Saturday, December 29, 2007

Benazir Bhutto: US Policy Causes World Terrorism

by Len Hart, The Existentialist Cowboy

Benazir Bhutto paid the ultimate price for stating that the US imperial policy of propping up tin horn dictators causes world terrorism. She dared to say so. Condemning what she called "A False Choice for Pakistan", the late Benazir Bhutto laid "terrorism" at the White House doorstep, blaming US policies for causing, fueling and inspiring what US regimes call "terrorism".
When the United States aligns with dictatorships and totalitarian regimes, it compromises the basic democratic principles of its foundation -- namely, life, liberty and justice for all. Dictatorships such as Musharraf's suppress individual rights and freedoms and empower the most extreme elements of society. Oppressed citizens, unable to represent themselves through other means, often turn to extremism and religious fundamentalism.
Benazir Bhutto, A False Choice for Pakistan
The claim that she died from having banged her head is a ludicrous cover story not even worthy of the Bush regime. Bhutto's considered remarks are consistent with previous articles on this blog, specifically: Terrorism is always worse under GOP regimes. Bhutto would have found FBI statistics that support her analysis: the root causes of "terrorism" are US imperialistic policies, specifically the material and diplomatic support of dictators like Musharraf and earlier, Saddam Hussein and the Shah of Iran, et al. It should be obvious that citizens of other nations resent US support of dictators who oppress them.
For too long, the international perception has been that Musharraf's regime is the only thing standing between the West and nuclear-armed fundamentalists.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Islamic parties have never garnered more than 13 percent in any free parliamentary elections in Pakistan. The notion of Musharraf's regime as the only non-Islamist option is disingenuous and the worst type of fear-mongering.
Much has been said about Pakistan being a key Western ally in the war against terrorism. It is the fifth-largest recipient of US aid -- the Bush administration proposed $785 million in its latest budget. Yet terrorism around the world has increased. Why is it that all terrorist plots -- from the Sept. 11 attacks, to Madrid, to London, to Mumbai -- seem to have roots in Islamabad?
Benazir Bhutto, A False Choice for Pakistan
The policies to which Bhutto alludes are primarily those of the right wing, the GOP in particular. Democrats, however, are compromised by the US Military/Industrial Complex and have not addressed this issue adequately. The US Military/Industrial Complex is at the very heart of US imperialism and, thus, the root cause of terrorism.
Over the past year, Musharraf - known here as “Busharraf” on account of Washington's role in propping up his failing dictatorship - has presided over one of Pakistan's most turbulent periods in its 60-year history. While claiming to address extremism, he has instead eviscerated the nation's legal system, curtailed the media and hamstrung civil society, thereby destroying Pakistan's strongest (both institutional and cultural) defenses against fundamentalism. Having twice sacked the Supreme Court's popular and independent Chief Justice and jailed the leaders of the democracy movement, Musharraf has also imposed severe restrictions on the press that continue to stifle debate. In this environment, violence is all too predictable. And the enabling complicity of the U.S. should alarm all observers.
A host of competing theories attempt to explain Bhutto's assassination. The government predictably blamed al-Qaeda within a day, while offering a theory of her death described by BBC as “bizarre.”

Noting Bhutto's prior comments that “elements within the administration and security apparatuses . . . want me out of the way,” members of her family accused the government - either of killing her outright, or for complicity by notorious rogue elements within the government, or at least for offering inadequate security to her campaign - as Bhutto herself alleged before the fact. American authorities have reportedly begun investigating Pakistani special operations forces for their potential involvement.
--Bhutto's Blood Is on Bush's Hands
War is a racket fought by the masses for privileged elites, big corporations, and venal politicians like Bush. The war racket creates victims in the US and enemies --potential terrorists --abroad.

War policies benefit a tiny elite, no-bid contractors like Halliburton, Blackwater and their stockholders. The war against Iraq is financed by America's working poor and middle classes who continue to pay for the war with their lives abroad and with their jobs, their retirement prospects, and their access to health care at home.

Because of Reagan/Bush tax cuts, this group disproportionately and unfairly picks up the tab for a war that has created for the US legions of enemies. But no friends. [See: Frankenstein the CIA created, Mujahideen trained and funded by the US are among its deadliest foes, reports Jason Burke in Peshawar, Sunday January 17, 1999, Guardian Unlimited]

The policies that oppress Americans have even worse effects for millions who must live under repressive regimes backed by Bush and his sponsors in big oil.
The National Accountability Bureau has persecuted opposition leaders for a decade on unproven corruption and mismanagement charges, hoping to grind them into submission. However, when politicians accused of corruption cross over to the regime, the charges miraculously disappear.

Musharraf's regime exploits the judicial system as yet another instrument of coercion and intimidation to consolidate its illegitimate power. But the politics of personal destruction will not prevent me and other party leaders from bringing our case before the people of our nation this year, even if that could lead to imprisonment.
Benazir Bhutto, A False Choice for Pakistan
Bhutto refers to Bush's remarks in his State of the Union address. In that address, Bush said that the great question of the day "... is whether America will help men and women in the Middle East to build free societies and share in the rights of all humanity." Benazir Bhutto was not naive. I am sure that she understood that Bush's remarks were but a sop to the audience, his base, the media, the gullible. Bush, a proven liar, must be judged only by his actions. He does not get the benefit of the doubt. Like every other GOP regime, he has made terrorism worse.

The Brookings Institution had written a report based on FBI stats. It was entitled: Total Acts of Terrorism in the US 1980-98, America's Response to Terrorism. It dealt primarily with Ronald Reagan's similarly failed "War on Terrorism". Brookings, inexplicably, pulled the article. Nevermind! I have saved the chart that they prepared based on FBI stats. The conclusion now safe from a conservative memory hole is this: during the two year period in which Ronald Reagan promised "terrorists" that "you can run but you can't hide", terrorist attacks against the United States increased. There were, as I recall, about three times as many terrorist attacks against US interests as during the Clinton administration. [Source: Total Acts of Terrorism in the US 1980-98, America's Response to Terrorism, The Brookings Institution (Based on FBI Statistics)] As it was in the economic sphere, the Reagan administration was utterly ineffective against terrorism.

Reagan's adventure in Lebanon is remembered for two things: a) the thousands of lives lost amid even more waves of refugees; b) Reagan's ignominious pull-out following the bombing of the US marine barracks. Thought cowardly at the time, it may be too charitable in retrospect to attribute to Reagan remorse for having wrongly invaded to begin with. That's too much to expect from the GOP. In this earlier invasion, Ronald Reagan supported Israel just as Bush has done more recently. [See: Reagan Orders Marines Out of Lebanon]

Bush's continuing partnership with big oil is salt in the wound. Millions disaffected by US oil imperialism understand better than do Americans the reasons a Bush regime supports the ruthless dictators who oppress them. As an Iranian diplomat told me in Houston: oil is a curse. He was not alone. Many "industry-watchers" now use the term "curse" to refer to the nature of oil exploitation that democracy, public institutions, and civil liberties are often retarded because of it. Civil liberties are most often dispensed with altogether.

Oil wealth concentrates at the top. People in Venezuela, Nigeria, and Azerbaijan enjoy few benefits of oil production in their countries. We now see in the US the unseemly spectacle that other nations have always known, that is, ruthless factions scrapping for control and riches. US policy and its fascist partnership with big oil inspires resentment among those who are left out, those who bear the brunt, those for whom oil means only oppression.

Bush's base —the nation's elite, his corporate sponsors, and the so-called defense industry —have paid nothing, risked nothing! Rather —they feed at the trough. The upper one percent of the population has gotten several tax cuts while the big oil companies report record profits rising concurrently with higher prices at the pump.
Just two days after 9/11, I learned from Congressional staffers that Republicans on Capitol Hill were already exploiting the atrocity, trying to use it to push through tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy. ... We now know that from the very beginning, the Bush administration and its allies in Congress saw the terrorist threat not as a problem to be solved, but as a political opportunity to be exploited. The story of the latest terror plot makes the administration’s fecklessness and cynicism on terrorism clearer than ever.

Hoping for Fear, by Paul Krugman, Using Fear Commentary, NY Times
There are big profits in the death business. Go to Texas and consult the CEO of Murder, Inc., otherwise known as DynCorp.
The war in Iraq has boosted DynCorp's revenues, responsible for about $400 million of the company's nearly $2 billion in sales. And while the company didn't specify how much the effort has added to profits, there has certainly been an upside, Lagana said, although he added that profit margins are lower than in other private industry -- often below 10 percent.

For government contractors and other US-based businesses that are doing work in Iraq, the war there has continued to provide opportunity and benefits, although experts and companies alike say they are difficult to quantify. To be sure, security businesses, oil producers and defense contractors are among the biggest winners. Those who manufacture key products, from bulletproof vests to bullets themselves, and, more recently, those involved in reconstruction, have reaped the benefits, too.

--Businesses find benefits, costs in war work
Given their miserable records, why do GOP regimes persist? I can think of two reasons off hand. 1) wars are easily exploited to stir feelings of patriotism and false pride; 2) the GOP is the official party of big oil. Big oil depends upon the GOP to wage its oil wars. You pick up the tab. In return, the GOP gets a lot of money with which to steal and/or rig elections.

In the meantime, Americans are less safe under the dictators of "Imperial America". According to the Pew Research Center, American skepticism about the war in Iraq has increased steadily from its inception. The war in Iraq, like American imperial policies cause terrorism.

Now --let's put to rest the idiotic "cover story" that Bhutto's "main death" was a bump on the head. BS!!! It was a mob style hit job and there is unambiguous video of at least two hit men/

In the meantime, consistent with US destruction of 911 evidence, "fire crews" hose down the crime scene. Evidence against Bhutto's murderers may be lost forever.

Bhutto's Assassination Evidence Destroyed

UPDATED: Mobile pictures - Benazir was defintely shot dead before the Blast
Related developments from Information Clearing House:
Iraq: At least 16 killed in another bloody day of US occupation : The bodies of three people were found in different areas of Baghdad
Rioting in Pakistan continues: Nearly 50 people have been killed since the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. President Musharraf vows to restore order after a third day of violence.
Pakistan TV station shows Bhutto shooter, contradicts government: The footage clearly shows Bhutto collapsing into her armoured- vehicle before the suicide blast, contradicting official government claims that she recoiled only after the blast and cracked her skull on the sunroof.
Pakistan rejects foreign help in Bhutto investigation:Pakistan rejected foreign help in investigating the assassination of Benazir Bhutto on Saturday, despite controversy over the circumstances of her death and three days of paralyzing turmoil.
Bolton: US 'helped precipitate' conditions for Bhutto's assassination: John Bolton, former US ambassador to the United Nations, said it was a mistake to collaborate with Bhutto's "desire to get back into the game in Pakistan" and view her as an alternative to the country's current leader, Pervez Musharraf.
Bhutto herself urged that should she be assassinated, members of the Musharraf government be investigated.

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

Excellent. Thank you.

Anytime I see Wolf Blitzer overly-eulogize a dead political figure, I know something's fishy.

If Ron Paul had been assassinated, CNN would give the story about a minute before moving onto a story about Brittany Spears.

Unknown said...

Thanks and guess who paid the killers... Since the 1960s anyone daring to tell the truth got assassinated. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that ONLY the right wing benefited from this crime spree of some 40 to 50 years. But --dare to use the only word to describe it and a brainwashed establishment breaks out in hives. I am fed up with it. It's time for a change. Make no mistake about it ...Bhutto was a threat to frick and frack i.e, Bush and Mush.

Even on CNN, there is talk of a cover up. What is to be covered up if not bloody murder?

Anonymous said...

Now they are not even talking about a lone gunman. They are talking about a lone "lever".


No autopsy. No crime scene. But now we have the excuse to send US soldiers into Pakistan, to open up yet another war on the 'extremists', because it MUST have been them, since Musharraf has shown again and again that he has no fear of democracy.

Sebastien Parmentier said...

Pakistan is in good hands now. trust me. But it sure won’t be pretty in the beginning.
Just like in the first few episodes of the French Revolution,
Some heads will invariably fall, and blood will invariably be spilled.

But just like the French Revolution and unlike Iraq -sorry!- the Pakistani folks crave for Democracy.
They are ready for it.

Benazir Bhutto said, ‘the people of Pakistan love me’.
Of course, she meant that the Pakistani folks love Freedom and Democracy
- Two things that Mrs. Bhutto had de facto impersonalized by being a woman leader in a Muslim country.
She acted toward her nation like a smart mother who knew she had a terminal cancer:
As if she did not wanted to lament about her own illness,
But she wanted to live to the fullest every single instants of her life
And fight instead for and alongside her child,
The people of the democratic republic of Pakistan,
In order to teach it a message of hope and a message that
An elongated episode under tyranny must not erode any hope,
And cannot destroy the people’s appetite for freedom, human rights,
And a solid democracy.

Benazir Bhutto did not die as a martyr.
She lived as if she knew too well that she would die as a martyr.
Her mission was to define the function, the purpose for her martyrdom.
What a clever human being.

If Eugène Delacroix was still alive, he would sure run toward his brushes,
And paint Mrs. Bhutto guiding her people all over again,
Drawing her white veil floating in the wind
Toward a horizon which is burning by the risen of democracy.

Her people have understood that message. We did not.
Even most of our political cartoonists have sipped on the Al Qaeda flavored kool aid.
But it took her death to spring this understanding to her people.
That is the way the human history goes, unfortunately:
By a well balanced mix of hell and heaven,
That is needed in order to contrast and savor our life experiences.

Indeed the Pakistani folks are in the street,
With this sharp pain inside their stomach that have never been filled with a freedom meal.
As I write, I can see over there mushrooming these barricades, which your local news network
is working like a madman in portraying as some despicably violent and abhorrent things.
You will hear "experts" swearing that some new terrorist group named “Al Democracy” Is behind all this unrest.

As you read this words, the headquarter of your favorite presidential candidate
is swarming with workers, trying to convince each of those candidates that they should feel lucky for all this gooey thing sticking and dripping all over their clothe is actually pink in color: This way, they can attract more female voters!
And just like a white veil over Benazir Bhutto's hairs,
The topic of the war against terrorism will again
hide all these nasty slides and graphs about our gasping economy.

One democracy stands before his grave on this side of the globe,
While another is kicking in the womb: A Pakistani equivalent of the Revolutionary ‘Ça ira!’ is rising.
Hear it! These chants are about to drown out the sounds of all bombs, all the zips and whistles of rubber bullets, and all the I-pods!
It is to be praised. It is to be celebrated:
Tonight the tyrants have finally realized that they might have gone
A little bit too far
In killing a political opponent.

Benazir’s magic has worked and now Pervez Musharraf is the one all sweating cold inside his presidential palace, who his looking at his watch,
… wondering how much time left his regime will survive.

Unknown said...

workshop said...

Now they are not even talking about a lone gunman. They are talking about a lone "lever".

The "Lone Lever" Theory. The Warren Commission would have been proud. Time Magazine, however, referred to the "lone gunman" who fired at (shot?) Bhutto. It won't be so easy to cover it up this time. The video clearly shows AT LEAST two "lone" gunmen. The "lone lever" makes a late appearance. Bhutto was already fatal shot by TWO "lone gunmEn_.

Bhutto knew the score. Her last essay seems to outline the "conspiracy" which saw her as a threat....as Herod proved to have been a threat to the Emperor Claudius. Not, by the way, the "Herod" of the Bible story. This Herod was a proxy for Claudius as Mush is a proxy for Bush.

Sebastien Parmentier said...

Pakistani folks crave for Democracy. They are ready for it.

That's the problem. They are ruled by Mush and Bush and neither like Democracy very much. In fact, they hate it.

If Eugène Delacroix was still alive, he would sure run toward his brushes, And paint Mrs. Bhutto guiding her people all over again,

I could see that. Like you, I am not interested in martyrdom. Bhutto could have lead Pakistan and would have been more valuable alive than as a martyred symbol. But because that is true, she posed a threat to Bush and his proxy --Mush.

Sebastien, you have some great observations here...are you up for a guest column? If so, email me and I will post it.

Good to see your words again, mon ami.

Vierotchka said...

Sebastien wrote: With this sharp pain inside their stomach that have never been filled with a freedom meal.

The older ones had had their stomachs filled with freedom meals. In 1972, after the war with India, Pakistan's military dictator Yahya Khan was ousted, and Benazir Bhutto's father, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, came to power. There was a wonderful wind of liberation and freedom that swept joyfully throughout the country and lasted for several years. I know, I was there. :)

Anonymous said...

A jihadist Pakistan is the West's worst nightmare. In 1998 Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz headed an official US inquiry to assess nuclear threats to the US. They named Iran, Iraq and North Korea yet failed to mention Pakistan which just two months earlier had detonated five nuclear blasts in the deserts of Baluchistan. Their silence was deafening. CIA official Richard Barlow was sacked in 1989 for revealing that Reagan, Rumsfeld and Cheney, in defiance of US law, had provided key technology for Pakistan's nuclear weapons program and sold them the fighter aircraft fitted out to carry them. In 2006 the Swiss government was unable to prosecute members of the A.Q.Khan network because the US not only refused to provide requested documents they refused to even speak with them. Those documents would have almost certainly shown up illegal nuclear technology transfers by US companies seeking profits at any price. So much for keeping nuclear weapons out of rogue hands. If al Qaeda ever uses a nuclear weapon it will likely come from Pakistan. You can blame the US.

Musharraf has had US backing all along and for the worst reasons. Chris Floyd argues that the US is not really too concerned about the latest developments in Pakistan. That the US is still backing Musharraf -- public mutterings aside -- and that they only wanted Benazir Bhutto in government with Musharraf for reasons of US state interest. It certainly has nothing to do with supporting democracy or defeating terrorism. (Musharraf, along with former ISI director Hamid Gul, facilitated the rise of the Taliban, al Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Taiba(LET) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM) with either active US assistance or tacit acceptance).

Benazir Bhutto - Islamic parties have never garnered more than 13 percent in any free parliamentary elections in Pakistan. The notion of Musharraf's regime as the only non-Islamist option is disingenuous and the worst type of fear-mongering.

Exactly.

And, of course, we still have no explanation for the $100,000 that the 9/11 Commission found was paid into the bank account of Mohammed Atta just a month prior to 9/11. It is evidence in support of the findings of Senator Bob Graham, Head of the 911 Joint Congressional Inquiry from Feb - Dec 2002, who in his PBS interview in Dec 2002 admitted that “foreign governments” had assisted the 911 terrorists, with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan as the likely candidates. In October 2001 Indian Intelligence phone tap evidence was published in the West pointing to ISI chief Gen. Mahmoud Ahmad as the source of the Atta payment. Ahmad retired quickly and the issue died quietly. It has never been properly investigated. The US government has never been serious about defeating terrorism or getting to the bottom of 9/11. Pakistan is just one more Middle East regime sustained by lies and repression in pursuit of an intellectually and morally bankrupt US foreign policy.

Anonymous said...

I feel at a loss for words regarding Ms. Benazir Bhutto's murder. This is tragic for her husband, children and the people of Pakistan.

Ms. Bhutto had much good to do and now only this sorrow and her eldest son, who is only 19 years old to go forward in his Mother and Grandfather's name. May God protect him and keep him safe.

Len,your site has once again allowed me to visit Thank you for your articles, I always learn so much. Len, you and everyone on the Existentialist have a wonderful New Year.

Mauigirl said...

Excellent analysis, thanks for posting. The U.S. has made a habit of propping up these dictators for decades now and now we're paying the price.

Anonymous said...

Len, I was unable to read your columns for awhile and I recently read your column about Europe. I certainly agree with you it is the most wonderful part of the world.

Forty years ago this past summer, I spent two and a half months traveling all over Europe as a young woman. It was wonderful.

One day I hope to return. Leaving America with it's fast food restaurants, plastic bags, and throw away's, to a Society that had no chain fast food dives, and never used plastic and paper bags but rather collected their shopping parcels with a reusable bag, I found refreshing. Of course I do realize this may have changed, but I hope the essence of these Countries have not, and from what you shared it has not.

Anonymous said...

Excellent post.

Anonymous said...

You really must see the correlations between the JFK assassination by ____ and the recent death of PM Bhutto caused by ______. However you fill in the blanks, there are a vast number of ways to justify that Bhutto was killed b/c she supported peace and did not support terrorists... "terrorists" that war-lords could have profited greatly off of.

http://existentialistcowboy.blogspot.com/2007/12/benazir-bhutto-us-policy-causes-world.html

Of course, this is no different from MLK either.

And neither is it different from 9/11. We all know the PNAC mantra that "a catastrophic event will cause people to rally behind an otherwise untolerably cause". In this case, the Paki. people will rally so much so, that if they are invaded in years to come, they will fight back, due to their passions; not unlike the 'religious war' that is being fought in Iraq. Those people are fighting back b/c of their religious and passionate convictions. When you can touch a country at their heart, they will fight and fight and fight to their death, as long as they have guns. Now all we (or someone) has to do is give them the guns and support they need to fight us - this way, we can go to war with them, and Congress can approve another 0.5 Trillion dollars for war profiteering companies.

Ladies and Gentlemen: Now is the time that We must decide: align yourself with 'them' and their money and power, thereby keeping you and your family safe from harm and possibly more wealthy? *** Or, align yourself with 'the opposition' who continually fights for justice, meanwhile spinning wheels and getting no where b/c we will ALWAYS live in an unjust world + you risk your life (like MLK, JFK, and Bhutto) for being a freedom fighter.

The question is on the table... As for me an my house, we will serve ______ (fill in the blank for yourself).

Anonymous said...

This article is deeply flawed, because it falsely blames Western politics for Islamist terrorism. There is no scientific evidence to support this view. Virtually every psychologist and sociologist of any merit has rejected the idea that "unfair foreign policies" somehow spawns terrorism. In reality, the problem is Islam: it dehumanizes people who do not share its ideology, and encourages violence against them. Islam is anti-scientific and viciously anti-semitic (the prophet muhammed was pro-semitic before the jews rejected him, which enraged him).

People who fail to see the correlation between Islam and terrorism are worthy of neither respect nor compassion. They are absolutely idiots. Why do the Tibetans not try to bomb the hell out of the Chinese, nor do the Jews want to mass murder the Germans after the Holocaust? It is because in the absense of a dehumanizing, racist, and violent ideology, terrorism is minimal or nonexistent.

On the other hand, I certainly agree the Republican party, and the oil industry and lobby, are responsible for a vast amount of suffering around the world. I certainly dont mind people blaming Bush for fostering violence and war around the world, as this is what his policies have done. But we (liberals like myself) fail to recognize the danger of radical islam at our own peril.

Anonymous said...

I disagree with the last comment, I don't think the article is saying that the only reason for terrorism, I think its saying its the main reason. The tibetens were under a regime under the dhali lama and the chinese, the jews didn't have to kill a bunch of the germans, the US and Russia did that for them. Islam can be interpreted to be oppressive, but so can the bible and the torah (I am jewsih). I think perhaps that we keep arming neighbors in the middle east, we exploit their differences and install dictators that will make civil unrest. Why is there terrorism against the US and US interest, because we are over there. To say we don't cause alot of this, if a country wants to believe in a strict oppressive islam, let them, do things there way, like how people disagree with American lifestyle just don't go to someone elses home and try to change it to suit your needs better. The US doesn't cause all terrorism in the middle east, it just seems me that I have no fear of someone I don't know from the other side of the world to all of sudden come to NY and kill me with no provocation in the least. We want to stop global terrorism against us, stop doing anything with countries expect trade, buy and don't judge, don't make friends or enemies, if they want to charge a ton, don't attack, pay or don't, don't takeover, just pay what they'
re charging or go home. This is ridiculous, don't fuck with other countries.

Anonymous said...

Clearly there's "no evidence" if you choose to ignore it.

If Islamists believe so dearly in terrorism, the millions of Islamists in the US currently would have already endangered your life many times over.

Sure Western politics may not cause Islamists or other people to fight, but the result of Western politics does cause people to fight. Currently non-Islamic Americans are fighting, due to Western politics and policies. Currently, Islamists are also fighting b/c of Western politics and policies. The difference between the two is that Islamists are fighting BACK. If someone invaded your home, wouldn't you fight them back out?

It's really only convenient for us, that we've picked a country where so many people are taught to fight back, and have this convinction through their cultural and religious upbringing. Yet, it's really no different from any other culture or religion. Essentially, 'stand up for yourself', the same ideal that pervades our current administration resulting from the "9/11 terrorist attacks".

I do not know if Islam is "anti-Jewish", but I do know that "Jews" aren't directly attacking Islam, and even if they were, we've already established the basis that Islamists are fighting 'back' all Jews and Gentiles that have invaded their lands.

Lastly, the reason behind why Jews and Germans are not currently fighting is perplexing to me too. There are clear religious teachings, whose wisdoms are being applied (ie, principles of forgiveness), yet there are more practical and non-religious reasonings at hand as well. My research concludes that because the American government has done what is needed to pacify Jews, they are not militant against Germans. Annually, The American government pays billions to the Jewish people through complex banking systems. Annually, The American government pays billions to Israel that can be used for many purposes, but of chief interest to the US, we can 'establish a military base in the middle east region'. Also, even though the Bush family profited from the Nazi regime, Jews do not openly complain b/c of the freedoms they are now given as leaders in the American government, but also in various industries (ie, media). With such a rigorous strategy for 'reparations', I wouldn't complain about German either. Would you?

I just think you need to relax with the Islam bashing. That was needed to get us to Iraq, and might be needed to get the US into other countries who resist compliance, but now that we're happily in Iraq, just sit back, relax, and invest in HAL stock. I'm about to buy up some more.

Anonymous said...

Another reason to stop the US from engaging in foreign affairs and start to mind its own business. Vote Ron Paul!

Unknown said...

This article is deeply flawed, because it falsely blames Western politics for Islamist terrorism.

Wrong! This article is not flawed for the reason you state. The reason you state is a strawman. The article, rather, states a conclusion that is supported conclusively with a fact that is verified statistically. The fact: terrorism is always significantly worse under GOP regimes. The conclusion: US policy cause terrorism. That's the bare bones of the argument. The plethora of verifiable, empiracal facts from the FBI and other sources all support that conclusion.

People who fail to see the correlation between Islam and terrorism are worthy of neither respect nor compassion.

The cause of Islamic terrorism is the obvious fact that western powers (the US most notably and noticiably) covet oil that JUST HAPPENS to be found primarily in Islamic countries.

If the US tried to steal oil with aggressive war elsewhere, it might encounter some other brand of "terrorism".

Islam is not the issue! US aggression and imperialistic polices ARE!

Unknown said...

If someone invaded your home, wouldn't you fight them back out?


Indeed! During the so-called American revolution, the Earl of Chatham, addressed Parliament by reminding them:

If I were an American, as I am an Englishman, while a foreign troop was landed in my country, I never would lay down my arms — never — never — never! You cannot conquer America.

Why do we invade other, sovereign countries and expect them NOT to fight back? It is just plain STUPID for the US to attack Iraq and not expect a resistance. It is equally STUPID to expect that that our very presence would not be resented.

If some arrogant SUV driving bastard invaded MY country, I would shoot the sonovabitch. So ---why do we expect to get away with it when our own country commits war crimes and crimes against humanity for some asshole sitting behind a desk on the 60th floor of a glass tower in Houston, TX?

US policy is morally wrong. My country is morally wrong. Bush is a war criminal for which there is sufficient evidence NOW in the public record alone to bring him to trial for capital crimes.

Jonathan Young said...

"In reality, the problem is Islam: it dehumanizes people who do not share its ideology, and encourages violence against them."

Substitute one noun:

"In reality, the problem is America: it dehumanizes people who do not share its ideology, and encourages violence against them."

And again:

"In reality, the problem is capitalism: it dehumanizes people who do not share its ideology, and encourages violence against them."

Alternately:

"In reality, the problem is Christianity: it dehumanizes people who do not share its ideology, and encourages violence against them."

The problem is ignorance combined with instinct. Unless humanity starts emphasizing education above all else, we're looking at all sorts of unfortunate consequences for the foreseeable future, a pattern of instability very likely culminating in the extinction of our species. I think the One Laptop Per Child initiative is a start, but let's be clear about who and what we're fighting. Look at history: there is nothing new under the sun, save technology.

CindyPDX said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

damien wrote...

CIA official Richard Barlow was sacked in 1989 for revealing that Reagan, Rumsfeld and Cheney, in defiance of US law, had provided key technology for Pakistan's nuclear weapons program and sold them the fighter aircraft fitted out to carry them.

Rummie and Cheney get away with it because no living prosecutor has sufficient staff or budget to compile and documented the MOUNTAINOUS case against them. It must certainly be as formidable as the thousands of documents that constituted the evidence against Nazi war criminals at Nuremberg.

One day --with a special appropriation by Congress --a small army of lawyers, assts, and secretarial staff may compile, vet and, in other ways, prepared the capital crimes case against the lot of them.

Blogger Jonathan Young said...

Substitute one noun:

Brilliant post. Thanks

Anonymous said...

Change the name of PPP to PFP (Pakistan Family Party), Did any body question what this new joker (Balawal) is going to do? How he is going to run a country? What is his qualification and education? Is there any educated and experience guy in PFP? This Joker (Balawal) is grownup in Dubai with a luxurious life with Pakistan’s looted money. His mother Benazir Bhutto; Queen of Dubai, was a total corrupt, her father, husband and new joker (Balawal) all these people want to loot the country. They have done it in the past; Benazir was given two chances for prime minister. I have seen myself; that only thing she had done was making country bankrupt and anarchy. Her father nationalize the industry in Pakistan in 1970s and broken the backbone of the modern privatization. This family is there to kill this country and all these jokers are happy and healthy because of our uneducated and stupid nation (so called).
I am not trying to support military, in reality military is actually responsible to bring this situation, but now we do not have any option. Only a big and real revelation may fix some problems we have; otherwise, Pakistan is hopeless case.

kelley b. said...

Once again, nice post, Len.

Whatever bells and whistles google/NSA has attached to this website makes it awfully slow to load, even with broadband.

So many factions of the Company had it in for Bhutto it sort of began to look like the law of large numbers.

If that attempt hadn't nailed her, she probably would have been choked on a pretzel watching the superbowl.

...and the spice continues to flow...

Anonymous said...

At the risk of stating the obvious, has it occurred to any of the hyperventilators frequenting this site that there most likely was a conspiracy to kill Bhutto - an al Qaeda conspiracy.

Yes, agreed, truly shocking to consider, but shouldn't be ruled out.

Unknown said...

at the risk of stating what SHOULD be comomon knowledge by now: "al Qaeda" means "the base", a creation of the CIA. It's origins are in the Muhjahadeen who opposed the Soviet invasion and occupation of Afghanistan.

Bush and Mush would love for the world to believe that Al Qaeda murdered Bhutto. There is simply no reason to believe it...and less reason to believe that al Qaeda is anything more than the word the CIA likes to stick on anything it doesn't like.

Bush lies his ass off about everything and has no credibility. There is no good or logical reason to believe anything said by Bush about anything at any time for any reason.

And there is less reason to believe that al Qaeda had anything whatsoever to do with 911, and even less reason to believe that this fictitious phantom has anything whatsoever to do with Bhutto's murder.

Show me some proof that al Qaeda exists as anything more than the CIAs name for a data base, and I might take some seven years of Bush propaganda about al Qaeda more seriously.

Unknown said...

Terrorism makes a difference to the victims of it. Terrorism, however, is the inevitable result of illegitimacy married to oppressive and/or corrupt power. In fact, most power is illegitimate and exploitative in nature.

Anonymous said...

Hmm :/

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