Long but worth the read

[sassa]

Larry Mosqueda, Ph.D.

The Evergreen State College

September 15, 2001

Like all Americans, on Tuesday, 9-11, I was shocked and horrified to

watch the WTC Twin Towers attacked by hijacked planes and collapse,

resulting in the deaths of perhaps up to 10,000 innocent people.

I had not been that shocked and horrified since January 16,1991, when

then President Bush attacked Baghdad, and the rest of Iraq and began

killing 200,000 people during that "war" (slaughter). This includes

the

infamous "highway of death" in the last days of the slaughter when U.S.

pilots literally shot in the back retreating Iraqi civilians and

soldiers. I continue to be horrified by the sanctions on Iraq, which

have resulted in the death of over 1,000,000 Iraqis, including over

500,000 children, about whom former Secretary of State Madeline

Allbright

has stated that their deaths "are worth the cost".

Over the course of my life I have been shocked and horrified by a

variety

of U.S. governmental actions, such as the U.S. sponsored coup against

democracy in Guatemala in 1954 which resulted in the deaths of over

120,000 Guatemalan peasants by U.S. installed

dictatorships over the course of four decades.

Last Tuesday's events reminded me of the horror I felt when the U.S.

overthrew the governments of the Dominican Republic in 1965 and helped

to

murder 3,000 people. And it reminded me of the shock I felt in 1973,

when the U.S. sponsored a coup in Chile against the

democratic government of Salvador Allende and helped to murder another

30,000 people, including U.S. citizens.

Last Tuesday's events reminded me of the shock and horror I felt in

1965

when the U.S. sponsored a coup in Indonesia that resulted in the murder

of over 800,000 people, and the subsequent slaughter in 1975 of over

250,000 innocent people in East Timor by the Indonesian regime with the

direct complicity of President Ford and Secretary of State Henry

Kissenger.

I was reminded of the shock and horror I felt during the U.S. sponsored

terrorist contra war (the World Court declared the U.S. government a

war

criminal in 1984 for the mining of the harbors) against Nicaragua in

the

1980s which resulted in the deaths of over 30,000

innocent people (or as the U.S. government used to call them before the

term "collateral damage" was invented--"soft targets").

I was reminded of being horrified by the U. S. war against the people

of

El Salvador in the 1980s, which resulted in the brutal deaths of over

80,000 people, or "soft targets".

I was reminded of the shock and horror I felt during the U.S. sponsored

terror war against the peoples of southern Africa (especially Angola)

that began in the 1970's and continues to this day and has resulted in

the deaths and mutilations of over 1,000,000. I was reminded

of the shock and horror I felt as the U.S. invaded Panama over the

Christmas season of 1989 and killed over 8,000 in an attempt to capture

George H. Bush's CIA partner, now turned enemy, Manual Noriega.

I was reminded of the horror I felt when I learned about how the Shah

of

Iran was installed in a U.S. sponsored brutal coup that resulted in the

deaths of over 70,000 Iranians from 1952-1979. And the continuing

shock

as I learned that the Ayatollah Khomani, who overthrew the Shah in

1979,

and who was the U.S. public enemy for decade of the 1980s, was also on

the CIA payroll, while he was in exile in Paris in the 1970s.

I was reminded of the shock and horror that I felt as I learned about

how

the U.S. has "manufactured consent" since 1948 for its support of

Israel,

to the exclusion of virtually any rights for the Palestinians in their

native lands resulting in ever worsening

day-to-day conditions for the people of Palestine. I was shocked as I

learned about the

hundreds of towns and villages that were literally wiped off the face

of

the earth in the early days of Israeli colonization. I was horrified

in

1982 as the villagers of Sabra and Shatila were massacred by Israeli

allies with direct Israeli complicity and direction. The untold

thousands who died on that day match the scene of horror that we saw

last

Tuesday.

But those scenes were not repeated over and over again on the national

media to inflame the American public.

The events and images of last Tuesday have been appropriately compared

to

the horrific events and images of Lebanon in the 1980s with resulted in

the deaths of tens of thousand of people, with no reference to the fact

that the country that inflicted the terror on Lebanon

was Israel, with U.S. backing. I still continue to be shocked at how

mainstream commentators refer to "Israeli settlers" in the "occupied

territories" with no sense of irony as they report on who are the

aggressors in the region.

Of course, the largest and most shocking war crime of the second half

of

the 20th century was the U.S. assault on Indochina from 1954-1975,

especially Vietnam, where over 4,000,000 people were bombed, napalmed,

crushed, shot and individually "hands on" murdered in

the "Phoenix Program" (this is where Oliver North got his start). Many

U.S.

Vietnam veterans were also victimized by this war and had the best of

intentions, but the policy makers themselves knew the criminality of

their actions and policies as revealed in their own words in "The

Pentagon Papers," released by Daniel Ellsberg of the RAND Corporation.

In 1974 Ellsberg noted that our Presidents from Truman to Nixon

continually lied to the U.S. public about the purpose and conduct of

the

war. He has stated that, "It is a tribute to the American people that

our leaders perceived that they had to lie to us, it is not

a tribute to us that we were so easily misled."

I was continually shocked and horrified as the U.S. attacked and bombed

with impunity the nation of Libya in the 1980s, including killing the

infant daughter of Khadafi. I was shocked as the U.S. bombed and

invaded

Grenada in 1983. I was horrified by U.S. military and CIA actions in

Somalia, Haiti, Afghanistan, Sudan, Brazil, Argentina, and Yugoslavia.

The deaths in these actions ran into the hundreds of thousands.

The above list is by no means complete or comprehensive. It is merely

a

list that is easily accessible and not unknown, especially to the

economic and intellectual elites. It has just been conveniently

eliminated from the public discourse and public consciousness. And

for the most part, the analysis that the U.S. actions have resulted in

the deaths of primarily civilians (over 90%) is not unknown to these

elites and policy makers. A conservative number for those who have

been

killed by U.S. terror and military action since World War II is

8,000,000

people. Repeat--8,000,000 people. This does not include the

wounded, the imprisoned, the displaced, the refugees, etc.

Martin Luther King, Jr. stated in 1967, during the Vietnam War, "My

government

is the world's leading purveyor of violence." Shocking and horrifying.

Nothing that I have written is meant to disparage or disrespect those

who

were victims and those who suffered death or the loss of a loved one

during this week's events. It is not meant to "justify" any action by

those who bombed the Twin Towers or the Pentagon. It is

meant to put it in a context. If we believe that the actions were

those

of "madmen", they are "madmen" who are able to keep a secret for 2

years

or more among over 100 people, as they trained to execute a complex

plan.

While not the acts of madmen, they are apparently the acts of

"fanatics"

who, depending on who they really are, can find real grievances,

but whose actions are illegitimate.

Osama Bin Laden at this point has been accused by the media and the

government of being the mastermind of Tuesday's bombings. Given the

government's track record on lying to the America people, that should

not

be accepted as fact at this time. If indeed Bin

Laden is the mastermind of this action, he is responsible for the

deaths

of perhaps 10,000 people-a shocking and horrible crime.

Ed Herman in his book The Real Terror Network: Terrorism in Fact and

Propaganda does not justify any terrorism but points out that states

often engage in "wholesale" terror, while those whom governments define

as "terrorist" engage is "retail" terrorism. While qualitatively the

results are the same for the individual victims of terrorism, there is

a

clear quantitative difference. And as Herman and others point out, the

seeds, the roots, of much of the "retail" terror are in fact found in

the

"wholesale" terror of states. Again this is not to justify, in any

way,

the actions of last Tuesday, but to put them in a context and suggest

an

explanation.

Perhaps most shocking and horrific, if indeed Bin Laden is the

mastermind

of Tuesday's actions; he has clearly had significant training in

logistics, armaments, and military training, etc. by competent and

expert

military personnel. And indeed he has. During the

1980s, he was recruited, trained and funded by the CIA in Afghanistan

to

fight against the Russians. As long as he visited his terror on

Russians

and his enemies in Afghanistan, he was "our man" in that country.

The same is true of Saddam Hussein of Iraq, who was a CIA asset in Iraq

during the 1980s. Hussein could gas his own people, repress the

population, and invade his neighbor (Iran) as long as he did it with

U.S.

approval.

The same was true of Manuel Noriega of Panama, who was a contemporary

and

CIA partner of George H. Bush in the 1980s. Noriega's main crime for

Bush, the father, was not that he dealt drugs (he did, but the U.S. and

Bush knew this before 1989), but that Noriega was no

longer going to cooperate in the ongoing U.S. terrorist contra war

against Nicaragua.

This information is not unknown or really controversial among elite

policy makers. To repeat, this not to justify any of the actions of

last

Tuesday, but to put it in its horrifying context.

As shocking as the events of last Tuesday were, they are likely to

generate even more horrific actions by the U.S. government that will

add

significantly to the 8,000,000 figure stated above. This response may

well be qualitatively and quantitatively worst than the

events of Tuesday. The New York Times headline of 9/14/01 states that,

"Bush and Top Aides Proclaim Policy of Ending States That Back Terror"

as

if that was a rational, measured, or even sane option. States that

have

been identified for possible elimination are "a number of Asian and

African countries, like Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan, and even Pakistan."

This is beyond shocking and horrific-it is just as potentially

suicidal,

homicidal, and more insane than the hijackers themselves. Also,

qualitatively, these actions will be even worse than the original

bombers

if one accepts the mainstream premise that those involved are "madmen",

"religious fanatics", or a "terrorist group." If so, they are acting

as

either individuals or as a small group.

The U.S. actions may continue the homicidal policies of a few thousand

elites for the past 50 years, involving both political parties.

The retail terror is that of desperate and sometime fanatical small

groups and individuals who often have legitimate grievances, but engage

in individual criminal and illegitimate activities; the wholesale

terror

is that of "rational" educated men where the pain, suffering, and

deaths

of millions of people are contemplated, planned, and too often,

executed,

for the purpose of furthering a nebulous concept called the "national

interest". Space does not allow a full explanation of the elites

Orwellian concept of the "national interest", but it can be summarized

as

the protection and expansion of hegemony and an

imperial empire.

The American public is being prepared for war while being fed a

continuous stream of shocking and horrific repeated images of Tuesday's

events and heartfelt stories from the survivors and the loved ones of

those who lost family members. These stories are real and

should not be diminished. In fact, those who lost family members can

be

considered a representative sample of humanity of the 8,000,000 who

have

been lost previously. If we multiply by 800-1000 times the amount of

pain, angst, and anger being currently felt by the American public, we

might begin to understand how much of the rest of the world feels as

they are continually victimized.

Some particularly poignant images are the heart wrenching public

stories

that we are seeing and hearing of family members with pictures and

flyers

searching for their loved ones.

These images are virtually the same as those of the "Mothers of the

Disappeared" who

searched for their (primarily) adult children in places such as

Argentina, where over 11,000 were "disappeared" in 1976-1982, again

with

U.S. approval.

Just as the mothers of Argentina deserved our respect and compassion,

so

do the relatives of those who are searching for their relatives now.

However we should not allow ourselves to be manipulated by the U.S.

government into turning real grief and anger into a national policy of

wholesale terror and genocide against innocent civilians in Asia and

Africa.

What we are seeing in military terms is called "softening the target."

The target here is the American public and we are being ideologically

and

emotionally prepared for the slaughter that may commence soon. None of

the previously identified Asian and African countries are democracies,

which means that the people of these countries have virtually no impact

on developing the policies of their governments, even if we assume that

these governments are complicit in Tuesday's actions. When one

examines

the recent history of these countries, one will find that the American

government had direct and indirect influences on creating the

conditions

for the existence of some of these governments. This is especially

true

of the Taliban government of Afghanistan itself.

The New York Metropolitan Area has about 21,000,000 people or about 8 %

of the U.S. population. Almost everyone in America knows someone who

has

been killed, injured or traumatized by the events of Tuesday. I know

that I do. Many people are calling for "revenge" or "vengeance" and

comments such as "kill them all" have been circulated on the

TV, radio, and email. A few more potentially benign comments have

called

for "justice." This is only potentially benign since that term may be

defined by people such as Bush and Colin Powell. Powell is an

unrepentant participant in the Vietnam War, the terrorist contra

war against Nicaragua, and the Gulf war, at each level becoming more

responsible for the planning and execution of the policies.

Those affected, all of us, must do everything in our power to prevent a

wider war and even greater atrocity, do everything possible to stop the

genocide if it starts, and hold those responsible for their potential

war

crimes during and after the war. If there is a

great war in 2001 and it is not catastrophic (a real possibility), the

crimes of that war will be revisited upon the U.S. over the next

generation.

That is not some kind of religious prophecy or threat, it is merely a

straightforward political analysis. If indeed it is Bin Laden, the

world

must not deal only with him as an individual criminal, but eliminate

the

conditions that create the injustices and war

crimes that will inevitably lead to more of these types of attacks in

the

future.

The phrase "No Justice, No Peace" is more than a slogan used in a

march,

it is an observable historical fact. It is time to end the horror.

In a few short pages it is impossible to delineate all of the events

described over the past week or to give a comprehensive accounting of

U.S. foreign policy. Below are a few resources for up to date news and

some background reading, by Noam Chomsky, the noted analyst. The titles

of the books explain their relevance for this topic.

> >

> > For the most current information see

http://www.commondreams.org/.

> > For information on how the media distorts the news see

> > http://www.fair.org/.

> > For excellent links on the Middle East see

> > http://al-awda.org/newyork/links.html.

> >

> >

> > For background reading by Noam Chomsky see:

> > Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in Democratic

Societies

> > Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass

Media

>(with Ed

> > Herman Fateful Triangle: The United States, Israel and the

>Palestinians

> > Deterring Democracy

>

>

>--

>"An eye for an eye only leaves the whole world blind."

>- Mahatma Gandhi

[laraver]

You are, without reservation, a jerk for defending the actions of the murdering zealots who committed these acts of war.

Whose side are you on anyway?

[sassa]

And you are obviously ignorant. Yes, I will defend anyone who's been screwed over, and their problems aren't publicized enough. The major powers of the world have been screwing over these poor people for years now and it has finally been brought into the light. I don't really think what they did is right, but they need to be understood so that we can deal with them in a humane way and not go bomb fucking mud huts and kill starving people. So, before you call me a jerk, why don't you take a good long look at yourself and what you know about this situation before you go talking shit.

P.S. Before you bash me..and obviously you don't know enough about what is going on over there....most of the Afghan population doesn't want the Taliban in power, and currently there is the Northern Alliance who is resisting Taliban power, and they hold around 30% of the country. 76 innocent people have been killed so far in American raids. Now, I'm all for kicking the Taliban's ass, but not the people who have to put up with their shit.

[laraver]

How could you defend Saddam Hussein or AL-Queda. Do you care so little for your country?

Saddam Hussein is a modern day Hitler. He gassed his own civilian poulation. The soldiers and civilians killed on the highway of death were trying to escape after looting, raping and murdering in Kuwait. Did you forget that little detail? They got what they deserved.

The people in the WTC were in no way legitimate targets. Soldiers and military personnel expect to go in harms way (The Cole incident, The Army Rangers in Magadishu, etc) That you would defend someone who comitted these acts is morally reprehensible.

Osama and his kind need to be wiped off the face of the earth. The world that they espouse and envision is one that would take away the very freedom you have to speak your mind on this forum.

The Caliphate they dream of is not too many steps removed from Pol Pot's vision for returning Cambodia to an agrarian society. Kill off any one who has any education. Destroy all vestiges of technology and return to a world where things are much simpler. On many levels Al-Queda, Osama, the Taliban and the people around the world who think like them are like ostriches trying to hide their heads in the sand, afraid of the changes and empowerment wrought by technology.

No TV, No music, no playing checkers, no flying kites. But I would be willing to bet that none of these rules are imposed on Osama by the Taliban. They are murdering, repressive hypocrites.

I read one place that the best way to deal with these people would be to give their women guns. I think that doing that would be a very interesting social experiment.

Osoma has attempted to obtain nuclear weapons, "suitcase bombs" as they are euphamistically referred to. Should the US wait until he obtains one and uses it before acting to nip this problem before it gets much worse?

Will you still be defending the oppressed people when your family is incinerated? Will you still be defending them when your child is dying of a mutated virulent strain of smallpox, engineered by the Soviets, sold to the terrorists, and released by a human suicide volunteer?

If most of the Afghans don't want the Taliban then they should rebel against that regime and remove them from power. I have no issue against the Afghan people. They should be helped, provided food, medicine, and assistance in building their country to a point that they are self sustaining. I truly feel bad for the people who will be killed or wounded who have nothing to do with this conflict.

On the other hand you need to consider this: If the school bully walks up to your kid as he walks to school and beats him and robs his lunch money. ( Now the school bully has all this repressed anger because his Mom and Dad are divorced, he didn't breast feed long enough, he has a bad crack habit, whatever) should you tell your kid "Oh just ignore the bully Ahmed he has been oppressed" or would send Ahmed to school escorted by his older bigger brother to take care of the bully.

If Osama had put all his money and resources into making the lives of the Muslim's he claims to represent better, instead of killing people, I wonder how much better off his Muslim brothers would be. If Saddam had spent his money on economic development instead of trying to obtain SCUDS, nuclear weapons, chemical and biological weapons how much better off would the Iraqi people be? There would be no sanctions. Iraqi oil could be sold in the world market. How far could those billions of dollars gone in helping his people if he had not engaged in an 8 year war with Iran that served no other purpose other than killing off hundreds of thousands of combatants on both sides. How many starving babies would Iraq have if had not chosen to squander his money on weaponry? Have you considered that in your defense of Osama, Saddam and the Taliban.

Obviously not. I just hope for your family's sake the next terrorist act is not a thermonuclear device within a mile of your house, or a virus like ebola causing them to die a slow and painful death, bleeding from every orifice in their body. But I am sure that would be ok with you because those people were opressed.

[sassa]

Well, that's life honey...whatever happens, happens. I am a big believer of fate. I agree with what you say, but I still say that the other side needs to be understood in order to deal with them more appropriately to reach a conclusion that will satisfy both sides. Being an international relations major, I feel that this is the best way to approach this problem. Bombing innocents won't. On both sides,people are getting killed, and it is up to the leaders of both sides to decide whether this is going to be an all out war or not. Well, I guess we'll see what happens, right?

P.S. If someone in my family was killed, I'd find who did it and kill THEM, but not every fucking Afghan or Saudi or whoever.I don't believe in involving those who have had nothing to do with it, although in war this seems to be forgotten quite a few number of times...

[dlish]

You both have good points. Something has to be done about terrorism and these acts of terror that have been perpetrated against our country (there have been other acts besides the WTC bombing...that's just the first on our turf), however, innocent people should not be subjected to more pain and suffering.

Sassa's correct, most Afghan's are against the Taliban, but they are poor, undeducated and unable to fight against them. How do you expect them to fight the Taliban...with sticks? That would be slaughter. They do have a small alliance that is actively fighting the Taliban and I'm sure they will aid the U.S. in overthrowing the Taliban (whom we helped put into power when we helped them break from Russia in the 80's...yet forgot about when that conflict was over and Russia was defeated...why didn't we help them build their economy, government then???)

I don't agree with what Larry Mosqueda (Sassa's cut n past post) said about Iran. I lived there in 1978-79 and my family was one of the last to flee the country before the hostage crisis. So I know a lot about what was going on there at that time and how a great Orator, like Khomeini can use religion to get people to rise up against anything "non muslim". I've seen people killed, my neighbor's father was killed in a car bomb on his way to work. We were almost massacred in Isphahan when they found out American's were on the plane trying to flee the country. Since I was in the middle of it, I took it upon myself to learn more about the situation, how it came to be, for my own piece of mind...because you can't believe the media. I could go into everything about the CIA's helping Mohammed Reza Pahlavi (the shah from 1941-79) retain his power...but we didn't place him there...his family already had control in 1912, when his father became shah of Iran. But, this gets off the point completely, and I could go on and on about Iran, or Persia and the Muslim religion...but this shows a correlation and how Bin Laden could get people to rally behind him in the name of Allah...I've seen it firsthand...and I don't blame them for following his lead, if this indead happens...if you were in their situation who would you trust??? It's tough to put yourself in their shoes unless you've lived among them...it's like Mexico but worse, the rich are Bill Gates x 100 and the poor live in caves in a mountain selling goat parts to survive...but, they don't deserve to die...they just need direction, medical attention, education and someone to help show them a better way of life...it can happen and I hope it does.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for going in and killing Bin Laden and everyone involved, but just not all these innocent people...which will happen and unfortunately must, as military strikes aren't always so precise. Just hopefully we can get everyone involved and not piss anyone else off that at one time was nuetral and innocent, yet now will take his place. It's a delicate situation, but one that must be dealt with.