The Bogus War On Terrorism

That the war in the Middle East and eventually elsewhere, is to go on perpetually against a “shadowy” and “dark” enemy is no accident or blunder. What better method of keeping the American people timid and tame for as long as is desired? What better way to dismiss the pressing needs of the underpaid, the unemployed, the medically uninsured - the neglected? What stronger toxin to poison minds and hearts that burn and beat with similar needs, passions, desires, and dreams; to set them against each other for myriad petty reasons so that a select few may profit and accrue power and privilege?

So many times in history
We've watched them march away
Some cry out for victory
Some just stand and pray
For this father's daughter
For this mother son
What will happen to the rest of us
When the war is done

Some are quick to honor
Some are quick to blame
Few can face the truth
That this all happens in our name

Before the first shot’s fired
Our battle has begun
What will happen to the rest of us
When the war is done
Those who fight the battles
Are not those who make the laws
But bravery is still bravery
Even in an unjust cause

From the hand that signs the order
To the hand that fires the gun
What will happen to the rest of us
When the war is done

Some lie solitary
Beneath a hero's stone
Some return to loved ones
But will always be alone
Something sacred will be lost
Even when the war is won
What will happen to the rest of us
When the war is done

What will happen to the rest of us
When the war is over
What will happen to the rest of us
When the war is done
-Si Kahn, "When the War Is Done" 2004

THE BOGUS WAR ON TERRORISM

If you were to ask the leaders of either the Democratic or Republican parties which one could do a better job in winning the war on terror both would assure you that either could do a better job than the other.

Obama told the Unity Journalists of Color conference in his first public appearance since his overseas trip (July 2008) that Afghanistan is a "huge problem" that the US "has to get right".  Mr. Obama has since claimed the right to kill American citizens living abroad without charge, right to attorney or trial.

On September 30, 2011 – President Obama murdered US Citizen Anwar al-Awlaki and his 16 year old son Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, also a US citizen. The young Awlaki was the third American President Obama had murdered. Samir Khan, from North Carolina, died alongside Anwar al-Awlaki. Regardless of what crimes these American citizens may have been suspected of committing, they nevertheless were American citizens and entitled to due process of law. In murdering these Americans Obama made himself a murderer.

Since taking office President Obama has made these major contributions to the bogus war on terror:

- Waged war on Libya without congressional approval
- Started a covert, drone war in Yemen
- Escalated the proxy war in Somalia
- Escalated the CIA drone war in Pakistan
- Will maintain a presence in Iraq even after "ending" war
- Sharply escalated the war in Afghanistan
- Secretly deployed US special forces to 75 countries
- Signed the Patriot Act extension into law
- Continued Bush's rendition program
(Clicking on the hyperlinks will take you to the source articles.)

What we have here, of course, is a contest between the Democrats and Republicans to see which one might best pummel the Islamic world into submission; it seems that neither actually understands how success in this endeavor can be measured in any tangible way, how victory can be achieved decisively, or how long the war will go on.

It is not my aim to reshape the U.S. war on terror but to oppose it.

Make no mistake about this: Terrorism is the enemy of all civilized nations and civilized beings. However, civility requires self-examination. Because the terrorists employ indiscriminate violence against innocent civilians does not mean that they have no cause. They have attacked our people; our brothers and sisters, and it is not shameful to admit that they caused us harm. To see an innocent killed and bloodied arouses our passion, our rage, our instinctive need for vindication but when the rage subsides, we must bow our heads, mourn our losses, and finally take account.

If we are indeed a righteous people, we will recognize that our government has also brought great harm, death and destruction to people who are no less innocent than the people of New York, London and Madrid. The rage, the passion and the deep sense of loss is not lessened because they are inflicted by missiles and invading armies.

The “war on terror” has nothing to do with the idea that the Arabs “hate us because of our freedoms”, the fairy tale that President Bush used to frighten the ignorant among us. It just may have something to do with the Arabs not getting the memo on how truly great we really are.

The “war on terror” has nothing to do with the idea that the Arabs “hate us because of our freedoms”, the fairy tale that President Bush used to frighten the ignorant among us. It just may have something to do with the Arabs not getting the memo on how truly great we really are.

Childish rhetoric about taking the fight to the enemy cannot mask the reality on the ground. The number of “terrorists” is not finite, their energies not split or splintered by armed American presence on multiple fronts. Rather, it is clearly the American armed forces which are tired, demoralized, and stretched beyond their limits by their deployment, the very existence of which produces a groundswell of armed resistance among previously non-hostile populations.

In this bogus war on terror, young Americans in their teenage years and twenties now die needlessly in foreign desert sands far away from their homes and families. Spouses and children at home suffer from near poverty as soldiers are forced to remain in the field far beyond their contract and receive only a pittance for their patriotism, quite unlike the handsomely paid mercenaries/contractors assigned to secure sabotaged oil lines and unpopular political puppets. Many soldiers who return home are driven to depression, anger, and even suicide. For those who do not return, the pain among grieving relatives can be overbearing, such as that of the father who set himself ablaze after learning his 20 year-old son was killed in Iraq.

These are losses incurred not in the name of any clearly defined goals, but only the vaguest objectives whose rationale keeps morphing in accordance with the whims and schemes of this or that “expert” or government official. Is this then, the full, sorry scope of the war “we must win”?

Not quite. The truth is that the grand enterprise known as the “war on terror” does not have clear progress markers, decisive battles, concrete timetables, or geographical limits for one reason and one reason alone: it is a two-front war, and the people of the United States are the other front.

An atmosphere of fear, paranoia, insecurity, and racial hatred grinds down oppressively upon the American public, pulverizing goodwill, dissent and radicalism with ten times the efficiency of any cluster-bomb or laser-guided missile. That the war abroad is to go on in perpetuum against a “shadowy” and “dark” enemy is no accident or blunder. What better method of keeping the populace timid and tame for as long as is desired? What better way to dismiss the pressing needs of the underpaid, the unemployed, the medically uninsured - the neglected? What stronger toxin to poison minds and hearts that burn and beat with similar needs, passions, desires, and dreams; to set them against each other for myriad petty reasons so that a select few may profit and accrue power and privilege?

The “war on terror” is an absolute fraud. It is a war designed specifically to mask the injustices and inequalities which afflict millions of Americans by aggravating and amplifying the injustices and inequalities inflicted upon millions of non-Americans. Its very existence represents continuous and ever-expanding victory for only the most vicious, opportunistic, and hateful elements among humanity, who will impose upon us tragedy upon tragedy, and terror upon terror, until we break cleanly and completely from the rotted chains of mindless fealty to false national leaders and forge links with those abroad whose friendships we have forgone for far too long.