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Foreign-Policy Blowback at Ft. Hood
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by snuffysmith | November 13, 2009 at 02:54 pm
43 views | 2 Recommendations | 5 comments
Are we here at The Future of Freedom Foundation surprised by the Ft. Hood killings? Why would we be? In fact, what surprises us is that we haven’t seen more of this type of thing. How can it be otherwise?
Jacob Hornberger points out that what is absent from the debate over whether Hasan is a terrorist, murderer, enemy combatant, traitor, sleeper agent, or someone just totally insane, is the glaring fact that the Fort Hood rampage is the result of blowback from US foreign policy in the Middle East, particularly the occupations of Iraq, Afghanistan, and in the past, Saudi Arabia where our troops were once stationed. He states that the evidence is pretty conclusive that Hasan was motivated to kill US soldiers by deep anger and rage arising from the impact of US activities in the Middle East for decades. Beyond military occupation, these activities include harsh economic sanctions and embargoes which have the resulting impact of killing the civilian populations,particularly children and elderly people. He notes that after the Gulf War, the Pentagon knowlingly and intentionally destroyed water and sewage facilities in Iraq with the specific intent of spreading infection and illness inorder to force Iraq to change its governmental policies.
What has been the US response to the rising dealth tolls of the civilian populations in the countries under occupation? Call it collateral damage. Call it callous indiference. Over the past 20 years, not only did the US not abandon any of its interventionist policies, it used attacks and occupation to expand these policies.
He states that we should never lose sight of the fact that while Afghanistan bore a tangential relationship to 9/11, the decision to treat the 9/11 attack as a military problem rather than a criminal justice one has been "an unmitigated disaster." By killing the civilian population, the US has increased the ranks of those who seek retaliation including Hasan.
This article warns us that as the anger and rage arising from US foreign policy boils over, we should be prepared for more acts of terrorism, murder, treason, war, insanity and any form of retaliatory killing and monetary disasters that loom from "out-of-control spending to finance this imperialist and interventionist madness."
Hasan fired the warning into the heart of the military.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (5)
at 07:08 on November 15th, 2009
The responsibility for Hasan's acts lies solely with himself and no one else. But initially, he was raising the right question. He was asking the national command to look at this war from the point of view of the Muslims who are both its chief protagonists and its chief victims. Until this happens, we will have a hard time figuring out why we are in Afghanistan and how we get out.
at 07:10 on November 15th, 2009
The Missing Link From Killeen to Kabul - Frank Rich, New York Times
at 21:11 on November 15th, 2009
Hasan Of Ft Hood - A Patsy In A Drill Gone Live?
at 21:14 on November 15th, 2009
Once we understand the motive of people who are intent on doing harm to the United States, the solution becomes obvious: Stop the sanctions and embargoes. Stop the invasions and occupations. Stop the killings, maiming, torture, and abuse. Stop the bombings. Stop the drone attacks. Stop the destruction. Immediately withdraw all troops and bring them home. Terminate all foreign aid, not only to Israel, Egypt, Saud Arabia, and Jordan but also to every other regime in the world. Stop the U.S. government from meddling in the internal affairs of other countries.
Sure, it’s theoretically possible that people might still want to retaliate for what the U.S. government has done in the past, but the likelihood is that once the U.S. government leaves people over there alone, people over there will return to their normal lives of making a living, raising a family, and so forth.
Why don’t U.S. officials favor examination into motive and instead do their best to confuse it with justification? Because they’re afraid that once Americans understand why foreigners are trying to kill them, Americans might demand an end to the U.S. government’s imperial overseas empire and its omnipotent power to sanction, embargo, invade, occupy, kill, maim, torture, and imprison people all over the world.
at 21:24 on November 15th, 2009
Shining a Light on the Roots of Terrorism
by Ray McGovern