With all the drama in DC (personally I think it is mofre reality TV than a descent drama) the whole topic of terrorism has taken a back seat to the players and their silly, silly rhetoric.
Since I write about foreign policy and national defense I am always reading stuff that most MSM tries to ignore.
We all know what terrorism is, right?
We know what the consequences are for not taking it seriously.
But truly what fuels these cells hatred?
Since September 11th 2001, the U.S. media and government have demonized Muslims and fetishized the US military so much that many Americans do not understand what a devastating impact our foreign policy has had on the Muslim world. It is the duty of every American to question their government’s action, we need to get this idea out of our head that patriotism means blind support for our military adventures in the Middle East.
Osama bin Laden has been painted as a maniac, a man so insane and blind with rage that he toppled the Twin Towers because Allah told him to hate Western culture. But the fact is bin Laden made his motivation for attacking us very clear: US intervention in the Middle East. If we don’t address the root cause of terrorism this cycle of violence will never end.
Bin Laden’s 1996 fatwa was entitled, “Declaration of Jihad Against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holiest Sites (Expel the infidels from the Arab Peninsula).” The title makes bin Laden’s goal clear. After the Soviet Union was driven out of Afghanistan and collapsed at the end of the Cold War, bin Laden turned his eye on the United States. The US support for Israel long angered the rich Saudi, but it was US troops occupying the Arabian Peninsula that really stoked his rage.
It’s About Time We Recognize What Fuels Terrorism
Keep in mind that geopolitics has a 3rd law…..”For every action there is an equal and opposition reaction”….sounds familiar right?
Knee jerk reactions to world affairs leads to interventionism and war….neither of which does anything but make terrorists stronger.
“Lego Ergo Scribo”
It’s always easier to blame terrorists instead of our own foreign policies.
They should remember that every action has a reaction. It is worth looking again at Newton.
“Newton’s third law is: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The statement means that in every interaction, there is a pair of forces acting on the two interacting objects.”
Best wishes, Pete.
THat Law can be applied to so many things and foreign policy is a good one chuq
I agree with you and beetleypete. Why it isn’t common sense is beyong me. You destroy someone’s country in a war or through some invasion justified on some spurious basis (like George H.W.’s Panama invasion…), you weill piss people off! They want revenge, so they find a way to get revenge.
If American policy makers took a look back at the end of WWII and considered the with we turned two of the most virulent enemies we’ve ever had into peaceful democracies and economic wonders by helping them through the Marshall Plan and other plans in Asia, they’d see a model for peace and a happier world.
That way we’ve approached foreign affairs after WWII have been a bust for the countries we’ve fought in wars and us.
Maybe the DoD should go back to calling itself the War Department….(post to come) chuq
There is something to that, chuq. It would be a more honest description of their function.
Yep they dash into wars quickly might as well be accurate in their title. chuq