I am sick and tired of ignorant people talking about the war on terror and the ideals of freedom and democracy they claim to defend. i am a fan of George Bush and his idealistic values, except one thing, you got it wrong when it comes to the war on terror. And let me tell you why.
The concept of preemptive war is something intolerable. This is a propaganda yet again by American ignorant foreign policies towards other countries. The war America wage now in Iraq is not a ‘preemptive’ per say, as Chomsky nicely put it, it is a ‘preventive’ war, even that term is too charitable. A preemptive war presupposes the fact that the attack to your interest is imminent, and the only way to divert or neutralise is through engaging in what you call a self-defence. However, justification for preemptive war, do not hold for preventive war. It is simply a common logic that you can not go and occupy your neighbour’s house just because you believe that neighbour has a gun, and u decide to take him out yourself, because you believe that someday, somehow, that neighbour could attack you. Preemptive means that when that neighbour aims its gun at your window, where your living room is placed, and you know that he will take you out, in self defence, you will take him out first. Anticipatory self defence is a different concept to the actual self defense itself. Similarly, one state/nation/government cannot go into another sovereign state/nation at her own will, just because she could.
The double standard of american foreign policy had been, has been, and will always exist as long as America continues to be the only superpower in this world. So, please before you defend the idea of freedom, or the idea of democracy, try to understand what people in other countries who have been ‘neutralised and colonised’ through occupation, economic sanction, or any other globalised means.
It is without a doubt, that America will always protect its own interests in whatever she does. I dont question that. Is it legitimate? perhaps. I acknowledge America’s superior capabilities in military and economy. But to go around the world, bossing around, and champion the ideals of democracy is another different plate that make my stomach ache. To put simply, do not preach the idea of democracy and freedom unless you practise it. The practise that they put in overturning regimes that they dont support, through covert actions are clearly not in line with their ideals of democracy or freedom. And many nations can account for this. From Indonesia, Cuba, Nicaragua, Vietnam, East Timor, Kosovo, Bosnia Herzegovina, and now Afghanistan and Iraq. Whats next???
Nuclear proliferation is another thing that America has always failed to show the world its shouldered responsibility as the superpower. “I don’t know how the third world war will be fought,” Albert Einstein once remarked, “but I do know that the fourth one will be fought with sticks and stones.” This is the world that America is trying to manage and this is what it will be become.
And no, while i sound negative about America, i want to put a balance perspective to those people who continuosly act as if they know everything and challenging people’s ignorance, while they themselves are ignorant!!! It is an utter disgust. Numerous resolutions in the United Nations that has been supported by the General Assembly has been voted off by America, using its veto right at the Security Council. And did you know that America is the only country with veto power at the IMF???
I was listening to an interview in ABC about the recent terrorist attack in Russia. The head of Amnesty International who happened to be in Sydney this week, presenting her paper, said that people should understand the concept of human rights in solving all these problems. because violence leads to a vicious cycle of further violence. reconciliation is the only way to stop this cycle, not through military show down. because at the end of the day, the security of people is not protected through heavy tanks and thousands of soldiers guarding your residence, the security of people is protected when people feel safe that no one will take away the basic human rights away from them. Therefore, to protect and defend those human rights, you cannot justify them by committing more human rights abuses.
And the concept of terrorism is not limited to individual or organisation that perform terror acts against nation or group of people. State terrorism is another form of terrorism. And unfortunately, America is the biggest state terrorist ever in this world. Even the principle of ‘just war’ and ‘proportional response’ do not hold water here. Clinton’s missile attack on the al-Shifa pharmaceutical plant in Sudan in 98, which lead to several tens of thousands of deaths is atrocious. But what did Sudan do? Nothing. They, while own every right to carry out massive terror in retaliation does nothing.
The ‘imperial guarantor’ that America has been playing, analogous to big brother styile is simply not working. So to end this rant, all of us should stop being ignorant before we open our mouth, because you cannot advance the cause of humanity that way. Your ignorance is the very reason why this is happening at the first place. And no, im not claiming moral nobility through this. Simply, because im sick and tired of people again claiming that other people is ignorant, when they simply are ignorant themselves!!!