Re: "The war is against terror"
>>> Hope so. (At least I hope it's not for Big Oil, or something like that.)
>>> Like any war though, it will ultimately be judged by it's results: In the end, is there less terrorism in the World?
>>> For that answer, we are yet a long way away.
>>> But (and although I *support* an Iraq war... if we wind up producing a functioning Democracy there), I'd have to admit that we stand at least as great a risk of inspiring new waves of terrorists in Palestine, and throughout the entire Muslim world, for GENERATIONS to come, as we do of discouraging further attacks - at least that's what the CIA says... and I'm in complete agreement with them on that point.
>>> That is the conclusion of the Joint American Intelligence Community study on this matter - issued last summer.
And, there are terrorists, and then there are terrorists:
Of course, if the war is really against terrorism, Bush
needn't send the military to the worlds nether regions to
find miscreants at huge risk and expense. He could start
right here in the U.S.:
** General Jose Guillermo Garcia has lived in Florida since
the 1990s. He was head of El Salvador's military during the
1980s when death squads closely linked to the army murdered
thousands of people.
** General Prosper Avril, the Haitian dictator, liked to
display the bloodied victims of his torture on television.
When he was overthrown, he was flown to Florida by the U.S.
government.
** Thiounn Prasith, Pol Pot's henchman and apologist at the
U.N., lives in Mount Vernon, NY.
**General Mansour Moharari, who ran the Shah of Iran's
notorious prisons, is wanted in Iran, but is untroubled in
the U.S.
** General Pervez Musharraf, the current dictator of
Pakistan, who overthrew a democratically elected
government, might easily join that list if he's ever
deposed by a coup. Maybe at some point soon, considering
that Islamicist parties dominated the county's recent
parliamentary elections.
If charity starts at home, one thing the U.S. might do
(even before trying to close down al Qaeda training camps)
is to close down the School of the Americas at Fort
Benning, Georgia, which has trained about 60,000 Latin
American police and soldiers. It's well known that among
the techniques recommended for use against insurgents in
its manuals are blackmail, torture, execution and the
arrest of the suspect's relatives. Those techniques would
be called "terror" if they weren't exercised by U.S.
"allies."
The Washington Post ran an interesting article about
something called The Expeditionary Task Force, a 1,500-man
unit of former Bolivian soldiers that is totally funded,
fed, clothed and armed by the U.S. Embassy in that country.
This is a first in the War on Drugs, even though it's taken
a back seat to the War on Terror. The U.S. is paying the
soldiers about $100 a month, which is 50% more than they
got in the army; make a note in case you want your own
private army. These guys go running around the jungle
destroying the crops of the local farmers, and occasionally
torturing, maiming, and murdering a few. The indigenes
don't like it, are well aware of who's putting the Task
Force up to it, and have long memories. You can bet a real
guerrilla war will, at some point, blossom in Bolivia as a
result. On the bright side, though, hiring local soldiers
is a lot cheaper, and much lower profile, than using
Americans. And you don't really have to care who gets
killed. |
