Just now on "60 Minutes" Leslie Stahl was shown walking up to the blade of a Caterpillar earthmover as a Caterpillar executive talked about exporting heavy equipment all over the world. You might think that the Rachel Corrie story had finally made it to network television, right? An exploration of the case of the eloquent American human-rights activist who was killed by Israeli soldiers driving a Caterpillar bulldozer in Gaza in 2003?
No. It's about our struggling economy. And Caterpillar is getting away with murder by putting itself front and center in these efforts. Obama visited Caterpillar last week. Here's a great piece by Stephen Zunes saying just that, that Obama's visit was a "thumb in the eye" of all the people who are fighting Caterpillar's role in the occupation.
And of course the Center for Constitutional Rights has sued Caterpillar on the behalf of Rachel Corrie's parents.
Note to 60: There's a great story here about human-rights violations, a young writer's murder, a heartless corporation, the Israeli occupation, and a valiant American family.
(Phil Weiss)
Thanks, Phil. The "60-Minutes" piece on Caterpillar was nauseating. How could any self-respecting "reporter" neglect even to mention Rachel Corrie or the Hampshire boycott? If we have a self-censoring press, we don't live in a "free" country.
There's definitely a larger story looming, whether it gets picked up, who knows… The Rachel Corrie story was basically ignored by that same media in the first place, so it's not surprising that they're not jumping up and down to make the connection. Not only Hampshire College, but the Church of England too…
22,000 people are out of a job at Caterpillar USA. That's 22,000 people that don't think too much of that company right now, and might be partially relieved to know they are no longer helping to bulldoze palestinian homes.
Sure, that's what's first on their minds. But you have to admit, Rachel Corrie made quite a "splat" in the middle east.
yeah, bill, you forgot the tag line: "got syrup"?
" The Rachel Corrie story was basically ignored by that same media in the first place, so it's not surprising that they're not jumping up and down to make the connection. "
True true. These media corporations are themselves implicated in the Rachel Corrie case, bacause they didn't report it back then. Maybe one news outlet has the guts to break the silence and inform America about Corrie/Caterpillar.
But if not, and this is more likely, it's up to new media like Mondo Weiss to inform their fellow Americans.
So much for 60 Minutes and the MSM generally. In June, for the 6th year in a row, at the shareholder meeting, a big issue will be the shareholder action to stop peddling
Corrie killers to the IDF.
Anyone familiar with the story of the USS Liberty is not surprised how the Corrie case has been handled by the press and our government.
BTW, anybody have an update on the AIPAC trial case?
Rachel Corrie sided with Terrorist's and got what she asked for.
Steve – ever wonder how/why the term "Zionazi" originated?
I didn't think so.
Right, Steve, and so did Anne Frank. Truth is, they both dealt the hand given them. Anne could merely bemoan her youth locked in a closet.
Rachael, was locked in the closet of her country's MSM and regime; and she went out to fight for the just cause ignored.
Anne was a victim by default.
Rachael was a victim because she stood up for the innocent, for the Anne Frank's of the world.
Intelligent and educated courage-Rachael Corrie. The White Rose was her mentor.
Corrie, the hate mongering supporter of islamic fascism stood up for the right of palestinians to tunnel into Egypt to get weapons. Corrie died too late. She should have been aborted.
Corrie dealt the hand she made from a deck she stacked. While I feel sorry for her parents, Corrie was begging for death.
It's as if berel is looking to provoke some sort of outburst that will confirm for him his certainty that the one reason to dislike him is anti-Semitism. Not taking the bait seems to make him angrier. Rachel Corrie's courage and strength of character makes him angry as well. All hail berel because he was too smart to die for a just cause.
I fear the swelling of voices rising for justice will make him lose it entirely.
It couldn't happen to a nicer guy.
Rachel Corrie got exactly what was coming to her.
Bill Pearlman-SOG – At least anonymity has not dampened your enthusiasm for the murder of American citizens involved in peaceful protest by allegedly friendly governments.
…and light pickup trucks become machine-gun-mounted "technicals" all the time in the Middle East. Should we boycott Toyota too? Even the Islamic/Arab-speaking world itself does not boycott the company – Caterpillar sells far more machines to Saudi Arabia than it does to Israel.
As someone who's driven a D10 CAT bulldozer – the next size up from the D9 that killed Corrie – I can report that visibility immediately in front of the machine is very limited. That's why people normally don't stand there. It's entirely possible this tragedy was an accident.
Andrew – You'll notice how many posters here have said that Rachel Corrie got exactly what was coming to her so the "accident" seems rather convenient.
I seem to remember that the murder of US service personnel on the USS Liberty in 1967 was deemed an "accident" by Israel as well.
I call BS on that lie as well.
When you operated your bulldozer, Andrew, were you in a IDF uniform, any military uniform, and carrying out orders, at least carrying out a "police action"? Were you at the time of operating your limited vision
dozer aware that there were political protesters in the near vicinity? If so, I'd like to think you would have
been very leery about pushing that dirt forward. If you were just bulldozing here in the USA, working for some construction or destruction land mover company, what you say is not relevant except to reinforce
the idea that what the IDF dozer did was part of his just following orders. People don't even drive a car for long before they become very aware of the "blind spot" and drive accordingly.
Of course the Caterpillar will work. If all the College Professors and Web Journalists of the world stop buying agriculture and heavy construction equipment, the will go out of business overnight.