and Second would be the statement of the person himself. Any casual observer would notice that bin Laden himself (in the video tape) talked of his organization (Al Queada) and it's acts as being TERRORISM, but the only difference is he has labeled it "good" terrorism. We can disagree about that point.
The guy has admitted on tape that he is a terrorist and yet nobody should call him that.
If a slight or ample majority of the people in your nation are wacked out sociopaths the politics of the nation will not only mirror that but amplify it.
No chosen representative body - dynamically unstable senseless mob.
Mandela clarified his new position on the matter, saying labelling bin Laden a terrorist could "be seen as undermining some of the basic tenets of the rule of law".The Muslim community in South Africa and in Africa in general represents a constituency that no African statesman can ignore.
I say they are acts of war (most especially the attack on the Pentagon) and bin Laden is a war combatant, and so far from saying that he doesn't deserve due process of law, I say that the legal system doesn't even apply in this case.
Hitler never stood trial, but nobody with any sense at all is going to say, "Well, in order to be fair to Hitler, since he never had his day in court, I won't say that he was a mass murderer." Mandela is trying to pacify his anti-American constituents by backtracking on bin Laden, IMHO.
When I lived in South Africa, he was president. There were some murders or some other atrocity in Kwa Zulu Natal. He got on television and he was very angry at the people who did those things. A reporter asked him what about the complaints from the suspects (ie - the underlying cause behind the matter). He was livid (no joke). He was spitting mad and said "there is never any excuse for murder".
That's what he said in the beginning after 9/11 too, more or less and now the shock is starting to wear off and he's backpedalling. It gripes my @$$. He can say what he wants. I don't expect a lot out of him.
Honestly, I don't care. We need to show this generation's youthful idealists that their radical way will be met with a 2,000 bomb shoved up their aaa...
They'll get the message sure enough. They always do.
Like I said, I still think Mandela's wrong because there's plenty of evidence linking bin Laden to this and other terrorist actions. And I agree that no formal trial should be required. But at least Mandela's not excusing the action or arguing for leniency.
There's the problem right there in the story. We are NOT at war with Afganistan, we are at war with the Taliban and Al Quidea, and bin Laden.
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