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Bloodthirsty
Company
September 26, 2001
by
Baron Lane
The terrorist attack on America on September 11, 2001 was
a horrendous display of theocratic extremism. Lessons need
to be learned in order to prevent this type of action being
repeated and to honorably honor those that lost their lives.
During the Iran-Iraq war of the early 80's Reagan and Bush
embraced terrorism by supporting the tyrannical regime of
Saddam Hussein - approving loans and sales of weapons while
knowing that Saddam was using chemical weapons against the
Kurds and Iran.
A few years latter Saddam invades Kuwait against Washington's
wishes and suddenly he's labeled "the new Hitler."
During the Russian invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 our Governmenthelped
fuel the dwindling concept of the jihad, or holy war, in order
to fire a pan-Islamic movement against our then Communist
enemy.
For the next ten years the CIA and Saudi intelligence pumped
billions of dollars' of arms to the Mujahideen groups, which
included Osama bin Laden, fighting in Afghanistan.
When Russia retreated and America lost interest a power vacuum
remained that allowed bin Laden and the Taliban to gain power.
We now know the tragic result of that.
Our Government has a long history of facile condemnation
of terrorists, while at the same time forging ties with those
same individuals to help further American foreign policy.
The only way America will confront and defeat terrorism is
to face our own hypocritical relationship with it when it
serves our Government's foreign policies, including those
to buttress our supply of oil.
If Saddam Hussein or Ossama bin Laden choose to employ terrorism
there is little the people of Iraq or Afghanistan can do that
won't get them slaughtered.
But when people of the most powerful Democracy in the World
understand that their Government is involved in employing
terrorism we have a moral obligation to demand the terror
to end and those responsible be brought to justice. Including
members of our own Government.
An open-ended and vague "war on terrorism" is an affront
to all of those that lost their lives on September 11, 2001.
A more fitting remembrance is to weed out, however painfully,
why America fell into such bloodthirsty company - and question
whether 6000 American lives was worth the price.
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