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The Bizarre Set Of Actions Called 'The War On Terror'
excerpts from a report by Juan Cole. August 2, 2005
On September 11, 2001, the terrorist group al-Qaeda, former proteges of Ronald Reagan, used jet planes to attack the Twin Towers and the Pentagon.
The Bush administration responded to these attacks by putting the old Mujahideen warlords back in charge of Afghanistan's provinces, allowing Bin Laden and al-Zawahiri to escape, declaring that Americans no longer needed a Bill of Rights, and suddenly invading another old Reagan protege, Saddam's Iraq, which had had nothing to do with 9/11 and posed no threat to the US.
The name given this bizarre set of actions by Bush was "the War on Terror."
In Iraq, the US committed many atrocities, including bombing campaigns on civilian quarters of cities it had already occupied, and a ferocious assault on Fallujah, and tortured Iraqi prisoners. In the meantime, the Bush administration put virtually no money or effort into actually combatting terrorist cells. As a result, a string of terrorist attacks were allowed to strike at Madrid, London and elsewhere.
In July, 2005, General Richard Myers, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, announced that there was not actually any "War on Terror:" 'General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the National Press Club on Monday that he had "objected to the use of the term 'war on terrorism' before, because if you call it a war, then you think of people in uniform as being the solution."' (Does this mean we can have the Bill of Rights back, now?)
The American Right, having created the Mujahideen and having mightily contributed to the creation of al-Qaeda, abruptly announced that there was something deeply wrong with Islam, that it kept producing terrorists.
You have been reading excerpts from "Fisking the 'War on Terror'" by Juan Cole. You can read the entire piece here: tinyurl.com/a3czn. Thanks to Juan Cole for this and much more. We visit his excellent blog, juancole.com, often, and we hope you will too.
excerpts from a report by Juan Cole. August 2, 2005
On September 11, 2001, the terrorist group al-Qaeda, former proteges of Ronald Reagan, used jet planes to attack the Twin Towers and the Pentagon.
The Bush administration responded to these attacks by putting the old Mujahideen warlords back in charge of Afghanistan's provinces, allowing Bin Laden and al-Zawahiri to escape, declaring that Americans no longer needed a Bill of Rights, and suddenly invading another old Reagan protege, Saddam's Iraq, which had had nothing to do with 9/11 and posed no threat to the US.
The name given this bizarre set of actions by Bush was "the War on Terror."
In Iraq, the US committed many atrocities, including bombing campaigns on civilian quarters of cities it had already occupied, and a ferocious assault on Fallujah, and tortured Iraqi prisoners. In the meantime, the Bush administration put virtually no money or effort into actually combatting terrorist cells. As a result, a string of terrorist attacks were allowed to strike at Madrid, London and elsewhere.
In July, 2005, General Richard Myers, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, announced that there was not actually any "War on Terror:" 'General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the National Press Club on Monday that he had "objected to the use of the term 'war on terrorism' before, because if you call it a war, then you think of people in uniform as being the solution."' (Does this mean we can have the Bill of Rights back, now?)
The American Right, having created the Mujahideen and having mightily contributed to the creation of al-Qaeda, abruptly announced that there was something deeply wrong with Islam, that it kept producing terrorists.
You have been reading excerpts from "Fisking the 'War on Terror'" by Juan Cole. You can read the entire piece here: tinyurl.com/a3czn. Thanks to Juan Cole for this and much more. We visit his excellent blog, juancole.com, often, and we hope you will too.
