This is a piece about what I consider the broader, more honest description of terrorism is and some insights into the causes of terrorism.
September 11, 2010
The True Terrorists
I felt today was the appropriate time to write this piece while so many of my fellow Americans are reflecting on the tragedy of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center & the Pentagon. And while I too was dumbfounded by those horrific & cowardly attacks, I am not nearly as blind as so many others are regarding why this horrible event took place. Unfortunately, due to the dumbing down of most of us in our public education system & the corporate propaganda media system, the majority of Americans have little, if any, knowledge of the long history of crimes committed by "our" C.I.A., F.B.I., N.S.A., military, etc. Yes, our military. And because I point out these things doesn’t make me anti-American or disloyal but quite the contrary because if you aren’t just a ‘sunshine patriot,’ as Thomas Paine pointed out, you hold our government, and that includes the military that carry out the orders of the politicians, accountable. Of course most Americans naively believe that whatever soldiers do in times of war is not their fault because they’re simply "following orders." I don’t accept this reasoning because every one of us are responsible morally & ethically for our actions and that includes committing an unlawful or immoral action in war such as murder of innocents, rape, theft, etc.
How many of you know of the long & sordid history of our C.I.A. training torturers in countries around the world for dictators financed & militarily supported by our troops because the dictators allowed American corporations to operate (rape, pillage, & plunder the people & resources) in dozens & dozens of "third world" countries? And for the record, I am in no way defending the actions of 9/11; I am simply trying to shed some light on why it happened. If you’re interested in learning more about this subject, I strongly recommend you read Chalmers Johnson’s great book on the subject, Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire. In fact, he points out that the title "Blowback" is a term coined by the C.I.A. because they expected there would be retaliations for the various crimes they have been committing for decades. Naturally, the corporate media don’t want us to know of these nefarious crimes and that’s why they pay blowhards & bigoted bullies like Limbaugh, Beck, O’Reilly, Coulter, etc. to distract us and blame the weak, the victims, the working poor, the immigrants & refugees, etc. of the world.
Another great book is Hegemony or Survival: America’s Quest for Global Dominance written by my intellectual hero, Noam Chomsky. I cite these two books not as a substitute for my own arguing or as an appeal to authority but rather because I have often been dismissed by friends & strangers over the years because of things I’ve tried to tell people which they had never heard of or knew nothing about. So, if you think I’m bullshitting, look it up for yourself. What you don’t know can hurt you, just consider the near total economic meltdown caused by the greed, corruption, and incompetence & cowardice of those whose jobs it is to supervise the banks, and all the various financial institutions.
By the way, I want to address the issue of "illegal immigrants," here because I am very concerned at the ugly bigotry and violence against these poor victims whipped up by the fear & hate mongers on Fox News, and some of the televangelists like Pat Roberts. Again because of the greed & corruption of corporate crocodiles & lap dog politicians, many if not most of those who risk their lives trying to get into America, are forced to do so because corporations in collusion with their governments & ours, have forced them into starvation and they’re simply doing what anybody would do in an effort to survive and earn a living to support their families. To be honest with you, sometimes I despair that too many of us, especially the overwhelming majority of those in powerful positions have lost their humanity or compassion for other living beings. Because the power elite have succeeded fabulously in popularizing anti-intellectualism, the common working man is easily manipulated by the fear mongers and as a result, is often duped into voting against their own best interests. The robber barons are wickedly clever and know that by focusing the public’s attention on abortion and homosexuality, they distract people from the real issues affecting us all. And because of the corporate, short-sighted thinking limited to the next fiscal accounting period, the corporate polluters keep on fanning the flames of global warming and we are rushing headlong towards the end of our species. In short, if we don’t take drastic steps and restrict corporations to what their original functions were at the time we drafted our Constitution, I posit that there is very little hope for our survival!
In conclusion, Noam Chomsky has pointed out that states (countries) commit "state terrorism," but this is rarely ever acknowledged & the powerful focus our attention on the terrorist actions of individuals to deflect our attention from the truly heinous acts of terror committed by nations under the guise of democracy, freedom, national security, etc. And again, I know I’m going to piss some people off, but what do you call America’s dropping of the bombs on Hiroshima & Nagasaki if not the most heinous & colossal acts of terrorism the world has ever witnessed? Of course most people---that is those who don’t deny the Holocaust ever happened---agree that Hitler’s attempt to wipe out the Jewish people was indeed a terrorist act but claim that America had to drop the bombs on Hiroshima & Nagasaki to stop the Japanese. I say bullshit! We (our ‘leaders’) did this horrendous thing to show the Russians we meant business. America has very little room to criticize anyone in my opinion. And I point out our flaws because I dream of the America they taught us in public school. It breaks my heart to learn of our callous & cold-blooded history of cruelty & conquest.
The corporations are robbing us blind & laughing all the way to the super banks that are "too big to fail." But we, the peasants, they don’t give a shit about. We were forced to bail them out over & against our wishes, they still won’t loan money to small & medium sized businesses to get our economy going again, they boast of record profits and their CEOs get astronomical salaries & bonuses. BP pollutes the Gulf of Mexico and God knows what the future health & aesthetic ramifications of that will be. And then BP has the gall to threaten Congress that if they aren’t allowed to keep on drilling in the Gulf, they may not pay the fines they are supposed to pay & which are miniscule relative to the damage they’ve done. Our government has more or less shredded our Bill of Rights. Our military kidnaps & tortures people around the world, including American citizens and their prisoners have no rights to a lawyer, to know what they’re accused of, nothing! Is this your idea of the ‘freedom & democracy’ that we keep claiming our soldiers are fighting for? A president lies us into invading Iraq, which although it was led by a brutal dictator, did nothing to us. By the way, if we were so concerned about the Iraqi people & the cruelty of Saddam, why has our government supported & defended so many dictators around the globe for the last 50 years & not invaded those countries to defend their citizens? I know, very unpleasant facts but burying our heads in the sand won’t make them go away. Not until we face the ugly truth of our history, and yes, other countries have done likewise but we have to deal with our own history before we have any moral ground to stand on & dare to lecture others. Why are American lives or the 3,000 Americans who died on September 11th, so much more important than other humans suffering & dying around the globe thanks in large part to American, French, German, British, etc. corporations? The giant, multinational corporations are ruling this planet and they laugh at our "laws" because they keep on committing the same crimes over & over again because they know that if they do happen to get caught breaking the law every now & then, they’ll pay a small fine compared to the enormous profits they’re reaping, and they don’t even have to admit guilt in a court of law. Hell, they write the laws via their lobbyists and literally sometimes, they help draft the very legislation that allows them to do business no matter the environmental or personal costs to us.
Moreover, I would even go so far as to say that the corporate drive for globalization (control of the world) is a terrorist act in that they take away our jobs & force us to work for minimum wage with no health benefits, they steal our pensions, they block national health care, they are trying to eliminate or get their grubby paws on Social Security, they rob us of our dignity, etc. Are these not terrorist acts? Do you live in terror worrying how you’re going to survive, how you’re going to provide for your family, what you will do if you develop cancer, will your life savings still be there when you retire? If we simply threw away our television sets, that would be a big step towards our liberation. Why? Because that is the primary tool used to deceive us. This is not conspiracy but simple fact because television is controlled/owned by a handful of giant corporations and they won’t allow people like Chomsky on because he could wake America up. Anyone who challenges their authority and points out their crimes, is an enemy and they have their attack dogs like Limbaugh, Beck, ad nauseam, to go after them & because the general public has little, if any, training in critical & analytical thinking skills, it’s easy for women hating, homophobic, drug using, bullies like Limbaugh & Karl Rove, to fool the public. Hitler’s minister of propaganda, Goebbels, knew only too well that the bigger the lie & the more often you repeated it, the more it became a fact or the truth in the peoples’ minds. This is how the powerful have taken over and this is why there is so much cruelty, unfairness, & despair in the world.
I was at work on the morning of September 11th 2001 and when I heard the news, I went numb. I have only felt that way one other time in my life, the day of J.F.K.’s assassination. And I know now that Kennedy wasn’t the saint he was portrayed as, but when I heard of his death, I was playing ball at school and I was in the fourth grade. I stopped playing and went over to a wall and sat down and just couldn’t believe what I’d heard. I am what some would refer to as a senior citizen now and it’s time for all of us to stop acting as children and grow up & face the awesome burden on our shoulders. Americans have the greatest responsibility of all those on this planet because we have more military might than the rest of the world combined. And because of our economic clout, we (the corporations claiming to be American but headquartered in the Cayman Islands, the Bahamas, etc.) are behind a large proportion of the crimes against humanity being committed on a daily basis. I say that today should remind us of the suffering of not only the loved ones who lost their family members & friends on that dark day but also of the billions of humans with no clean water to drink, no housing, and are existing on less than $2 a day. Can we call ourselves human and not feel the pain of our fellow human beings? There is a war against humanity being waged & we must gather the courage to fight against those who are oppressing us. It’s a very lonely battle and I’ve been waging it ever since my eyes were opened with the Reagan presidency. This is the good fight, the truly noble fight. And believe me, I’m no hero. In fact, I’m scared most of the time because I don’t have any pension and can only hope that Social Security will still be in tact if & when I make it to retirement age. And if I do, I’ll only get something like $700 a month to live on. So, I figure I’ll have to retire somewhere like Mexico and live a simple & austere lifestyle. I just know in my heart & to the marrow of my bones that all people deserve a decent living with a good roof over their heads, a full belly, good medical care, and an honorable job they can do to provide for their loved ones and hold their heads high.
By the way, often when I start pointing out some of the contradictions of U.S. foreign policy, etc., people will get offended and say something like "America does more for other countries than any other nation," and their tone is very indignant. Well, are you aware of the fact that the millions that our government promised to Haiti after their recent terrible earthquake, has yet to be delivered? These bastards only get away with all this because we aren’t doing our part by informing ourselves and taking action to stop them. In other words, the buck stops with us and we can make all the excuses we want but if we don’t take action, we have no right to bitch. We get the government we deserve! I’ll leave you with this passage from Chomsky’s book which I mentioned earlier (pg. 9 of his book):
"While the enemy at home often has to be controlled by intensive propaganda, beyond the borders more direct means are available. The leaders of the current Bush administration---mostly recycled from more reactionary sectors of the Reagan-Bush I administrations---provided sufficiently clear illustrations during their earlier stints in office. When the traditional regime of violence and repression was challenged by the Church and other miscreants in the Central American domains of US power, the Reagan administration responded with a ‘war on terror,’ declared as soon as it took office in 1981. Not surprisingly, the US initiative instantly became a terrorist war---a campaign of slaughter, torture, and barbarism---that soon extended to other regions of the world as well."
Rob DeLoss, September 11, 2010 (Tualatin, OR)