The Null Device

Enemy combatant squashed

US-born "peace activist" crushed by Israeli bulldozer whilst trying to save Palestinian house. Tragedy or Darwin Award candidate? Does her American nationality make her death more tragic than that of, say, a brown-skinned third-world collateral-damage casualty? And given her involvement in radical anti-American activities, would this make her posthumously an "enemy combatant" like John Walker Lindh?

There are 6 comments on "Enemy combatant squashed":

Posted by: acb http://dev.null.org Tue Mar 18 06:04:30 2003

It appears that she died in combat as a guerilla alongside Palestinian militants. As such, from Israel's POV, she'd definitely be an enemy combatant. Whether she'd be seen as a traitor to the US depends on whether the US is at war against the Intifada. And her anarchist/Marxist ideology would have put her somewhat further away from Osama Bin Laden than Wahhabi fundamentalist Lindh was.

Posted by: Lee Harvey Oswald http:// Tue Mar 18 14:40:46 2003

It's about time Americans started dying in the Occupied Territories. Ironic that this latter-day Hanoi Jane should have been extruded by a Caterpillar bulldozer: US vehicle, US-funded war machine, US-endorsed (or at the very least tolerated) 'targeted killings'. Why not move the whole shebang to the plains and mesa of New Mexico; it'll save on the weapons' transport costs and the journalists won't have as far to travel. And it will all be in the right timezone for the 6 o'clock news.

Posted by: acb http://dev.null.org Tue Mar 18 14:57:15 2003

Of course, they'll probably say she was a "good kid who fell in with a bad crowd", like Lindh. Which would probably be even more insulting to her beliefs than calling her an anti-American traitor. (Sometimes treason is a badge of honour.) Still, having white skin can do that to you.

Posted by: acb http://dev.null.org Tue Mar 18 15:57:40 2003

Future rumour on the streets: wearing Caterpillar-brand shoes signifies support for the Israeli military, much like wearing Doc Martens with white laces signifies that one is a white-supremacist skinhead and red laces signify that one's a socialist.

Posted by: Graham http://grudnuk.com Tue Mar 18 23:44:22 2003

Whereas wearing a Cat(erpillar) cap just makes you an inbred redneck hick.

Posted by: acb http://dev.null.org Thu Mar 20 05:18:18 2003

Emails home from Comrade Rachel to her family:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,916246,00.html

Mind you, given that it's the Guardian, they could well have edited out the bits about killing Israelis.