Bu-lat-lat (boo-lat-lat) verb: to search, probe, investigate, inquire; to unearth facts Issue No. 36 October 21 - 27, 2001 Quezon City, Philippines |
What Can We Do About Terrorism? BY
DR. ROBERT M. BOWMAN, Lt. Col., USAF (ret.)*
Back to Bulatlat.com Alternative Reader Index "Mr.
President, you did not tell the American people the truth about why we are the
targets of terrorism. You said that we are the target because we stand for
democracy, freedom, and human rights in the world.
Baloney! We are the target of terrorists because we stand for
dictatorship, bondage, and human exploitation in the world. We are the target of
terrorists because we are hated. And we are hated because our government has
done hateful things." "We
are not hated because we practice democracy, freedom, and human rights. We are
hated because our government denies these things to people in third world
countries whose resources are coveted by our multinational corporations. And
that hatred we have sown has come back to haunt us in the form of terrorism —
and in the future, nuclear terrorism." A
few years ago, terrorists destroyed two U.S. embassies. President Clinton
retaliated against suspected facilities of Osama bin Laden. In his television
address, the President told the American people that we were the targets of
terrorism because we stood for democracy, freedom, and human rights in the
world. On
that occasion, I wrote: "Tell people the truth, Mr. President...about
terrorism, not about poor Monica. If your lies about terrorism go unchallenged,
then the terror war you have unleashed will likely continue until it destroys
us. "The
threat of nuclear terrorism is closing in upon us. Chemical terrorism is at
hand, and biological terrorism is a future danger. None of our thousands of
nuclear weapons can protect us from these threats. These idols of plutonium,
titanium, and steel are impotent. Our worship of them for over five decades has
not brought us security, only greater danger. No 'Star Wars' system ... no
matter how technically advanced, no matter how many trillions of dollars was
poured into it ... can protect us from even a single terrorist bomb. Not one
weapon in our vast arsenal can shield us from a nuclear weapon delivered in a
sailboat or a Piper Cub or a suitcase or a Ryder rental truck. Not a penny of
the 273 billion dollars a year we spend on so-called defense can actually defend
us against a terrorist bomb. Nothing in our enormous military establishment can
actually give us one whit of security. That is a military fact. "Mr.
President, you did not tell the American people the truth about why we are the
targets of terrorism. You said that we are the target because we stand for
democracy, freedom, and human rights in the world. Baloney!
We are the target of terrorists because we stand for dictatorship, bondage, and
human exploitation in the world. We are the target of terrorists because we are
hated. And we are hated because our government has done hateful things. "In
how many countries have we deposed popularly elected leaders and replaced them
with puppet military dictators who were willing to sell out their own people to
American multinational corporations? "We
did it in Iran when we deposed Mossadegh because he wanted to nationalize the
oil industry. We replaced him with the Shah, and trained, armed, and paid his
hated Savak national guard, which enslaved and brutalized the people of Iran.
All to protect the financial interests of our oil companies. Is it any wonder
there are people in Iran who hate us? "We
did it in Chile when we deposed Allende, democratically elected by the people to
introduce socialism. We replaced him with the brutal right-wing military
dictator, General Pinochet. Chile has still not recovered. "We
did it in Vietnam when we thwarted democratic elections in the South which would
have united the country under Ho Chi Minh. We replaced him with a series of
ineffectual puppet crooks who invited us to come in and slaughter their people
— and we did. (I flew 101 combat missions in that war which you properly
opposed.) "We
did it in Iraq, where we killed a quarter of a million civilians in a failed
attempt to topple Saddam Hussein, and where we have killed a million since then
with our sanctions. About half of these innocent victims have been children
under the age of five. "And,
of course, how many times have we done it in Nicaragua and all the other banana
republics of Latin America? Time after time we have ousted popular leaders who
wanted the riches of the land to be shared by the people who worked it. We
replaced them with murderous tyrants who would sell out and control their own
people so that the wealth of the land could be taken out by Domino Sugar, the
United Fruit Company, Folgers, and Chiquita Banana. "In
country after country, our government has thwarted democracy, stifled freedom,
and trampled human rights. That’s why we are hated around the world. And
that’s why we are the target of terrorists. "People
in Canada enjoy better democracy, more freedom, and greater human rights than we
do. So do the people of Norway and Sweden. Have you heard of Canadian embassies
being bombed? Or
Norwegian embassies? Or Swedish embassies. No. "We
are not hated because we practice democracy, freedom, and human rights. We are
hated because our government denies these things to people in third world
countries whose resources are coveted by our multinational corporations. And
that hatred we have sown has come back to haunt us in the form of terrorism —
and in the future, nuclear terrorism. "Once
the truth about why the threat exists is understood, the solution becomes
obvious. We must change our government's ways. "Instead
of sending our sons and daughters around the world to kill Arabs so the oil
companies can sell the oil under their sand, we must send them to rebuild their
infrastructure, supply clean water, and feed starving children. "Instead
of continuing to kill thousands of Iraqi children every day with our sanctions,
we must help them rebuild their electric powerplants, their water treatment
facilities, their hospitals — all the things we destroyed in our war against
them and prevented them from rebuilding with our sanctions. "Instead
of seeking to be king of the hill, we must become a responsible member of the
family of nations. Instead of stationing hundreds of thousands of troops around
the world to protect the financial interests of our multinational corporations,
we must bring them home and expand the Peace Corps. "Instead
of training terrorists and death squads in the techniques of torture and
assassination, we must close the School of the Americas (no matter what name
they use). Instead of supporting military dictatorships, we must support true
democracy — the right of the people to choose their own leaders. Instead of
supporting insurrection, destabilization, assassination, and terror around the
world, we must abolish the CIA and give the money to relief agencies. "In
short, we do good instead of evil. We become the good guys, once again.
The threat of terrorism would vanish. That is the truth, Mr. President.
That is what the American people need to hear. We are good people. We only need
to be told the truth and given the vision. You can do it, Mr. President. Stop
the killing. Stop the justifying. Stop the retaliating. Put people first. Tell
them the truth." Needless
to say, he didn't ... and neither has George W. Bush. Well, the seeds our
policies have planted have borne their bitter fruit. The World Trade Center is
gone. The Pentagon is damaged. And thousands of Americans have died. Almost
every TV pundit is crying for massive military retaliation against whoever might
have done it (assumedly the same Osama bin Laden) and against whoever harbors or
aids the terrorists (most notably the Taliban government of Afghanistan). Steve
Dunleavy of the New York Post screams "Kill the bastards! Train assassins,
hire mercenaries, put a couple of million bucks up for bounty hunters to get
them dead or alive, preferably dead. As for cities or countries that host these
worms, bomb them into basketball courts." It's tempting to agree.
I have no sympathy for the psychopaths that killed thousands of our
people. There
is no excuse for such acts.
If I was recalled to active duty, I would go in a heartbeat.
At the same time, all my military experience and knowledge tells me that
retaliation hasn't rid us of the problem in the past, and won't this time. By
far the world's best anti-terrorist apparatus is Israel's. Measured in military
terms, it has been phenomenally successful. Yet Israel still suffers more
attacks than all other nations combined. If retaliation worked, Israelis would
be the world's most secure people. Only
one thing has ever ended a terrorist campaign -- denying the terrorist
organization the support of the larger community it represents. And the only way
to do that is to listen to and alleviate the legitimate grievances of the
people. If indeed Osama bin Laden was behind the four hijackings and subsequent
carnage, that means addressing the concerns of the Arabs and Muslims in general
and of the Palestinians in particular. It does NOT mean abandoning Israel. But
it may very well mean withdrawing financial and military support until they
abandon the settlements in occupied territory and return to 1967 borders. It may
also mean allowing Arab countries to have leaders of their own choosing, not
hand-picked, CIA-installed dictators willing to cooperate with Western oil
companies. Chester
Gillings has said it very well: "How do we fight back against bin Laden?
The first thing we must ask ourselves is what is it we hope to achieve --
security or revenge? The two are mutually exclusive; seek revenge and we WILL
reduce our security. If it is security we seek, then we must begin to answer the
tough questions -- what are the grievances of the Palestinians and the Arab
world against the United States, and what is our real culpability for those
grievances? Where we find legitimate culpability, we must be prepared to cure
the grievance wherever possible. Where we cannot find culpability or a cure, we
must communicate honestly our positions directly to the Arab people. In short,
our best course of action is to remove ourselves as a combatant in the disputes
of the region." To
kill bin Laden now would be to make him an eternal martyr. Thousands would rise
up to take his place. In another year, we would face another round of terrorism,
probably much worse even than this one.
Yet there is another way. In
the short term, we must protect ourselves from those who already hate us.
This means increased security and better intelligence.
I proposed to members of Congress in March that we should deny any funds
for "Star Wars" until such time as the Executive Branch could show
that they are doing all possible research on the detection and interception of
weapons of mass destruction entering the country clandestinely (a far greater
threat than ballistic missiles).
There are lots of steps which can be taken to increase security without
detracting from civil rights. But in the long term, we must change our policies
to stop causing the fear and hatred which creates new terrorists.
Becoming independent of foreign oil through conservation, energy
efficiency, production of energy from renewable sources, and a transition to
non-polluting transportation will allow us to adopt a more rational policy
toward the Middle East. The
vast majority of Arabs and Muslims are good, peaceful people. But enough of
them, in their desperation and anger and fear, have turned first to Arafat and
now to bin Laden to relieve their misery. Remove the desperation, give them some
hope, and support for terrorism will evaporate. At that point bin Laden will be
forced to abandon terrorism (as has Arafat) or be treated like a common
criminal. Either way, he and his money cease to be a threat. We CAN have
security ... or we can have revenge. We cannot have both.
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