• by Eduardo Galeano
• Tuesday, June 30, 2009
• Inter Press Service

The cobbler of Iraq, the man who threw his shoes at Bush, was sentenced to three years in prison. Shouldn't he be given an award instead? writes Eduardo Galeano, Uruguayan writer and journalist and author of ''The Open Veins of Latin America'', 'Memories of Fire'' and "Mirrors/An Almost Universal History".

In this article Galeano asks, Which is the terrorist, the thrower or his target? Isn't the guilty party the serial killer who invented the Iraq war out of lies, assassinated a people, legalised torture, and ordered it used?

According to "Foreign Policy" magazine, Somalia is the most dangerous place on earth. But which are the pirates? The starving people who attack ships, or the speculators of Wall Street who rob the world for years and years and now receive millions in compensation for their efforts? Why does the world reward those who pillage it? Is it right that world peace is entrusted to the five largest arms-producing nations? Does the country with the largest number of drug addicts have the moral authority to condemn those who supply their habit?

(*) Eduardo Galeano is a Uruguayan writer and journalist and author of ''The Open Veins of Latin America'', 'Memories of Fire'' and "Mirrors/An Almost Universal History".

//NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN CANADA, CZECH REPUBLIC, IRELAND, POLAND, THE UNITED STATES, AND THE UNITED KINGDOM//

© Inter Press Service (2009) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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