Fear and Loathing in Washington
Anyone who has read the late Hunter Thompson's book "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" can visualize what is happening in Washington DC these days. The rhetoric and policies coming out of that town are a result of the most demented, hallucinogenic, irresponsible, clueless, insulated, out-of-touch, self-serving behavior imaginable!
The politics of fear and fear-mongering by the Bush Administration and their supporters to mobilize "their base" is ever-present, heavy-handed, and overblown. What was it that FDR once said?...."The only thing we have to fear is fear itself"? How right he was! Americans need to wake up! Where was all this "fear" of terrorism and terrorists before 9/11? Everything that is going on today was going on before 9/11; and I am not saying just a few weeks or months before, but decades and hundreds of years before!!! The war between the Christians and Muslims has been going on, at some level, since before the Crusades. Terrorism by various tribes and war lords was rampant in the Middle East long before the Jews arrived there in the 1940's and Israel became a State. Where was American vigilance against terrorism when IRA terrorists were killing, kidnapping, and blowing up civilians in Belfast and its environs and money was flowing to the IRA through the Starry Plow Irish pubs across the US? Since when did the US give a fig about the Tamil Tigers and the devastation they have wrought in their part of the world? Where was the US government's outrage and what actions did they take to staunch the activities and agenda of Chechnian terrorists in the former Soviet Union? Why didn't we see any frantic and overwrought "call to action" against local US militias and extremist groups, the likes of which bred Timothy McVeigh, like we are now seeing against Arabs and Islam? I can tell you why..... Bush and the highest officials in the White House are fanatical, racist, fundamentalist-Christian, war-mongering, defense-contract-loving-loving freaks who are making the so-called "War on Terror" a Holy War of greed, lying, corruption, control, prejudice, and denial designed to prove that they, their opinions, their religion, and their morals are superior to everyone else's; and that they are the salvation of the world (silly me, I thought the latter was Jesus' role)! The US has a Christian-Bush jihad kind-of-thing going on and no one is calling them on it!!
I am not saying that terrorism is not a bad thing or that it is something to be condoned. Any premeditated killing of civilians and destruction of their homes and property to generate fear, any abuse of human rights, any repression of free thought or the right to voice differences through retribution of any kind, or any the inhumane treatment of prisoners or captured parties should not be tolerated.....and should be actively rooted out.....and rooted out EVERY WHERE it occurs! A true "War on Terror" has to be a policy that is not selectively applied as it is, presently, by the US, England, and their misguided allies. The US', and its primarily western allies', current "War on Terror" has a focus that is basically on Arabs and other believers of Islam. The actions of the US and its buddies show that, without a doubt, their "War on Terror" is a concerted racist effort to bring countries and peoples with uniquely different points of view, ways of life, culture, and ethnicity under Western control and mores. It does not take a rocket scientist (or psychologist) to know that the "War on Terror" strategy as espoused by Bush and his allies will not and cannot ever work!
There have been any number of studies on the cause of terrorism by accredited academics who have no political axe to grind on this issue. Want to know that the major cause of terrorism is?... It is the occupation of a country by armed forces of an outside government. Let's see......not so long ago the US invaded Afghanistan and overthrew their government and presently has a large number of troops stationed in that country. More recently the US invaded Iraq and overthrew its government and presently has a large number of troops in that country. Bush continues to try and bully Pakistan and threatens it with nuclear destruction if it does not help it in its "War on Terror". Even more recently, the US has been posturing and exuding militant vibes in the direction of Iran, with some political pundits saying that it might not be long until the US does something rash over there.
Now let me see, if the major reason for terrorism is to expel "foreign devils", how does the present American method of reducing terrorism achieve that goal. In a word, it does not. In fact, the recent US government report that just came out, and is discussed on one of the other blogs on this site, says that Bush's "War on Terror" has not reduced the threat of potential terrorist activities focused on Ameicans, but rather has had exactly the opposite effect by breeding even more American/Western-hating jihadist terrorists around the world.
To wage their "War on Terror", the Bush Administrationg now dumps billions of dollars a year into this effort including more than $100 billion per year (yes, 100,000,000,000 dollars, or about $3,000 dollars per man, woman, and child in the US EACH year). And, let me tell you; if you spent that kind of money on humanitarian aid in the developing world and kept your nose out of a country's personal affairs we would not see the loathing of the US that we see just about everywhere around the world (even from those whose governments espouse to be our allies). Helping people help themselves is how you fight terrorists and terrorism. People who are happy, who have the necessities of life and then some, who are able to give their children a better tomorrow, and who feel they are in control of their own destiny have no reason to become suicide bombers or jihadists. A happy comfortable populace that determines how ti will rule itself (whether that be democratically or otherwise) takes all the wind out of the sails of terrorism.
It is impractical to think that the present Bush Administration will change its position in any way until it is forced to leave office, because its hallmark to date has been its refusal to admit any problems or errors in judgment in anything it does. All that can be done is to vote-in a US Congress in November that will not be a toady to the present administration, with people, regardless of party, who have actual backbones and who are willing to call Bush and his cronies out; make them accountable for their actions; not allow continuation of this false "War"; give the public back the civil rights and Rule of Law that have been severely eroded during the last two Bush Administrations; and bring sanity back into the Halls of the US Congress and, in 2008, into the White House. The damage Bush has done to the US with his ill conceived policies, with his targeted smear campaigns against those who do not agree with his policies or tactics, with his fear-mongering to the public and his lack of adherence to international (in terms of the Geneva Convention) or US law (in terms of illegal wiretaps, refusal of habeas corpus to those accused of being "enemies of the state"), and with his lying about the reasons to go to war with Iraq, will take decades to undo!!
The loathing of Americans by other countries around the world roars in my ears. It is impossible to imagine that Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, and their toadies do not hear it as well; and I hope it keeps them up at night. They, and the weak-willed spineless Congress that has now rubber stamped the Bush Administration policies, are the architects of the new nightmare we face! They MUST go!
The politics of fear and fear-mongering by the Bush Administration and their supporters to mobilize "their base" is ever-present, heavy-handed, and overblown. What was it that FDR once said?...."The only thing we have to fear is fear itself"? How right he was! Americans need to wake up! Where was all this "fear" of terrorism and terrorists before 9/11? Everything that is going on today was going on before 9/11; and I am not saying just a few weeks or months before, but decades and hundreds of years before!!! The war between the Christians and Muslims has been going on, at some level, since before the Crusades. Terrorism by various tribes and war lords was rampant in the Middle East long before the Jews arrived there in the 1940's and Israel became a State. Where was American vigilance against terrorism when IRA terrorists were killing, kidnapping, and blowing up civilians in Belfast and its environs and money was flowing to the IRA through the Starry Plow Irish pubs across the US? Since when did the US give a fig about the Tamil Tigers and the devastation they have wrought in their part of the world? Where was the US government's outrage and what actions did they take to staunch the activities and agenda of Chechnian terrorists in the former Soviet Union? Why didn't we see any frantic and overwrought "call to action" against local US militias and extremist groups, the likes of which bred Timothy McVeigh, like we are now seeing against Arabs and Islam? I can tell you why..... Bush and the highest officials in the White House are fanatical, racist, fundamentalist-Christian, war-mongering, defense-contract-loving-loving freaks who are making the so-called "War on Terror" a Holy War of greed, lying, corruption, control, prejudice, and denial designed to prove that they, their opinions, their religion, and their morals are superior to everyone else's; and that they are the salvation of the world (silly me, I thought the latter was Jesus' role)! The US has a Christian-Bush jihad kind-of-thing going on and no one is calling them on it!!
I am not saying that terrorism is not a bad thing or that it is something to be condoned. Any premeditated killing of civilians and destruction of their homes and property to generate fear, any abuse of human rights, any repression of free thought or the right to voice differences through retribution of any kind, or any the inhumane treatment of prisoners or captured parties should not be tolerated.....and should be actively rooted out.....and rooted out EVERY WHERE it occurs! A true "War on Terror" has to be a policy that is not selectively applied as it is, presently, by the US, England, and their misguided allies. The US', and its primarily western allies', current "War on Terror" has a focus that is basically on Arabs and other believers of Islam. The actions of the US and its buddies show that, without a doubt, their "War on Terror" is a concerted racist effort to bring countries and peoples with uniquely different points of view, ways of life, culture, and ethnicity under Western control and mores. It does not take a rocket scientist (or psychologist) to know that the "War on Terror" strategy as espoused by Bush and his allies will not and cannot ever work!
There have been any number of studies on the cause of terrorism by accredited academics who have no political axe to grind on this issue. Want to know that the major cause of terrorism is?... It is the occupation of a country by armed forces of an outside government. Let's see......not so long ago the US invaded Afghanistan and overthrew their government and presently has a large number of troops stationed in that country. More recently the US invaded Iraq and overthrew its government and presently has a large number of troops in that country. Bush continues to try and bully Pakistan and threatens it with nuclear destruction if it does not help it in its "War on Terror". Even more recently, the US has been posturing and exuding militant vibes in the direction of Iran, with some political pundits saying that it might not be long until the US does something rash over there.
Now let me see, if the major reason for terrorism is to expel "foreign devils", how does the present American method of reducing terrorism achieve that goal. In a word, it does not. In fact, the recent US government report that just came out, and is discussed on one of the other blogs on this site, says that Bush's "War on Terror" has not reduced the threat of potential terrorist activities focused on Ameicans, but rather has had exactly the opposite effect by breeding even more American/Western-hating jihadist terrorists around the world.
To wage their "War on Terror", the Bush Administrationg now dumps billions of dollars a year into this effort including more than $100 billion per year (yes, 100,000,000,000 dollars, or about $3,000 dollars per man, woman, and child in the US EACH year). And, let me tell you; if you spent that kind of money on humanitarian aid in the developing world and kept your nose out of a country's personal affairs we would not see the loathing of the US that we see just about everywhere around the world (even from those whose governments espouse to be our allies). Helping people help themselves is how you fight terrorists and terrorism. People who are happy, who have the necessities of life and then some, who are able to give their children a better tomorrow, and who feel they are in control of their own destiny have no reason to become suicide bombers or jihadists. A happy comfortable populace that determines how ti will rule itself (whether that be democratically or otherwise) takes all the wind out of the sails of terrorism.
It is impractical to think that the present Bush Administration will change its position in any way until it is forced to leave office, because its hallmark to date has been its refusal to admit any problems or errors in judgment in anything it does. All that can be done is to vote-in a US Congress in November that will not be a toady to the present administration, with people, regardless of party, who have actual backbones and who are willing to call Bush and his cronies out; make them accountable for their actions; not allow continuation of this false "War"; give the public back the civil rights and Rule of Law that have been severely eroded during the last two Bush Administrations; and bring sanity back into the Halls of the US Congress and, in 2008, into the White House. The damage Bush has done to the US with his ill conceived policies, with his targeted smear campaigns against those who do not agree with his policies or tactics, with his fear-mongering to the public and his lack of adherence to international (in terms of the Geneva Convention) or US law (in terms of illegal wiretaps, refusal of habeas corpus to those accused of being "enemies of the state"), and with his lying about the reasons to go to war with Iraq, will take decades to undo!!
The loathing of Americans by other countries around the world roars in my ears. It is impossible to imagine that Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, and their toadies do not hear it as well; and I hope it keeps them up at night. They, and the weak-willed spineless Congress that has now rubber stamped the Bush Administration policies, are the architects of the new nightmare we face! They MUST go!
