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 When
the U.S. President George W. Bush declared his now famous (or
infamous) "war on terrorism" with much aplomb and
fanfare back in September of this year, the rest of the world held
its breath to see what this new "crusade" would entail.
How would the country who has its roots firmly planted in
"liberty and justice for all" react to this challenge to
its very existence? How would her allies in the world react to her
new campaign?
As
the year draws to an end, we must take stock of how this has all
turned out. Without mincing words, we can clearly say that the
"terrorists", those who launched the attacks on the U.S.
in September, have won the war they began that day. No matter what
the pundits on CNN or MSNBC tell you at night, the United States
has lost the war. It was lost not on the battlefield against the
troops of the Taliban, God knows they had no chance against the
15,000 pound "Daisy Cutters" - which to this day are
making Afghanistan resemble something out of Dante's Inferno
rather than the beautiful landscape it was at one point. It will
not be lost in the inevitable war against Iraq, where we add to
the suffering of those poor people by bombing infrastructure and
killing more civilians in an attempt to end the regime of Uncle
Saddam. It certainly has not been lost in the genocidal campaign
of the Israeli government against anything Palestinian; they have
been frighteningly successful in their efforts to choke off any
potential life in the territories under the PNA.
The
war has been lost because we have now become terrorists ourselves.
We have become, in a few words, everything that we have set out to
destroy. The United States and Israel, and other states to a
lesser degree, have now become war criminals. The United States
now violates international law at will; the U.N. is no longer an
effective world voice, being reduced to a modern day League of
Nations. Israel has shown that its reputation as the world’s
greatest violator of human rights is well deserved; it is no
wonder that the real Palestinian heroes are found operating under
the banner of Hamas. At least they have not sold out their dignity
to an oppressor who has shown time and again that it does not want
peace. Why should the Palestinians continue to try and appease
Israel? Isn't it better to go down with a gun in one's hand than a
knife in one's back?
Not
content with the legal system, the American government has now
instituted military tribunals. We are holding foreign nationals in
jail without due process. We are torturing Muslims in jail by such
acts as flooding their jail cells so that they cannot perform
prayers. We are encouraging the systematic annihilation of
surrendering Taliban forces. Israel demands that Arafat punish
Hamas, then destroys his police stations, and complains that he is
not doing enough to arrest terrorists. We are currently holding a
French National (Zacarias Moussaoui) whose only crime so far is
learning to fly a plane.
In
the wake of this, what options are left? When a foundation that
gives money to orphans and widows is closed down for funneling
money to “terrorists,” as the Holy Land Foundation was, how
can one not feel that the war the United States is waging has now
entered "total war" status? Why is it that when our
civilians are killed there is moral outrage and indignation but
when Palestinian or Kashmiri lives are lost they are considered
"collateral damage?”
As
an American, I feel ashamed at what my government is doing. If we
are serious about going after terrorism, let us start at home: put
those who funded death squads in Central America during the 1980's
on trial for violations of human rights. Cut off all aid to Israel
and let that terrorist entity fend for itself in the cauldron of
hatred that it has created. Stop Indian aggression against
Pakistan and Kashmir. Otherwise, the Osamas of the world can sit
back and relax; their war has already been won.
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