TWO DIFFERENT PLANETS......
Hi Iqbal,
I have read your reflections with great interest. I come away absolutely marvelling at how completely differently we see the world. I, a native born American who sees my nation dangerously at the brink of losing our heritage as a Republic and becoming rapidly a totalitarian and militarized Empire which will be feared and resented by the great bulk of humanity who are to be put under the thumb of the monster; and you, a native of Pakistan, who for whatever reason, has become a thoughtful, yet thoroughly partisan advocate for the aberrant and anti-American neo-conservative Right Wing movement in the U.S.
Frankly, I just don't get it. Considering our cultural backgrounds, a casual observer would almost certainly find that we should each be advocating for the opposite sides than we do. I should be engaged in a rah-rah cheerleading partiotism that is satisfied that "our team" is winning. And one might think that you, Ike, would be advocating for the greatest possible political and economic advantages for your own people. Yet, this is not the case.
Now I don't know what motivates you, though I do have private speculations in this regard. However, I'll be perfectly frank and state that my criticism of the current Bush Regime in Washington is based on my abundant reading of history, my copious understanding of the process of transformation that the Bush Team hopes to impose on the American Republic and a profound understanding that the Bush Junta is the most anti-American conspiracy to ever have captured the White House.
Perhaps I've missed something, but when you say that you trust the Bush Team because they are bringing a "bill of rights" and a "constitution" to Afghanistan and Iraq, I have to only reflect upon the USA PATRIOT Act, the stealth way that further erosions are civil liberties are being introduced by executive order, regulatory changes and stealth legislation and all I can say is.... Bush may well be engage a rhetoric of global democracy, but he is truly engaged in a craven scheme of destroying the "Bill of Rights" and the "Constitution" of the United States at home. Today, 3 states and 225 cities have signed Resolutions in opposition to the USA PATRIOT Act and its extensions. The citizenry of America is up in arms, so to speak, about the erosion of the principles of democracy being steadily enforced by the ultra-secretive and autocratic Bush Regime. I wonder how it can look so different to you?
Just a few other notes in the margin here.
I would strongly encourage you to read this interview with Chalmers Johnson, one of the most cogent, well-learned and honest observers of American Empire that I know of:
Message 19875433
Clearly, this important author is in agreement with me in the way he views the threat of Pax Americana and the imposition of the insane neo-con "vision" on the Middle East and Eurasia. What is completely unclear to me is how or why you seem to be totally blind to the ambition of the neo-cons, to their penchant for deception, and to their goals which are anathema to 96% of the population of the planet. For the life of me, I can't figure out how you can support such insufferable cretins.
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Re: The landings in Normandy and young blood at Normandy that flew like water freed Europe from demagogues in similar vein
Frankly, when I read poppycock like this, I have to wonder if you are a propaganda/disinformation agent working for the CIA or DoD. Any sensible observer of the history of WW II understands full well that the Normandy invasion was specifically stalled for as long as possible so that the USSR was forced to carry the brunt of the battle and suffer the great preponderance of Allied casualties in the eventual defeat of Nazi Germany's armies. The U.S. was guilty of manipulating the situation to the extent of allowing an absolute bloodbath to occur on the advance from Stalingrad, Moscow and Leningrad to the Polish-German border by the Red Army, while the American Army cozily stayed in barracks in the relative safety of Great Britain.
No question that this stratagem was spectacularly successful at reducing American and British casualties. No doubt it was a brilliant ploy to have the Nazis and the Soviets bleed and weaken each other.
But it is preposterous to claim as so many Americans do that we turned the tide when we stormed the Normandy beaches on June 6, 1944. The war had already been won. We were simply there to create a mythology of our heroic engagement.
So are you a victim of American propaganda about Normandy? Or are you a disinformation agent for the CIA? Either way, you have lost some of the respect I formerly held for your views and opinions by so blindly regurgitating the American line on this one.
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Re: Afghan and Iraq wars are not pre-emptive strikes.
This is clearly open to dispute. You cannot argue that the Taliban regime of Mullah Omar was ever directly blamed by the U.S. for the events of 9/11. Thus, the attack can be considered pre-emptive in the sense that it was an attack on an entity other than the alleged perpetrators of a crime. And let's be clear about one thing. The terrorist acts on 9/11 were a criminal act, and not an act of war. For it to have been an act of war, a state actor with a military would have had to have been involved. There was none. Thus, we have now 2 1/2 years of disinformation from George Bush about a "war on terrorism". This is an Orwellian doublethink concept. It should be banished from the discussion about what the occupation of Afghanistan is really all about.
The same applies to our naked aggression and criminal assault on the hapless nation of Iraq. One year ago, the Iraqi military was a weakened and hollow shell of its former self. Absolutely not one of Iraq's neighbors felt threatened by Iraq, with the exception of the paranoid Israelis, whose bidding the U.S. seems to be doing by committing billions of dollars and the former prestige of the U.S. to an act of futility in trying to impose a Western style quisling government with intense commercial and privatization interests which are completely anathema to the culture of Mesopotamia. The U.S. is attempting to impose a corrupt, profit-mad scheme of exploitation on the hapless Iraqi peoples. It is a charade to call this "democracy". What it is is the typical plunder and looting that occurs after all imperial conquests. Let's call a spade a spade here.
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I could go on, but I believe you do get the essence of my opposition to your willing sycophancy to what I regard as the most anti-democratic, most de-stabilizing, most aggressively anti-people cabal the world has seen in seven decades. And, of course, I'm referring to the anti-American cabal who have seized the reins of power in the United States by means of an immoral judicial coup d'etat.
I'm mystified how you can support such a criminal conspiracy. |
