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Behind the Headlines
by Justin Raimondo
Antiwar.com
February 1, 2002
NEVER MIND OSAMA
Let's conquer the world instead
President Bush's State of the Union speech confirms what we have long
maintained on this website: the "war on terrorism" is not a defensive
operation, but a war of conquest. In the wake of 9/11, we endorsed a
limited police action narrowly aimed at getting the perpetrators and
bringing them to justice: the title of my column, "Kill 'Em – and Get
Out!" pretty much summed up our editorial position. It is clear,
after listening to the President threaten the so-called Axis of Evil,
that the US is no longer fighting a just war, if it ever was. After
all the railing and ranting against Osama bin Laden, Bush did not
mention his name once, and only alluded to the Evil One indirectly
when he gloated over how the terrorist leaders are "on the run." It
looks like the US government has pretty much lost sight of OBL – and
they're hoping the American people will do the same.
THE GREAT DIVERSION
It's instructive – and not surprising to libertarians – that the one legitimate goal
of this war, getting Osama and wiping out Al Qaeda – has been thoroughly botched.
Everything but that has been accomplished: we have ove
rthrown the Taliban, brought Pakistan and India to the brink of thermonuclear
meltdown, and alienated our oldest allies in the region, the Saudis. Kites are once
again flying in Kabul – but where's Osama? The US governmen
t couldn't care less: instead of capturing or killing this monster (and bringing
America's holy crusade to a premature end) they are much more concerned with widening
the war to include the oil-rich regions of the Middle
East.
TWO THUMBS DOWN
Despite the huzzahs from the President's amen corner – which now include Democrats as
well as Republicans when it comes to foreign policy – as propaganda Bush's speech was
remarkably dull and unconvincing. He started out
touting our glorious victory, celebrating the ignominious defeat of a bunch of
bedraggled half-civilized tribesmen by the mightiest army on earth: we not only
"rallied a great coalition," he declared, but also
"Captured, arrested and rid the world of thousands of terrorists, destroyed
Afghanistan's terrorist training camps, saved a people from starvation and freed a
country from brutal oppression."
As if the outcome was ever in doubt – and the warlords hadn't already started shooting
at each other. Never has there been so much chest-pounding bravado and triumphalist
hysteria over so little. When Caesar subdued the G
auls, he didn't make half as much noise about it. Okay, then, so we won: mission
accomplished, over and out. Ah, but not so fast…
WE'VE ONLY JUST BEGUN
We are told that thousands of terrorists – Bush says as many as 100,000 – are roaming
the earth, with but one thought in mind: to target America:
"What we have found in Afghanistan confirms that, far from ending there, our war
against terror is only beginning. Most of the 19 men who hijacked planes on September
the 11th were trained in Afghanistan's camps. And so w
ere tens of thousands of others. Thousands of dangerous killers, schooled in the
methods of murder, often supported by outlaw regimes, are now spread throughout the
world like ticking time bombs, set to go off without war
ning."
BUSH'S BLANK CHECK
Bush wants a blank check, and, unfortunately, Americans have been frightened into
giving it to him – a decision we will all live to regret. The idea that we discovered
all these secret terrorist plans, just laying around
right out in the open, strains credulity, but then Americans are not inclined these
days to examine the evidence too closely, even if it were readily available. Given the
alleged scale of the danger we face – a horde of 1
00,000 barbarians, all clamoring to get into the imperial metropolis – how is it that
we've just now started examining all airline luggage? Where are the checkpoints, the
armed guards, the tanks in the streets? If Bush's
numbers are even remotely true, then calling for a moratorium on all immigration would
be the least he could do. Yet it hasn't happened.
DOWN THE MEMORY HOLE
There's something awfully phony about a "war on terrorism" where the
terrorist-in-chief, Osama bin Laden, is dropped down the Memory Hole and new hate
objects – Iraq, Iran, North Korea, aka The Axis of Evil – suddenly loo
m large. It's bad enough that the nation with the biggest and deadliest war arsenal is
now inveighing against "weapons of mass destruction," but to top it off Bush points an
accusing finger at the pitiful and near-collaps
ing regime of North Korea, where the half-mad son of the late Great Leader presides
over a nation of bark-eating concentration camp victims. If Osama is hiding out in
Pyongyang, he's going to get plenty of roughage.
NO ONE IS SAFE
No evidence links Iraq, or Iran for that matter, to the events of 9/11. To say nothing
of North Korea. But anyone who thinks this war is about 9/11 any longer isn't paying
attention. It's a power grab, pure and simple, a
war in which not even our allies in the region are safe. The other day, Bush's
conservative fan club over at National Review came out in an editorial for the
conquest of the Saudi oil fields. Complaining that the Saudis m
ay be asking us to quit our bases their, the editors of NR opine that this would be
such a "stinging blow to American prestige" and provide the terrorists with such
"vindication," that therefore,
"The House of Saud will have sided with the militants, and America will therefore have
to do all it can to overthrow it. For years, the U.S. has maintained a presence in
Saudi Arabia to prevent the massive oil fields ther
e from being taken over by a hostile power. Too late."
THE GRABBERS
It is a stunning feature of post-9/11 irrationalism that such a statement could be
seriously made by the editors of a reputable periodical, conservative or liberal,
without much explication, and still be considered in the
"mainstream." To define the Saudis as a "hostile power" having "taken over" their own
country is typical of our nutty neo-imperialist mindset: what's frightening is that,
with this State of the Union speech, the brazen g
rabbiness of the War Party has shaped the contours of US foreign policy.
LIVING IN THE FREE WORLD
The President welcomed "the distinguished interim leader of a liberated Afghanistan,
Chairman Hamid Karzai" – the fashion-plate President of the freest country in the
world, where even pederasty is legal. This cute touch
is no doubt what inspired Bill Kristol to note that our true enemy "goes beyond
terror":
"It is a war against dangerous tyrannies seeking weapons of mass destruction... In
fact, since 'no nation is exempt' from the 'true and unchanging' principles of liberty
and justice, American foreign policy can be said to
be at war with tyranny in general."
And he isn't talking about Rwanda. According to the Kristolian interpretation of the
Bush Doctrine, "our task, in this 'decisive decade in the history of liberty,' is to
promote the principles of liberty and justice aroun
d the world – including in the Islamic world."
Read: especially in the Islamic world. The conceit that we're going to create
"democracy" at gunpoint in a region of the world where both history and current events
militates against it is one not meant to be taken seriou
sly. As Ariel Sharon's generals move to create a "Greater Israel," and disenfranchise
Israeli Arabs, the depth of the US commitment to "democracy" and liberalism is
measured by our silence – and our subsidies.
A BALD-FACED LIE
The hypocritical cant that characterizes this administration was really brought home
in some of the small touches, such as the appeal to women.
"The last time we met in this chamber, the mothers and daughters of Afghanistan were
captives in their own homes, forbidden from working or going to school. Today women
are free, and are part of Afghanistan's new governme
nt. And we welcome the new minister of women's affairs, Dr. Sima Samar."
Good luck to Dr. Samar in talking the Afghanis out of customs firmly rooted in culture
and generously nurtured by religion. Meanwhile, to say that "today women are free" in
Afghanistan is to utter a bald- faced lie. The m
others and daughters of that ravaged land are still captives in their own homes,
imprisoned by accident of birth and hidden behind their veils. And there isn't a thing
Dr. Simar or President Bush can – or should – do abou
t it.
LEST WE FORGET
The War Party keeps saying that we must never forget 9/11 and yet their rationale for
a wider conflict is by now so attenuated from that event that they are the ones who
seem to have forgotten. As the pundits weighed in o
n the question of whether Bush hit a triple or a home run, and the editor of National
Review contemplated relaunching the Crusades, Howard Fineman, reporting in Newsweek,
noted that certain aspects of the investigation in
to 9/11 seem to be stalled:
"Dick Cheney was on the line, and it wasn't to chitchat. The vice president rarely
calls the Senate leader – a Democrat he dismisses as an 'obstructionist' – so Tom
Daschle knew the topic was important when he hurried int
o his Capitol office. What he heard was a plea, and a warning. The Senate will soon
launch hearings on why we weren't prepared for, and warned about, September 11. The
intelligence committee will study the matter, but mos
tly behind closed doors. Cheney was calling to preemptively protest public hearings by
other committees. If the Democrats insisted, Bush administration officials might say
they're too busy running the war on terrorism to
show up. Press the issue, Cheney implied, and you risk being accused of interfering
with the mission."
THE 9/11 COVER-UP
The last thing this administration wants is an investigation into the circumstances
surrounding 9/11 – what we knew, what we didn't know, and who may have had advance
knowledge. After conceding that "people need to know w
hat happened," Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle was reportedly "noncommittal" –
meaning that the Democrats have as much interest as the Republicans in keeping this
thing under wraps. After all, the 9/11 attacks were y
ears in the making, and if anyone is going to receive the lion's share of the blame,
then surely it is the Clinton administration.
Which raises the question: then why aren't the Republicans pressing for a fully public
investigation? It's mighty odd passing up a chance to score political points in an
election year – unless, of course, this administrat
ion has something to hide.
CONGRESS MUST INVESTIGATE
What's needed is a full and completely open congressional investigation into how Al
Qaeda managed to operate right under our noses for years without anyone knowing it.
Billions were spent in the name of "fighting terroris
m"; task forces were convened, legislation was passed, special programs were set up –
all, apparently, to no avail. What's up with that? Inquiring minds want to know….
Oh, but that would interfere with "the mission," says Cheney. This is true only if
"the mission" is an attempted cover-up of some of the worst criminal incompetence in
the history of intelligence- gathering. Good lord, wh
at is wrong with the American people? When are they going to snap out of their
TV-induced stupor and start asking some questions? The smoke had barely cleared from
the air over Pearl Harbor before the Republicans of 1941
started questioning the Official Story – even if it did take some 50 years to
vindicate them. This time around, both parties have an interest in covering up the
truth.
NEVER FORGET – EXCEPT SOMETIMES
Ah yes, we must never forget 9/11 – except we have to forget about ever knowing why
and how it happened. If a national movement calling on Congress to investigate the
events surrounding 9/11 does not rise up and demand a
full accounting, then this country is brain-dead and not worth saving.
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