Five Years of Fear
Five years — that’s the wood and/or silverware anniversary, I believe. Possibly wooden silverware, not sure. So, let’s see. Five years since the towers were blown down by a pack of really ambitious Saudi Arabian terrorists, belonging to Al Quieda, led by Osama bin Ladin. What have we accomplished?
Well, we had a half-assed war in Afghanistan, where we deposed the fanatical Muslim government, the Taliban. Which is apparently staging a bit of a comeback, by the way. The country is still a starving, violent mess full of suffering people. And we never did get Osama, which was the reason we went there. In fact, we pulled out of Afghanistan, leaving a teeny token force, so we could move into Iraq, which didn’t have anything to do with anything pertaining to 9/11. We blew the fuck up out of Iraq, deposing Saddam, and not managing to accomplish a whole hell of a lot else so far. And now, we’re talking about moving into Iran. Because, you know, we did so well in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Meanwhile — what, exactly, did we do about terrorism? As far as I can tell, we made flying somewhere an even bigger pain in the ass than it was originally. It’s not any safer, that’s for sure. Even with the new guidelines, where you can’t have gels and liquids and so forth. In fact, I know a rather heavy gal who just sneaked a big baggie of weed on an airplane a couple of weeks ago. She tucked it up under a fat roll, and no one had any clue she had it. Good job with the security, guys.
Oh, oh, and we have that color-coded chart that no one really mentions anymore, because it turned out to be such an embarrassment. “Oooo, we’re at Level Orange! I’m scared!” Who gives a fuck? Grow some balls.
From the Washington Post — Bin Ladin Trail “Stone Cold”:
Many factors have combined in the five years since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to make the pursuit more difficult. They include the lack of CIA access to people close to al-Qaeda’s inner circle; Pakistan’s unwillingness to pursue him; the reemergence of the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan; the strength of the Iraqi insurgency, which has depleted U.S. military and intelligence resources; and the U.S. government’s own disorganization.
But the underlying reality is that finding one person in hiding is difficult under any circumstances. Eric Rudolph, the confessed Olympics and abortion clinic bomber, evaded authorities for five years, only to be captured miles from where he was last seen in North Carolina.
It has been so long since there has been anything like a real close call that some operatives have given bin Laden a nickname: “Elvis,” for all the wishful-thinking sightings that have substituted for anything real.
Another one from the Washington Post — Situation Called Dire In West Iraq — The chief of intelligence for the Marine Corps in Iraq recently filed an unusual secret report concluding that the prospects for securing that country’s western Anbar province are dim and that there is almost nothing the U.S. military can do to improve the political and social situation there, said several military officers and intelligence officials familiar with its contents.
Iraq’s Alleged Al-Qaeda Ties Were Disputed Before War — A declassified report released yesterday by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence revealed that U.S. intelligence analysts were strongly disputing the alleged links between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda while senior Bush administration officials were publicly asserting those links to justify invading Iraq.
Terrorism on Wiki: Terrorism is the systematic use, or threatened use, of violence to intimidate a population or government and thereby effect political, religious or ideological change. Acts of terrorism are not intended to merely victimize or eliminate those who are killed, injured or taken hostage but rather to intimidate and influence the societies to which they belong.
From Dictionary.com, Terrorism:
ter-ror-ism [ter-uh-riz-uhm] –noun
- the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, esp. for political purposes.
- the state of fear and submission produced by terrorism or terrorization.
- a terroristic method of governing or of resisting a government.
[Origin: 1785–95; terror + -ism]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.0.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
”The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” — Franklin D. Roosevelt
Al Quieda came and attacked us and we were scared, and that’s okay. We’re allowed to be scared. It was a frightening thing, to realize that we were that vulnerable. Our government took advantage of our fear, and not only that, but took steps to frighten us even further. They lied to us, they took advantage of us, and they forced us into being yet more afraid of boogeymen and non-existent bullshit. It’s been five years. The only large-scale terrorist act that we’ve faced in the last five years has been the one our government committed on us.
The Bush Administration has used fear — our fear, the fear they instilled and nurtured in us — to push it’s own agenda, both political and religious, on us. That, ladies and gentlemen, is terrorism. They have eroded our freedoms. They have committed heinous war crimes. They have violated the Geneva Convention. They have chipped away at the separation of Church and State.
There’s an election coming up, and it’s time we defeated the real terrorists.
Eminem — Mosh:
