Nurtel Essay: War on Terror

[Nur]

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Presents:

 

The War on Terror, The Nomadic View.

 

 

In This thread, I am sharing my insights with fellow Nomads on current issues that affect our lives, and their implications. In no way do I imply that I have a solution, rather I am just raising questions as to where the current train of thought on these issues is destined, so that wise men and women, regardless of creed or country can reflect and make a better informed decisions to influence direction of current affairs.

 

Billions of Dollars have been earmarked by Congress to fight the scourge of terrorism after the tragedy of September 11, a new Department was created to secure the nation from this dreaded enemy and a lot of freedoms Americans enjoyed were compromised, in order to protect Americans from the terrorist death and destruction. When a public official was asked the motive of the perpetrators of the 9/11, the official said, " they ( Terrorists) hate Freedom", so, as a response the administration requested Congress to issue laws that will revoke present freedoms enjoyed by Americans given to them by the Constitution so that the administration can fight the terrorists who hate our freedoms.

 

If you are like me, a slow learner, you may come to the conclusion that if indeed the Public Official was right about the assertion that the terrorists hate freedom, by curtailing freedoms such as privacy and association, that the terrorists have indeed emerged as the winners in this war.

 

So, it may be worth our while to look into the effects of this terrorism thing to see if indeed it warrants a reaction so fundemental as to repeal basic human rights, International agreements and common sense. What is even more amazing is that, in a time when totalitarianism is going out of fashion, the nation that helped championing human rights is chopping the freedom bird's wings right in its own backyard.

 

Historically, in the seventies and beyond any armed group that caused a terror act was know as guerillas, they targted governmet installations and even civilians to get their point accross, so, if you go back and read old magazines, you will not find the popular buzz word "terroirsts" anywhere, all you will find is guerillas, rebels and the like. Some of this guerillas were even popular among the youth as heroes fighting against what was termed at the time imperialism and hegemony in the Communist Socialis literature. These guerillas were portrayed in the media as heroes fighting for justice and equality like Che Guevara of Chile, Angela Davis of Communist Party of America, Patrice Lumuba of The Congo, and Nelson Mandela of South Africa.

 

These "terror" or "Guerilla" groups were ranging from religiously motivated, like the Jewish settlers of Palestine who were fighting for the establishment of a Jewsish State in Palestine from the British Empire, the Ikhwan Brotherhood of Egypt who wanted to establish an Islamic state in Egypt, to state sponsored or secularly motivated urban Guerillas like the pro-llife groups, California Redwoods Preservationsists , Animal Rights groups, The Japanese Cults, Irish Republlican Army, Spanish Basque, Italian Brigate Rosso, organized crime bosses or Somali Warlords. All these groups had one thing in common, they used illegal or violent means to send a message to intimidate their adversaries to influence a policy.

 

Unfortunately, Their messages always meant human misery, loss of life and destruction of properties.

 

So, the end result of their actions always amounted to death and destruction. Clearly this phenomena or any other that causes human loss of life and properties must be stopped, and in that regard I looked into the statistics of past twenty years of all events that led to loss of human life, legally state sanctioned deaths or illegally committed crimes by terror groups, astonishingly, here is what I found within an hours research.

 

 

Terrorism:

 

 

Hoffman a well known expert in this field writes:

 

" Religion has been the major driving force behind international terrorism during the 1990s. As described below, the most serious terrorist acts of the decade--in terms of the number of people killed or the political implications--all have had a significant religious dimension.

Hoffman's states:

 

1992 onward: Bloodletting by Islamic extremists in Algeria has claimed an estimated 75,000 lives. (Note: Here the author does not mention that this war was trigerred by the Military who intervened a potential win by Islamists in the elections and rise to power, fatally damaging the democratic process of power sharing, he also does not mention that the government committed massive killings and deception in the process, all available in Archives of International dailies)

 

February 1993: Thirteen car and truck bombings shake Bombay, India, killing 400 and injuring more than 1,000, in revenge for the destruction of an Islamic shrine. ( No International Action taken )

 

February 1993: Islamic radicals bomb New York City's World Trade Center, attempting to topple one of the twin towers onto the other, reportedly while releasing a deadly cloud of poisonous gas. ( Dubious Framing)

 

December 1994: Air France passenger jet is hijacked by terrorists belonging to the Algerian Armed Islamic Group (GIA), who plotted unsuccessfully to blow up themselves, the aircraft, and the 283 passengers on board precisely when the plane was over Paris, which would have caused the flaming wreckage to plunge into the crowded city below.

 

March 1995: Apocalyptic Japanese religious cult releases sarin nerve gas in Tokyo subway system, killing a dozen people and wounding 3,796 others, with reports that the group also planned to carry out identical attacks in the United States.( Japan Was never mentioned as hosting Terror Groups)

 

April 1995: Members of the American Christian Patriot movement, seeking to foment a nationwide revolution, bomb the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Office Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people.

 

July-October 1995: GIA unleashes a wave of bombings in Paris Metro trains, outdoor markets, cafes, schools, and popular tourist spots, killing 8 and wounding more than 180.

November 1995: Jewish religious extremist assassinates Israeli premier Yitzhak Rabin, viewing it as the first step in a mass murder campaign designed to disrupt the peace process. ( The victim could not stomach what Sharon is doing)

 

February-March 1996: String of attacks by Hamas suicide bombers kills 60 people and turns the tide of Israel's national elections.

April 1996: Machine-gun and hand-grenade attack by Egyptian Islamic militants on a group of Western tourists kills 18 outside their Cairo hotel.

 

June 1996: Religious militants opposed to the reigning al-Saud regime in Saudi Arabia perpetrate truck bombing of U.S. Air Force barracks in Dhahran, killing 19 people.

November 1997: Terrorists belonging to the Gamat al-Islamiya (Islamic Group) massacre 58 foreign tourists and 4 Egyptians at the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut in Luxor, Egypt.

 

August 1998: Attackers believed to have been financed by Saudi Arabian dissident Osama bin Laden bomb U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing 257 people, including 12 Americans, and injuring more than 5,000 in Kenya, and killing 10 people and injuring dozens in Tanzania. Bin Laden had issued a fatwa, or Islamic religious edict, as part of his worldwide campaign against the United States. An estimated 5,000 adherents throughout the Muslim world allegedly are prepared to follow his summons to battle.

 

 

The last part of this report by Hoffman is very interesting, Bin Laden, as he claims, has alledgedly 5000 potential followers who may commit spectacular crimes like his ( which has never been proven in any court of law anywhere so far), this allegation if true is indeed horrible for humanity, but shouldn't we look into other similar group's intentions as close as this one? Like state sponsored terrorism , Sharon, who was found responsible for the killing in Sabra and Shatilla by a a competent Israeli court and who has as many followers as voted him into office, but horribly enough, with proven Nuclear capabilitiy. A Somali Proverb says: * ( Oohinta orgiga ka weyn) and its English counterpart says:

 

* "It is but seldom that any one overt act produces hostilities bewteen two nations, there exists more commonly , a previous jealousy and ill will, a predesposition to take offense". (Washington Irving, The sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon)

 

But because Israel is an Ally of USA, attrocities committed by this state in trigerring the mayhem, destruction and international terrorism is seldom addressed by Congress where the pro Israel Lobby viciously attacks any suggestion to control Israel. To this effect Leon Trotsky said : "An ally has to be watched just like an enemy" because at the end, American interests, regardless of its ehnic groups or pressure lobbies shall weigh heavier than any expedient political manuevers if the nation has to exist as the its founders envisioned.

 

Assuming the 5000 zealot theory of Hoffman to be true, I compared these numbers to PROVEN and legally state sanctioned deaths in the USA. America, a nation that prides itself in the preservation of human freedoms, dignity , property and life, I compared the Terror statistics and deaths with statistics from the Departmenmt of Justice on Crime and other statistics of legalized venues and means that cause the same if not worse devastation and horror, but only if cameras were present like the one that scared the hell out of me. No one describes death like the man who killed millions of his subjects in the name of communism and Patriotism: Joseph Stalin said: " A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths are a statistic. ."

 

Here are some of the sobering statistics:

 

1. Over a million babies are killed in cold blood every year in USA ( Silent Screams)

 

2. 1000 Americans die of Cigarette related ailment DAILY, 3000 kids begin smoking every DAY. ( Philip Morris should be tried for these crimes against humanity)

 

3. 15 Million violent crimes are committed in USA annualy ( Murder, Rape, Robbery,Aggrevated assualt etc)

 

4. 20,000 Americans are murdered every year ( Compared to 2900 in 9/11 Tragedy)

 

5. 17,000 Alcohol related crimes and 16000 Alcohol related Traffic deaths, 3 Million crimes/year committed by drunk offenders.

 

6. 1000 Americans are Raped EVRY DAY, and 3 % of all college women are raped ( completed rapes 1.7%)

 

7. 15000 Robberies annually ( Billions of $$ are stolen, white collar like ENRON or street thieves)

 

So, who should Americans fear most?

 

As much as I abhor anarchism and terrorism, I equally detest what is called war on terror, because like Henry Kissinger said " The conventional army loses if it does not win, the guerilla wins if he does not loset" , I do not see an end to this madness and honestly of it comtinues, The USA will emerge out of this war that may never have a decisive end a weaker and pooree nation that compromised a lot of its centuries old ideals while chasing an elusive enemy of its own creation. The Chinese Philosopher Sun Tzu summed it up as:

 

" There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare." , The Art Of War.

 

 

In Conclusion, if securing human life and its quality is the priority of the American Constitution, then there is no better way to achieve that goal other than a comprehensive system of justice that everyone can buy into it, because as long as any segment of the human family is not safeguarded, there will be no equillibrium, or a balance and thus security will remain an illusion at best.

 

Allah SWT referring to Prophet Abraham's plight with his people says : Those who "aamanuu" (became peaceful by surrendering to their maker) and further, who have not cloaked up their convictions( their surrender to Allah) with injustice, those indeed ( deserve ) security and these are indeed the guided ones.

 

 

Nur

 

 

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