Terrorism: Made in the U.S.A.

[JBeee]

[FONT=Arial,Geneva,sans-serif]by [/FONT][FONT=Arial,Geneva,sans-serif]Sheldon Richman[/FONT], [FONT=Arial,Geneva,sans-serif]June 11, 2010[/FONT]

[FONT=Times,Times New Roman]
It’s a perilous world, as our so-called leaders love to remind us. And for a change they’re right.

It is a perilous world. But guess who is most responsible for the peril to Americans? Those very same “leaders” and a long line of predecessors.

Moreover, they — along with anyone else who takes time to examine the matter — know that they create the greatest dangers Americans face. They just don’t care. They have bigger fish to fry than keeping Americans safe. Besides, the dangers they create provide excuses for more power.

Let’s just say what many people already know: the “war on terrorism” produces terrorists. No half-intelligent person could think that U.S. treatment of the Muslim world could have any effect other than to produce violent, vengeful anti-Americanism. Even in the government-friendly mainstream media you will find the facts, though you’ll have to connect the dots yourself.
When you treat people like they are worthless, or help others to treat them that way, some of those people will get mad and vow to get even. If desperate enough they will even be willing to give their lives to the cause.

Isn’t this already obvious? For over 50 years U.S. administrations, for the sake of geopolitical hegemony and preferential access to resources, have treated much of the Muslim world like personal property. They’ve backed brutal dictators, subverted governments, and invaded and occupied countries as it suited their agenda of “world leadership.” The program included defying the will of the Iranian people (1953), backing the repressive Saudi monarchy and the Egyptian and Iraqi dictatorships, financing Israel’s wars against Lebanon and oppression of the Palestinians, and so much more. It was bad enough that England and France had betrayed the trust of the Arabs after World War I and turned the Middle East into a colonial playground, with all the humiliation and repression that implies. The U.S. government then compounded the crime by picking up the mantle of empire after World War II. Power and oil were the reasons. Were the brutalized and mortified people supposed to be grateful to the West?

We kid ourselves when we pretend that history began on Sept. 11, 2001.

Can anyone say with a straight face that before that date America was minding its own business according to the noninterventionist guidelines set out by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson? Read some history. Or does American exceptionalism mean not having to know anything before dropping bombs on people and torturing detainees?

The Muslims who wish Americans ill have never been mysterious about their grievances.

Osama bin Laden’s fatwa against the United States is online. Read it for yourself. It was issued in 1996, soon after U.S.-financed Israel conducted one of its regular onslaughts against the Lebanese. What are his specific grievances? American troops stationed near Muslim holy places in Saudi Arabia. The 1990s killer U.S. embargo on Iraq. U.S. sponsorship of Israel’s domination of the Palestinians and its neighbors. “Terrorising you, while you are carrying arms on our land, is a legitimate and morally demanded duty,” he wrote.

You don’t need to take bin Laden’s word for it. Bush administration officials acknowledged that U.S. policy creates more terrorists than it kills. Bush strategist Paul Wolfowitz himself said that occupying Iraq permitted U.S. troops to leave Saudi Arabia, where they had created so much hostility to America. Correct: American policy manufactures terrorism.

With impunity the U.S. government fires missiles from pilotless drones into Pakistan, Yemen, and elsewhere, killing innocents. Its occupation forces leave death and misery in their wake.

Gen. Stanley McChrystal concedes that in Afghanistan “We’ve shot an amazing number of people and killed a number and, to my knowledge, none has proven to have been a real threat to the force.” And in the latest incident, Israel killed nine aid volunteers (including an American citizen) on the high seas while enforcing a cruel blockade of Gaza, the latest mistreatment of Palestinians. How can this not come back to haunt us, Israel’s financiers?

U.S. policy — no matter who’s in power — couldn’t be better tailored to recruit terrorists. We can keep pretending we are innocent victims. Or we can finally put the responsibility where it belongs: in Washington, D.C.
[/FONT]

 

[Cliffy]

This is too obvious. I have been saying this since the sixties. It still amazes me that people think that it always those other lunatics who are at fault but in the end it is unequivocally the Pentagon that is the source of all terrorism. There is nothing benevolent or benign about the world's biggest war machine whose sole purpose is to dominate, control and brutalize the world for the resources it needs to dominate, control and brutalize the world. The Middle East has every right to hate the US. The price for the illusion of freedom in the US is the victimization of the Third World.

 

[CDNBear]

Two wrongs always make a right...

Way to legitimize violence.

 

[darkbeaver]

This is too obvious. I have been saying this since the sixties. It still amazes me that people think that it always those other lunatics who are at fault but in the end it is unequivocally the Pentagon that is the source of all terrorism. There is nothing benevolent or benign about the world's biggest war machine whose sole purpose is to dominate, control and brutalize the world for the resources it needs to dominate, control and brutalize the world. The Middle East has every right to hate the US. The price for the illusion of freedom in the US is the victimization of the Third World.

No one but a blind clam would disagree Cliffy. They're big they're powerful and they're ugly and dangerous and they lie all day long, period.

 

[taxslave]

The pentagon is only the enforcement arm of US business interests. Until they quit with the manifest destiny idea and admit that their little peckers are causing their bad case of insecurity they will continue to bring home the same problems that they have taken to almost every corner of the world.

 

[AnnaG]

The pentagon is only the enforcement arm of US business interests. Until they quit with the manifest destiny idea and admit that their little peckers are causing their bad case of insecurity they will continue to bring home the same problems that they have taken to almost every corner of the world.

I agree.

 

[Risus]

[FONT=Arial,Geneva,sans-serif]by [/FONT][FONT=Arial,Geneva,sans-serif]Sheldon Richman[/FONT], [FONT=Arial,Geneva,sans-serif]June 11, 2010[/FONT]


[FONT=Times,Times New Roman]It’s a perilous world, as our so-called leaders love to remind us. And for a change they’re right. [/FONT]

[FONT=Times,Times New Roman]It is a perilous world. But guess who is most responsible for the peril to Americans? Those very same “leaders” and a long line of predecessors. [/FONT]

[FONT=Times,Times New Roman]Moreover, they — along with anyone else who takes time to examine the matter — know that they create the greatest dangers Americans face. They just don’t care. They have bigger fish to fry than keeping Americans safe. Besides, the dangers they create provide excuses for more power. [/FONT]

[FONT=Times,Times New Roman]Let’s just say what many people already know: the “war on terrorism” produces terrorists. No half-intelligent person could think that U.S. treatment of the Muslim world could have any effect other than to produce violent, vengeful anti-Americanism. Even in the government-friendly mainstream media you will find the facts, though you’ll have to connect the dots yourself. [/FONT]
[FONT=Times,Times New Roman]When you treat people like they are worthless, or help others to treat them that way, some of those people will get mad and vow to get even. If desperate enough they will even be willing to give their lives to the cause. [/FONT]

[FONT=Times,Times New Roman]Isn’t this already obvious? For over 50 years U.S. administrations, for the sake of geopolitical hegemony and preferential access to resources, have treated much of the Muslim world like personal property. They’ve backed brutal dictators, subverted governments, and invaded and occupied countries as it suited their agenda of “world leadership.” The program included defying the will of the Iranian people (1953), backing the repressive Saudi monarchy and the Egyptian and Iraqi dictatorships, financing Israel’s wars against Lebanon and oppression of the Palestinians, and so much more. It was bad enough that England and France had betrayed the trust of the Arabs after World War I and turned the Middle East into a colonial playground, with all the humiliation and repression that implies. The U.S. government then compounded the crime by picking up the mantle of empire after World War II. Power and oil were the reasons. Were the brutalized and mortified people supposed to be grateful to the West? [/FONT]

[FONT=Times,Times New Roman]We kid ourselves when we pretend that history began on Sept. 11, 2001. [/FONT]

[FONT=Times,Times New Roman]Can anyone say with a straight face that before that date America was minding its own business according to the noninterventionist guidelines set out by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson? Read some history. Or does American exceptionalism mean not having to know anything before dropping bombs on people and torturing detainees? [/FONT]

[FONT=Times,Times New Roman]The Muslims who wish Americans ill have never been mysterious about their grievances. [/FONT]

[FONT=Times,Times New Roman]Osama bin Laden’s fatwa against the United States is online. Read it for yourself. It was issued in 1996, soon after U.S.-financed Israel conducted one of its regular onslaughts against the Lebanese. What are his specific grievances? American troops stationed near Muslim holy places in Saudi Arabia. The 1990s killer U.S. embargo on Iraq. U.S. sponsorship of Israel’s domination of the Palestinians and its neighbors. “Terrorising you, while you are carrying arms on our land, is a legitimate and morally demanded duty,” he wrote. [/FONT]

[FONT=Times,Times New Roman]You don’t need to take bin Laden’s word for it. Bush administration officials acknowledged that U.S. policy creates more terrorists than it kills. Bush strategist Paul Wolfowitz himself said that occupying Iraq permitted U.S. troops to leave Saudi Arabia, where they had created so much hostility to America. Correct: American policy manufactures terrorism. [/FONT]

[FONT=Times,Times New Roman]With impunity the U.S. government fires missiles from pilotless drones into Pakistan, Yemen, and elsewhere, killing innocents. Its occupation forces leave death and misery in their wake. [/FONT]

[FONT=Times,Times New Roman]Gen. Stanley McChrystal concedes that in Afghanistan “We’ve shot an amazing number of people and killed a number and, to my knowledge, none has proven to have been a real threat to the force.” And in the latest incident, Israel killed nine aid volunteers (including an American citizen) on the high seas while enforcing a cruel blockade of Gaza, the latest mistreatment of Palestinians. How can this not come back to haunt us, Israel’s financiers? [/FONT]

[FONT=Times,Times New Roman]U.S. policy — no matter who’s in power — couldn’t be better tailored to recruit terrorists. We can keep pretending we are innocent victims. Or we can finally put the responsibility where it belongs: in Washington, D.C. [/FONT]

I gotta agree with that. The yankees are hypocrites and their own worst enemies.
It seems the yanks are the only ones that don't understand it.

 

[ironsides]

I gotta agree with that. The yankees are hypocrites and their own worst enemies.
It seems the yanks are the only ones that don't understand it.

You forgot how arrogant we are also. But were here and your there.

 

[Risus]

You forgot how arrogant we are also. But were here and your there.

You have proven that the yankee education system isn't working...

 

[ironsides]

The pentagon is only the enforcement arm of US business interests. Until they quit with the manifest destiny idea and admit that their little peckers are causing their bad case of insecurity they will continue to bring home the same problems that they have taken to almost every corner of the world.

We finished Manifest Destiny years ago. I would say that Manifest Destiny is over with unless you expect us to expand to the North and South.

 

[Downhome_Woman]

This is too obvious. I have been saying this since the sixties. It still amazes me that people think that it always those other lunatics who are at fault but in the end it is unequivocally the Pentagon that is the source of all terrorism. There is nothing benevolent or benign about the world's biggest war machine whose sole purpose is to dominate, control and brutalize the world for the resources it needs to dominate, control and brutalize the world. The Middle East has every right to hate the US. The price for the illusion of freedom in the US is the victimization of the Third World.

Oh Cliffy - you are indeed a good man but come on - every one of those countries is governed by people who are out for themselves. They aren't stupid, they aren't rubes or country bumpkins. They choose their alliances for whatever reason.Blame the States for offering the carrot? No one is putting the gun to their heads - they choose to do what they do because they want to do it, and from what I see, most chose at the expense of their citizens. You want to blame the States. Sorry - that's grabbing at low hanging fruit. It's way too easy. The world should start putting the blame where it belongs. Corrupt leaders who don't give a damn about their citizens and care more about lining their own pockets.
And here's another thought. All these hard done by countries, the ones who have been 'taken advantage of'? They'd do the same to another less advantaged country in a heartbeat.
I'm not a cynic - I'm a realist.

 

[Cliffy]

We finished Manifest Destiny years ago. I would say that Manifest Destiny is over with unless you expect us to expand to the North and South.

You may have stopped using the expression, but US expansionism on this planet still uses the same mentality. A rose is a rose and a skunk is a skunk by any other name.

Oh Cliffy - you are indeed a good man but come on - every one of those countries is governed by people who are out for themselves. They aren't stupid, they aren't rubes or country bumpkins. They choose their alliances for whatever reason.Blame the States for offering the carrot? No one is putting the gun to their heads - they choose to do what they do because they want to do it, and from what I see, most chose at the expense of their citizens. You want to blame the States. Sorry - that's grabbing at low hanging fruit. It's way too easy. The world should start putting the blame where it belongs. Corrupt leaders who don't give a damn about their citizens and care more about lining their own pockets.
And here's another thought. All these hard done by countries, the ones who have been 'taken advantage of'? They'd do the same to another less advantaged country in a heartbeat.
I'm not a cynic - I'm a realist.

Did Saddam or the Taliban ask the US to invade? Did Vietnam, or Granada, Panama? I don't think so. Did not some of the most despotic dictators get their training, along with their death squads, in the US? Sorry but I don't buy that argument.

 

[Downhome_Woman]

You may have stopped using the expression, but US expansionism on this planet still uses the same mentality. A rose is a rose and a skunk is a skunk by any other name.


Did Saddam or the Taliban ask the US to invade? Did Vietnam, or Granada, Panama? I don't think so. Did not some of the most despotic dictators get their training, along with their death squads, in the US? Sorry but I don't buy that argument.

So what! those leaders made choices! They didn't have to play along with the USA - but they did. If you are a leader then you should lead! Those leaders weren't stupid, they weren't a bunch of country bumpkins, they knew what they wanted and they chose their path - to the detriment of the people that they were supposed to be leading.

 

[petros]

Did Saddam or the Taliban ask the US to invade? Did Vietnam, or Granada, Panama? I don't think so. Did not some of the most despotic dictators get their training, along with their death squads, in the US? Sorry but I don't buy that argument.

Is there a "School of the Arabias" for dictators like the "School of the Americas" for South American dictators somewhere in the US?

 

[Bar Sinister]

This is too obvious. I have been saying this since the sixties. It still amazes me that people think that it always those other lunatics who are at fault but in the end it is unequivocally the Pentagon that is the source of all terrorism. There is nothing benevolent or benign about the world's biggest war machine whose sole purpose is to dominate, control and brutalize the world for the resources it needs to dominate, control and brutalize the world. The Middle East has every right to hate the US. The price for the illusion of freedom in the US is the victimization of the Third World.

The source of all terrorism? That seems like a bit of an overgeneralization considering the multiplicity of terrorist groups around the world.

 

[Cliffy]

The source of all terrorism? That seems like a bit of an overgeneralization considering the multiplicity of terrorist groups around the world.

And what do you think causes people to blow themselves up? Their lives have been so marginalized, so demeaned that they feel the only response they have is to kill and be killed. US Foreign Policy is to blame for creating terrorist in third world countries by terrorizing them in the name of freedom and democracy (read: theft of their resources). The price of freedom in the US comes on the subjugation and domination of third world countries and their people.

 

[Walter]

Mr. Richman has great ideas about education but his foreign policy analysis is out of whack with reality.

 

[ironsides]

You may have stopped using the expression, but US expansionism on this planet still uses the same mentality. A rose is a rose and a skunk is a skunk by any other name.


Did Saddam or the Taliban ask the US to invade? Did Vietnam, or Granada, Panama? I don't think so. Did not some of the most despotic dictators get their training, along with their death squads, in the US? Sorry but I don't buy that argument.

Where exactly have we expanded to making creating a new U.S. territory, protectorate or what ever you want to call it lately? Where are we expanding to? Except for putting out a few fires and leaving, no where. The U.S. has nothing to apologize for, we just do things that must be done that others don't care to do or are afraid to do. Your kind are everywhere, little voices saying don't do this, don't do that. People who just want to live their own little isolated lives not offering serious help to anyone. When we leave a country, we usually leave it in much better condition than when we arrived. Two countries you happened to mention are case in point. Panama and Granada. Both were being lead by dictator who headed death squads and or were drug lords we went in and set thing right. No they didn't invite us to invade them, dumb statement, but we did not permently occupy any of them.

 

[CDNBear]

Iron, first off let me say, I mean no disrespect and I really hate to do this altogether, but I must...

Where exactly have we expanded to making creating a new U.S. territory, protectorate or what ever you want to call it lately?

Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, and many other nations, now holding US military bases, and subject to aid removal if they don't acquiesce to US foreigh policy and military deployment.

Where are we expanding to?

All over.

Except for putting out a few fires and leaving, no where.

I won't negate the US's oft and substantial humanitarian and financial aid, but it comes with strings. Furthermore, some of theose fires were caused directly and indirectly by poorly managed foreign policies and US meddling.

The U.S. has nothing to apologize for, we just do things that must be done that others don't care to do or are afraid to do.

I'll disagree, though the US has brought some very good acts to the table, she has also made many of the problems she has faced over the years.

Without going into great detail and length, and having to go looking through my library, I'll cite the "Banana wars" as the precursor to the rise of socialism in South America. Which of course drew in US foreign policy on the spread of communism. Which of course has led to massive human suffering.

Are you following me here? US corporations, pushed their friends in the US Gov't , to use US Gov't strength and military might, to formulate and execute covert coupes. Some were even faked outright. So US corporate interests could conduct business as usual. At the expense of the populace of countries run by now US friendly politicians.

Your kind are everywhere, little voices saying don't do this, don't do that.

Though I somewhat agree with you, I find some of these people to be like the proverbial angel on your shoulder at times.

People who just want to live their own little isolated lives not offering serious help to anyone.

Again, although I somewhat agree, in many instances, situations should have been left alone and allowed to go as they may. A greater injustice was made by foreign involvement.

When we leave a country, we usually leave it in much better condition than when we arrived.

That may be true in some instance, but few, far between and antiquated at best. The present course of action, oft leaves countries destabilized and with huge power vacuums that oft lead to far more human suffering. Be it overt or covert.

Two countries you happened to mention are case in point. Panama and Granada. Both were being lead by dictator who headed death squads and or were drug lords we went in and set thing right.

You're kidding right? Panama was lead by Bush Sr' CIA bag man. He was put into power simply because of his ties to US power brokers. But as does oft happen with power and people, corruption and power hunger ensues. This taking place on real estate that of the up most importance to US interests, such as the canal. Just isn't going to sit well with the power brokers in Washington.

The very creation of the Panama canal was at the behest of US interests, and made possible by US led military action, in dividing Columbia. Under the guise of Panamanian independence.

No they didn't invite us to invade them, dumb statement, but we did not permently occupy any of them.

Do I really have to list the US military installations in the region?

Please don't take this the wrong way, you know you and I are on the same team. I just see things from a different angle is all.

 

[Cliffy]

Bear, your version is not much more than a watered down agreement of what I said. I said what I did in response to the Disney-esque version of US benevolence some posters seem to have. The US rarely does anything that is not to their own benefit. US foreign policy has created turmoil and suffering the world over. And how many countries have US military bases on them? That is occupation by intimidation, so ironside's view is from wearing rose coloured glasses - too close to see the forest for the trees - my country right or wrong (mostly wrong).

I really don't know about Granada, but every other nasty dictator the US has had to remove was one they supported, trained and/or installed. That is occupation by proxy. In every case, their interference with the internal politics of a nation has resulted in great suffering of its people. It is time that the US withdrew its "support" of every country so as to take a long hard look at why so many people hate them and why there is so much "terrorism" as a result of their interference. That is not selfish on my part as none of it directly affects me. I am trying to speak for those oppressed by US foreign policy (an Canadian since Harpy has been kissing American butt.)