"Terrorism is not an enemy"

[LynnTheDem]

Voices of reason, even when they’ve come from within the country’s military establishment, have been shunted aside. In late November 2002, a retired US Army general, William Odom, told C-SPAN viewers:

"Terrorism is not an enemy. It cannot be defeated. It’s a tactic. It’s about as sensible to say we declare war on night attacks and expect we’re going to win that war. We’re not going to win the war on terrorism. And it does whip up fear. Acts of terror have never brought down liberal democracies. Acts of parliament have closed a few."

The president who lied his way into an invasion of Iraq is now exploiting Thursday’s atrocities in London to justify US policies that are bringing daily atrocities to Iraq. Bush is intent on sending a message to "the terrorists" by continuing the Pentagon’s war effort.

The idea of communicating by killing is very familiar. There’s nothing new about claiming to send a righteous message with bullets and bombs.

Forty years later, with a "war on terrorism" serving as the central theme of pro-war propaganda, the United States and its military allies are routinely sending lethal messages.

It should not surprise us when such messages are returned to sender.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/070905X.shtml