The terrorists who carried out the 9/11 attacks in New York and Washington paid the price for their crimes. They are all dead. The operation had a relatively small budget, not requiring the millions in Muslim personal, business or charitable funds now blocked or sequestered by the US government. At the same time, the war waged by the US on terrorism since 9/11 targets all individuals, groups and states who find US policies offensive, irrespective of their involvement in the events of that day. So, what’s up, doc?
This is what is up. This war targets foreign governments.
George Bush Sr. is on record: "America must always come first." I have no problem with this patriotic sentiment, but I have severe problems when, in this "must-always-come-first" business, America is not All of America but special-interest-group-America. These special interest groups — or lobbies — control the means by which politicians are elected to public office. I have no problems with this either. Americans are free to elect whomever they want to public offices. They are also free to choose those who govern them — but I have severe problems when these same officials attempt to extend their authority, scope and power to the world at large.
Yes, America is the most powerful military power. Yes, America is the richest country. Yes, without America the likes of Hitler, Stalin and Milosevic would be ravaging the earth. Yes, without American generosity Europe, Japan and much of the world would be struggling for economic and political survival. None of this, however, gives America the right to impose its will on sovereign countries. Since 9/11 a sovereign country has been bombed without a formal declaration of war. Its government has been replaced by one of America’s choice. The United Nations Security Council has been reduced to the status of the submissive canine seen on "His Master’s Voice" phonographs. America has in deed if not in fact declared itself above international law. The German chancellor is being "advised" to be subservient to American foreign policies.
A second sovereign country is about to be carpet bombed with or without United Nations involvement. Legitimate armed resistance to illegal foreign occupation is being called terrorism. Charitable funds of only one religious denomination have been either blocked or sequestered after being unilaterally labeled "terrorist funds". People whose origins are limited to one geographical area are being hunted down and put behind bars without charges or indictments, without recourse to legal representation or bail. Yes, justifications are being offered by the US — a different one each time — but the common denominator in each case is "good intentions", never "real intentions". To understand the difference we must recall that a year before 9/11, high-ranking representatives of the now-demonized Taleban were being "courted" in Texas by the US government and the oil lobby. The Americans wanted permission for a transcontinental oil pipeline to run through Afghanistan. Some of those former Afghan negotiators are now in the cages of Guantanamo.
It would be instructive to remember that just a decade and a half ago, the other demon — Iraq — had dutifully fought America’s proxy war for the containment of Iran. While doing so, it emerged as the regional bully with muscles, nuclear technology, chemicals and even germs provided by America. Had Iraq remained loyal and continued promoting America’s regional interests without foolishly occupying a neighboring oil-rich country or lobbing some antiquated missiles at Israel, they would have earned the status of one of America’s "most favored nations" with state-of-the-art "Made in America" weapons of mass destruction. But as we all know, Iraq chose not to. Misjudging the extent of Zionist (meaning both Jewish and Christian right) influences as well as the oil lobbies on American politics has cost them dearly for the past 10 years and will continue to cost them more in the years to come. They will soon end up supplying cheap oil in abundance to America for as long as an American general runs the country’s affairs — of course under the watchful eyes of the Zionists in Washington.
There are other sovereign states on America’s bombing list. In each case a "justification" with special "good intentions" is ready for public consumption in America as and when required. At the best these "good intentions" are hard to accept and at worst, they are simply red herrings, the greatest being that Iraq is producing weapons of mass destruction.
Once the "good intentions" have been declared and the "real intentions" buried ostrich-like, the logic behind the justifications will be difficult to accept. On this very subject one American commentator pointed out that when the Mafia commits violence, no one suggests that America bomb Sicily. On the subject of good intentions: In the book, "The Mainspring of Human Progress," G. Henry Weaver warned against good intentions. Years before 9/11, he wrote: "Most of the major ills of the world have been caused by well-meaning people who ignored the principle of individual freedom, except as applied to themselves, and were obsessed with fanatical zeal to improve the lot of mankind-in-the-mass through some pet formula of their own. The harm done by ordinary criminals, murderers, gangsters, and thieves is negligible in comparison with the agony inflicted upon human beings by the professional do-gooders, who attempt to set themselves up as rulers on earth and who would ruthlessly force their views on all others — with the abiding assurance that the end justifies the means."
In 1996, after five years of sanctions against Iraq and persistent bombing, a CBS reporter asked the US Ambassador to the United Nations, Madeleine Albright, a simple question: "We have heard that a half million children have died (as a consequence of US policy against Iraq). Is the price worth it?" Albright’s response was, "We think the price is worth it." (This interview won an Emmy award but was rarely shown in America.) Somehow the cat of "real intentions" got out of the tightly bound diplomatic bag of "good intentions".
— Arab News Opinion 30 January 2003
