War on Terror?? Now whose terrorizing who? (The War Against Terrorism - Post Afghanistan)

Member Name: angry chris

Product:	The War Against Terrorism - Post Afghanistan
Date:	20/11/02 (182 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Saddam isn't very nice., It started off in the best of intentions.

Disadvantages: Moral right has vanished, Lives will be lost for no forseeable gain., Those killed 9/11 are being used as scapegoats.

On September 11th 2001, the world watched in dumbstruck horror as three hijacked
planes flew into buildings in mainland America. One of those planes crashed into the side
of the Pentagon, the administrative HQ of the US government. The other two, as
everyone knows, crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York.
A forth plane was brought down over the woodlands of Pennsylvania, crashing after the
passengers on board showed great courage to attack the hijackers, and thus crashing
the plane away from populated areas.
Over two and a half thousand people were killed, and thousands more injured on that
fateful day. The World Trade Centre was completely destroyed. The world had
witnessed a new type of warfare-using commercial airlines as missiles, using their fuel
tanks as explosive. The first shots in the “War on Terror” had been fired.

They say that when something immense happens, you always remember where you were
at the time. I do. I was at college, it was a Tuesday afternoon, and a friend of mine,
Stephanie, told me that someone had hijacked some US fighter aircraft and had
destroyed the World Trade Centre. At first disbelieving, I bought the local newspaper
and found that, despite the slight misinformation I had been given, the general gist
remained the same. I rushed home, plonked myself down to watch SKY News, and
switched on just in time to see that infamous footage of the second plane hitting the
Trade Centre. Like many, it is an image I will not forget.

This opinion is now about to divulge into fact mingled with my personal views. I do not
claim to be the definitive authority here. Only a handful of people really know what
happened that day, and what has and is going on afterwards. This is merely my opinion,
whether you choose to agree or not.

THE AFTERMATH.

After the initial shock had lessened a litt
le, the world waited for a response and for
answers. Speculation began flying that Saddam Hussein was behind the attack, but that
was quickly dispelled as Osama Bin Laden, head of the Al-Quaeda network, became the
prime suspect. World leaders offered their sympathy, while Tony Blair promised to
stand “Shoulder to Shoulder” with our American Allies.
In New York, Mayor Rudolph Gulliani and ex president Bill Clinton were shifting through
the rubble and comforting grieving victims. The world still waited for a response.
Eventually, the world’s most powerful man, George W Bush, clambered out of the bunker
in which he had been cowering and prepared to address a startled nation. The western
world waited for inspiration for the dumbest president in US history. The platform was
set, the chance was there to join the great orators of the past: Churchill, Kennedy and
Luther-King. History awaited.
Bush blew it. He cut a startled figure as he addressed his people, promising to utilize
the full might of the US Intelligence agencies to find the perpetrators. He then
addressed the attackers as “folks”. He stated that all those who harbored terrorists
would be treated as terrorists. He promised a full response when the facts were at his
disposal. Then he was gone.
The “War on Terror”, as Bush called it, had begun.

AFGHANISTAN.

The eyes of the world turned to Osama Bin Laden, when he broadcast a tape admitting
to plotting the attacks, ending all speculation and creating an enemy at last. It turned
out that he was hiding in Afghanistan, a barely civilized land run by the “Taliban”, the
faction that won the recent civil war. The press churned out the expected propaganda
(war crimes stories, mis-treatment of women etc), and American promised to be
discrete, use covert operations and full intelligence to capture and de
stroy this unique
foe. It promised to wait and be smart, rather than indiscriminately bomb countries out
of revenge. The world offered full support (with some notable exceptions), and we
waited.
Then, three weeks after the attacks, Bush ordered exactly what he said he would avoid,
a blanket bombing of Afghanistan. Bombs pounded this backward country, bombing what
little there was to bomb. The familiar infrared night pictures showed those pretty
green fireworks being exploded in the night sky.
Then, satisfied that there was nothing left to blow up bar sand, they sent in the troops.
American ground forces poured over the border, along with the allies: the “Northern
Alliance”, a ragtag collection of the factions defeated by the Taliban in the civil war.
The Taliban fled Kabul, and the allies marched into the capital in triumph.

PROBLEMS MOUNT

The “liberation” of Afghanistan provoked large scale celebration in the west. The
American government were delighted to have achieved something that Communist Russia
had failed to do in over a decade of fighting. The Northern Alliance took control of
Afghanistan, and phase one was over.
Then suddenly, pictures started cropping up in Newspapers of our “allies” brutally
murdering POW’s. The Geneva Convention apparently went out of the window. Then it
transpired that the American Authorities had actually had some decent intelligence
about Arabs learning to fly in American flight schools, and that their had been a warning
about a plan to attack American. Ignoring this warning brought a furious reaction from
American citizens.
Back in Afghanistan, stage two was about to begin. The plan was to sweep the land and
destroy any pockets of resistance from Taliban or Al-Quaeda that was found. First up
was a huge weapons dump. The Americans blew it up. Then came the pitched ba
ttle at
Tora-Bora, the Al-Quaeda mountainside hideout. It was blown into smithereens. All
seemed well.
Then Canadians were killed by “friendly fire” from Americans. The weapons dump had
actually belonged to the Northern Alliance. No evidence could be gleamed from
Tora-Bora, as the Americans had been a little overzealous, and blew it up a little too
much. Then they asked Blair for the Marines, and he courteously offered our men to do
America’s dangerous work. They went to the desert and found nothing but sand.
Nothing. At the cost of millions of pounds, the marines fired not one shot in anger.
They then started bickering with the Americans stationed there.
At things went from bad to worse on the ground, the US then decided to ditch the
Geneva Convention themselves and started hauling suspects into “Camp X-Ray”, covering
them in strange yellow radiation suits and manacling legs and feet. Land of the Free?

SHIFTING OF THE SIGHTS.

After all of this, one thing became abundantly clear: Osama Bin Laden was still at large.
Then suddenly, with seemingly no good explanation, the target went back to the Iraqi
dictator, Saddam Hussein. Tenuous links with the terror attacks and tales of weapons
of mass destruction began to be spread through the media. George Bush, whose father
had failed to topple the tyrant almost a decade ago at the end of the Gulf War, began
throwing his weight around in the UN, demanding a new resolution to get weapons
inspectors into Iraq and report on what they find. Bush wanted to be seen to
maintaining impetus in the run up to the mid-term elections, and so pushed ahead.
World opinion was one of shock and contempt from most. Germany and France
disassociated themselves from the whole idea of a fresh Gulf War. Russia and China
issued a sharp reprimand. Tony Blair went to America, most hoping to calm
the lunatic
bush down. He came home sprouting on about the “Special Relationship” and
“pre-emptive strikes”. One newspaper called him a poodle. The name stuck.
America got what it wanted from the UN.
Bush’s republican party won the mid-term elections.

COUNTER THREAT.

Just 2 months ago, the idyllic island of Bali was rocked by a massive explosion, killing
over 200 mainly Australian tourists. An Arab fundamentalist group with known links to
Al-Quaeda are the main suspects. The investigation is ongoing.

No-one knows where Osama Bin Laden is.
Bush is biding his time for war with Iraq.

TO SUM UP.

So far, I have tried to remain as neutral as possible while stated the position as it
stands, although by now you will have a fair idea where I stand on certain issues. Let me
clarify my main standpoint.

When the World Trade Centre was destroyed, my main thought was of war, a big one.
Funnily enough, just beforehand I had read an article in FHM, which listed the 10 most
wanted men in the World. Bin Laden was one of them,. So unlike most, I had a fair idea
who he was and what he was capable of. Apparently he was wanted for blowing up a
couple of US embassies in the middle east, and an oil tanker in Oman. He seemed like
the obvious candidate.
America knew that he was planning an attack,. but in typical style American arrogance,
they chose to ignore the mounting list of evidence, until it was too late. “The War on
Terror” should have begun years ago, the gate was locked well before the horse had
bolted.
The US military saw huge problems in this “war”. How can you attack a target that does
not have a country as it’s administrative capital. I bet memories of Vietnam loomed very
large. Then they were given a lifeline when the inexperienced Al-Quaeda puppet
government in A
fghanistan were foolish enough to seem to defy the might of the US.
At last the US had the target, and they had worldwide approval to strike, which they
did in typical style.
I can only wonder what purpose the American’s saw in bombing Afghanistan. The
problem to me was twofold:
1. There was almost nothing to bomb.
2. As soon as the first bomb feel, any Al-Quaeda left in the country would bugger off
to Pakistan. Sharpish.

The US may have got rid of the Taliban, but it was an empty victory. A bunch of
murdering butchers have been outed, and replaced by another. And, not surprisingly not
a single top member of Al-Quaeda was caught or killed.
Now this must have really riled Bush and his cronies. The victory would seem to be
useless in the eyes of the public unless actual terrorist were caught and paraded to the
world: hence the disgraceful “Camp X-Ray”. How dare a nation incarcerate people
without a single shred of evidence. NOT ONE PERSON IMPRISONED IN THIS PLACE
HAS BEEN CHARGED OR TRIED. All America did was create a ready made recruitment
card for the enemy who was licking it’s wounds and regrouping rapidly. Those pictures
must have generated more anti-American feeling than any Bin Laden speech ever could.
Well done Mr Bush!!!
We have to remember that the president of the USA is a man who had never been
abroad before he was elected, and has an IQ of under 90. He went on TV to show he
was a calm man who deserved respect, and he nearly choked to death on a pretzel. Here
is the man who has ordered more executions in his state of Texas than anyone else.
Could it be expected that he would act intelligently and with sound judgment? Of
course not.

In the meantime, here in Britain Tony Blair was brown-nosing his way into American good
books like some pathetic little crawler, little caring that America will do what it want
s
anyway, and that all he is doing is ensuring that this country becomes a target itself.
His “Poodle” tag was well earned. When Americans and British people wanted a calm and
intelligent head to talk some sense into the American administration, they got a worm.
Well done Mr Blair!!!
Despite all of the posturing, big words and promises, we still await the capture of any
major member of Al-Quaeda. In the wake of this debacle. America has come to learn
that as the most powerful nation in the world, it also has the most enemies. We were
the same in the 19th century, when we were the “policeman of the world”. America has
acted foolishly, lashing out at those who have no real bearing on the problem at hand,
which is Al-Quaeda.

Which brings me neatly to this war on Iraq. We are led to believe that this is a
necessary evil, and the dangerous idea of a pre-emptive strike is being bandied about.
This is gung-ho nonsense on a homicidal level. If I could take you back to the late 1930’s
and early 1940’s when Hitler was marching into country after country, he always said
that he was doing so to defend the Reich, as the enemy was building it’s strength to
attack, then he would sweep, unprovoked, into that given country. This is the same
thing. Iraq has nothing to do with the war on terror. Bin Laden and his cronies have
nothing to do with Saddam Hussein. They are Saudi’s, fierce enemies of Iraq. Saddam
has played no part whatsoever in the “war on terror”, other than failing to condone the
attack on 9/11 , which is hardly unexpected as it is US led UN sanctions which is
crippling the country in the eyes of many Iraq’s, leadership or civilian.
So if this is nothing to do with the “War on Terror”, what is it to do with? It isn’t
weapons of mass destruction and weapons inspectors being a
llowed entrance to Iraq.
This is just the excuse to get the mandate from the UN, making the whole thing legal.
American should know exactly what weapons are in Iraq: they sold them to Saddam in
the eighties when Iraq was warring with Iran. America were happy then, but when
Kuwait(and it’s oil) became threatened, they decided to act. They bombed all the
weapons installations in the Gulf War, which the US and it’s allies won decisively in
double quick time. There are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, according to the
UN weapons inspectors who checked well into the 1990’s.

What this war is about is threefold. Firstly, is finishing the job George Bush Snr could
not. The UN mandate in the Gulf War would not allow the allies to push into Iraq, and
get Saddam himself. Now, Bush Jnr seems intent on finishing the job his daddy started.
Secondly, public opinion is wavering fast on the “War on Terror”. The Bali bomb has
reminded people that the war is far from over, indeed very little progress has been
made. A new target is needed. Iraq is a perfect target.
Thirdly, and most importantly, it is about Oil. Bush, who cheated his way to power, was
backed all the way by crooked big business in the States. Big Business needs oil. For
those of you who don’t know, in the US there is a recession, and a series of major
companies have been hit by accounting scandals. To deflect criticism from economists
and to help boost the economy, Bush wants to secure oil, and lots of it. The Taliban may
have been an oppressive regime, but what of the Saudi’s, who cut peoples hands off for
stealing? The oil rich Saudis are the very place where Bin Laden comes from, and gets
his funding from. Will the US be launching a moral crusade against the Saudi Arabian’s.
Of course it won’t. They sell the US 25% of US oil. It would be economi
c suicide. Much
better to go for an easier target.

Saddam Hussein is an evil tyrant and dictator who deserves a great deal of pain. The
Americans should have been allowed the chance to finish him after the Gulf War. But
they could not and did not. In the meantime, he has done nothing, waged aggression
against no-one, and built no more weapons. He is a power hungry, aging man who is no
longer a threat to anyone in the west, even if by some horrific miracle he has got
weapons of mass destruction, he will only use them when he feels he has nothing left to
lose. That moment will come when the US troops are knocking on the door of Bagdad.

A quick word on Tony Blair who has hammered the final nail in the coffin on this once
great nation’s reputation as a major power, and has turned us into a simpering pet of the
United States bully. He deserves nothing but contempt.

The “War on Terror” began as a noble cause, and had moral right firmly on it’s side. It
is now an empty sham, relegating September 11th to an interesting excuse for George
Bush and his corrupt officials to go gallivanting off into God knows where, simply
because they don’t like the bloke who is already there. “War on Terror”? Try asking
the Iraqi people who they think are the victims of terror...

Thank you for you’re patience(It’s been a long one, I know). My mother always told me
never to argue about politics. If you disagree and wish to argue, however, I will be
happy to fight my corner.

Summary: