|
|
|
U.S. government opposes terror...except its own Bush's hypocrisy November 2, 2001 | Page 4 Dear Socialist Worker, The politicians and media might be fooling some people into blindly backing their phony war on "terrorism," but they're not fooling everybody. Out on Long Island, one group of activists recently turned the tables on George W. Bush and his fellow militarists by exposing how the U.S. government regularly uses terrorism to advance its own interests. Members of the local School of the Americas Watch chapter held an October 20 rally demanding that America close down its own terrorist training camps--starting with the School of the Americas (SOA). The 20 or so anti-SOA protesters marched outside right-wing, pro-SOA Rep. Felix Grucci's office with signs that read, "Stop U.S.-Sponsored Terrorism" and "Close the U.S. School of Terror." "The hypocrisy of this war is so clear," said protest organizer Bill McNulty. "If you truly want to stop terrorism, then start by closing the School of the Americas." But, of course, the rulers of the U.S. don't even want to talk about the kinds of terror they use to protect their wealth and power. They definitely want to hush up the ugly truth about how the SOA, located in Fort Benning, Ga., has taught more than 60,000 police and military members to wage wars against their own people on behalf of U.S.-backed dictatorships and corporate interests. All of Dubya's righteous rhetoric about "democracy and freedom" versus "terrorism" doesn't really hold up if you're talking about death squad academies like the SOA. There's no other term except "mass state terror" to describe what Colombia's SOA-trained thugs are currently conducting against peasants, union activists, students and anyone else that speaks out against that country's injustices. This "war against terrorism" is one-sided, hypocritical and, ultimately, a total lie--because the U.S. itself is the world's biggest terrorist. That's why building a mass movement to stop this war has to be about fighting U.S. imperialism--whether that means putting an end to SOA-bred monsters in Latin America or cutting off U.S. aid to apartheid Israel. Kevin O'Neill, West Babylon, N.Y.
|