Letter Never Sent

Bush Junior and his crew are concerned with what the women think about the ‘war on terror’. Concerned that Americans are losing their taste for world domination the Bush gang has tried to enlist Oprah Winfrey to steer the opinions of her estimated 22 million predominantly female viewers. They had hoped to stake their claim on television as the world liberators of oppressed women. Unfortunately, this claim is laughable. The US actively supports governments like in Saudi Arabia who are as bad or worse as the Taliban with regards to gender equality. This attempt to justify the US actions in terms of increasing the freedom of Afghan women is really funny. Every time I see someone on TV speaking earnestly about how the US has freed Afghan women I have to be cynical. A scant few months ago the US was an active supporter of the Taliban regime.

Bush’s political advisers are concerned that some key voting groups, while supportive of the war on terrorism, may be growing weary of the constant talk of killing and brutality. The Oprah strategy was devised to dampen the images of global violence.

Despite the rebuff from Winfrey, the president has begun to push that message. He told audiences in three states this week how the young girls finally have been liberated from Taliban rule and are resuming their studies after being banned from schoolrooms in 1996.

“I like to assure my fellow citizens that we don’t seek revenge, we seek justice,” Bush told a Dallas political gathering Thursday, taking a break from his Easter vacation at his Texas ranch. “And it’s important for the young in America to understand that when we went into Afghanistan, we went in not as conquerors, but as liberators.”

Don’t you feel like a liberator? I’m sure all the thousands and millions of Afghans who have had their country invaded and their homes bombed and their families murdered by US bombs feel ‘liberated’.

There have been further reports of American troops abusing Afghans. The soldiers beat them and kicked them. Then shaved their hair and beards, which they are required by their religion to wear, before releasing them four days later. Classy. Makes you proud to be an American.

In an effort to shift focus away from the Government’s development and mishandling of anthrax there comes a timely story in the New York Times. As more evidence comes out that the anthrax that killed 3 people was developed by the United States it becomes necessary to remove scrutiny and place it back onto the mysterious and elusive Al Quaeda. The New York Times article, “US Says It Found Quaeda Lab Being Built to Produce Anthrax”, contains the routine half-truths and innuendo common to US propaganda. It is necessary to interpret the language carefully in order to derive any really useful information.

In an article that suggests Al Quaeda had plans to develop chemical/biological weapons there is astonishingly little substance. The news value is low and the ‘news’ consists mainly of statements of belief attributed to government officials. You hear these sort of phrases often: ‘US says’, ‘Government believes’, ‘According to a confidential assessment’, ‘American officials have repeatedly asserted’. None of those who speak for our government, these officials, are named. So in this case, vague statements are made, the statements consist mainly of the juxtaposition of the words anthrax and Al Quaeda, there is the absence of evidence, and the statements are anonymous. The conclusion is that this is just your ordinary manipulation of public opinion. The sort of thing once practiced in the Soviet Union. The story turns out not to be what Al Quaeda is really doing, but what the US wants to make sure we think they’re really doing. The New York Times journalist does point out the lack of evidence to support these claims by the government, but the overwhelming theme is that these ghostly terrorists are out to develop germ weapons. That’s not to say I think Al Quaeda (if it even exists) or any other terrorist organization would be above using chemical or biological agents. I would not put the use of biological weapons past any group who wished to do violence against others. However, even as Al Quaeda is suspected of planning to develop chemical weapons we know for certain that the US has. The US biological weapons program is advanced and well financed. And unlike any shadowy terrorist organization the United States has shown the proven ability to develop and use chemical and biological weapons against human beings. If you can drop atom bombs or fly planes into buildings you would most likely not be troubled by biological agents.

The point is, I suppose, that the US has no credibility in leading the fight against terrorism. No matter how often it tries to portray itself as the champion of freedom and goodness, the truth remains. Instead of the military acting to defend the people of the United States from violence they have become hired killers and tools of a machiavellian foreign policy.