global warmongering
Mia is married with two small children and has always supported peaceful solutions to conflict, but after 9/11 she was overjoyed, initially, when Bush went after Osama bin Laden, declaring a War on Terror.
"I felt so bad about those poor people who had died horrible deaths on 9/11 and I couldn't wait for Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaeda network to be wiped off the face of the earth," explains Mia.
"It was all very simple at first," says Mia. "We had a legitimate enemy in Osama, a legitimate target in Afghanistan for harboring him and a legitimate reason for causing the unavoidable death or displacement of thousands of innocent people."
"And then, after the regime change in Afghanistan - and Osama's escape - I couldn't understand why the focus of the war on terrorists changed completely."
"The propaganda machine started pumping out stories about weapons of mass destruction and rogue countries that allegedly produced them and we were all distracted away from Osama and terrorists who crash planes into buildings towards imaginary enemies and weapons."
"Afghanistan legitimately became a military target with UN support because its regime, ruled by the Taliban, refused to hand over Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaeda network of Moslem fundamentalists responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attack." explains Mia, "but bombing the guts out of rogue countries without UN support is something else."
"I don't mean to be offensive," apologizes Mia, "but all the talk about rogue countries and weapons of mass destruction seemed, to me, to be nothing more than an excuse for Bush to cover up his abysmal failure to capture Osama and the al-Qaeda leadership and to go on a global warmongering spree."
"It really upset me when Bush dropped the search for Osama, and stopped routing the al-Qaeda network embedded within the USA and elsewhere in the world, and stopped concentrating on the weapons that terrorists had used to wreak havoc."
"All of a sudden, Bush changed tack and our enemy was no longer Osama and the al-Qaeda network, and the terrorist weapon was no longer civilian airlines and suicide bombers."
"Our new enemy was an 'axis of evil'," sighs Mia, "and the new terrorist weapon was 'weapons of mass destruction'."
"Sorry, but I just can't get riled up about the axis of evil," says Mia, "and I just can't accept that terrorists are going to start using weapons of mass destruction rather than the weapons they've always used."
"By declaring Iraq, Iran and North Korea an axis of evil Bush successfully turned the world's attention away from Osama and al-Qaeda towards countries that had no bearing whatsoever on the 9/11 terrorist attack."
"As far as I can see," says Mia, "none of these countries were suspected of harboring Osama and the al-Qaeda network, and to all intents and purposes they were minding their own business on the world stage."
"Bush maintained that Iraq, Iran and North Korea were legitimate targets in the broader War on Terror for the simple reason that they were ruled by regimes unfriendly towards the USA," explains Mia.
"The President's message "if you're not with us, you're against us" simplistically turned all regimes unfriendly towards the USA into potential enemies and all other regimes into potential allies."
"No allowance was made for neutrality and no allowance was made for the possibility of potential allies being a bigger threat to the USA than the potential enemies." says Mia.
"What is more horrible," explains Mia, "is that irrespective of the fact that the USA and some of its potential allies possess more weapons of mass destruction than the axis of evil put together tenfold, Bush maintains that the potential of the axis of evil to produce and use weapons of mass destruction against the USA was a valid reason to focus attention on them."
"With this rhetoric," explains Mia, "Bush distracted us. He pulled the wool over everybody's eyes and replaced Osama and the al-Qaeda network with a new target (Iraq) that was far more easily discernible and punishable."
"And what is even more horrible, " sighs Mia, "is that just about everybody accepted the sleight of hand without protest."
"As I see it, we neither had a legitimate enemy in Saddam, nor a legitimate target in Iraq, Iran or North Korea nor a legitimate reason for causing the unavoidable death or displacement of thousands of innocent people in these countries. It was pure warmongering, nothing else."
"I suppose the reason why so few people see this new war in a different light to the Afghan war has a lot to do with basic human nature," laments Mia.
"Bush must have factored into his sleight of hand four facts about the average western human being - stupidity (an inability to discern truth from lies), indifference (an ability to get on with life no matter what atrocities are happening in the world), distractibility (a facility to turn from one thing to another with the greatest of ease, totally forgetting the past) and desensitization (we are fed so much violence as entertainment that we're unable to empathize with real suffering)".
"Whoever invented the term 'weapons of mass distraction' is a genius." says Mia, "because that is exactly what weapons of mass destruction are."
"There's no way Bush would have committed us to a war against Iraq if he truly believed Saddam had such weapons, and it would come as no surprise to me if a cache of such weapons were mysteriously found during or after the war in order to justify the illegal invasion."
"No matter what Bush says," says Mia, "my enemy is still Osama bin Laden and my fear is still flying, traveling on any sort of public transport or being in any sort of crowd where a terrorist may operate."
I don't suffer from stupidity, indifference, distractibility or desensitization," says Mia, "and I know that protesting against the war in a world that is largely populated by people who do suffer from such infirmities is a waste of time, but I nevertheless need to voice my opinion for the sake of my sanity."
"Mr Bush, I was never distracted," says Mia, "and now that the Democrats have the numbers I hope you and your Republican warmongers are brought to task for the lies that were told and the brutal warmongering that has brought more misery to the world than 9/11 ever did."
Mia's story first appeared as weapons of mass distraction?
"I felt so bad about those poor people who had died horrible deaths on 9/11 and I couldn't wait for Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaeda network to be wiped off the face of the earth," explains Mia.
"It was all very simple at first," says Mia. "We had a legitimate enemy in Osama, a legitimate target in Afghanistan for harboring him and a legitimate reason for causing the unavoidable death or displacement of thousands of innocent people."
"And then, after the regime change in Afghanistan - and Osama's escape - I couldn't understand why the focus of the war on terrorists changed completely."
"The propaganda machine started pumping out stories about weapons of mass destruction and rogue countries that allegedly produced them and we were all distracted away from Osama and terrorists who crash planes into buildings towards imaginary enemies and weapons."
"Afghanistan legitimately became a military target with UN support because its regime, ruled by the Taliban, refused to hand over Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaeda network of Moslem fundamentalists responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attack." explains Mia, "but bombing the guts out of rogue countries without UN support is something else."
"I don't mean to be offensive," apologizes Mia, "but all the talk about rogue countries and weapons of mass destruction seemed, to me, to be nothing more than an excuse for Bush to cover up his abysmal failure to capture Osama and the al-Qaeda leadership and to go on a global warmongering spree."
"It really upset me when Bush dropped the search for Osama, and stopped routing the al-Qaeda network embedded within the USA and elsewhere in the world, and stopped concentrating on the weapons that terrorists had used to wreak havoc."
"All of a sudden, Bush changed tack and our enemy was no longer Osama and the al-Qaeda network, and the terrorist weapon was no longer civilian airlines and suicide bombers."
"Our new enemy was an 'axis of evil'," sighs Mia, "and the new terrorist weapon was 'weapons of mass destruction'."
"Sorry, but I just can't get riled up about the axis of evil," says Mia, "and I just can't accept that terrorists are going to start using weapons of mass destruction rather than the weapons they've always used."
"By declaring Iraq, Iran and North Korea an axis of evil Bush successfully turned the world's attention away from Osama and al-Qaeda towards countries that had no bearing whatsoever on the 9/11 terrorist attack."
"As far as I can see," says Mia, "none of these countries were suspected of harboring Osama and the al-Qaeda network, and to all intents and purposes they were minding their own business on the world stage."
"Bush maintained that Iraq, Iran and North Korea were legitimate targets in the broader War on Terror for the simple reason that they were ruled by regimes unfriendly towards the USA," explains Mia.
"The President's message "if you're not with us, you're against us" simplistically turned all regimes unfriendly towards the USA into potential enemies and all other regimes into potential allies."
"No allowance was made for neutrality and no allowance was made for the possibility of potential allies being a bigger threat to the USA than the potential enemies." says Mia.
"What is more horrible," explains Mia, "is that irrespective of the fact that the USA and some of its potential allies possess more weapons of mass destruction than the axis of evil put together tenfold, Bush maintains that the potential of the axis of evil to produce and use weapons of mass destruction against the USA was a valid reason to focus attention on them."
"With this rhetoric," explains Mia, "Bush distracted us. He pulled the wool over everybody's eyes and replaced Osama and the al-Qaeda network with a new target (Iraq) that was far more easily discernible and punishable."
"And what is even more horrible, " sighs Mia, "is that just about everybody accepted the sleight of hand without protest."
"As I see it, we neither had a legitimate enemy in Saddam, nor a legitimate target in Iraq, Iran or North Korea nor a legitimate reason for causing the unavoidable death or displacement of thousands of innocent people in these countries. It was pure warmongering, nothing else."
"I suppose the reason why so few people see this new war in a different light to the Afghan war has a lot to do with basic human nature," laments Mia.
"Bush must have factored into his sleight of hand four facts about the average western human being - stupidity (an inability to discern truth from lies), indifference (an ability to get on with life no matter what atrocities are happening in the world), distractibility (a facility to turn from one thing to another with the greatest of ease, totally forgetting the past) and desensitization (we are fed so much violence as entertainment that we're unable to empathize with real suffering)".
"Whoever invented the term 'weapons of mass distraction' is a genius." says Mia, "because that is exactly what weapons of mass destruction are."
"There's no way Bush would have committed us to a war against Iraq if he truly believed Saddam had such weapons, and it would come as no surprise to me if a cache of such weapons were mysteriously found during or after the war in order to justify the illegal invasion."
"No matter what Bush says," says Mia, "my enemy is still Osama bin Laden and my fear is still flying, traveling on any sort of public transport or being in any sort of crowd where a terrorist may operate."
I don't suffer from stupidity, indifference, distractibility or desensitization," says Mia, "and I know that protesting against the war in a world that is largely populated by people who do suffer from such infirmities is a waste of time, but I nevertheless need to voice my opinion for the sake of my sanity."
"Mr Bush, I was never distracted," says Mia, "and now that the Democrats have the numbers I hope you and your Republican warmongers are brought to task for the lies that were told and the brutal warmongering that has brought more misery to the world than 9/11 ever did."
Mia's story first appeared as weapons of mass distraction?
Labels: al-qaeda, osama, war crimes, war on terror, weapons of mass destruction
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