Theos-Talk Archives (October 2001 Message tt00312)

Hi all, this letter says in much better words, and with
more facts than I could come up with what (In my opinion
too) is the cause of this war. 

Katinka
-----------------------------------------
WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT TERRORISM?
By Dr. Robert M. Bowman, Lt. Col., USAF, ret.*
*Dr. Robert M. Bowman directed all the "Star Wars" programs

under presidents Ford and Carter and flew 101 combat 
missions in Vietnam. His Ph.D. is in Aeronautics and
Nuclear Engineering from Caltech. He is President of the
Institute for Space and Security Studies and Presiding
Archbishop of the United Catholic Church. Dr. Bowman can
be reached at RobertBowman@MiddleEast.Org.


"Mr. President, you did not tell the American people the 
truth about why we are the targets of terrorism. You said 
that we are the target because we stand for democracy, 
freedom, and human rights in the world. 
Baloney! We are the target of terrorist because we stand 
for dictatorship, bondage, and human exploitation in the 
world. We are the target of terrorists because we are
hated. 
And we are hated because our government has done hateful 
things."

"We are not hated because we practice democracy, freedom, 
and human rights. We are hated because our government
denies 
these things to people in third world countries whose 
resources are coveted by our multinational corporations.
And 
that hatred we have sown has come back to haunt us in the
form 
of terrorism, and in the future, nuclear terrorism."


A FEW YEARS AGO, terrorists destroyed two U.S. embassies.
President Clinton retaliated against suspected facilities 
of Osama bin Laden.
In his television address, the President told the American 
people that we were the targets of terrorism because we 
stood for democracy, freedom, and human rights in the
world.

On that occasion, I wrote: "Tell people the truth, Mr. 
President ... about terrorism, not about poor Monica. If
your 
lies about terrorism go unchallenged, then the terror war 
you have unleashed will likely continue 
until it destroys us.

"The threat of nuclear terrorism is closing in upon us. 
Chemical terrorism is at hand, and biological terrorism is
a 
future danger. None of our thousands of nuclear weapons can

protect us from these threats. These idols of plutonium, 
titanium, and steel are impotent. Our worship of them for 
over 
five decades has not brought us security, only greater 
danger. No 'Star Wars' system ... no matter how
technically 
advanced, no matter how many trillions of dollars was
poured 
into it ... can protect us from even a single terrorist 
bomb. Not one weapon in our vast arsenal can shield us from
a 
nuclear weapon 
delivered in a sailboat or a Piper Cub or a suitcase or a 
Ryder rental truck. 
Not a penny of the 273 billion dollars a year we spend on 
so-called defense can actually defend us against a
terrorist 
bomb. Nothing in our enormous military establishment can 
actually give us one whit of
security. That is a military fact.

"Mr. President, you did not tell the American people the 
truth about why we are the targets of terrorism. You said 
that we are the target because we stand for democracy, 
freedom, and human rights in the world.
Baloney! We are the target of terrorists because we stand 
for dictatorship, bondage, and human exploitation in the 
world. We are the target of terrorists because we are
hated. 
And we are hated because our government has done hateful 
things.

"In how many countries have we deposed popularly elected 
leaders and replaced them with puppet military dictators
who 
were willing to sell out their own people to American 
multinational corporations?

"We did it in Iran when we deposed Mossadegh because he 
wanted to nationalize the oil industry. We replaced him
with 
the Shah, and trained, armed, and paid his hated Savak 
national guard, which enslaved and brutalized the people of

Iran. All to protect the financial interests of our oil 
companies. Is it any 
wonder there are people in Iran who hate us?

"We did it in Chile when we deposed Allende, democratically

elected by the people to introduce socialism. We replaced 
him with the brutal right-wing military dictator, General 
Pinochet. Chile has still not recovered.

"We did it in Vietnam when we thwarted democratic elections

in the South which would have united the country under Ho 
Chi Minh. We replaced him with a series of ineffectual 
puppet crooks who invited us to comein and slaughter their 
people, and we did. (I flew 101 combat missions in that war

which you 
properly opposed.)

"We did it in Iraq, where we killed a quarter of a million 
civilians in a failed attempt to topple Saddam Hussein, and

where we have killed a million since then with our 
sanctions. About half of these innocent
victims have been children under the age of five.

"And, of course, how many times have we done it in 
Nicaragua and all the other banana republics of Latin
America? Time 
after time we have ousted popular leaders who wanted the 
riches of the land to be
shared by the people who worked it. We replaced them with 
murderous tyrants who would sell out and 
control their own people so that the wealth of the land 
could be taken out by Domino Sugar, the United Fruit
Company, 
Folgers, and Chiquita Banana.

"In country after country, our government has thwarted 
democracy, stifled freedom, and trampled human rights.
That's 
why we are hated around the world. 
And that's why we are the target of terrorists.

"People in Canada enjoy better democracy, more freedom, and

greater human rights than we do. So do the people of Norway

and Sweden.
Have you heard of Canadian embassies being bombed? Or 
Norwegian embassies? 
Or Swedish embassies. No.

"We are not hated because we practice democracy, freedom, 
and human rights. 
We are hated because our government denies these things to 
people in third world countries whose resources are coveted

by our multinational corporations. And that hatred we have 
sown has come back to haunt us in the form of terrorism, 
and in the future, nuclear terrorism.

"Once the truth about why the threat exists is understood, 
the solution becomes obvious. We must change our 
government's ways.

"Instead of sending our sons and daughters around the world

to kill Arabs so the oil companies can sell the oil under 
their sand, we must send them to rebuild their 
infrastructure, supply clean water, and feed
starving children.

"Instead of continuing to kill thousands of Iraqi children 
every day with our sanctions, we must help them rebuild 
their electric powerplants, their water treatment
facilities, 
their hospitals; all the things we
destroyed in our war against them and prevented them from 
rebuilding with our sanctions.

"Instead of seeking to be king of the hill, we must become 
a responsible member of the family of nations. Instead of 
stationing hundreds of thousands of troops around the world

to protect the financial
interests of our multinational corporations, we must bring 
them home and expand the Peace Corps.

"Instead of training terrorists and death squads in the 
techniques of torture and assassination, we must close the 
School of the Americas (no matter what name they use).
Instead 
of supporting military
dictatorships, we must support true democracy; the right of

the people to choose their own leaders. Instead of 
supporting insurrection, destabilization, assassination,
and terror 
around the world, we must abolish the CIA and give the 
money to relief agencies.

"In short, we do good instead of evil. We become the good 
guys, once again. 
The threat of terrorism would vanish. That is the truth, 
Mr. President. That is what the American people need to
hear. 
We are good people. We only need to be told the truth and 
given the vision. You can do it, Mr. President. Stop the 
killing. Stop the justifying. Stop the retaliating. Put
people 
first. 
Tell them the truth."

Needless to say, he didn't ... and neither has George W. 
Bush. Well, the seeds our policies have planted have borne 
their bitter fruit. The World Trade Center is gone. The 
Pentagon is damaged. And thousands
of Americans have died. Almost every TV pundit is crying 
for massive military retaliation against whoever might have

done it (assumedly the same Osama bin Laden) and against 
whoever harbors or aids theterrorists (most notably the 
Taliban government of Afghanistan). Steve Dunleavy of the
New 
York
Post screams "Kill the bastards! Train assassins, hire 
mercenaries, put a couple of million bucks up for bounty 
hunters to get them dead or alive, preferably dead. As for
cities 
or countries that host these worms, bomb them into 
basketball courts." It's tempting to agree. I have no
sympathy for 
the psychopaths that killed thousands of our people. There

is no excuse for such acts. If I was recalled to active 
duty, I would go in a heartbeat. At the same time, all my 
military experience and knowledge tells me that retaliation

hasn't rid us of the problem in the past, and won't this 
time.

By far the world's best anti-terrorist apparatus is 
Israel's. Measured in military terms, it has been
phenomenally 
successful. Yet Israel still suffers more attacks than all 
other nations combined. If retaliation worked, Israelis
would 
be the world's most secure people.

Only one thing has ever ended a terrorist campaign -- 
denying the terrorist organization the support of the
larger 
community it represents. And the only way to do that is to 
listen to and alleviate the legitimate
grievances of the people. If indeed Osama bin Laden was 
behind the four hijackings and subsequent carnage, that
means 
addressing the concerns of the Arabs and Muslims in general

and of the Palestinians in particular. It does NOT mean 
abandoning Israel. But it may very well mean withdrawing 
financial and military support until they abandon the 
settlements in occupied territory and return to 1967
borders. It may 
also mean allowing Arab countries to have leaders of their 
own choosing, not hand-picked, CIA-installed dictators 
willing to cooperate with Western oil companies.

Chester Gillings has said it very well: "How do we fight 
back against bin Laden? The first thing we must ask
ourselves 
is what is it we hope to achieve -- security or revenge? 
The two are mutually exclusive; seek revenge and we WILL 
reduce our security. If it is security we seek, then we
must 
begin to answer the tough questions -- what are the 
grievances of the Palestinians and the Arab world against
the United 
States, and what is our real culpability for those 
grievances? Where we find legitimate culpability,
we must be prepared to cure the grievance wherever 
possible. Where we cannot find culpability or a cure, we
must 
communicate honestly our positions directly to the Arab
people. 
In short, our best course of action is to remove ourselves 
as a combatant in the disputes of the region."

To kill bin Laden now would be to make him an eternal 
martyr. Thousands would rise up to take his place. In
another 
year, we would face another round of terrorism, probably
much 
worse even than this one. Yet
there is another way.

In the short term, we must protect ourselves from those who

already hate us. This means increased security and better 
intelligence. I proposed to members of Congress in March 
that we should deny any funds for "Star Wars" until such 
time as the Executive Branch could show that they are doing

all possible 
research on the detection and interception of weapons of 
mass destruction entering the country clandestinely (a far 
greater threat than ballistic missiles). There are lots of

steps which can be taken to
increase security without detracting from civil rights. 
But in the long term, we must change our policies to stop 
causing the fear and hatred which creates new terrorists. 
Becoming independent of foreign oil through conservation, 
energy efficiency, production of energy from renewable 
sources, and a transition to non-polluting transportation
will 
allow us to adopt a more rational policy toward the Middle 
East.

The vast majority of Arabs and Muslims are good, peaceful 
people. But enough of them, in their desperation and anger 
and fear, have turned first to Arafat and now to bin Laden 
to relieve their misery. Remove the desperation, give them 
some hope, and support for terrorism will evaporate. At
that 
point bin 
Laden will be forced to abandon terrorism (as has Arafat) 
or be treated like a common criminal. Either way, he and
his 
money cease to be a threat. We CAN have security ... or we 
can have revenge. We cannot have both. 


============================

*Dr. Robert M. Bowman directed all the "Star Wars" programs

under presidents Ford and Carter and flew 101 combat 
missions in Vietnam. His Ph.D. is in Aeronautics and
Nuclear 
Engineering from Caltech. He is President of the Institute
for 
Space and Security Studies and Presiding Archbishop of the 
United Catholic Church. Dr. Bowman can be reached at 
RobertBowman@MiddleEast.Org.




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