This appeared (paid) in the Portland Press Herald yesterday, running a quarter page. I contacted the author and am with his permission I'm publishing it today here as well. Regular readers will recognize More terrorists are being created than are being killed. That has been said here and at Juan Cole's Informed Comment and elsewhere for some time.
Terrorism! What do we realy know about terrorism? Except for terrorism in Northern Ireland and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, terrorism was not a world problem. So, the question is: "What has caused terrorism to escalate to a world-wide phenomenon now?" Answer: The United States, Russia and England have their bloody fingerprints all over the current terrorist crisis, but we are in total denial.We need to stop projecting the causes away from ourselves and examine our consciences. We are so self-righteous as we wash our bloody hands and absolve ourselves of any blame. Next, we begin calling the terrorists bad names such as: murderers, cowards, savages, inhuman, diabolical etc. but we are oblivious to the fact that we have caused and triggered the response of the terrorists.
Terrorism arises when people, rightly or wrongly, perceive that they are being treated unjustly and feel helpless to do anything about it. This generates anger which escalates to hate, revenge and terrorist acts.
The nations which have done the most to foster terrorism are England, Russia and the United States.
1. England's role: The terrorism of the Irish Republican Army arose out of the way England treated the Irish people for generations. England opposed the Irish for centuries. Oliver Cromwell brutalized the Irish people. During the potato famines, the Irish starved and migrated while England shipped Ireland's agricultural products to England. The Irish felt an injustice and were helpless to do anything about it. Some of the Irish rebelled and fought for a unified Ireland. This problem still hasn't been fully resolved. And now the British are attacking the Iraqis.
2. Russia's role: It has left its bloody fingerprints both in Afghanistan and in Chechnya. Attention: If the Soviets had not invaded Afghanistan, we would not have had 9/11.
3. The U.S. role: (a) In Afghanistan the CIA, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and bin Laden spent billions in recruiting, training and equipping 35,000 Islamic recruits from 34 Islamic countries to fight the Soviets. Many of these recruits are now fighting against the U.S. in Iraq.
(b) We lulled the Saudis into allowing us to build military bases in the country that gave birth to Islam. This angered many Saudis and as a result they supplied 15 of the 19 terrorists that bombed the Twin Towers.
(c) Iraq provided no 9/11 terrorists, yet we attacked them preemptively. We found no WMD's and no connection to 9/11.
(d) The mess in Afghanistan and Iraq is the end product of the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union to control the Middle East. Unfortunately, the Afghans and the Iraqis got caught in the middle of a bloody and senseless war.
Concerning our complicity in creating this mess, our President is either in denial or he rejects the facts of history. Either way it is unacceptable. His exit strategy of killing all of the terrorists is simplistic and tyrannical. More terrorists are being created than are being killed. And innocent civilians are being killed as well. What a legacy! The President is befuddled and admits that he doesn't know why the Islamic world hates us. We need a new leader.
Lcdr. Coleman P. Gorham, USN(Ret.)
Cape Elizabeth, ME 04107