By Gary D. Barnett
Courtesy Of "Lew Rockwell"
Recently by Gary D. Barnett: The Intent of the U.S. Ruling Class Is Total Tyranny: We Must Stop It!
Do U.S. politicians and their puppets in the mainstream press really want to talk about terrorism and genocide happening in other countries? Do they really think that these accusations will not come back to haunt them?
Contradictions and hypocrisy abound in this conversation, and it is about time that the truth is told.
According to Wikipedia, the word "terrorism" has over 100 meanings, and currently has no universally agreed upon, legally binding, criminal law definition. This is unfortunate, but most understand the real meaning whether they choose to apply it properly or not. The word "terror" comes from the Latin verbterrere meaning to be frantic with fear or terror. Generally speaking, terrorism is the use of violence or threats to intimidate or coerce, especially for political purposes. It is violent acts intended to create fear, and these acts are perpetrated for a religious, political or ideological goal, and deliberately target or disregard the safety of civilians. In November of 2004, a United Nations Secretary General report described terrorism as any act "intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants with the purpose of intimidating a population or compelling a government or an international organization to do or abstain from doing any act." I think of terrorism as any act whatsoever intended to harm in any manner any innocent citizen or his property for the sake of gaining politically or economically, or by instilling fear so that these same ends can be achieved. In other words, any individual, group of individuals, or government apparatus that carries out any deliberate act of aggression that harms innocent civilians is committing a terrorist act! So who are the real terrorists in this world?
Certainly, anyone who straps a bomb to his body with the intent to harm others would be considered a terrorist. Any group that planned and carried out any act that would maim or kill innocents in order to make a political statement would be considered terrorists. But also, any government or nation-state that ordered and carried out aggressive military exercises that resulted in the deaths of innocent civilians, whether purposeful or not, would be committing acts of terror in my opinion. But those who practice self-defense by protecting themselves, their families, their friends, their countrymen, and their property from harm, whether individually or collectively, are certainly not terrorists!
So where does this leave us? The answer to a few questions might help us understand who or what is the real threat. Who instills the most fear worldwide? Who maims and kills the most civilians and non-combatants? Who gains more power, control, and wealth, and benefits the most due to terrorism?
If you answered al-Qaeda, you would be dead wrong. Of course, we in this country have been programmed by government and the media to immediately equate all terrorism with Muslims, the adherents of Islam, and while there are certainly plenty of Muslim terrorists, their numbers pale in comparison to the real terrorists among us. In fact, if one takes the time to research modern terrorism, it is evident that most believe it only applies to those individuals and fringe groups who are outside so-called democratic nations. Most, especially the neo-conservatives think that terrorism is the scourge of only democratic governments. The Arab world is far and away considered the main source of terrorism, but in my opinion, that is because of not only a lack of understanding by the masses of what terrorism really is, but also because governments and their puppets in the press have continually lied about the atrocities being committed.
I will make few friends with the following statement, but let me say clearly that in my opinion, the United States government, and those in the U.S. military who willingly do the bidding of the government by prosecuting immoral and aggressive wars and acts of hostility, and those who are partners in these crimes, are the worst terrorists in the world today! Bold as this may sound, let me explain why this is so.
Without question, the worst single terrorist act in United States history was the attack that took place on September 11, 2001. On that horrible day, 2,996 people were killed, and many others wounded. It was truly awful, and was purposely meant to harm the innocent. If one goes to Wikipedia and does a little research to find out what are supposed to be the worst terrorist attacks in history, the worst event listed since the 1940s is 9/11. But it is important to understand that the nuclear bombs purposely dropped on civilian centers in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in WWII, (remember our definitions) bombings that killed 200,000 innocent people, are not even mentioned as terrorist attacks for that period. The slaughter of innocents including many women and children at Waco by our own government is also not listed. Obviously, those entities reporting on such matters simply do not consider any attacks against innocents by the U.S. government as terrorism. They also ignore all U.S. attacks during wars, aggressive or not, even if targeted purposely against civilians, and do not consider them terrorist acts. This is telling.
Remember, those bombs were dropped after the Japanese government, military, and Emperor had agreed to surrender, only asking that the Emperor remain in place. (John V. Denson explains the truth about these horrendous terrorist attacks in his article, The Hiroshima Myth.) These unwarranted attacks against Japan were far and away the two single greatest terrorist attacks in history!
No individual, group of individuals, or any country’s government and it’s complicit partners have in recent history caused as much death and maiming of innocents as the U.S. Empire. None! In my opinion, the U.S. has never been in any morally legitimate war since the American Revolution, and in the past century only the two world wars were congressionally declared. Even if I leave out all war and aggression prosecuted by the U.S before 1946, the list of aggressive actions and undeclared wars since is staggering. Over that period of time, American military interventions have been responsible for the death of millions, the wounding of many millions more, and the displacement of untold millions more; over 10 million refugees in just Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq alone. Many, if not most of these casualties were innocent civilians and non-combatants. No country or foreign government has attacked the U.S. during this period of time, yet U.S. forces have continually practiced aggression, including total war and occupation, against countries worldwide. These are but a recognizable few of the places that the U.S. has intervened militarily against in the past 65 years: The Philippines, Puerto Rico, Korea, Iran, Vietnam, Central America, Iraq, Cuba, Somalia, Yugoslavia, Bosnia, Haiti, Sudan, Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Syria.
According to the study I linked to above, which is a partial list, American military interventions against foreign countries have occurred 80 times since 1946. Not a single one of these countries ever attacked the U.S. mainland. There were certainly terrorist attacks against American interests during this period, but those were criminal acts, not acts of war. Almost all of them happened outside of this country where American military presence was felt. If they were aimed toward civilians, they were evil, and if they were aimed at our military during any aggressive occupation, then they were in most every instance not acts of terror, but of self-defense. It would be no different here if we were aggressively occupied by a foreign power, regardless of the so-called reasoning. We would, and properly so, defend ourselves with all our might. Would we then also be terrorists?
My intent is not to just target or bash America, but any who practice terrorism individually or collectively. My aim is to expose that which is hidden by governments and the mainstream media, but known in the hearts of most around the world. That is that governments are the worst terrorists among us. It is time to tell the truth about the horrors of terrorism and war because these things are now one and the same. Immoral acts of evil now occur almost every day, and all around the world. Innocents are terrorized constantly, and are at more risk than ever before of being harmed due to this lunacy.
This nation has become the poster child of aggressive war and occupation, of murder, of imperialism, of torture, and of imprisonment without trial. Our government over just the last few decades has been responsible for the deaths of millions of innocents, and to this day is continuing to advance that reign of terror. Leslie Stahl on 60 Minutes in 1996 ask our own Secretary of State at the time, Madeline Albright: "is the price worth it?" when speaking of the deaths of 500,000 thousand Iraqi children; their deaths due strictly to brutal U.S. sanctions. These innocent children were all 5 years of age or younger. Her reply: "I think this is a very hard choice, but the price – we think the price is worth it." What an admission! Was it worth it for our national security or was it worth it for the oil? Neither reason of course is legitimate.
As I write this, the U.S. Empire has once again started and is waging another war of aggression against Libya. This is by all accounts an evil display of force that will surely result in the deaths of many more innocents. It is also the third war being waged by the U.S. at one time, with other wars surely in the works. While those warmongers clamoring for yet another war to "save" the people of Libya are applauding, their hypocrisy is evident. More innocent civilians will perish from this earth while the politicians scream about protecting the innocent. What a tangled web they weave with their lies. Their terrorism continues in earnest!
This madness must be stopped, not only for the sake of all those innocent victims overseas, but also for the sake of all of us. These atrocities are being done in our name by our own corrupt and evil government. The more terror that is spread by the U.S. governing apparatus, the more reprisal we all will face in the future. For the sake of humanity, I hope the masses take their heads out of the sand and accept this truth. The country that currently poses the greatest threat to the world is the United States, and the U.S. government and its accomplices are also the primary instigators of world terrorism. All of us have a moral responsibility to stop those in government who would terrorize others. Who will stop them if we don’t?
Aggressive war is the epitome of terrorism, and the U.S. is the king of aggressive war!
March 21, 2011
Gary D. Barnett [send him mail] is president of Barnett Financial Services, Inc., in Lewistown, Montana.
Copyright © 2011 by LewRockwell.com. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit is given.
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