State terrorism up close

In contemplating the killings in Mumbai, Joseph Harari (“Where’s the criticism?” Dec. 13) reminds us that our indignation should not be selective. Let no one condone terrorism, whether perpetrated by individuals, groups, organizations or states.

If a non-state actor, say, an “Islamo-fascist,” is intent on killing me, I naturally take it personally and endeavor to evade a fatal outcome. But it is far more probable in today’s world that terror imposed by a sovereign state, not a fanatical individual, will take the life of a human being.

The “Christo-imperialists” of our own United States have destabilized democracies the world over, installing repressive dictatorships. We have pursued interventions and wars of aggression and are responsible for millions of deaths in Southeast Asia, in the Americas and, most recently, in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq.

Nor, for that matter, should we let the “Judeo-colonialists” off the hook. The establishment of Israel displaced the Palestinians from their own homeland, resulting in over six decades of ethnic cleansing, oppression, occupation and killing.

Let us direct our political action against our own propensity for violence and against our continuing lethal military support for the Israeli occupation, the world’s last major surviving colonial project.

Wayne B. Kraft

Spokane