Posted by parhad (158.252.210.177) on October 06, 2001 at 08:58:56:
Orwell said Facism would first redefine words, then redefine thought, then finally go ahead and kill you anyway in an effort to "save" you...or something like that.
The Korean "War" wasn't a war either, at least it wasn't declared so by the Congress, which is what the Constitution says must happen if America is to enter into War. It was a "Police Action", as was the Vietnam War. Now you explain to us and everyone else what the practical difference is. America did indeed conduct a war against the Koreans, the Vietnamese, the Iraqis...and what Isreal and Palestine are engaged in is every bit as much a war, just as if the two sides were evenly matched. Organized and systematic killing of someone you identify as an "enemey" or "oponent" is War...no matter what it says in the fine print...people are being killed, and killing...attacking and being attacked...that's WAR!
The United States and Britain have been at war with Iraq for 12 years now. The first phase, the Blitzkreig, was over in a few days with no doubt as to what the outcome would be, despite the media's loud cries of how big and bad Saddam's army was. It was a turkey shoot, with the Americans causing their own casualties. The United States has also been waging war against the Palestinians through its ally and client-state, Israel. In both cases the wars are intended to keep the region de-stabilized and increasingly dependent on pumping oil...until they pump themselves dry and have nothing remaining.
The people on the other side certainly know it's a war...they do the majority of the suffering and dying so they WOULD know. Phase Two of America's war against Iraq has been the systematic killing of its civillian population by whatever means necessary...as it has been its desire to grind the Palestinians not into dust exactly, but into a source for the countless excuses they need to justify their actions past the initial strikes of thirty years ago.
It's intrusion into Saudi Arabia to prop up a corrupt oligarchy, its offering of "relief" and "loans" to others in the region has just caused more divisions and animosities as corrupt leader after corrupt leader has opted for the cash and used a firmer hand to quell any nationalistic feelings among the opressed population. It's a variant on what the US did for years in Latin America...only whereas the American people felt some sympathy for the opressed in Guatemala, Chile and Nicaragua...they feel only contempt and hatred for the innocent civilians suffering already under their brutal and unelected leaders in countries like Iraq and Libya etc. This is a new twist, a tweaking of the methodology, and "Islam" has been of great help in this...I mean making it possible to have American PEOPLE hate an entire PEOPLE for what Americans think they know of those people's religion.
But surprise of surprises...more and more Americans are becoming Muslim themselves, and the rest are increasingly curious to know more about the religion that's been turned into a cartoon by the media in this country. Americans are also beginning to understand that unquestioning support for Israel is a big liability...and in other cases too...that America can't simply meddle and re-order the fortunes and lives of whole masses of people without expecting to hear about it.
The "wake up" call everyone says the attacks were, is not just to alert America to the threats they face...it is also to let them know that they cannot any longer escape the effects of the misery they sow willy nilly in the world. America's negative impact and undeclared wars against whole populations because their countries contain valuable resources is not being conducted in the name of Freedom...or even to secure "our way of Life". Ever since money became more and more of a factor in electing officials in this country, those providing the "contributions" have had increased power to affect "national" policy. The access they've bought for themselves has allowed them to mask their greedy pursuit for bottom lines and dividends behind a patriotic veneer of "making America Great"...when all they really meant was to use America to make their profits greater.
The American people are lied to and used to increase corpoprate profits...everyone else in the world knows it...it's just the people here who believe it's necessary to starve an Iraqi child to death so they can be safe to enjoy a drive to a soccer game. The measures being voted into place now show how unnerved Americans have become that they are granting even MORE power to those who've already brought them this low, and they will get more terror, not less.
The war against the Muslim world has to be called off. The war against the people of Iraq has to stop as does the war against the Palestinians...for starters. America will have to pay a fair price for the resources it needs, and it will have to reign in corporate profits "at all costs". It's simple really.
If it doesn't do that, then the War goes on and those who are terribly outnumbered and outgunned can't be blamed for using up their lives in the "best", most worst, ways they can devise. If America were fighting for IT'S life and not corporate profits...it too would resort to whatever means were called for to defend itself and defeat its adversaries...even if it meant dropping two atomic bombs on sleeping women and children.