{"id":17938,"date":"2012-03-19T12:00:36","date_gmt":"2012-03-19T12:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=17938"},"modified":"2012-03-15T18:06:54","modified_gmt":"2012-03-15T18:06:54","slug":"who-are-the-terrorists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2012\/03\/who-are-the-terrorists\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Are the \u2018Terrorists\u2019?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The pattern of American atrocities in wartime<\/em><\/p>\n

In the early morning hours of March 11, a US soldier assigned to \u201cspecial ops\u201d in Afghanistan, stationed near Kandahar, went into a local village and gunned down 16 people<\/a> \u2013 including nine women and three children. At least three others were wounded. He went from house to house, in the predawn darkness, systematically murdering people while they slept in their beds: he then doused them with a flammable liquid and set them ablaze.<\/p>\n

What is it about American troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan? From Abu Ghraib<\/a> [.pdf] to the Mahmudiyah killings<\/a> to the Hamdania murder<\/a> of a crippled old man to the horrors of the Haditha massacre<\/a>, it\u2019s been one atrocity after another (see here<\/a>, here<\/a>, and here<\/a>).\u00a0 More recently it was the \u201crogue\u201d team of killers that murdered Afghan civilians in the Maywand district<\/a> for sport. Then it was US troops urinating on corpses<\/a>, followed shortly afterward by the Koran-burning incident<\/a>, the second such<\/a> example of American contempt for the people they are supposed to be \u201cliberating.\u201d Now we have this, which \u2013 we\u2019re told \u2013 is the result of a US soldier having a \u201cbreakdown<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Was it a breakdown, or merely the logical extension of the soldier\u2019s training<\/a> and inclination<\/a>, that caused him to go on a murderous rampage?\u00a0 That hardly a month goes by without some kind of atrocity being committed should tell us something.<\/p>\n

What it tells me is that America is a depraved nation<\/a>, a country where the very worst-of-the-worst flock to join the military, free to kill and maim and rape to their heart\u2019s content.<\/p>\n

And Rachel Maddow wants<\/a> to give these guys a \u201cwelcome home\u201d \u201cvictory\u201d parade?<\/p>\n

Of course she does: even the \u201cliberals\u201d in our country are corrupted<\/a> by the ugliness that pervades the national consciousness and poisons everything we do. \u201cHonor the troops\u201d is a given on the left as well as the right, because the above-mentioned atrocities are just \u201cisolated incidents<\/a>,\u201d examples of soldiers who had \u201cbreakdowns\u201d and went \u201crogue.\u201d Their actions have nothing to do with our mission<\/a> [.pdf], our mentality<\/a>, or our decadent culture, which glorifies violence<\/a> and disdains foreigners<\/a> \u2013 especially if they\u2019re Muslims. Oh no: these are all anomalies, there\u2019s nothing to see here so please move along \u2026<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not buying it. There is something wrong \u2013 very<\/em> wrong \u2013 here: a trend, a significant uptick in the savagery that is part and parcel of every war. During World War II, American atrocities were relatively few and far between, although no less reprehensible. As the American presence abroad grew more substantial, however, and the cold war heated up, such incidents increased in number, and took on a more horrific \u2013 and systematic \u2013 character.<\/p>\n

In Korea, American troops massacred<\/a> hundreds of Korean civilians at No Gun Ri<\/a>, and stood aside while their South Korean allies did the same at Kwangju<\/a>. During the Vietnam war, vast areas under Viet Cong control were deemed a \u201cfreefire zone<\/a>,\u201d and entire villages were wiped out by US troops. The My Lai massacre<\/a> revealed how American policy had ended in an orgy of brutality, and support for the war plummeted to new lows.<\/p>\n

Embarked once again on an international crusade to save the world<\/a>, our demons are unleashed \u2013 and they are more bloodthirsty and sadistic than ever. Why is that?<\/p>\n

To begin with, American culture is more violent and sadistic than ever. When it comes to mass entertainment and the level of acceptable violence, there appears to be no limit: how else could a movie like Kill Bill<\/a><\/em> or Natural Born Killers<\/a><\/em> even get made, let alone generate millions in profits? In a healthy society, such films would be marginal: in America, they are hailed as great \u201cart\u201d and go on to become box office hits. Rome had its gladiatorial contests; we have Hollywood<\/a> to excite our bloodlust.<\/p>\n

Secondly, the state of perpetual war in which we find ourselves, a decade after 9\/11, has led to increased multiple deployments<\/a> for our professional soldiers: from Iraq to Afghanistan to wherever our crazy foreign policy takes them, US military personnel are shipped from one trouble spot to another with dizzying speed and little regard for their mental equilibrium. This has resulted in a record number of suicides<\/a> and dismissals<\/a> from the armed services on mental health grounds. In addition, criminal activities in the ranks are on the upswing, with gang members<\/a> actively seeking to be deployed to combat areas: they consider it on the job training<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It makes sense that, as publicity about US atrocities abroad is circulated, the most brutal and sadistic members of society will be attracted to the military: you know, like child molesters are drawn to the Boy Scouts<\/a> or necrophiliacs consider working in a morgue<\/a> a dream job. So you want to kill people and collect their bones<\/a> as \u201ctrophies\u201d? Well, then, son, the US Army is the place for you!<\/p>\n

Thirdly, the craziness spreading through the ranks is a function of the policy, which \u2013 consciously or not \u2013 encourages and even rewards brutality. In spite of all the BS about \u201cwinning hearts and minds<\/a>\u201d which is part of the \u201cnew<\/a>\u201d counterinsurgency doctrine of the US military, the reality is that American troops are occupiers surrounded by a hostile populace which hates them<\/a> and wants to see them gone. Soldiers returning from the front tell us how they feel surrounded by enemies on every side, and that\u2019s because it\u2019s true: they are<\/a><\/em> surrounded<\/a> on every side by people who hate them and want to see them dead. No wonder some go crazy and start killing people randomly.<\/p>\n

This will go on as long as our crazed foreign policy continues to target nation after nation for \u201cliberation<\/a>,\u201d occupation<\/a>, and \u201cdemocratization<\/a>.\u201d By the time we get around to attacking Iran, our homicidal maniacs in uniform will be so hopped up that we\u2019ll be getting atrocity reports shortly after the first American soldier sets foot on Persian soil.<\/p>\n

A major factor in the increasing level of criminality in our armed forces has got to be the apparent immunity of our political elites from the rule of law. In spite of the boasting<\/a> of former Vice President Dick Cheney that he personally approved and authorized torture, the Obama administration has refused to indict him \u2013 even though he has violated US law. Others who participated<\/a> \u2013 the lawyers who justified it<\/a>, the officers who covered it up<\/a> \u2013 have been granted similar immunity. In short, these guys are getting away with it \u2013 so why shouldn\u2019t the grunts? When the rule of law is relaxed so that the elites can literally get away with murder, why should anyone expect their underlings to be on their best behavior? A fish rots from the head down.<\/p>\n

I have the sinking feeling we\u2019ll be seeing a lot more of this American horror show, while \u2013 under the pretext of \u201cfighting terrorism\u201d \u2013 we act out our sadistic fantasies all over the world. As these outrages against human decency and morality provoke worldwide revulsion at the perpetrators, perhaps one day we\u2019ll go looking for \u201cterrorists\u201d in the vicinity of a mirror \u2013 and see ourselves for what we\u2019ve become.<\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 antiwar.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have the sinking feeling we\u2019ll be seeing a lot more of this American horror show, while \u2013 under the pretext of \u201cfighting terrorism\u201d \u2013 we act out our sadistic fantasies all over the world. As these outrages against human decency and morality provoke worldwide revulsion at the perpetrators, perhaps one day we\u2019ll go looking for \u201cterrorists\u201d in the vicinity of a mirror \u2013 and see ourselves for what we\u2019ve become.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anglo-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17938\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}