The crime of making Americans aware of their own history

[Grzyadms4x4]

The crime of making Americans aware of their own history
by William Blum
October 5, 2011

Is history getting too close for comfort for the fragile little American heart and mind? Their schools and their favorite media have done an excellent job of keeping them ignorant of what their favorite country has done to the rest of the world, but lately some discomforting points of view have managed to find their way into this well-defended American consciousness.

First, Congressman Ron Paul during a presidential debate last month expressed the belief that those who carried out the September 11 attack were retaliating for the many abuses perpetrated against Arab countries by the United States over the years. The audience booed him, loudly.

Then, popular-song icon Tony Bennett, in a radio interview, said the United States caused the 9/11 attacks because of its actions in the Persian Gulf, adding that President George W. Bush had told him in 2005 that the Iraq war was a mistake. Bennett of course came under some nasty fire. FOX News (September 24), carefully choosing its comments charmingly as usual, used words like “insane”, “twisted mind”, and “absurdities”. Bennett felt obliged to post a statement on Facebook saying that his experience in World War II had taught him that “war is the lowest form of human behavior.” He said there’s no excuse for terrorism, and he added, “I’m sorry if my statements suggested anything other than an expression of love for my country.” (NBC September 21)

Then came the Islamic cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki, an American citizen, who for some time had been blaming US foreign policy in the Middle East as the cause of anti-American hatred and terrorist acts. So we killed him. Ron Paul and Tony Bennett can count themselves lucky.

What, then, is the basis of all this? What has the United States actually been doing in the Middle East in the recent past?

• the shooting down of two Libyan planes in 1981

• the bombing of Lebanon in 1983 and 1984

• the bombing of Libya in 1986

• the bombing and sinking of an Iranian ship in 1987

• the shooting down of an Iranian passenger plane in 1988

• the shooting down of two more Libyan planes in 1989

• the massive bombing of the Iraqi people in 1991

• the continuing bombings and draconian sanctions against Iraq for the next 12 years

• the bombing of Afghanistan and Sudan in 1998

• the habitual support of Israel despite the routine devastation and torture it inflicts upon the Palestinian people

• the habitual condemnation of Palestinian resistance to this

• the abduction of “suspected terrorists” from Muslim countries, such as Malaysia, Pakistan, Lebanon and Albania, who were then taken to places like Egypt and Saudi Arabia, where they were tortured

• the large military and hi-tech presence in Islam’s holiest land, Saudi Arabia, and elsewhere in the Persian Gulf region

• the support of numerous undemocratic, authoritarian Middle East governments from the Shah of Iran to Mubarak of Egypt to the Saudi royal family

• the invasion, bombing and occupation of Afghanistan, 2001 to the present, and Iraq, 2003 to the present

• the bombings and continuous firing of missiles to assassinate individuals in Somalia, Yemen, Pakistan, and Libya during the period of 2006-2011

It can’t be repeated or emphasized enough. The biggest lie of the “war on terrorism”, although weakening, is that the targets of America’s attacks have an irrational hatred of the United States and its way of life, based on religious and cultural misunderstandings and envy. The large body of evidence to the contrary includes a 2004 report from the Defense Science Board, “a Federal advisory committee....

Read the rest here:
http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/201 ... n-history/

[timothy]

He forgot the genocides and weapons testings that were done against these countries by... the people we killed..

he forgot 9/11

he forgot about USS Cole

he forgot about the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania that were attacked and combined over 6000 wounded.

He forgot about Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

I could go on for longer than you want me to about what he forgot to mention.

[Grzyadms4x4]

I think that is his point is that our foreign policy causes the blowback which you say he forgot to mention. Since when are we supposed to police the world and stop evil people from doing evil things? It has only worked marginally at best and will be our downfall. Just look at Russia or Rome!

[timothy]

There was trouble in the middle east long before we were around. We may not be able to stop it but we have caused severe disruption and gathered a lot of intelligence. Being in the middle east is a necesity to our freedom.

[Grzyadms4x4]

We had much more freedom before we started medling in the middle east. How is being over there a necessity to our freedom?

[DAN GARDNER]

Maybe you need to move over to the middle east and see how you like it there. see how those ahole kill thier own daughters if they do the least thing to embarass them. or if you disagree with thier religion they kill you. Muslims are the lowest life form on earth.

OH YEAH YA FORGOT ABOUT BERUIT WHERE WE WERE TRYING TO KEEP THE PEACE WHEN A MUSLIM MAGGOT CAR BOMBED A COPLE OF HUNDRED U.S. MARINES WHILE THEY WERE SLEEPING. YOU MAY FORGET THOSE INCEDENTS, BUT I NEVER WILL.

[George Streepy]

Grzyadms4x4 sure brings up an unpopular look at foreign policies. I tend to agree with him to a certain degree. I don't like to hear about tyranny in the Middle East and the persecution of thousands of people, but when did we have to become the almighty enforcer of the world. I think we need to drag our feet a little before jumping into fights. From Vietnam on we have been fighting unwinnable wars. The unrest seems to be getting worse, and now we unfortunately get to be the target of the radicals. The same radicals we trained and armed just a few decades ago. And since the 60's our strength as a nations has gone down the crapper as well.

Obviously I do not have all the answers but I couldn't let everyone beat Grzyadms4x4 up to bad. Well there I go jumping into a fight that I have nothing to do with, guess it is just the American way.

Despite my dislike of our foreign policies I have the utmost respect for the men and women serving in the Armed Forces. I hope the lives lost and sacrifices made by them are not in vain.

[Grzyadms4x4]

No thanks Dan, I think I'll stay right here, but let them people sort out their own messes. I do not think Muslims are the lowest form of life on earth and that really does sound extreme in it's own right. Granted some of the EXTREME versions of their religion are extreme in their actions, but didn't the founders of the US, the ones way before the revolutionaries, come here to escape religious persecution? Please do not be afraid of different people's ideologies, if you fall into that trap the terrorist have won and you can be "feared" into being afraid of any boogy man the sheep herders show you.

Just like Timothy you try to "explain" to me that they did this and that to us, we were just trying to help them. Bullshit! They blew and blow us up because we shove our weight around to get what we or our allies want. The don't blow us up because we are free, they blow us up because our foreign policy is hypocritical and they don't want to be manipulated or coerced into anything they don't want to. It's obvious and Osama Bin Laden told us why he wanted to blow us up, Al Queda has told us why they want to blow us up. What don't you understand?

Very bottom line... Regardless of who you support, when Dr. Ron Paul receives more donations from members of the military than ANY other candidate, repub. and dem. COMBINED, it tells you what our military personnel think of these wars and our failed foreign policy. I support our troops and not just with words, but we are being defrauded, manipulated and screwed for any whim D.C. wants.

We are spending billions, training citizens of other countries on warfare that we will in turn be fighting against in 5,10, 15, 20, 30 years, who knows.

I'll get off because it's getting late,but supposedly Albert Einstein said, Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Sound Familiar?

Got Blow Back?

We will!

Just wait.

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[timothy]

your falling for their propaganda.. before long your going to have a vest full of explosives on while running into a crowded street. If they were pissed at Americas foreign policy then why are they attacking every other free nation in the world?

[timothy]

as for our freedom, it is protected by the valuable information we gain by being there. it is alos protected by bringing the fight to them and keeping them focused on killing us over there instead of here. pretty simple really.

[timothy]

i will agree with you partially, there are those over there who fight to protect their land, to avenge those who have been mistakenly killed, and even because of our foreign policy. But it is a small portion compared to those who have had their own religion used agaisnt them, to make them feel like they must wage this holy war against us the infidel. The muslim extremist groups are also winning a propaganda war, as this thread shows...Even if we were here minding our own business (which would be the end of us) they would find a reason to wage their holy war. We cant stand here as the most powerful nation in the world and put on a blind fold to the rest of the world. look at WWII what would have happened then had we turned a blind eye to Germany?

[cat hntr]

The koran says the infidels must be converted or killed.They have been trying to conquer and kill since soon after they became a religion.If the radical muslims are alowed to become a super power they wont stop till they rule the world including the United States.Not that I agree with all our foriegn policy but we need to look at history a little deeper.Whithout knowing all the intelligence some of the decisions are made from other than what we are told by a biased news media it gets kind of hard knowing what to support I think we should all look back a little deeper at what our country was founded on and what radical islam has for a history

[Nolte]

Grzyadms4x4,

So what would your plan have been after 3K US citizens were killed in a terrorist attack? Or is that OK because we first got in there business.

Extremists in any form of religion are going to be nut jobs who can do extremely dangerous things. If there is a way to monitor that and cut them down before they do it, it's worthwhile. Personally, I'd prefer that cut down to happen someplace besides my backyard.

There is major fundamental difference between some forms of Islam and most other relgions. Case in point. If someone's daughter is raped, the majority would want to persecute the perpetrator. And many fathers would probably take that to the extreme. Some forms Islam would kill the daughter for bringing shame. How do you bridge that gap in thinking. Is it OK because it's their beliefs. I don't think so.

[zachvu]

Your first act of terrorism is listed as the Libyan aircraft incident in 1981. What about the 66 people taken hostage by Iranian radicals in 1979??

[super white hunter]

Look at it this way; you’re a big tough guy walking down the street minding your own business. You look across the street and a group of guys (whose goal in life is to destroy you, your family and country because there bible tells them to) is beating up, raping and going to kill some poor helpless person. Do you keep walking and do nothing because it’s not your business, I don't think so you march your happy but across that street and take care of business. If you would not take your A:: and move somewhere else like France because YOU are the problem with this country

Sorry tried to stay calm and ignore this but it's just to aggravating

Sgt
USMC