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4 Common Myths about the War on Terrorism
I'm finishing up a 25-city book tour that took me from New York and Chicago to Elizabethtown, PA, and Spearfish, SD. I met with college students, farmers and laid-off workers. Most people in the US now oppose the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, but I found a lot of confusion about the War on Terrorism.
Here are four of the more commonly asked questions:
1. Isn't it true that while not all Muslims are terrorists, all terrorists are Muslims?
Well, just asking the question reveals a lot about how those in power have manipulated our concept of terrorism.
To begin, I point out that plenty of non-Muslims have carried out terrorist acts. Here's a partial list.
- Timothy McVeigh was convicted of detonating a truck bomb in front of the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995, which resulted in 168 deaths. He was Catholic.
- In 1994 Baruch Goldstein, a Jewish-American Israeli settler in the West Bank city of Hebron opened fire on Muslim worshippers, killing 29 and wounding 150. He died at the scene, and his grave later became a pilgrimage site for extremists in Israel.
- Murderers of abortion doctors in the US frequently carry out their crimes in the name of evangelical Christianity.
- In 2010, in a protest against federal government policies, Joseph Stack flew a plane into an Austin building housing IRS offices. He came from a Christian background and ranted against all religion.
I understand if you didn't think of those examples right away. We've been conditioned to think of terrorists as foreigners, or people trained by foreigners, preferably dark skinned people with a grudge against the West. But a white guy with a bomb trying to kill civilians for political purposes is still a terrorist.
Targeting civilians with political violence is terrorism, whether carried out by individuals, groups or governments. But the US government and major media have so distorted the word that virtually anyone who uses violence to oppose US policy is branded a terrorist. Conversely, anyone using violence against civilians to support US policy is a freedom fighter.
2. Yeah, but didn't Arabs and Muslims initiate the use of terrorism?
Actually, no.
Zionists fighting in Palestine prior to the formation of Israel pioneered many modern day terrorist tactics. In 1947 an extremist Zionist group called Lechi, also known as the Stern Gang, was the first to use letter bombs. It mailed them to British Cabinet members.
The Stern Gang assassinated major British diplomats and the chief UN mediator trying to negotiate a two-state solution in 1948 Palestine. The Irgun, another Zionist extremist group, planted bombs in Arab East Jerusalem, seeking to kill civilians and drive Palestinians out. Arab insurgent groups also planted bombs intended to kill civilians and used other terror tactics against Jews.
In 1954 Israel became the first country to hijack an airplane for political purposes. It seized a Syrian civilian plane in a failed effort to trade hostages for Mossad intelligence agents captured by the Syrians.
Nor did Muslims originate suicide bombings. That dubious honor belongs to the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka, who were Hindus.
3. Others may engage in terrorism, but isn't Arab and Muslim terrorism a serious threat to US national security?
Some extremists acting in the name of Islam do pose a threat to American civilians. The perpetrators of such crimes should be arrested, given fair trials and, if found guilty, severely punished. Muslims and everyone else around the world would cooperate with such police action. After all, extremist groups have killed far more Muslims than Christians or Jews.
But isn't that rather naïve to think police action can dismantle al Qaeda? After all, didn't the US have to invade Afghanistan to put al Qaeda on the run?
It wasn't necessary to invade and permanently occupy Afghanistan to rout al Qaeda. The few hundred members of al Qaeda living in Afghanistan fled the country and set up shop in Pakistan. Today, autonomous cells operate in Yemen and other countries. And, after nine years on the most wanted list, the US has still not managed to capture Osama bin Laden or other top leaders.
Fighting extremist groups such as al Qaeda requires both political and armed action. Undercut their base politically and isolate them among their followers. Turncoats and local officials will help capture the leaders.
But US military actions have had the opposite effect. The US occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, and the covert war in Pakistan, help recruit angry young men to the extremist cause.
Instead of narrowing the target to the small number of extremist groups, US leaders intentionally expand the enemies list. They lump together al Qaeda with Hamas in Palestine and Hezbollah in Lebanon. We are told that they are all part of a worldwide terrorist network.
In fact, groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas have significant bases of support, and have won free and fair elections, while also maintaining armed wings. They consider themselves national liberation movements opposing foreign occupiers.
If I lived in Lebanon or Palestine, I would never vote for such groups. They represent a conservative, religious trend that opposes real freedom in their countries. For the same reasons, I would never vote for Israel's religious parties. But just as Israel's religious extremists are part of that country's political reality, so Hamas and Hezbollah must be treated a serious political players - not marginalized as "terrorists."
4. So why is the US fighting in so many countries?
Under the guise of combating terrorism, the US has expanded its fleets of aircraft carriers, battle ships, and fighter-bombers - armaments particularly ill-suited to fight terrorist cells. But they do allow the US empire to forcibly expand around the globe, helping guarantee profits for US corporations. Oil pipeline and drilling companies got lucrative contracts in Iraq; US oil companies are preparing for a bonanza if Iraq finally privatizes its oil industry.
Over the past nine years, the US has built over a dozen new military bases throughout the Middle East and Asia. The US has over 750 military bases at home and around the world.
But the empire is in decline. The current wars have cost over a trillion dollars, and the meter is still running. A significant part of the current economic crisis, with 9.5% unemployment, flows from never-ending spending on war. A majority of Americans have come to oppose the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. People in the Middle East and in the US will eventually force a withdrawal of US troops and an end to the wars.
The US will never win the War on Terrorism. The term will simply fade into the history books, along with the empire itself.
Information cited in this article comes from freelance foreign correspondent Reese Erlich's new book "Conversations with Terrorists: Middle East Leaders on Politics, Violence and Empire." His national book tour takes him to Miami on Nov. 19-20. For details, see www.reeseerlich.com.
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69 Comments so far
Show AllLIKE BRITAIN AND FRANCE WE NEED LEADERSHIP IN RETRENCHING OUE EMPIRE WE CAN NO LONGER AFFORD.
Yes, and the sooner the better. Any Christian or Muslim or Hindu worth the name will have reason for celebration when all USA troops come home to stay.
I can't forget another post, now old, that told about, in the collapsing USSR, a woman was asked whether she would not prefer to get out of Russia. She said "Are you kidding? I wouldn't miss this for the world."
WAR IS A RACKET-by General Smedley Butler USMC-ret.
The purpose of the Pentagram is being the enforcement arm of the NSA/NSC missions to secure and protect the world's resources for the BENEFIT of the WEALTHY PREDATORY CAPITALIST WELFARE KINGS, the Pentagram protects the worldwide investments of the WELFARE KINGS many of which don't pay USG taxes. It's a protections racket, we'll protect Americans just give us the funding otherwise America will be attacked. Admiral Mullen also declared that the national debt, which funds the Pentagram, is a threat to national security, therefore admitting that the Pentagram, a threat to national security, the Pentagram, is protecting us from threats to national security? This doesn't make sense, but the only sense the USG has is nonsense.
Right. And, I think it's important for folks to realize that all of the 'Kings' are not necessarily Americans, yet we spend gazillions of our dollars, not to mention the lives of our sons and daughters, to protect these global mega-thieves. Most definitely a racket!!
And not all Jews in Amerika love Israel or support Israeli repression and terrorism.
Very true, and I might add that 'loving Israel' should not mean supporting Israeli repression and terrorism.
Oddly, the very people quick to shout "conspiracy theory" at any questioning of the party line on anything, buy right into the absurd "al Qaeda" conspiracy theory.
Only a handful of nations, mostly NATO and U.S. puppets, have even bothered to name "al Qaeda" as a terrorist organization. Wiki "al Qaeda" for the list.
"The US will never win the War on Terrorism. The term will simply fade into the history books, along with the empire itself."
Why would it want to end it? The War on Terror has been a big winner for totalitarian interests and promises a long, successful run. See Smedly Butler.
"Under the guise of combating terrorism, the US has expanded its fleets of aircraft carriers, battle ships, and fighter-bombers - armaments particularly ill-suited to fight terrorist cells."
And of course aircraft carriers, a hold-over from WW II, are good only against weak nations. A militarily advanced enemy would have no trouble clearing the oceans of our carriers. They are sitting ducks.
Repackaged Cold War.
Yes, "Al Qaeda" is a convenient bogey-man that any government can now use to justify invading anywhere for any venal end. The so called "War on Terror" is a fabricated menace, an illusion used by the Military Industrial Complex to continuously expand the largest welfare program in history: US military spending, currently at $1 trillion annually.
War on terror? A mother telling her children they have to leave their home because they cannot pay the mortgage and not sure how they will live or provide for them. War on terror? Family memebers awaiting the arrival of a son or daughter enclosed in a flag draped box. Where is the cavalry that will rescue us from this terror?
Wonderful comment, Phil. Add to that those that don't recieve life saving medical care, money for meds and a gazzilion other things our soulless puppets do to us in the name of the rich. Hope everyone of them join Farwell in hell!
There is only one myth about the "war on terrorism" and that is that it is a BIG LIE. There is no such thing. There is ongoing colonial slaughter and occupation to secure resources and profits for the ruling class and there is the natural reaction from the indigenous people against this.
State terrorism is a system of political domination based on the spreading of terror in society. It is characterized by a systematic and massive criminally repressive policy, implemented by the State agencies.
"The US media never mention the state terrorism exercised by the USA on other countries. Since 1945, the United States has intervened abroad 67 times, causing twelve million deaths, about half by overt action (Pentagon) and covert action (CIA). These are practically unknown to most Americans, and rarely mentioned, with the notable exceptions of Chalmers Johnson's book "Blowback" and Bill Blum's "Rogue State: a Guide to the World's Only Superpower." In addition, 100,000 people die daily in the world from hunger and preventable diseases in the midst of enormous luxury and waste."
- Johann Galtung
"Only by recognizing the terrorism of states is it possible to understand, and deal with, acts of terrorism by groups and individuals which, however horrific, are tiny by comparison. Moreover, their source is inevitably the official terrorism for which there is no media language. Thus, the State of Israel has been able to convince many outsiders that it is merely a victim of terrorism when, in fact, its own unrelenting, planned terrorism is the cause of the infamous retaliation by Palestinian suicide bombers. For all of Israel's perverse rage against the BBC – a successful form of intimidation – BBC reporters never report Israelis as terrorists: that term belongs exclusively to Palestinians imprisoned in their own land. It is not surprising, as the recent Glasgow University study concluded, that many television viewers in Britain believe that the Palestinians are the invaders and occupiers."
- John Pilger
She?
His central point is that these "choices" are made for the sake of corporate profit. That is the fact that needs "to be spoken first and last."
Excellent article --- worth saving and passing on and reminding ourselves again and again.
"Our new mortal enemy, Iran, whom we have been found to forge documents on the nature of their nuclear program (boy that sounds familiar), offered to help us find Osama. Afghanistan offered to turn him over to the US for trial. We refused both offers and chose war instead. Then we chose regime change in Iraq and we're headed for that in Iran. We always choose war."
I have a minor quibble. It is probably more of a personal thing, but I still think it is important to be accurate and clear when writing.
Your use of the words 'our', 'we', and 'us' in this paragraph should be edited for specifying the correct subjects. Your paragraph in its current form suggests that the American populace has control over its foreign policy decisions.
"Your use of the words 'our', 'we', and 'us' in this paragraph should be edited for specifying the correct subjects. Your paragraph in its current form suggests that the American populace has control over its foreign policy decisions."
That is a good reminder. I am often guilty of the same thing.
"Afghanistan offered to turn him over to the US for trial."
Yes, but only if the US would offer some evidence linking him to the crime.
Which is the correct international protocal for extraditions.
"Afghanistan offered to turn him over to the US for trial."
Yes, but only if the US would offer some evidence linking him to the crime.
EDIT: Oops, OMR below gives the full version.
Ever so true,the deadly lies of who are the terrorists ! Truth is hard to find in fascist amerikan, and its allied states Britain and Israel. AS so correctly stated on a shirt worn by a native brother : "Fighting terrorism since 1492 !"
"There is only one myth about the "war on terrorism" and that is that it is a BIG LIE. There is no such thing. There is ongoing colonial slaughter and occupation to secure resources and profits for the ruling class and there is the natural reaction from the indigenous people against this."
Precisely and accurately summarized. What you have stated here is really about all we need to know about "the war on terrorism".
"The US media never mention the state terrorism exercised by the USA on other countries."
The "accidental" destruction by the US Navy of an Iranian airliner some years back comes to mind. I can't help wondering whom on that airplane was on a US assassination list.
South Korean flight #007 ( how more obvious could it be?) was a decoy to scramble USSR's Pacific Rim defenses exspecialy covert sub bases.
As you know this decoy became a dead duck.
There was a shadowing USA spy plane and the Shuttle and a spy sattelite overhead,a contempary Life Magazine even provided a schematic of the setup.
Nixon had been stopped from boarding a connecting flight in DC.
Well said!
Thanks. You make points I try to make all the time.
What the hell is terrorism? Violence committed in pursuit of a political goal, I'm told. Well, fuck me! War, assassination, occupation, check points, blah blah blah.
How about adding to his list the aerial bombing of cities by the U.S. and G.B. during WWII? Or Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Or Gulf War I? Or Panama? Or Grenada? French Resistance partisans during the German occupation? Or even non-uniformed citizens trying to overthrow the legitimate government using hit-and-run and "dastardly, terrorist tactics" -- American colonists in the late 1700s. Hell, for that matter, how about a large, towering adult yelling at their child?
It's a bullshit term designed and marketed to lull a moronic population back to sleep in front of the TV set.
"no gods, no masters" --m. sanger
Instilling fear of the Muslim terrorist is a business model. Case in point: Invasive airport scanners are making the news. They came about as a result of the over-hyped shoe and underpants bombers. Whether or not these terrorists were members of an Oswaldian comedy troop is another question. The real question is who manufactures, sells, installs and services these scanners? Did a well-connected Carlyle-like group acquire a large equity stake months before the contracts were let?
The US Treasury is being drained yet again. Follow the money and look behind every bush. The path will not lead to a Muslim. The real terrorists are homegrown.
Mike Chertoff
Instilling fear of the alleged ubiquitous Muslim and Arab terrorists has always been a staple commodity of the Hollywood film industry. Carl Boggs and Tom Polllard do an excellent job of discussing this topic in their most well written book The Hollywood War Machine: U.S. Militarism and Popular Culture.
Don't forget the video games the MIC puts out to desensitive kids. It works. Even being an aduly, I used to play Marathon. I wanted to slaughter. Kids morality is so sensitive at that age. I wish the proud parents of our murdering soldiers were smart enough to visit a VA hospital before they let their march off to war.
I read that the isrealis first developed suicide vests.
I've read that it was the Tamil Tigers of the Hindu persuation.
I thought of quite a few examples of non Muslim terrorists. The one that jumped out right away was McVeigh because I bring this up all the time to the Republicans I know. But the others are worth noting also because they're not just lone individuals.
The Symbionese Liberation Army right here in California, little Patty Hearst's group, remember Tanya?
The Bader-Meinhof gang and their attacks in Germany.
The Tokyo subway sarin gas attacks carried out by Aum Shinrikyo.
The ignorance of the average person in this country is astounding.
The IRA. The KKK. The Red Brigades. The Basque separatists in Spain. The list is long and varied.
We are the only country that not only doesn't recognize their own terrorists AS such, but we are also the only country that seems to think that we are the only one with the problem at all. We are the only one that has felt it necessary to use war as our answer to a few nut cases. Something about a hammer being the only tool we have...
The IRA have been active for many years and committed some terrible atrocities in Northern Ireland and the UK mainland. They had the support for their views of the Irish Republic but not open support for their tactics. They would escape capture by nipping across the border from Northern Ireland to the Republic.
Why, I wonder did the UK not invade the Irish Republic? Anyway, two of the "apologist spokesmen" for the IRA have become Members of the UK Parliament although they refused to take their seats so as not to declare allegiance to the Queen. I think having made their point they are standing down in order to stand for the Irish parliament.
The reason we are living in relative peace now is through secret negotiation with terrorists and the release of prisoners who WERE guilty of terrorist acts.
I hope I live long enough to see Blair, Bush and other scumbags brought to justice but sadly I doubt it.
Another thing I nearly forgot. Where did the IRA get their money for arms? Well I may be wrong but I believe a lot came from collections in the bars of NY. Americans supporting terrorism.
The FLQ in Canada... that's right, Canada.
The real terrorists are in congress, the pentagon and the white house; throw in the high court, as they appointed never elected mass murderers bush/ cheney !
The only comment I will make is this:
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS AL QAEDA!
The name, the entire concept was created by the CIA in the early 90's when the Soviet Union collapsed. The MIC desperately needed a new boogey man and...voila! They created one out of whole cloth.
Great comments before me. Makes me glad I read this site.
The United States of America, raping, murdering, massacring, enslaving, and exploiting since 1789, and doing the same through its unincorporated progenitors since 1607. A country every "American' should be ashamed of.
The words "terror" and "terrorism" entered the lexicon in during the French Revolution. When the Jacobins came to power they suspended the new Constitution, because they said they couldn't ensure public safety and security under it. Then they started a "Reign of Terror" to get rid of all evil people who disagreed with them or didn't like their version of liberty, equality & fraternity. An estimated 40,000 people were killed in about a year..
What's different now? The USA has a war on terrorism designed to suppress dissent and frighten citizens into supporting pointless wars,extrajudicial assassination and other Constitutional rights.
Intro to reality 101.
btw, for myths #5-67, That in reality 201, 301 etc
(myths 68-?? are classified, and will not ever be revealed to the public)
"The US will never win the War on Terrorism."
War on Terrorism (WOT) is an MIC term.
Stop using terms, terms that will create history, terms that come from the MIC.
Please.
"The US will never win the War on Future Terrorism."
What is the US doing? Going after people who have already attacked the US? (terrorists), or going after people who might attack the US? (future terrorists).
And wiretapping, and reading e-mails, etc, all in an effort to prevent future terrorism, here and abroad, near and far, by identifying potential, future, threats.
We must understand this correctly. Read Public Law 107-40. The President is authorized to use the US military forces to prevent future terrorism.
It's insane, but it's the law. Just as the Reichstag Fire decree gave Hitler unlimited power to deal with a purported emergency, just as the Tonkin Gulf resolution allowed LBJ to surge into Vietnam under cover of his lies about the US being attacked, just like those, this law was shoved down Congress's throat after 9/11 (Congress, except for Barbara Lee, willingly swallowed the lies, the threats, just as Congresses always do, in these cases). This law allows the insane and neverending war that we all complain about, over and over.
I suggest that right here is where we can start to make a difference.
It's not WOT, nor GWOT, nor any other MIC term.
It's DAFT, the Defense against Future Terrorism.
We won't win the big war (ending this insanity), if we don't win the linguistic battle and name it what it is, not what the MIC wants to sell to us.
"We won't win the big war (ending this insanity), if we don't win the linguistic battle and name it what it is, not what the MIC wants to sell to us."
Absolutely, 100% correct!
It's the War OF Terror in support of Full Spectrum Dominance--the same sort of global domination pursued by the likes of Dr. No, Auric Goldfinger, and Hugo Drax, and opposed by James Bond, while the millions of dead, maimed, and displaced remind those of us with eyes to see that this is no celluloid fantasy. The roots of Global Evil reside in Washington, DC and New York city.
" ... global domination pursued by the likes of Dr. No, Auric Goldfinger, and Hugo Drax"
Don't forget the PNAC. I know, Bond has not yet gone after them, but he should. Their plan continues in its execution by the US Government.
It is not a war against future terror because it actually encourages future terror.
I prefer the old standby, War of Terror.
The Christian American armed forces are by far the largest terrorist organization in the history of the world. Rifle scopes with Christian bible quotes used to slaughter Muslim civilians. The Air Force is a fundamentalist Christian organization that has dropped tens of thousands of tons of bombs on innocent civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our Christian soldiers blow up peasants' houses in Afghanistan everyday, kill their children (about 3 kids a day get killed in Afghanistan), launch drones into their villages and claim we killed "insurgents," handcuff young boys and shoot them in the back of the head, murder pregnant women and dig the bullets out of their bodies, hunt civilians for sport, etc.
Just a few bad apples or does the rot come from the top?
But they hate us for our freedoms, when they should hate us for killing their children. Boy do they have the wrong priorities.
My understanding is that the Anti Indian Sikh terrorists were trained in US in 80s. US have nurtured Chechen terroists as well. Europe has allowed Sikh terrorists and Checehn terrorist in its midst for a longtime. Checehn terrorism in particular gets its sustenance from europe.
Just wait until we begin using the tanks being shipped to Afghanistan.
As if our total destruction of neighborhoods thought to be booby trapped in Afghanistan isn't terrorism.
And we evidently need Russian help to boot.
Why am I experiencing cognitive dissonance?
DUH!
Stating the obvious it must be a truism that if there is such a thing as a "war on terrorism" AND we are to believe in the sincerity of The Pentagon, as it declares in earnest it's desire to wage this war successfully, we should expect The Pentagon to pursue the most deadly terrorist organization on the planet.
Right?
And of course the historical and very public record is quite clear on what entity claims that title, no other group can even come near this grotesque record of wholesale slaughter.
So next week, perhaps after the holiday, we will indeed be hearing the declaration by The Pentagon that it has declared war on itself won't we? I mean if we are to believe in it's narrative eh?
Sleep tight good citizen of The Homeland.
War is terrorism with a big budget !
The myth of any war is that killing people ever solves anything.