Loose cannons

Civilisation vs barbarians

"American investigators are considering resorting to harsher interrogation techniques, including torture, after facing a wall of silence from jailed suspected members of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, according to a report yesterday." — report in October 22 London Times.

Unfortunate

"It is unfortunate that the cluster bombs, unexploded ones, are the same colour as the food packets." — US General Richard Myers defending the use of cluster bombs in Afghanistan that are similar in size and colour to the Humanitarian Daily Ration packets being dropped by the US Air Force.

Blowback

"That point of view is completely wrong, completely wrong." — ALP leader Kim Beazley repudiating Peter Knott, Labor candidate for the federal seat of Gilmore, for having told a public forum that the US had trained and armed Osama bin Laden and therefore "America's problems with terrorists are the result of US policy coming back to bite them".

All three

"I think there are a lot of Australians ... who asked an obvious question — why did the terrorists commit these atrocities in the United States? Now, if they say that out loud ... you're guilty of some sort of treachery or even sacrilege or even being personally insulting to John Howard. I can't work out which one's the case at this stage." — Sydney Daily Telegraph chief political reporter Malcolm Farr commenting on the Knott affair on ABC TV's Lateline program.

From Green Left Weekly, November 7, 2001.

Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.

From GLW issue 470