| Old Articles | | Friday, February 08 | | · | |
| Wednesday, February 06 | | · | |
| Tuesday, February 05 | | · | Savage Capitalism or Socialism: A Conversation with Luis Britto Garcia |
| Sunday, February 03 | | · | Canada vs. Venezuela: The Background Gets Even Murkier |
| Thursday, January 31 | | · | |
| Monday, January 28 | | · | The History - and Hypocrisy - of US Meddling in Venezuela |
| · | Canada Is Complicit in Venezuela's US-Backed Coup D'état |
| Wednesday, September 26 | | · | Why Israel Demolishes: Khan Al-Ahmar as Representation of Greater Genocide |
| Friday, September 21 | | · | US Disregard for International Law Is a Menace to Latin America |
| Saturday, August 25 | | · | How Long is the Shelf-Life of Damnable Racist Capitalist Lies? |
| Thursday, August 09 | | · | Martial Law By Other Means: Corporate Strangulation of Dissent |
| Wednesday, August 08 | | · | North Korea and The Washington Trap |
| · | Venezuela Assassination Attempt: Maduro Survives but Journalism Doesn't |
| Sunday, May 20 | | · | The British Royal Wedding, Feelgoodism and the Colonial Jumbie |
| Friday, May 04 | | · | |
| Monday, April 09 | | · | The Bayer-Monsanto Merger Is Bad News for the Planet |
| Tuesday, March 20 | | · | Finally, Some Good News |
| Thursday, March 15 | | · | Zimbabwe Open for Business, Code for International Finance Capitalism |
| Friday, January 12 | | · | Shadow Armies: The Unseen, But Real US War In Africa |
| Wednesday, December 13 | | · | The U.S. is Not a Democracy, It Never Was |
Older Articles
| |
 | |
War and Terror: Democrats Finally Get It: Bush's War on Terrorism is a Dud
Posted on Monday, November 18 @ 12:41:53 UTC
Topic: War Analysis
|
 by Ben Roberts*
Eureka! The Democrats finally figure it out. George Bush's war on terrorism is nothing like its cracked up to be. This became apparent this week when Senator Tom Daschle voiced his discontent at the dismal outcome of this purported war on terrorism.
This in itself was a surprise departure, given the Democrats constant pussyfooting, and groveling at Bush feet on this issue. Their timid behavior has been due to the fact that when they, or anyone else, has raised concerns about the war on terror, Bush and his team have swung into high gear accusing such a person of showing poor judgment by making inappropriate statements in a time of war, and of being divisive and unpatriotic.
If this assault fails to silence the concerned citizen, they then pull out the big guns and accuse such a person of being insensitive to the victims and families of September 11. Then silence is restored and Bush continues on his merry way with his song and dance about we're-winning-the-war-on-terror, and we're-making-Americans-safe.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Actually, Republican Trent Lott pulled out the tried and true bag of tricks by immediately accusing Daschle of making 'inappropriate comments at such a time.' Forget it. It won't work. The jig is up.
If Bush is making Americans safe and winning the war on terror, then how is it I feel no safer since September 11. In fact today, with the arrogant American steamroll-over-the-world-at-all-cost policies, I feel more in danger. Bush feels the same way, and said so without realizing it. Last week he said Americans are at greater risk of terrorist attack as he moves against Iraq. What? Just a little over a year after Bush address to America on that fateful night of September 11, he vowed to 'root out terrorism,' and 'cut off the head of the snake of terrorism.' He is now saying that we are in more danger than before? What is the man actually saying? Come let's figure this one out, because it seems Bush hasn't figured it out yet. Or maybe he has, and is trying to play us for fools.
Since the brutal and tragic attack on America on September 11, there has been a number of developments. The U.S. military has launched a full scale attack on Afghanistan, routing the Taliban, replacing it with a more stable government led by Hamid Karzai. Kudos here. However, in the process, America has bombed prisoners locked up at a prison at Mazar I Sharif, killing around 500 people. They have attacked and killed celebrants at a wedding party. They killed numerous occupants at a residence in a town in southeastern Afghanistan, including women and children. They said it was an Al Qaida stronghold. Those on the ground insisted it was no such thing. They accidentally killed Canadian soldiers engaged in a mock battle on the ground in Afghanistan. They conducted a huge operation in the Tora Bora mountains geared to capturing Bin Laden and his top lieutenants. With many crisp U.S. hundred dollar bills in hand, the warlords in the operation gleefully promised to hand over the prize. Maybe they got bills from somewhere else because, for some reason they delayed, allowing Bin Laden to
make his getaway out the backdoor, and into Pakistan. That was in Afghanistan.
How about outside Afghanistan? Many Afghanis were hauled to Guantanamo
Bay in Cuba and imprisoned as enemy combatants. When human rights
agencies demanded that the U.S. respect the rights of these prisoners under Geneva Convention, the U.S said they were not POWs. Recent information has disclosed that one of them is 100 years old, with Alzheimer's disease. There's more. The U.S. released a list of nations targeted under its nuclear posture, and identified Iraq, Iran, and North Korea as the axis of evil. It endorsed Israel's decision to forbid the United Nations into Jenin to investigate what every reporter described as a massacre by Israeli troops. In fact, within days Ariel Sharon got $300 million dollars in Washington from Bush. The U.S. hastily supported Britain's vague claim that it was spied upon by the IRA, with the result that they no longer jointly represent Northern Ireland in the British parliament, since Britain has, for all intents and purposes, resumed control. The U.S. is gearing up for a war against Iraq, openly touting regime change. And finally, the U.S. is about to categorize the Chechen uprising as a terrorist movement. This is what the U.S has done. How about what has transpired in the world at large?
India and Pakistan came close to a nuclear exchange. A church was attacked in Pakistan and a number of Westerners killed. An attack in Pakistan killed a group of French technical experts on loan to that country by the French government. U.S forces were attacked in Kuwait while conducting mock exercises. The French oil tanker Limburg was attacked and severely damaged by an explosion. A nightclub in Bali was attacked, killing hundreds of people, mostly Australian. Chechen fighters took over a theater in Moscow, taking hundreds hostage. Their
one demand was that the brutal war against Chechnya cease. They were all killed by Russian forces in a rescue attempt which killed more than a hundred of the people they were intent on rescuing. The U.S. obliterated a car in Yemen with a Hellfire missile, killing who they claim was a wanted Al Qeada suspect, along with an American citizen, not guilty of any crime, but who they reported being suspicious about. Finally, Mullah Omar, Bin Laden's right hand man has never been captured, and just this week Bin Laden voice on a tape embarrassed
Bush and his Administration, which has been for months trying to suggest to us all that he is most likely dead. Do these events sound to you like Bush is winning any war on terrorism? It is about the equivalent of General Custer contacting Washington to say that he is engaged in a heated battle in Montana at a place called Little Bighorn, and is winning. We all know what happened there.
Ben Roberts is a newsletter editor, freelance writer and published author. His book, Jackals of Samarra, was published in January 2001. Ben can be contacted by email at: grandt730@aol.com
|
|
| |
| Article Rating | Average Score: 4.5
Votes: 2
| |
|
|
