USA's responsibility in last week's terror attacks!
[ US Crusade Home ] [ News and Views Board ] September 18, 2001
By Dr. Iniyan Elango (alias) R.S. Sridhar
An analysis on how flawed and destructive U.S.
policies towards Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan,
Iran and Iraq contributed to hatred towards America!!Dear friends,
I am one of those who could be called an Americophile!!
I love everything about America : the people, the music, the food, the society, the humour and even the women!! There was a time when I wished that I was born in the USA!! I used to sing with Bruce Springsteen as a teenager to the tune of "Born in the USA" with hairs sticking straight on my skin!! And I am crazy about American films! As a child I was brought up on a diet of Newsweek, Time (magazines) and Rock and Roll in a quaint town in northern Tamil Nadu which was known for its match factories!
I have to confess that the only woman who properly dated me, by agreeing to spend an evening with me (albeit only to watch a movie on television!) was an American Jewish lady by the name Francie Allen (God bless her wherever she is!). Friendly and honest people like Francie Allen whom I met in a train from Chicago to Detroit in 1990 only aggravated my love and fondness for Americans!!
And, I have many African-American friends!!
Even American brand of racism is more open and I feel that Americans discuss racism more freely than the stiff and reserved British!!
But I do make a distinction between the American people and the American Government, a distinction many people fail to make, especially those who high jacked U.S. Planes and used them to attack the World trade center and the Pentagon, and, also those who call for recriminational attacks against Afghans!!
I am not a hate monger. I am a honest political analyst. When I read the British media reports after the tragic incidents in America last week I cannot help but conclude, with the exception of "The Guardian", that most of the British papers insulted my intelligence. The ignorance, bigotry and the overt racism displayed by the British media made me conclude that the Brahmanical (Indian) newspapers were hundred times better!!
First of all let us all be clear about one fact. We all feel profound sorrow and shock for the loss of thousands of innocent American lives. We deeply regret and unequivocally condemn the mindless terrorist attacks in New York and Pentagon.
But having said that I have to place the responsibility for the past week's terrorist incidents that resulted in tremendous loss of innocent American lives right at the door step of the CIA, Pentagon, the congress and senate of the United States, the Washington "think-tanks" that direct U.S. foreign policy and most of all the American media!!
There is a saying from the "Thirukkural", the Tamil book of wisdom, which says: "Noi Naadi, Noi Mudhal Naadi, Vaai Naadi Vaippak kolalal". This is a couplet written in chaste Tamil sometime around 500 BC!! It simply asks not to treat the symptoms of a disease, but to treat the root cause! And I have to say, with much regret, short sighted and destructive U.S. foreign policy over the past 40 years directly contributed to last week's terrorist acts.
U.S. AND SAUDI ARABIA:
The United States has a "cozy" relationship with Yemen and Saudi Arabia, nations run by deeply fundamentalistic feudal regimes of Sheiks. There are U.S. military bases in Saudi Arabia and Saudis can easily get American visas !! A fact that easily helped those who carried out last week's attacks to enter into the USA easily! (Please always remember that Osama bin Laden and also those accused of carrying out the attacks on World Trade Center and Pentagon were Saudis and (some Yemenis), but were NOT Iraqis, Palestenians, Libyans, Afghans or even Iranians!!)
Then why is then those who want to attack Afghanistan are not asking for a ban or at least a stricter U.S. visa policy for Saudi and Yemeni nationals who want to enter the USA? Why aren't they asking for attacks or at least searches in the regions in Yemen and Saudi Arabia from which the mass murderers of U.S. citizens hailed from? Why no one is asking for atleast a re-assessment of friendly relations with Saudi Arabia and Yemen?
Didn't the CIA know that Saudi nationals with hard line hatred against USA were entering the USA? After all the military quarters of USA was bombed in Saudi Arabia a few years ago killing scores of marines and that should have led the USA to be more vigilant towards Saudi nationals who were entering and living in USA! Are you asking me to believe that the CIA and the FBI are that "naive" to allow Saudi nationals with hard line views against the USA into the U.S. soil and not tap their phones or monitor their activities? I bet that these Saudi and Yemeni mass murderers who had connections with extremist groups (with hard line hatred for US) would have been identified right at the time of applying for a U.S. visa! Believe me, I know something about getting a U.S. visa because I got my first one after applying and getting myself rejected five times!! Only an angry letter to the Madras U.S. Consul demanding to know whether I have to be a Columbian drug baron to get a U.S. visa got me a U.S. visa by post without having to apply again! Therefore the CIA should have known and identified this "gang" of Saudi and Yemeni mass murderers (who entered the USA only a few months ago) when they applied for U.S. visas!! Every U.S. Embassy and consulate has a CIA desk and I am sure that these mass murderers could not have set foot on U.S. soil without the CIA knowing who they were, when they applied for U.S. visas!!
Even if the United States Justice Department allowed this murderous gang of Saudis and Yemenis to enter the USA knowing who they were, they would have and should have certainly monitored their movements! Therefore, did the CIA know about last week's incidents and those who executed these incidents in advance, but allowed it to happen so that it will prop up a failing U.S. economy by resurrecting the military industrial complex and also bring back jingoism in the world political discourse which had become (of late) quite critical of globalisation and the Palestinian situation? YOUR GUESS IS AS GOOD AS MINE!!
Now, you may ask why is the USA very cozy with a virulently feudal regime in Saudi Arabia (and other gulf Sheikdoms) which are just using Shariat (Islamic) law as an excuse to oppress the masses from rising against the Sheikdoms? The answer lies in "oil!"
Now to Afghanistan!! I would go to the extent of saying that the United States should tender an apology for its policies towards Afghanistan during the last 25 years which has decimated, impoverished and caused untold misery to the Afghan people!!
Afghanistan was ruled by a progressive socialist regime backed by the Soviets which allowed women and children to educate themselves unlike the Taliban regime which wants women to cover themselves and stay at home. It was the USA which supported and armed Islamic fundamentalists such as Osama Bin Laden, the Mujahideen and others to fight the socialist Afghan regime which was supported by the Soviets!! (Let me add here that I am no Communist and I have not read Marx, but I just believe in common sense!) Now the armed insurrection of the Mujahideen aided and funded by the USA and organised by "friends of America" like Osama bin laden, not only put paid to a progressive regime that would have brought primary health care and education to the Afghan people, but also gave rise to the power of Islamic fundamentalists and eventually the accession of Taliban!!
It will be just a simple fact to state that the United States is directly responsible for the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Afghanistan!! Taliban was borne out of U.S. funding and support!! And Osama bin laden was a mercenary hired, supported, aided, armed and helped by the United States of America!! Finally when these friends of America won their "holy war" against the Socialists and the Soviets, they turned their "holy war" against the USA for reasons best known to CIA!! Some say that the use of Saudi territory in the gulf war against Iraq turned the Saudi mercenary Osama bin Laden against the USA!! But the real truth about why the friends of America who fought the holy war against the Socialists "for" the Americans turned their holy war "against" the Americans will never be known!! (Sylvester Stallone who starred and produced a outright propaganda film - "Rambo 3" - to glorify the U.S. funded and supported "Afghan mercenaries" who fought an Islamic "holy war" against the Afghan socialists and Soviets, may be knowing how the heroes of his "reel-life" (film) turned villains in "real life" within a decade after he made the film!!! I am citing the example of Rambo 3 only to highlight how Osama bin Laden and his kind, who are demonised now by the USA and the global media were "lionised and glorified" in a Hollywood film just ten years ago!!
It is needless to add that hundreds of thousands of Afghans died needless deaths in the proxy war fought by the USA using Osama Bin Laden and his kind against the Afghan Socialists!! Now, after the heroes of "Rambo 3" became the rulers of Afghanistan under the holy garb of "Taliban", they are compelled to give sanctuary to the guy who helped them in their holy war against the Socialists, namely, Osama Bin Laden!! ( I have strong suspicions that the character played by the actor Omar Sharif in Rambo 3 was modelled after Osama bin Laden himself!!)
Now the US Government is blaming its former friend and comrade Osama Bin Laden for the attacks in New York and Pentagon and wants to bomb Afghanistan!! May be USA wants to wipe out the remaining Afghans who survived the U.S. sponsored "holy war" against the Socialists!! If this is not genocide what else is? I would accuse the USA for abetting the genocide of Afghans by its outright destructive policies in Afghanistan during the past 25 years.
On top of this, when Afghans flee the oppression created by the west in their country, they are refused asylum by a racist Australian white regime in Australia which is lording over a vast uninhabited land belonging to black Dravidian aborigines!! And the shamelessly racist British tabloids mock at Afghan refugees through cartoons!!
Now we come to the issue of Iraq and Saddam Hussein. I am no fan of Saddam. I hated Saddam even when the USA was in love with him, went to bed with him and was making love to him!! Saddam was armed, supported, funded and aided by the United States to fight the Iranians for more than 15 years. The USA turned a blind eye when Saddam was using the power given by the USA to kill innocent Kurdish civilians and his political enemies. The USA loved Saddam!! Like Rambo 3, Hollywood made a movie glorifying the Iraqi regime of Saddam (many won't believe this, but this is true)!! I forget the name of the movie, but I guess it starred Ben Cross as an Iraqi pilot who is in love with an American (played by Mariel Hemingway, I guess) and fighting the evil Iranians!!
Some how, Saddam who was a close pal of Uncle Sam through out the eighties, suddenly turned enemy at the dawn of the nineties! It was "Newsweek" which ran a story about how Saddam was led to believe by the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq that America will stand by and watch if he invaded Kuwait!! (Obviously US wanted to create a war situation by trapping Saddam into a war just like the Justice department and the CIA turning a blind eye to Saudi terrorists entering the U.S. soil!!)
Now to the Iranians!! Just like Afghanistan, Iran was ruled by a Socialist regime in the late sixties which was over thrown by the CIA only to give impetus to the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Iran!! The Shah of Iran who succeeded the Iranian Communists was replaced by the triumphant return of Ayotalla Khomeini!!
So you can see that the USA played a direct or major role in the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in many nations!! Then why is the US government and media hating Islamic fundamentalistic regimes created by them directly or indirectly? You will decipher the answer to this question when you analyse this essay in its entirety!
Libya, the only progressive Islamic country in the middle east which allows even women into the army was always considered an enemy by the USA for reasons which beats even me!! Gaddaffi is accused of harbouring Palestenian and Lebanese terrorists!! With American policies towards nations of the middle east bordering on the insane, (as described above), Gaddaffi or anybody else could have done nothing except to oppose America.
Now to Israel. My love for the Jewish people, culture and history is well known in my friends' circles!! I should have been the only person to write extensively about the holocaust in my Tamil articles. (The Tamils are completely ignorant about the Second World War and the holocaust!!) Even an obvious cursor of history will know that Jews enjoyed protection for their faith and themselves in all Islamic nations during the past centuries because the prophet (Mohammed) specifically asks Muslims to protect and patronise Jews!! It was the Christian Europeans who killed and persecuted Jews over the centuries and finally almost eliminated them from Europe as a "Final Solution" by the Nazis!! But bizarrely the Jews have forgotten the protection they enjoyed from Muslims over the centuries and allowed the Palestinian problem to fester to such an extent that Arab-Muslims and Jews are at logger heads with each other!!
I know one thing for sure. No true believer in the Koran can call for murdering the Jews because the Holy Koran wants Muslims to protect the Jews. I feel it was the cunning British colonial ploy of dividing nations imperfectly thereby causing a festering wound for decades, (if not centuries), that led to the Arab Israeli conflict!! Just like the division of India and Pakistan with a festering Kashmir problem, Palestine was divided imperfectly to create Israel so that Palestenians were not settled and rehabilitated properly leading to a festering problem, leading again to untold misery for Palestenians!!Now, the above mentioned historical facts and situations are only some of the reasons why a Muslim from the Middle East might want to hate and even murder Americans as an expression of his anger towards the United States government. Unfortunately such individuals fail to make the distinction between the U.S. Government and the "friendly, nice and politically ignorant" American people whom I dearly love.
I am not justifying the murder of Americans in New York and the pentagon. I want the perpetrators of this mass murder caught and punished. But the U.S. Government cannot wash its hands off from its role and responsibility that explain the root cause of this miserable situation.
More importantly, America and the Western bloc of nations have no moral or factual reason to use last week's incidents to start a war against Islam or the Arab-Muslim world!If America and the western bloc of nations do not recognise the role played by the destructive policies of the west in alienating the (Muslim) middle eastern world and refrain from blindly demonising Islam and Muslims, it will lead to a very evil and bloody situation in which all of us will suffer and may even die.
######
Let us pray that true sense should guide the white man this time, at least,
In the interest of World peace.
Yours truly,
Iniyan Elango (alias) R.S.SridharP.S.
Please tell me, did the Indian and World media indulge in as much breast beating like they are doing now when 25,000 Indians were killed by the Methyl Iso Cyanide gas leaking from a battery manufacturing plant owned and run by the American Union Carbide Company?
Yes, the mass killings of Bhopal gas tragedy was caused by an industrial accident and not a terrorist act. But still, I don't think much hype was created by the Indian or the global media for the killing of 25,000 Indians as it is being done now for the terrorist attacks in the USA!
The 25,000 hapless Indians murdered by the irresponsibility of a rich American multi-national company are indeed children of a lesser God. The fact of the matter is the Union Carbide company did not follow safety precautions it would have followed if the factory had been located in America!!
I would call it mass murder caused by racist callousness for a third world manufacturing unit of a multinational company!! Much hue and cry was made and even a "protest" lodged when the chairman of the Union Carbide Company was arrested in India!!
I am sure that if an Arab company had caused such a gas leak in America and killed 25,000 Americans, the U.S. Government might want to bomb all the factories and offices of the Arab company out of existence apart from taking millions of dollars as compensations by freezing the American bank accounts of the company!!
But the fact of the matter is the gullible and shameless Indians still buy Union Carbide (Eveready) batteries!! And the money given as compensation by the American courts have been eaten up by a corrupt Babudom (Indian bureaucracy) and politicians!![ SEPTEMBER HOMEPAGE ]
