Kenneth T. Tellis: American terrorists are heroes while those who oppose the US are not ... does this not prove that the US has double standards?

VHeadline commentarist Kenneth T. Tellis writes: Of recent times there have been many questions asked as to how the Al-Qaeda and the Taliban prisoners-of-war will be treated during their incarceration in Guantanamo Bay, Republica de Cuba, by the US Army?

There has been the US contention that they should not be treated as Prisoners-of-War since they were volunteers and thus not to be considered part of a regular army of any country so the Geneva Conventions do not apply, and that is exactly where the flaw lies. Because that argument brings into question the role of volunteers in any war, including the American Revolution.

Is the US going to admit that the Marquis de Lafayette of France who was a volunteer during the American Revolution and the so-called American patriots of the period, like George Washington et al were nothing more than terrorists?

• If such is the case is there really any difference between Al-Qaeda or the Taliban or any other such volunteers, even if they claim to be fighting against tyranny?

During the American Civil War of 1861-65, the US (Union) government sent recruiters to Europe to enlist European citizens to serve in the (US) Union Army to fight against the Confederate States of America, is this not therefore another case of the recruitment of terrorist volunteers?

During the Spanish Civil War, many groups of volunteers served alongside hardcore communist cadres in fighting the Nationalist forces of General Francisco Franco. For instance the US Abraham Lincoln Brigade or the MacKenzie-Papineau Brigade from Canada, besides other brigades from France, Britain and various other European countries without question come under the heading of terrorists. Surely no one can deny that these volunteers weren’t any less terrorists than the Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, which are now being called terrorists by the US.

It is well known that an American volunteer group of pilots called the LAFAYETTE ESCADRILLE (Lafayette Squadron) operated in France before the US entered World War I.

• The US ace pilot Eddie Rickenbacker earned his wings as a volunteer in the LAFAYETTE ESCADRILLE.

Are these not also terrorists by their very actions?

“This label terrorist” also applies to General Claire Chennault’s American Volunteer Group the famous Flying Tigers of the 1940s who were mercenaries hired by Generalissimo Chiang Kai Shek of the Republic of China (Kuomintang) to fight the Japanese, before the US entered World War II. On the entry of the United States of America into World War II, the A.V.G. became part of the China Burma India operations of the United States Army Air Force.

The US has no right to judge the Al-Qaeda or the Taliban as terrorists when the US itself permitted American citizens to go to Britain and volunteer for service (the Eagle Squadron) with the of the ROYAL AIR FORCE and fight Nazi Germany, before the US entered World War II.

What the US is asking the world today, is to revert to its double standards, which does not seem surprising, at all, since that is the way the US has operated against other nations from 1812 onwards. Al-Qaeda is no more a terrorist organization than the LEGION ETRANGERE de FRANCE (French Foreign Legion). So it’s the US’ call once again.

Therefore to sit in on judgement of the Al-Qaeda or the Taliban as being terrorist organizations, is to sit in on judgement of all volunteers from whatever source they may come without any exceptions as to whether they are terrorist organizations or not.

To consider all the above issues, one is left with the feeling that we have arrived at an impasse for which there is no solution.

The other question is about punishment for anyone found giving aid to terrorists knowingly. During the American Revolution many countries, including France, Holland and Spain not only supported the rebels or terrorists, who called themselves American patriots, but supplied arms to them.

One of these terrorists and freebooters was one John Paul Jones who is considered an American naval hero, who raided Whitehaven in northern England on April 23, 1778. Leaving the coast of England, John Paul Jones and his crew of terrorists cutthroats or pirates set sail for Scotland, where they ransacked the estate of the Earl of Selkirk, stealing even his silver service on April 27, 1778.

So it seems that American terrorists are heroes while those who oppose the US are not. Does this not prove that the US has double standards?

That being the case, what was wrong with other Arab nations supplying the Palestinians with arms? Is it only America’s ally Israel’s right to have weapons, or does that not apply to Palestinians as well?

Again we are at a dead end. Because if laws apply to some and not to others, they are seen to be more prejudices, rather than laws. Surely what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander is it not?

The nations of the European Community, must break free of their American masters and operate on their own, making such decisions as would benefit the E.U. and not the United States of America.

• It must have a purely European base, without undue pressure from US militarism and its goal of world domination, and seek to create a European only defense organization.

NATO served a purpose while the Soviet Union existed, but since that threat has long ago disappeared there is absolutely no call for such an alliance anymore.

Who knows Europe’s enemy tomorrow might be the United States of America itself?

Kenneth T. Tellis
kenttellis@rogers.com