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As Usual, the
Wrong Question Is Being Asked
by Harry Browne
http://www.harrybrowne.org/articles/TerrorismReason.htm
Richard Clarke says the Bush administration was too focused
on Iraq to see the 9-11 attack coming.
The Bush administration says Clarke is an opportunistic
S.O.B. who once praised President Bush, but now criticizes
Bush in order to boost sales of Clarke's book.
Which one is correct?
That's the burning question the press focuses on day after
day after day. Everyone in radio, TV, or print publications
seems to have a very firm answer to the question, one way
or the other.
But if you have an answer, you've been snookered -
maneuvered into pondering the wrong question.
THE
REAL ISSUE
The 9-11 Commission is supposedly focusing on all aspects
of the attack - all aspects except the one that is by far
the most important question: why did the hijackers
knowingly give up their lives to destroy the World Trade
Center?_
President Bush has a ready answer. He tells us it's because
they hate American freedoms, American democracy, and
American prosperity.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/04/20040405-5.html
Of course, there are people around the world who are
cranks, malcontents, or Stars-and-Stripes-phobes who simply
don't like America - for all kinds of reasons.
But how could any intelligent person believe that there are
hundreds - more likely, thousands - of people around the
world who would knowingly sacrifice their lives just to
protest American freedom, democracy, or prosperity?
As Charley Reese has put it:
It is absurd to suppose that a human being sitting around
suddenly stands up and says: "You know, I hate freedom. I
think I'll go blow myself up."
http://reese.king-online.com/Reese_20031107/index.php
THE MOTIVE
There was only one possible motive for the 9-11 attackers:
they were protesting the way the American government has
been using force for half a century to overrule the wishes
of people in the Middle East and elsewhere.
Our government has overthrown democratically elected
governments, it has supported with money and weapons
dictatorial governments that have tortured and killed
dissenters (just as George Bush keeps saying Saddam Hussein
was doing), it has bribed foreign governments to join in
enterprises of the U.S. government (as it did with Spain
and tried to do with Turkey before Operation Kill Iraqis).
Because of very little press coverage, most Americans have
no idea that our government has been doing these things.
How many people know, for example, that Iran had a
democratically elected government until the U.S. and
British governments engineered a coup to install the
tyrannical Shah of Iran in 1953?
http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0822/p08s01-wome.html
Then there was all the U.S. government help to Diem in
South Vietnam, Suharto in Indonesia, Somoza in Nicaragua,
Batista in Cuba, Trujillo in the Dominican Republic, Stalin
during World War II, Lumumba in the Congo, Saddam Hussein
in Iraq (yes, that Saddam Hussein), and dozens more tyrants
- all of whom used American taxpayer money to oppress their
own citizens.
Americans may not know about the support provided to these
tyrants by the U.S. government, but I can assure you that
plenty of people in those countries do know what our
government has done to them.
Because Americans know so little about the history of our
government's adventures of the last 50 years (and the last
place anyone's likely to learn about them would be in a
government school), it's easy for Americans to buy George
Bush's logic when he says, "See, these people hate
freedom." Consequently, most people believe that the
history of violence began on 9-11, when it's actually been
building for 50 years.
It isn't even just history. Today George Bush is sending
money and other resources to governments that are
oppressing their subjects in much the same way Hussein was
supposed to have oppressed Iraq including,
* Uzbekistan
http://tinyurl.com/3cq62
* Turkminestan
* Azerbaijan
http://tinyurl.com/2u9lj
* Kazakhstan
http://tinyurl.com/3fhew
* Pakistan
So if the 9-11 Commission has any interest in preventing
future 9-11s, why isn't it discussing the role U.S. foreign
policy played in creating 9-11 - and is continuing to play
today?
PUBLIC DEBATE
Perhaps you don't agree with me. You may think our
government was justified in everything it has done. Or
maybe you think I'm overstating the importance of American
support of oppressive foreign governments.
Fair enough. But you must admit that this is a legitimate
issue to be debated. So why isn't the 9-11 Commission
studying it? Why isn't the press interviewing people on
both sides of the question to help form opinions?
Why is there only one question to be debated on any issue?
Why, for example, didn't any of the coverage of the Martha
Stewart case focus on the question of whether insider
trading actually hurts anyone? Why was there a debate about
whether a juror's run-in with the police was grounds for a
mistrial - when his after-trial statements demonstrated
that he found Stewart guilty for something she wasn't even
on trial for - a much more significant reason for a
mistrial?
The press - including (especially) the TV experts - will
usually focus on the wrong aspect of any case or issue.
This is probably because reporters, journalists, and TV
experts are mostly all big-government people. So the debate
is about whether some politician handled something in the
best possible way - rather than debating whether the
government should have been involved at all.
And we play their game when we allow ourselves to debate
the questions they're asking.
In almost all matters, the real question should be: why
are we letting government handle this?_
-----
Harry Browne is the Director of Public Policy and co-
founder of the American Liberty Foundation (soon to be
Downsize DC). He was the 1996 and 2000 Libertarian Party
nominee for President. He is the author of 11 books that
have sold more than 2 million copies. Some of his books are
now available for download from the Internet at
http://www.libertyfree.com/
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