We've said this before but it bears repeating: If America wants to defeat the terrorists, we have to level with ourselves and understand why so many people hate the U.S. of A.
We have to quit pretending Americans are the good guys, and pretending the terrorists "hate our freedoms," one of the more ludicrous lies of the Bush administration. More and more people around the world hate the U.S. for a better reason than that: They hate America because this nation has earned that hatred, with many U.S.-funded misdeeds over several decades, and over the last several years.
Any anti-terror plan that involves dropping bombs on cities is not an anti-terror plan, it's a plan for more terror and more terrorists. Dropping bombs might occasionally kill a terrorist, but bombs also kill innocent people, and that -- surprise, surprise -- pisses people off. It inspires more and more people to hate America. Some of those angry people will be eager to kill Americans for revenge, and since George W. Bush is surrounded by an excellent security detail, he won't be the American they kill. It will be you, or some other innocent American, or hundreds or thousands of innocent Americans, à la September 11.
So let's cut the crap and face the facts: Any anti-terror plan that doesn't start with an American president's apology for decades of atrocities is doomed and dumb, and only adds to the problem instead of really addressing it. To stop terrorism against Americans, we need to start with a loud, public apology, straight from an American president's lips on world-wide television, for every atrocity sponsored and perpetrated by US tax dollars since World War II.
There are hundreds, perhaps thousands of incidents to apologize for, and whole nations to apologize to. The apologies need to be sincere and specific, and must include the arrests of many American operatives (up to and including a few recent presidents and other high-ranking officials) who broke international, American, and various other nations’ laws.
Apologies must also include generous reparations to the families of millions of people killed by American foreign policy, and many millions more injured.
And most importantly, the apologies must include a direct, unblinking promise that such abuse of American power will never happen again.
After that painful first step, terrorism against Americans will immediately fade to a minor and rare problem, not needing a "war." And yes, it really is as simple as that.
The second step will then be easy: With international cooperation, police from America and other nations should seek out and arrest the suspected terrorists, with a special attention to the men who gave the orders.
Once arrested, these suspects -- from Osama bin Laden to George W. Bush -- should be tried in an open and international court, with the presumption of innocence, with qualified defense attorneys as needed, and with all the other rights defendants have in any fair trial.
To be credible, everything must be out in the open. The trials should be broadcast live and uncensored, without any "state secrets" held back, without any "executive privilige" to hide behind. Judges must be respectable, not scandal-ridden, charged with reaching fair verdicts and imposing fair sentences where warranted.
That's the way to end terrorism, if we really want to end terrorism.
But of course, it’s easier and more "American" to just keep bombing people all over the world, toppling their governments, meddling with their economies, keeping it all a secret from most average Americans, and pretending we’re "shocked, shocked" when terrorists strike at Americans.
by Helen & Harry Highwater
We have to quit pretending Americans are the good guys, and pretending the terrorists "hate our freedoms," one of the more ludicrous lies of the Bush administration. More and more people around the world hate the U.S. for a better reason than that: They hate America because this nation has earned that hatred, with many U.S.-funded misdeeds over several decades, and over the last several years.
Any anti-terror plan that involves dropping bombs on cities is not an anti-terror plan, it's a plan for more terror and more terrorists. Dropping bombs might occasionally kill a terrorist, but bombs also kill innocent people, and that -- surprise, surprise -- pisses people off. It inspires more and more people to hate America. Some of those angry people will be eager to kill Americans for revenge, and since George W. Bush is surrounded by an excellent security detail, he won't be the American they kill. It will be you, or some other innocent American, or hundreds or thousands of innocent Americans, à la September 11.
So let's cut the crap and face the facts: Any anti-terror plan that doesn't start with an American president's apology for decades of atrocities is doomed and dumb, and only adds to the problem instead of really addressing it. To stop terrorism against Americans, we need to start with a loud, public apology, straight from an American president's lips on world-wide television, for every atrocity sponsored and perpetrated by US tax dollars since World War II.
There are hundreds, perhaps thousands of incidents to apologize for, and whole nations to apologize to. The apologies need to be sincere and specific, and must include the arrests of many American operatives (up to and including a few recent presidents and other high-ranking officials) who broke international, American, and various other nations’ laws.
Apologies must also include generous reparations to the families of millions of people killed by American foreign policy, and many millions more injured.
And most importantly, the apologies must include a direct, unblinking promise that such abuse of American power will never happen again.
After that painful first step, terrorism against Americans will immediately fade to a minor and rare problem, not needing a "war." And yes, it really is as simple as that.
The second step will then be easy: With international cooperation, police from America and other nations should seek out and arrest the suspected terrorists, with a special attention to the men who gave the orders.
Once arrested, these suspects -- from Osama bin Laden to George W. Bush -- should be tried in an open and international court, with the presumption of innocence, with qualified defense attorneys as needed, and with all the other rights defendants have in any fair trial.
To be credible, everything must be out in the open. The trials should be broadcast live and uncensored, without any "state secrets" held back, without any "executive privilige" to hide behind. Judges must be respectable, not scandal-ridden, charged with reaching fair verdicts and imposing fair sentences where warranted.
That's the way to end terrorism, if we really want to end terrorism.
But of course, it’s easier and more "American" to just keep bombing people all over the world, toppling their governments, meddling with their economies, keeping it all a secret from most average Americans, and pretending we’re "shocked, shocked" when terrorists strike at Americans.
by Helen & Harry Highwater
