America's Racist War on Terror

Do you know how many countries we are bombing? Go ahead. Try to guess how many.

You probably can't, and that is an incredibly awful thing about our country.
We've bombed brown-skinned people in seven different countries in the past few months and most Americans couldn't care less.

If you ask people in any other nation on Earth who their country is bombing the majority could tell you. America is the awful exception. Our indifference about who we are killing says something about our values, and that something isn't good.
 photo nationalism_zpssvvh5kwz.png
America has a very long history of racist foreign policy.
From post-Civil War Latin American policy, to the Philippine Occupation, to the Internment of Japanese during WWII.

Generally our foreign policy is less overtly racist now. At least today's politicians will deny being racist anyway.
It's not hard to find incidents of our troops calling locals "ragheads" and "sandn*ggers", not to mention countless act is individual racism against people who may or may not look muslim here at home, but I want to focus on the policy itself.
It's a policy that focuses on mulims, while ignoring the fact that right-wing terrorists (mostly white) at home have killed twice as many Americans over the last 14 years.

What is the value of an innocent life?

The answer to that question depends on the color of their skin and their nationality.
When a drone strike killed two white, western hostages, President Obama publicly apologized.
But what happens when the innocent people getting killed aren't white and western?
What if they are, say, Yemeni police officers.

It seems the Obama Administration has known for years how Salem and Waleed died, and what a terrible mistake it was. Yet the President refuses to admit it.
Instead of an official apology, a few months after my visit, members of my family were handed $100,000 in sequentially-marked U.S. dollars in a plastic bag. A Yemeni security service official was given the unpleasant task of handing this over. I looked him in the eye and asked how this was acceptable, and whether he would admit the money came from America. He shrugged and said: "Can't tell you. Take the money."
What is the value of a human life? The secret payment to my family represents a fraction of the cost of the operation that killed them. This seems to be the Obama administration's cold calculation: Yemeni lives are cheap. They cost the President no political or moral capital.

Faisal's family are the lucky ones. As it stands, the United States plans no compensation payments to the families of innocent victims in Iraq and Syria.
Of course even before compensation is discussed we would have to admit actually killing innocent civilians, and until May the Pentagon didn't admit to any dead civilians, despite dropping thousands of bombs.
Those two children that the Pentagon finally admitted killing were from an airstrike last August.

Earlier this week Nasir ­al-Wuhayshi, one of the top leaders of al-Qaeda, was killed in a drone strike in Yemen. At least the CIA thinks he was. The thing is, Nasir wasn't even targeted. No one was. The site was destroyed because the target was possibly a terrorist hideout.
Maybe the CIA got lucky this time. If so, then great. But by getting "lucky" it also implies that we are more often "unlucky" in who we kill.

"The joke was that when the CIA sees “three guys doing jumping jacks,” the agency thinks it is a terrorist training camp, said one senior official. Men loading a truck with fertilizer could be bombmakers – but they might also be farmers, skeptics argued."
- NY Times, 2012

Our drone war really is nothing but a Global Assassination Program, complete with Secret Kill Lists and Terror Tuesday.
If that isn't a problem with you, consider that the President is the judge, jury, and executioner, without review or appeal. A concept incompatible with a free society and rule of law.

Probably the most convoluted rationalization for our Global Assassination Program is to "save lives". Also known as a Weaponization of Human Rights. Never mind that bombing your way to peace amounts to f*cking your way to virginity. Never mind the piles of dead children along the way (aka "Oops"). Never mind that it almost never works for achieving peace or greater human rights.
Nevertheless, this short cut has convinced some human rights groups to actually buy into this marketing scheme.
It might be easier to make this compromise of values when the innocent victims aren't "real people like you and me."

“The war on terror has been the basis for an ideology of racism, Islamophobia, and a climate of massive repression.”
- Ralph Schoenman

The War on Terror has always had a tinge of racism, but slowly that racism is becoming more overt.

Does anyone doubt that if Obama's bombs were killing nice white British teeangers or smiling blond Swiss infants - rather than unnamed Yemenis, Pakistanis, Afghans and Somalis - that the reaction to this sustained killing would be drastically different? Does anyone doubt that if his overhead buzzing drones were terrorizing Western European nations rather than predominantly Muslim ones, the horror of them would be much easier to grasp?
Amazingly, some Democratic partisans, in order to belittle these injustices, like to claim that only those who enjoy the luxury of racial and socioeconomic privilege would care so much about these issues. That claim is supremely ironic. It reverses reality. That type of privilege is not what leads one to care about and work against these injustices. To the contrary, it's exactly that privilege that causes one to dismiss concerns over these injustices and mock and scorn those who work against them. The people who insist that these abuses are insignificant and get too much attention are not the ones affected by them, because they're not Muslim, and thus do not care.

Some will justify this global assassination program based on the fact that most of the brown-skinned people getting killed are "bad guys". How do they know that most are "bad guys"? Because government officials tells them so.

Ironically, government officials are also the ones defending the shooting of brown-skinned people on American streets because they were "bad guys". The only differences are that when its done on American streets we actually know and care who we killed, while there is a distinct lack of outrage against our racist War on Terror.
Those who seek to seize the moral high ground against racism should not discriminate between which racist act outrages them.

So who are we bombing?

The question of who Americans thought we were bombing was asked in a survey last September.
The results were pathetic.

Less than a quarter of the public are aware that the US has recently launched strikes in Somalia, Pakistan or Yemen. 30% also say, incorrectly, that the US has recently conducted bombings in Syria and only 32% of Americans know that the US has not in fact launched air or drone strikes in Syria.

What makes this survey particularly interesting is that it then asks people who you would support bombing. If Americans had heard the country's name on the news, they generally supported bombing that country.
Finding the country on a map, however, is another story.
Philippines is not one of those countries, although Obama has bombed it via drones in the past.

Je suis la victime de drones?

Share
up
0 users have voted.

Comments

I'm gonna put this up on DKos, but I wanted to try it out here first.
It seems incomplete. I think I could/should add some more to it.

Criticisms? Ideas?

up
0 users have voted.
gulfgal98's picture

The propaganda that our country puts out, aided and abetted by the main stream press, has turned nearly every American into a racist when it comes to inhabitants of Muslim countries. I know because I have heard it when talking to people at our Peace vigils. The fear factor being promulgated by our own government has brought out the worst in the American people.

I think you should publish this and if it does not get traction, publish it again or something similar. This is far more important than silly Republican diaries. This is also why we have seen a precipitous rise in terrorism since 9/11.

up
0 users have voted.

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

gulfgal98's picture

I cannot help but wonder if our cavalier attitudes toward Muslims has not had some effect upon the resurgence of racial violence in this country too.

up
0 users have voted.

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

view of Muslims. My thought is that it might have something to do with Bush and Obama bombing them for the last 14 years.

up
0 users have voted.

"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

mimi's picture

about the refugee crisis and how the EU is struggling with helping them "fairly". There are some details in it that relate to racism of the member states. It might give you an option to be less US self-flagellating with the subject and see it as an overall "Western" kind of condition. Don't know. I am out of steam to ventilate over racism.
Migration Crisis: The EU's Shipwrecked Refugee Plan.

When 800 refugees drowned on their way to Europe this April, leaders promised to act. Just over two months later, the EU's attempts at real reform have all but failed -- and thrown up some dark moral questions.

up
0 users have voted.

seems very specific and from a singular point of view.
There is a whole bunch of group-think going on, and it almost seems like there is an intentional avoidance of certain issues.

up
0 users have voted.
LapsedLawyer's picture

Patrice Lumumba

Mohammad Mosaddegh

Salvador Allende

to name but three.

And we can include the Phillipines, Guatemala, the Palestinians (by way of its attack dog in Israel) and many many others.

The US government, under both political parties, has worked overtime to ensure brown people have no say in how they are governed without Uncle Sam's approval.

But cheer up! There have been some white spots: Bosnia, Serbia, and coming soon to a 24-hour cable news outlet near you, Ukraine!

Or perhaps Beijing, as you recently outlined re: TPP.

And Oh! What a lovely war!

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VggFfl4e6yY]

up
0 users have voted.

"Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we're being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I'm liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That's what's insane about it."
-- John Lennon

snoopydawg's picture

And that most of the people who have been killed (murdered) were innocent civilians.
This goes against the Nuremberg principle since none of those countries have threatened the U.S. But, no one cares. Because they're Muslims and it keeps troops from being in harms way.
I read that all the time.
But, why don't people ever stop to think what gives the U.S. the right to bomb other countries in the first place?

If you're looking for more info for your article, I thought this was a good article.
http://johnpilger.com/articles/why-the-rise-of-fascism-is-again-the-issue

We are supporting neo nazis in Ukraine. Shiite militia in Iraq.
Many terrorist groups we used to fight against, but know they're helping to over throw Assad, so they're good terrorists now.
American Exceptionalism at its finest.

up
0 users have voted.

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Initiating a war of aggression is a war crime, but I wouldn't even call the GWOT that. Although the Libya thing was.

It's a Global Assassination Program, which also happens to be illegal.
The idea of picking names out of a hat to kill is outrageous, and can't be justified.

Thanks for remind me. It'll be a worthy addition.

up
0 users have voted.
Big Al's picture

DK, there will be very few, IF ANY, that really get it. I say that if anyone is preparing to vote in the next election for someone running as a candidate for either the republican or democratic parties, and that includes Bernie Sanders, then they have no room to criticize anyone else, partisan democrat or not, regarding their stance on the racist War OF Terror. The War OF Terror is U.S. imperialism, it's always been an excuse to move to the next level of global hegemony. This includes Greenwald who criticizes the partisan democrats but favors the democratic candidate Sanders.

You'll get people agreeing with you but on the other hand they will vote for Sanders or even Clinton, either of whom will surely continue the racist War OF Terror.

So I ask, if someone supports Bernie Sanders, how strongly can they be against the War OF Terror and U.S. imperialism? Because if they vote for Sanders that's what they're voting for, more War OF Terror and more U.S. imperialism. Their opposition must not be that strong if they can compromise on that issue in favor of his talk about billionaires and wealth inequality.

I think a lot of people are hoping that isn't true or that Sanders' propensity to say he's against war means something it really doesn't. It doesn't, Sanders if elected would not change the agenda or trajectory of Racist U.S. imperialism.

I'm sorry if that makes me a pariah around here, but I'm not going to compromise on the War OF Terror and U.S. imperialism.

up
0 users have voted.

with a comment you made about a week back. You threatened to write a diary like this on DK. So it's sort of ironic that you would now say that it is pointless. Wink

up
0 users have voted.
Big Al's picture

It was just a rant. I think the more you can shake it up over there the better. Actually I'd like to see what kind of comments
you get. I think you've done a great job.

up
0 users have voted.
LapsedLawyer's picture

It eats away at your very soul.

But all the more reason to confront 'em and fight, right Big Al?

up
0 users have voted.

"Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we're being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I'm liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That's what's insane about it."
-- John Lennon

This essay has gotten almost no traction at all on DKos. I guess they only want to talk racism when in a certain context. Big surprise.

up
0 users have voted.
gulfgal98's picture

but wish more people would do so. Personally, I believe the way we have acted towards POC in the Middle East is a reflection of who we really are as a nation. And that is a very ugly picture. Maybe people at GOS are simply unwilling to take that look into the mirror because they know what they will see is something they will not like. It is easier to mock stupid Republicans than to self evaluate.

up
0 users have voted.

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

when a Republican wins the presidency.
Then all of those immoral activities and wars will once again be horrifying to people at the GOS.

I figured out a very long time ago that people on the internet who claim "moral outrage" are generally hypocritical phonies.

up
0 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

What was wrong under Bush is okay now that Obama is doing even worse things. I can't wrap my head around the pretzelized logic of Obama supporters that don't have a problem with what he's doing.
Same with the Hillary supporters.
I'm so tired of the group of them that troll every Bernie diary.
Any criticism of Hillary means that I hate her or Obama.
I dislike both of them because they tell us lies, but I do hate their policies.
Obama could have been a great president, but I wonder if he ever was going to deliver on what he promised during his campaign.
From his first betrayal with the FISA vote, I doubt it.
Greatest con man ever.

up
0 users have voted.

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

My thought is that the MIC doesn't give a damn about any color except green.

US deploying 250 military vehicles 'incl. Abrams tanks' near Russian border

NATO Leaders Seek 40,000 Troops Along Russian Border - US Pledges Troops and Equipment to Latest Escalation

Moscow will respond to NATO approaching Russian borders ‘accordingly’ – Putin

I think war is about money and power. By saying we are at war because of race, you obfuscate the argument that we are a money hungry, war mongering nation undermining democracy all over the globe, including ours at home.

up
0 users have voted.

"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

gulfgal98's picture

You are very correct that the MIC does not care about race, nor do most of our decision makers in promoting these wars of choice. It is true that the main factor is money for the corporations that profit directly or indirectly from these wars.

However, it is far easier for them to "sell" these wars when the PTB can paint a picture of an "enemy" who does not look like the majority of Americans. I have been constantly shocked at how blase most Americans are about the idea of pro-actively murdering people simply because they might one day in the future want to do us harm. IMHO, because the people of this country have never gotten beyond race, it has been very easy to sell the concept of pro-active murders.

up
0 users have voted.

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

I agree that the war is about money and power, first and foremost.

That being said, it doesn't mean there aren't racist elements to this war. Just because you are primarily interested in money and power doesn't mean you can't act in a racist way as well.

up
0 users have voted.
shaharazade's picture

I've been busy working for the last couple of weeks and this morning I took a break and read your excellent piece. I tried to find it at dkos to no avail. Could someone post a link? It's a disgrace that no one with power or running for office including Bernie is advocating ending the endless war on terra. It is racist and yet people seem unwilling to see that the violence and killing the US perpetrates on POC in the ME and Africa are part and parcel of our domestic systemic racism. These days the only racist war we the people here in America seem to be aware of is the ongoing culture war. Our collective racist 'heritage' both domestically and globally are connected as hate and fear of other is fanned when endless bloody war is accepted as national security or in our national interest. Any one who thinks bombing other humans is okay has to dehumanize the people who live in these countries we deem a threat. Caring less, as it's a war on terra, is symptomatic of our viscous cruel inhumanity here in der Homeland and around the world.

up
0 users have voted.
gulfgal98's picture

up
0 users have voted.

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy