What
You're Missing in our subscriber-only CounterPunch newsletter
How the U.S. Army Kills Its Own Soldiers
A horrifying,
exclusive report from JoAnn Wypijewski on the grim secrets of
Fort Sill, Oklahoma. How a sadistic drill sergeant tortured basic
trainees, amid brutal indifference that led to the death on March
19,2006,of 21-year-old PFC Matthew Scarano. Dead Movement Marching? Cockburn and St Clair
assess the failures of the national antiwar groups, even as popular
opposition to the war tops 60 per cent. Stalin or Confucius? Chris Reed on
the Secrets of the Garden of Bliss, otherwise known as North
Korea.CounterPunch
Online is read by millions of viewers each month! But remember,
we are funded solely by the subscribers to the print edition
of CounterPunch. Please
support this website by buying a subscription to our newsletter,
which contains fresh material you won't find anywhere else, or
by making a donation for the online edition. Remember contributions
are tax-deductible.Click
here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please:Subscribe
Now!
George Bush's recent admission that
our occupation of Iraq will extend beyond his presidency passed
with hardly a ripple in American public opinion. Uh oh.
The greatest fear leading to
the outrage that fans the flames of terrorist tactics in the
Middle East and around the world is that America's real aim in
Iraq is to try and control the region through permanent military
bases. Such outposts of garrisoned troops stationed at permanent
airstrips now number in the hundreds, and ours is an empire based
on military might and high-tech war machines.
In the complete absence of
reassurances by Mr. Bush of eventual withdrawal of our troops
from Iraq, what are those in the region to think? What does
his silence on this issue say to Arab moderates? Other than what
has been said by Islamic radicals; that the ultimate goal of
the US occupation is to control Iraqi oil fields and subjugate
its people to semi-colonial rule?
Hardly anything is more important
in the discussion of international terrorism and the present
Mideast strife than the question of permanent US bases in the
region.
Think about it. Would we accept
an Islamic military outpost in our territory? Of course we would
not. Why do we think Muslims are any different?
The recent imbroglio over the
Dubai port deal is but one example of our duplicity and hypocricy.
We fully expect to be understood in our denial of their bid
to control our most important seaports, while we turn a deaf
ear and blind eye to their outraged perception that we are establishing
military bases in their lands that will remain forever.
Besides, it won't work. Not
only do such perceptions feed the fires of nationalistic fervor
and anti-Americanism, it gives succor and support to the radical
elements within the Islamic populations. It also sweeps the
floor from underneath the moderate progressives in the region
who would try and bring reason, democratic institutions and moderation
to governments; our stated goal.
So, where are the pronouncements
from Mr. Bush and company that we definitely plan on leaving;
that our long-term goal is other than hegemony -- control? Where
are the reassurances that our plan is to leave a sovereign and
autonomous Iraq and Afghanistan? Where are the words acknowledging
their right to self determination, free of US imperialism? Where
are the words that would quell the raging hatred and burning
fears of those in the region?
Or, is it as many in the world
suspect; our ultimate goal is to establish permanent bases to
try and control the region through perpetual threat of violence
for any who would dare to confront us, or challenge our power?
Such sinister speculation is
not as ominous as it sounds given the history of the past fifty
years. In fact, it would seem par for the course. Our tracks
betray us. What other nation on earth has such an expansive
network of military bases scattered around the globe?
Our continued and seemingly
perpetual presence in Saudi Arabia supporting the "no fly"
zone in Iraq was the ultimate recruiting poster for Osama Bin
Laden.
Sure, Saddam Hussein was a
terrible despot, but many argue that our tactics after the Gulf
War only strengthened his hold on the Iraqi population. The
embargo imposed at our behest killed an estimated one hundred
thousand Iraqi's, most of them children, elderly and frail.
And in the end, all Iraqi's were dependent on Baathist Party
handouts to simply eat.
Such seemingly brutal, counterproductive
and short-sighted tactics by the West are what has driven so
much of the hatred that now confronts us, and did so on 9-11.
Until we face these realities
and indeed "change course;" working on the diplomatic
front while curbing our own apparent greed, we face a perpetual
state of warfare between East and West. No matter how we label
it, or how strongly we work to demonize others, some of the culpability
for the mess we are now in lies at our own doorstep.
When things go really badly,
only a neurotic places all the blame on the other side of the
ledger.
Dr. John Bomar, a veteran of the Vietnam War, is
a Catholic Lay Minister in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. He can be reached
at: johnrbomar@hotsprings.net
Now
Available
from CounterPunch Books!
The Case
Against Israel
By Michael Neumann
CounterPunch
Speakers Bureau Sick of sit-on-the-Fence speakers, tongue-tied and timid?
CounterPunch Editors Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St Clair
are available to speak forcefully on ALL the burning issues,
as are other CounterPunchers seasoned in stump oratory. Call
CounterPunch Speakers Bureau, 1-800-840-3683. Or email beckyg@counterpunch.org.