-Caveat Lector-
http://members.aol.com/superogue/terintro.htm
Why Do Terrorists Keep Picking on the United States?
Washington's war on terrorism is as doomed to failure as its war
on drugs has been.
"I think the American people need to know that we live in a
world where by virtue of America's leadership to some degree, by
virtue of a degree of fanaticism by some people, we will be
targeted," declared National Security Adviser Sandy Berger after
the bombings of two US African embassies on August 7, 1998.{1}
When asked "What is it that these terrorists want from the
United States?", Richard Haass, head of the foreign policy
department at the Brookings Institution, replied: "Well, the
answer is it's not anything we're simply doing. It is who we
are. It's the fact that we're the most powerful country in the
world. It's the fact that we're a secular country. ... It is
simply who we are and it is our existence that really bothers
them."{2}
Thomas Friedman of the New York Times would say amen.
Terrorists, he wrote, "have no specific ideological program or
demands. Rather, they are driven by a generalized hatred of the
U.S., Israel and other supposed enemies of Islam."{3}
Finally, we have President Clinton: "Americans are targets
of terrorism, in part, because we act to advance peace and
democracy and because we stand united against terrorism."{4}
These are some of the platitudes our leaders and pundits
feed us after each terrorist attack against an American
installation.
... the image of America the beauteous on its hill, so
envied by all that it is subject to attacks by
terrorists who cannot bear so much sheer goodness to
triumph in a world that belongs to their master, the
son of morning himself, Satan. Gore Vidal{5}
What our leaders and pundits never let slip is that the
terrorists -- whatever else they might be -- might also be
rational human beings; which is to say that in their own minds
they have a rational justification for their actions. Most
terrorists are people deeply concerned by what they see as
social, political, or religious injustice and hypocrisy, and the
immediate grounds for their terrorism is often retaliation for an
action of the United States ...
The shooting down of two Libyan planes in 1981; the
bombardment of Beirut in 1983 and 1984; the furnishing of military aid and
intelligence to both sides of the Iran-Iraq War of 1980-88 so as to maximize
the damage each side would inflict upon the other; the bombing of Libya in
1986; the bombing and sinking of an Iranian ship in 1987; the
shooting down of an Iranian passenger plane in 1988; the shooting
down of two more Libyan planes in 1989; the massive bombing of
the Iraqi people in 1991; the continuing bombings and sanctions
against Iraq; the bombing of Afghanistan and Sudan in 1998, the latter
destroying a pharmaceutical plant which provided for half the impoverished
nation's medicines; the habitual support of Israel despite the devastation
and routine torture it inflicts upon the Palestinian people; the
condemnation of Arab resistance to this; the continued persecution of Libya,
now nearing the end of its second decade; the abduction of wanted men from
Muslim countries, such as Malaysia, Pakistan, Lebanon and Albania; the large
military and hi-tech presence in Islam's holiest land, Saudi Arabia, and
elsewhere in the Persian Gulf region; the support of anti-democratic Middle
East governments, from the Shah to the Saudis ... These are some of the
American actions that can turn an Arab or a Muslim into a fanatic, into a
terrorist, into a decrier of "America, the Great Satan".
But those who feed us the platitudes know this. They're
merely performing the time-honored public dumbshow. Mir Aimal
Kansi, the Pakistani who shot five people outside CIA
headquarters in 1993, told the FBI that he had done so to protest
US policies toward Muslims in the Middle East, including the
bombing of Iraq.{6} Two days after Kansi's conviction in 1997,
four Americans were gunned down in Karachi, Pakistan while
driving in a car. "I think the linkage is quite evident," said a
former CIA counter-terrorism expert about the Karachi
slayings.{7}
The bombing of PanAm 103 in 1988 was clearly initiated by
Iran as an act of retaliation for the shooting down of its own
passenger plane by the United States a few months earlier, and
American officials well know this. The bombing of the two US
embassies in Africa in 1998 took place on the eighth anniversary,
to the very day, of the arrival of the first US troops in Saudi
Arabia, following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. And during the
US bombing of Iraq in 1991, there were dozens of terrorist
attacks against American institutions all over the Middle East
and elsewhere. Did American officials and the media not pick up
any hint of cause-and-effect? They did, but subsequently, when
it's been platitude time, they suddenly become pre-Alzheimer.
When terrorists attack, they're terrorizing. When we
attack, we're retaliating. When they respond to our
retaliation with further attacks, they're terrorizing
again. When we respond with further attacks, we're
retaliating again. Norman Solomon, media critic
Good and bad terrorists
On March 13, 1996, the United States assembled 27 world leaders
in Egypt at an "anti-terror" conference after a wave of suicide
bombers had killed dozens of people in Israel. President Clinton
asserted: "We must be clear in our condemnation of those who
resort to terror. Violence has no place in the future we all
seek in the Middle East."{8} At the very same time, in Iraq, the
US was supporting with millions of dollars the Iraqi National
Accord, which was using car bombs and other bombings in Baghdad
and other cities, trying to destabilize Sadaam Hussein. It was
estimated that the bombings had taken the lives of more than 100
civilians in Baghdad alone during the preceding few years. Two
weeks after the Egyptian conference, the attending countries met
in Washington for a follow-up on counter-terrorism. Among the
topics discussed were the flow of funds to terrorist groups.{9}
The following month, President Clinton, with much fanfare,
signed the Anti-terrorism Act, which bars financial transactions
between American corporations and countries accused of supporting
terrorism. Four months later, the administration quietly
exempted Sudan, to allow a US oil company to negotiate an oil
deal. At the same time, Syria was granted an exemption, to
encourage participation by Damascus in the Middle East peace
process.{10}
In February 2000, there arose a new proposal for a major
international conference to combat terrorism. On this occasion
the United States was quick to throw cold water on the very idea,
saying it would have no "practical benefits". The proposed
conference was backed by the 119-member Non-Aligned Movement of
Third World Nations. One of the issues the conference hoped to
address was how to distinguish between a "terrorist" and a
"freedom fighter", citing the examples of the Hizbollah and Hamas
groups fighting Israel. The question of "state terrorism" also
loomed as a possible conference issue -- for example, should
military attacks by armed forces of any State be deemed acts of
terrorism when civilians are killed? The 1999 NATO bombing of
Yugoslavia had been discussed as a case in point.{11}
FBI definition of terrorism
The FBI defines international terrorism as "the unlawful use of
force or violence committed by a group or individual, who has
some connection to a foreign power or whose activities transcend
national boundaries, against persons or property to intimidate or
coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment
thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives."{12}
The FBI definition, although meant to describe acts directed
against the United States, would seem to cover rather well
countless acts of the US government itself. Many of these acts
will be found in the pages of this book, under the headings of
bombings, interventions, torture, chemical and biological
warfare, etc.
NOTES
1. Washington Post, August 22, 1998
2. NBC, "Today" show, August 22, 1998
3. New York Times, August 22, 1998, p. 15
4. Washington Post, August 9, 1998
5. The Nation, April 4, 1998
6. Washington Post, November 6, 1997
7. Ibid., November 16, 1997
8. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States (GPO),
1996, Vol. I, p.437
9. The Independent (London), March 26, 1996, p.8
10. Washington Post, January 23, 1997, p.1
11. Inter Press Service (headquartered in Rome) report from the
United Nations, February 21, 2000.
12. FBI press release, "FBI Policy and Guidelines", Feb. 16, 1999
This is a chapter from the book Rogue State: A Guide to the
World's Only Superpower, by William Blum
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