The Myth of the “War on Terrorism”
September 16, 2002
The so-called "war on terrorism" is a myth. In fact the US government is one of the biggest sponsors of terrorism on the planet and is one of the few countries to be condemned by the world court for sponsoring international terrorism. Osama Bin Laden isn't the only terrorist the US government has trained, and their sponsoring of terrorists continues today.
For example, Orlando Bosch is a religious fundamentalist and terrorist who admits to bombing a civilian Cuban airlines flight - killing 73 innocent people. Yet he lives perfectly free in this country, which refuses to extradite him to Cuba or any neutral country. Haiti has asked the US to extradite the terrorist Emannuel Constant, a fanatic who butchered over 4,000 innocent Haitians, but they have refused.
At the same time the US government was training Bin Laden and his terrorist cohorts they were also backing terrorists in Africa. As relations between Angola and the US soured the US funded & supported terrorist groups in Angola lead by the mass murderer Joseph Savimbi. Their activities eventually brought about a civil war that Angola still has not recovered from. These terrorists are only a few of the many terrorists supported by the United States Government.
The US Army has been running a terrorist training camp in Georgia, called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (formerly known as the School of the Americas) whose victims vastly outnumber those of the atrocious Sept. 11th massacre. WHISC graduates have led terrorist operations, military coups, and are responsible for massacres of thousands of people. Graduates are responsible for the Uraba massacre in Colombia, the El Mozote massacre of 900 civilians in El Salvador, the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero, and the Jesuit massacre in El Salvador, the La Cantuta massacre in Peru, the torture and murder of a UN worker in Chile, and hundreds of other terrorist actions. In April 2002 terrorists who graduated from this school attempted to overthrow the democratically elected government in Venezuela. In an attempt to deflect criticism of the SOA on January 17, 2001 the School Of America's name changed to the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHISC). In a media interview in 2001, Georgia Senator and SOA supporter, the late Paul Coverdell, characterized the DOD proposal as "cosmetic" changes that would ensure that the SOA could continue its mission and operation.
The FBI defines terrorism as "violent acts… intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, influence the policy of a government, or affect the conduct of a government." That is precisely what these actions are.
The war in Afghanistan has completely failed in its stated goal of capturing or killing bin Laden and has killed more innocent civilians then those who died in the 9-11 massacre. Even the CIA has said that it probably won’t deter Al-Qaeda. It has replaced the tyrannical Taliban with equally tyrannical warlords. Instead of making women wear the Burka, these warlords rape women and turn them into sex slaves.
The single most effective thing that can be done by America to combat terrorism is to stop sponsoring and harboring terrorists. The fact that Bush hasn't done this proves he has no intention of stopping terrorism and that his "war on terrorism" is myth. This “war” is in fact a propaganda device being used by Bush and his cronies to ram through their authoritarian agenda. They have taken away our civil liberties by implementing secret military tribunals, "disappeared" several hundred people, created an "Office of Homeland Security" (secret police) and demonized any form of dissent as "unpatriotic" and “anti-American.” Anything the government doesn't like gets labeled "terrorist" or "supporting terrorism." Bush has attempted to use this "war" as an excuse to justify conquering Iraq, even though they had nothing to do with 9-11 and hasn’t sponsored terrorism in years. He has even equated opposing free trade with supporting terrorism.