Interesting letter I got forwarded from a friend. Colonel Bowman flew 101 combat missions in Vietnam and directed all the "Star Wars" programs under Presidents Ford and Carter. His PhD is in aeronautics and nuclear engineering from Caltech. He is president of the Institute for Space and Security Studies. His web site is www.rmbowman.com
If deceptions about terrorism go unchallenged, then the threat will continue until it destroys us. The truth is that none of our thousands of nuclear weapons can protect us from these threats. No Star Wars system no matter how technically advanced, no matter how many trillions of dollars are poured into it, can protect us from a nuclear weapon delivered in a sailboat or a Cessna or a suitcase or a Ryder rental truck. Not one weapon in our vast arsenal, not a penny of the $270 billion a year we spend on so-called defense can defend against a terrorist bomb. That is a military fact. As a retired lieutenant colonel and a frequent lecturer on national Security issues, I have often quoted Psalm 33: "A king is not saved by his mighty army. A warrior is not saved by his great strength." The obvious reaction is, "Then what can we do?" Is there nothing we can do to provide security for our people?" There is. But to understand it requires that we know the truth about the threat. President Clinton did not tell the American people the truth about why we are the targets of terrorism when he explained why we bombed Afghanistan and Sudan. He said that we are a target because we stand for democracy, freedom, and human rights in the world. Nonsense! We are the target of terrorists because, in much of the world, our government stands for dictatorship, bondage, and human exploitation. We are the target of terrorist because we are hated. And we are hated because our government has done hateful things. In how many countries have agents of our government depose 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 the US Marines and the CIA deposed Mossadegh because he wanted to nationalize the oil industry. We replaced him with the Shah and armed, trained, 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 that there are people in Iran who hate us? We did it in Chile. We did it in Vietnam. More recently, we tried to do it in Iraq. 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 their own people so the wealth of the land could be taken out by the likes of Domino Sugar, Folgers, and Chiquita Banana. In country after country, our government has thwarted democracy, stifled freedom, and trampled human rights. That's why it is hated around the world. And that's why we're the target of terrorists. People in Canada enjoy democracy, freedom, and human rights. So do the people of Norway and Sweden. Have you heard of Canadian embassies being bombed? Or Norwegian, or Swedish? We are not hated because we practice democracy, value freedom, or uphold 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. 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 ways. Getting rid of our nuclear weapons unilaterally if necessary will enhance our security. Drastically altering our foreign policy will ensure it. Instead of sending our sons and daughters around the world to kill Arabs so we can have the oil under their sand, we should send them to rebuild their infrastructure, supply clean water, and feed starving children. Instead of continuing to kill hundreds of Iraqi children every day with our sanctions, we should help Iraqis rebuild their electric power plants, their water treatment facilities, their hospitals, and all the things we have destroyed and prevented them from rebuilding. Instead of training terrorists and death squads, we should close the School of the Americas [Ft. Benning, GA.].Instead of supporting insurrection, destabilization, assassination, and terror around the world, we should abolish the CIA and give money to relief agencies. In short, we should do good instead of evil. Who would try to stop us? Who would hate us? Who would want to bomb us? That is the truth the American people need to hear. --- Now the current follow-up by the same guy: http://rmbowman.com/ssn/longshort2.htm --- The Long and Short of Terrorism and Security by Dr. Robert M. Bowman, Lt. Col., USAF, ret. In 1998, I said that if the lies about the causes of terrorism go unchallenged, then the terror war now unleashed will likely continue until it destroys us. We are not the target of terrorists because we practice freedom, democracy, and human rights, but because our government denies these to people in the Third World whose resources are coveted by our multinational corporations. Now 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. It's tempting to agree. I have no sympathy for those who murdered our people. If I were 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. If retaliation worked, Israelis would be the world's most secure people. We must make our people secure, and that requires both long and short-term approaches. The short-term problem is to protect the American people from the terrorists who already hate us. The long-term problem is to stop making more people hate us, so that the terrorist threat can one day go away. The short-term problem is largely one of internal security. We must try to make it very difficult for terrorists to succeed at causing such massive damage again. To put all of the emphasis on the airlines would be a mistake. Pilots in the past were trained to cooperate with terrorists and negotiate after landing. Never again. They will not allow hijackers to take control.Terrorists realize that this was a one-time deal. They will never try it again. But they will try other things. Smuggle bombs onto a cruise liner? Nukes on light aircraft? Sabotage a football stadium with a hundred thousand people in it? Poison water supplies? Who knows what else? We need a "red team" to think like terrorists and come up with possible scenarios so that they can be neutralized before they happen - not after.Improve intelligence (not CIA dirty tricks). Implement computerized tracking of aliens on temporary visas. Freeze terrorist finances. Dismantle their network. But security will never be perfect in a free society. The long-term solution is to stop making new terrorists and render current ones impotent. 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. A massive military retaliation causing the deaths of thousands of Arabs is the worst possible thing we could do. It would only guarantee an endless supply of fresh terrorists for decades to come. We can have security, or we can have revenge. We cannot have both. If indeed we can prove the guilt of Osama bin Laden or others, we should indict them as common criminals. This would be supported by the vast majority of the world's Muslims. We should also ask Muslim clerics around the world to condemn terrorist acts as contrary to the true Islamic faith (which they are). Just as the pacifist religion of Jesus was twisted by Christians to support Crusades and wars, so too has Islam been twisted by fundamentalist militaristic Muslims with their own political agenda. But the Jihad no more represents true Islam than the Salem Witch Trials and the Spanish Inquisition represent true Christianity. We must raise federal mileage standards for SUVs. Promote gas/electric hybrids. Subsidize solar and wind energy. Then adopt foreign policies toward the Middle East less obnoxious to the people of the region (and less dangerous to the people of America!). Withdraw financial and military support of Israel until they abandon the settlements in occupied territory and return to 1967 borders. (The Israelis on our Advisory Board oppose the mistreatment of Palestinians by the current government of Israel.) Allow Arab countries to have leaders of their own choosing, not hand-picked, CIA-installed dictators willing to cooperate with Western oil companies. Institute a Marshall Plan for development of the region. It would be less costly than the war currently being planned, and certainly less costly than the events of September 11th. Use the UN and World Court to hear grievances, and then do something about them. This will isolate the terrorists from the larger Arab community and cause terrorism to slowly die out. If we want security, we must pay attention to both the long and short of it. ============================================================== Colonel Bowman flew 101 combat missions in Vietnam and directed all the "Star Wars" programs under Presidents Ford and Carter. His PhD is in aeronautics and nuclear engineering from Caltech. He is president of the Institute for Space and Security Studies. His web site is www.rmbowman.com ============================================================== Dr. Robert M. Bowman 2066 Deercroft Dr, Viera, FL 32940 home (321) 752-5955 cell (321) 258-0582 i...@rmbowman.com
