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Who’s the Terrorist? Al-Balawi’s attack on CIA terrorists is NOT terrorism, it’s counter-terrorism

Kevin Barrett

The great Palestinian hip-hop group DAM (I met them in person last year during their stop in Madison) are famous for asking min irhabi — Who’s the Terrorist? Let’s apply that question to Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, who recently carried out a successful martyrdom operation against a group of CIA agents in Afghanistan.

Time Magazine reports: “So why did al-Balawi, a seemingly trusted agent, switch sides? The Jordanian intelligence sources who spoke to TIME speculate that al-Balawi had become enraged at the Americans for killing a high number of civilians in their hunt for al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders. And al-Balawi, who felt partly responsible for these deaths because of his role in pointing out the targeted villages in which al-Qaeda militants had been hiding, may have been consumed by guilt. ‘It’s very possible that he decided to take revenge for the death of these Muslim civilians,’ says a senior Jordanian official.”

A standard definition of terrorism is “attacking civilians in order to spread fear.” Al-Balawi’s martyrdom operation did not target any civilians. It targeted CIA agents who are part of an occupying force. Under international law and basic justice, occupied peoples have the right if not the duty to fight back against their occupiers, and anyone who cares about international law and basic justice has the right if not the duty to help them. So al-Balawi’s act was not only NOT terrorism, it was perfectly legal, even laudable,  according to international law and simple justice.
Al-Balawi’s legal and laudable act was also a striking example of counter-terrorism in action. CIA officials in Afghanistan have been sending drone bombs to blow up Afghan civilians at wedding parties and markets. The pervasive slaughter of civilians in occupied Afghanistan, which includes US forces dragging children from their beds, handcuffing them, and executing them with point-blank shots to the head, obviously fits the definition of terrorism. Those CIA agents were terrorists, and al-Balawi’s act was as pure an example of counter-terrorism as anyone could ever hope to find.
And since the CIA, along with Mossad, helped carry out and cover up the 9/11 atrocities, al-Balawi’s act could even be seen as one of revenge against the real perpetrators of 9/11, who designed and used that event to launch their campaign of terrorist mass murder around the world.

One Thought to “Who’s the Terrorist? Al-Balawi’s attack on CIA terrorists is NOT terrorism, it’s counter-terrorism”

  1. Xnihilator
    January 16, 2010 at 8:01 pm

    Steve Alten resorts to the usual knee-jerk reaction, "you're spreading hatred towards Jews." The clear implication is Kevin Barrett may facilitate an atmosphere where another mass roundup and extermination of Jews can take place. It seems, this type of defense is clearly falling flat on nearly everyone's ears, it's so worn out. It's such a sad attempt to manipulate social opinion. The Israeli Army deposits sewn up Palestinian corpses back at the kill site but that's acceptable–morbidly harvesting organs from dead victims? Did anyone check the gold fillings? The knee-jerk defense is one of last resort rhetorically, if you're unable to engage the facts because they're clearly not in your favor. Kevin, after reading Alten, I fantasize about a Truth Jihadist comic book character who welds his sword wildly in his search for candidates to star in the town square's Friday prayer. Go get em', Kevin!

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