George Bush
Knows Why
They Hate Us
By Jason Miller
09 August, 2005
Countercurrents.org
Why
do they hate us? President George Bush posed this question to the American
public shortly after 9/11. It is a strong affirmation of the power of
propaganda that some Americans still pose this as a serious question,
and are legitimately dumb-founded that such antipathy exists toward
the United States. Our government, media and schools start burnishing
the false notion of American moral superiority into our brains at a
very young age. However, beneath the thin veneer of their white-washed
accounts of history and current events, abundant sources of information
reveal the true malevolence of the moneyed elite who rule America. There
is a great body of evidence which obliterates the inane notion that
the United States is a benevolent world leader. Despite the ready availability
of contrary evidence, many Americans remain blind to the truth about
our despised nation, and choose to believe the fairy tale version of
truth, justice and the American Way. The sad reality is
that America is an imperialistic, avaricious war machine ruled by the
wealthy. Yes, much of the world despises this nation. Our leaders have
virtually assured abhorrence of America, and whats more, they
do not care!
Hubris, avarice,
over-consumption
.what's not to love?
Americas Corporatacracy
is leading the human race down a path of global extinction. Representing
only 5% of the world population, the United States consumes 25% of the
world's energy and possesses approximately 27% of its wealth. Through
lobbying efforts and major campaign donations, the major oil companies
ensure the implementation of government policies that ensure continued
dependence on fossil fuels, a non-renewable resource (for more on this,
study the theory of Hubbert Peak theory at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_oil).
Despite being a significant contributor to the greenhouse effect, the
US Plutocracy has spent millions of dollars to create junk science (look
to efforts by the Cato Institute) to "debunk" the notion of
global warming, and has refused to sign the Kyoto Treaty. The United
States innovated, tested (on hundreds of thousands of human beings),
and possesses devastating nuclear weapons. Yet with blatant hubris and
hypocrisy, our ruling Oligarchs attempt to dictate which nations can
and cannot develop nuclear capabilities. Americas allies, like
Pakistan, India, and Israel have developed nuclear weaponry with America's
blessing, while countries like Iran are forbidden to even acquire the
technology to generate nuclear power. The ruling Aristocracy of the
United States has long exhibited a flagrant disregard for international
law, world opinion, and most recently, for the United Nations (consider
the appointment of John Bolton as Americas UN "ambassador").
While the rest of
the world has many reasons to hate the United States, perhaps their
most compelling motivation is the mayhem, abject poverty, and murder
resulting from the imperialistic endeavors of the US military industrial
complex, which includes the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security,
and Energy; the intelligence community; and the myriad private corporations
which have incestuous relationships with the government (i.e. Halliburton).
Spending $500 billion per year on the perpetuation of the world's largest
and mightiest war machine, the US (with a mere 5% of the world's population)
accounts for half of the world's military spending. Regardless of which
half of the Democratic/Republican Duopoly has been in power, the ruling
elite has perpetuated domination of the rest of the world through direct
military intervention (think Iraq), economic warfare (i.e. the persistent
yet failed policies toward Cuba), and overt or covert support of ruthless
totalitarian regimes which advance the interests of US corporations
(i.e. the Shah of Iran).
Not as free as
we are taught we are, but still freer than most
.in spite of them
Despite the ruthless
devotion of our aristocratic leaders to unrestrained capitalism, the
perpetuation of a majority of the wealth remaining in the hands of the
few (the wealthiest 20% of Americans possess 83% of our nation's vast
wealth), and the reduction of the civil liberties of "commoners",
the brilliant Constitution drafted by our forefathers has maintained
a semblance of a liberal democracy in the United States. The fact that
I am writing this essay for publication is a testament to that fact.
However, before celebrating too hard, remember that throughout American
history there has been an ebb and flow of social justice, and the tide
is clearly ebbing. Need evidence? Consider the Patriot Act, the war
in Iraq, the declaration of a perpetual state of war on terror (increasing
the authority of the federal government), higher regressive taxes, lower
progressive taxes, a growing concentration of political power in the
hands of legalistic Christians (the Religious Right), legislated discrimination
against gays, an erosion of affirmative action, and a significant decline
in funding for social safety net programs (i.e. Medicaid) coupled with
increases in defense spending. As Americans, we still enjoy many of
the freedoms guaranteed by the Bill of Rights, but we enjoy them in
spite of the true nature and intent of our leaders. We are taught and
programmed to believe that we enjoy these freedoms because of the imperialistic
endeavors of our elite leaders (like the "War to End All Wars"),
which "keep the world safe for democracy". The reality is
that Americans remain free because of the ongoing vigilance of many
amongst us, and to some extent because allowing a degree of freedom
amongst their own subjects enables the American ruling class to engage
in aggression against other nations under the pretext of "spreading
freedom and democracy".
Like Capras
Potter, these warped frustrated old men view people as cattle
.
The American ruling
elite's ultimate goal of global domination precedes the well-being of
its subjects. In fact, to the US aristocracy, the poor, working class,
and diminishing middle class are disposable cogs in their monolithic
money-making machine. They understand that they are endangering the
American people by continuing to foster hatred and inspire terrorism,
but it is of little consequence to them.
Concerning Americas
current leadership, Noam Chomsky wrote:
For the political
leadership, mostly recycled from more reactionary sectors of the ReaganBush
I administrations, the global wave of hatred is not a particular
problem. They want to be feared, not loved. They understand as well
as their establishment critics that their actions increase the risk
of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and terror. But
that too is not a major problem. Higher on the scale of priorities are
the goals of establishing global hegemony and implementing their domestic
agenda: dismantling the progressive achievements that have been won
by popular struggle over the past century and institutionalizing these
radical changes so that recovering them will be no easy task.
While both parties
of the bloated, corrupt Duopoly ruling the United States are guilty
of blatant violations of international law and crimes against humanity
throughout history, the current administration has operated more brazenly
and with more impunity. Kennedy had Cuba. Johnson and Nixon shared the
culpability for the deaths of over 3 million in Vietnam. Reagan bloodied
his hands in Nicaragua. Clinton's bombing campaign killed thousands
of innocents in Kosovo. Yet somehow, these presidents managed to maintain
the United States' image of an aloof and perhaps even benevolent super-power.
America's current administration has not maintained this facade nearly
as well, and has led the United States down a path entailing a much
more blatant disregard and disrespect for international law and the
rights of other nations. There are numerous historical examples of the
immoral, illegal, and repulsive US imperial dominance of other nations
achieved through a variety of means, perhaps the most inclusive, perpetual,
instructive, and relevant example is that of Iraq. Recognizing a nation
rife with political instabilities and virtually incalculable riches
through its oil reserves, the US Plutocracy has been targeting Iraq
for years. Bush II finally bagged it, but got more than he bargained
for in the process.
Today, staunch
ally
.tomorrow, sworn enemy
One of the most
disturbing aspects of US involvement in Iraq has been our governments
schizophrenic relationship with Saddam Hussein. Donald Rumsfeld, an
influential member of the Reagan, Bush I and now Bush II administrations
made the following statements that demonstrate the gross inconsistency
of the US Oligarchys position on Saddam and Iraq (explained by
their shifting loyalties based on their shifting needs for more money
and power rather than a commitment to their self-proclaimed Higher Purpose
of spreading freedom):
"As with all
sovereign nations, we respect Iraq's independence, sovereignty and territorial
integrity."
- Donald Rumsfeld,
1983
"This is a regime that is responsible for the deaths of hundreds
of thousands of people."
-- Donald Rumsfeld
March 21, 2003
In 1979, the year
of the Iranian hostage crisis, Saddam Hussein became president of Iraq
as a member of the ruling Ba'ath party, which the CIA had propelled
to power in 1963. The following year, Iraq invaded Iran and the eight
year Iran-Iraq war ensued. The cost was one million lives. Before Ronald
Reagan assumed the presidency in 1981, the Carter administration had
listed Iraq as a nation which sponsored terrorism. Despite this, and
despite the knowledge within the US intelligence community that Iraq
had been building an arsenal of chemical weapons (WMDs) since the mid
1970's, Reagan began supporting Iraq and Hussein in the war against
Iran. Under Reagan, Iraq was no longer an "official" sponsor
of terrorism and quickly became a clandestine strategic ally of the
United States, with full eligibility for American economic and military
aid waiting in the wings. The US started funneling weaponry to support
Husseins' war effort through third parties like Egypt and Saudi
Arabia, and by 1983 was selling conventional arms directly to Iraq.
In 1983, US envoy
Donald Rumsfeld paid a personal visit to Hussein and restored diplomatic
relations, which had been cut during the 1967 Arab-Israel War. Americas
rulers resumed relations with Iraq despite their knowledge that Hussein
had used chemical weapons against Iran only a few months before. They
also knew that Hussein was building manufacturing facilities to produce
more WMDs. Rumsfeld, one of the strongest advocates of the removal of
Hussein from power under Bush II, was a strong proponent of the relationship
with Hussein under Reagan. By 1984, both the US State Department and
European doctors had confirmed that Iraq was using nerve gas against
Iranians. After digesting this information, the US Aristocracy decided
to initiate a program which forgave $5 billion worth of agricultural
loans to Iraq between 1983 and 1990, freeing up more cash for Hussein
to fund his war machine.
Hussein's relationship
with the United States came into full bloom in 1985. Protecting the
flow of US weapons and money to Saddam, the Reagan administration pressured
a member of Congress to drop a proposed resolution that would have reclassified
Iraq as a supporter of terrorism. The US Commerce Department began a
five year pattern of approving sales of US computers to Iraq for use
in weapons labs. 1985 marked the advent of the Reagan administration
supplying Hussein with biological weapon precursors like botulism and
anthrax. By 1988, the US had made 70 shipments of these precursors to
fuel Saddams WMD program.
Perhaps the most
egregious example of the hypocrisy of the US Oligarchs in Iraq occurred
in 1988. In March, Hussein launched a poisonous gas attack and killed
5,000 Kurds in the Iraqi town of Halabja. In July, one of the Corporatacracy's
own, Bechtel (Secretary of State George Shultzs' company), won
a contract to build a petrochemical plant, which Hussein could use to
manufacture more WMDs. Besides continuing to support Iraq and to enable
its corporate darlings (like Honeywell, Rockwell, Hewlett Packard, and
DuPont) to profiteer from the war, the Reagan administration crushed
a Congressional attempt to sanction Hussein for committing genocide
against Iraqi Kurds.
Fall from grace
Saddam Hussein committed
political suicide in 1990 when he invaded Kuwait. With the Iran-Iraq
conflict over, our ruling elite no longer needed Hussein. Having the
chutzpah to violate international law, which America's leaders hold
to be sacrosanct when it suits their purposes, Hussein gave the US a
justification for starting a war with him. The Gulf War served several
purposes for the US Aristocracy. It enabled them to flex their military
might as the Soviet Union, the world's other super-power, was collapsing.
The victory over Saddam erased the American publics memory of
the embarrassing defeat in Vietnam. Most importantly, it enabled the
Plutocracy to reap the bountiful harvest of corporate profits fueled
by a war. Americas ruling elite class knows the true bounties
of war, particularly if the opponent is relatively weak and hapless.
Estimates vary widely,
but hundreds of thousands of Iraqis died during the Gulf War and the
period of harsh economic sanctions which followed. On August 6, 1990
(shortly after Iraq invaded Kuwait), the United Nations Security Council,
led by the United States, imposed "comprehensive" economic
sanctions on Iraq. These sanctions remained in place after the US-led
coalition forces drove Hussein from Kuwait a year later. Before the
Gulf War, Iraq was one of the most highly developed countries in the
Middle East, offering a majority of its people electricity, potable
water, free education, sewage treatment, and according to the World
Health Organization, access to health care. Since the UN originated
the use of economic sanctions in 1945, Iraq was the first (and only)
nation to suffer under comprehensive sanctions, in which the UN controls
virtually all of the exports and imports of a nation. The US, as the
most powerful member of the UN Security Council, was instrumental in
delaying or choking off imports of food, medicine, and other necessities.
Again, estimates vary, but anywhere from 250,000 to 500,000 Iraqi children
died as a result of the economic sanctions. The mortality rate for children
under five tripled between 1989 and 1997. From 1990 to 1995, the infant
mortality rate doubled. Safe drinking water availability was down 50%
from pre-Gulf War levels. Malaria and other diseases became epidemics.
School enrollment for Iraqis from ages 6-23 dropped by 53%. While some
of the statistics and numbers are subject to debate, what is indisputable
is that the severe economic sanctions (spear-headed by the United States)
resulted in suffering, misery and death for many innocent civilians,
while Saddam Hussein, the target of America's wrath, continued to prosper.
It is worthwhile
to note that while Iraqis were suffering under brutal economic sanctions
driven by the US, Dick Cheney (a poster child for America's ruling Plutocracy)
was the CEO of Halliburton Corporation (from 1995 to 2000), and was
prospering nicely. When he left to become Vice President, they bestowed
him with a parting gift of $34 million. The Washington Post reported
that during Cheney's tenure as CEO, Halliburton sold $73 million worth
of services and equipment to Iraq to rebuild its oil infrastructure.
Cheney, a true capitalist, was not about to let Husseins enemy
status stand in his way of making a profit.
The business
of America WAS business
.now it is war
When Bush II assumed
office in 2000, US leadership took its obsession with Hussein and Iraq
to a new level. Surrounding himself with men like Donald Rumsfeld, Dick
Cheney, and Paul Wolfowitz, three Neocons who were veterans of the reign
of Bush I, Bush crafted the "Bush Doctrine". Under the Bush
Doctrine, the United States proclaimed its indisputable right to engage
in pre-emptive war against those they deemed to be terrorists or rogue
states, and asserted the US right to act unilaterally (without regard
for international law or the UN). Two other aspects of this hubristic,
bellicose, machismo-driven set of principles included the US intent
to keep its "military strengths beyond challenge" and the
US objective that it would actively seek to promote "democracy
and freedom in all regions of the world". The members of Americas
military industrial complex were elated. America was (and still is)
the largest war machine in the history of humanity. To ice their cake,
the profit hungry Capitalists now had publicly-stated policy that its
government partners were going to unleash the beast on the
world. After seeing the "democracy and freedom" the US Oligarchy
helped perpetuate in Iraq when Hussein was our ally (not to mention
numerous similar examples in Latin America), do Americans really need
to ask why many in the world hate us?
Lies and consequences
..
The weapons of mass
destruction Saddam Hussein had created with materials supplied by the
US under the Reagan administration had been destroyed or rendered harmless
under UN supervision by 1996. However, for over a year prior to the
March, 2003 invasion of the sovereign nation of Iraq, the Aristocracy
governing America bombarded the commoners with a stream
of propaganda designed to prey on fears fostered by 9/11. With little
to support their pathetically flimsy arguments that Saddam Hussein (their
own creation and former ally) had somehow amassed a cache of WMDs after
his disarmament in 1996, and that Hussein (a secular leader) had formed
close ties with Osama bin Laden (a radical Muslim), they utilized the
power of the herd mentality to gain popular support for the war they
craved. Growing bodies of evidence, including the absence of WMDs in
US-occupied Iraq, the findings of the 9/11 Commission, and the Downing
Street Memos, indicate that the US Oligarchs lied to Congress and to
the American people to garner support to launch their war (in defiance
of the UN).
As of 8/4/05, 1,827
US soldiers had died in combat and 13,559 had been wounded. Estimates
of civilian casualties caused by the US invasion vary from 25,000 to
the 100,000 reported in the reputable British medical journal, The Lancet.
Discrepancies aside, an obscene number of innocents have been slaughtered.
Human Rights Watch notes that a significant number of the civilian casualties
resulted from the decision of the US military to use cluster munitions
in highly populated areas, a violation of international humanitarian
laws of war. These laws oblige armed forces to "refrain from attacks
that are indiscriminate or where expected civilian harm exceeds the
military gain." America entered the war in defiance of the UN and
riding on Congressional and public support based on the lies of the
Bush Administration. Thousands and thousands of people have died. They
have wasted billions of dollars. American leaders have defied international
law by using cluster munitions and torturing prisoners of war. What
was that question again? Why do they hate us?
Get on the gravy
train
Now that the military
industrial complex has torn Iraqi infrastructure down, someone will
need to rebuild it. Who could possibly be up to such a task? With an
estimated price tag of over $100 billion to rebuild post-war Iraq, the
Corporatacracy is lining up for the contracts. Bechtel was at the head
of the line as they received a $680 million contract in April of 2003.
As Dick Cheney continues to receive deferred compensation from Halliburton
at the rate of $1 million per year, Halliburton's subsidiary, Kellogg
Brown and Root secured a 10 year contract (with an open-ended budget)
to provide support services to the US military starting in 2001, and
is heavily exercising that contract in Iraq. The US government paid
KBR $3.6 billion in 2003 and $5.4 billion in 2004 for Iraq-related work.
As the number two US contractor in Iraq, Bechtel's war-related revenue
was over $4 billion in 2004. Halliburton is under investigation for
charges of over-billing to the tune of $1 billion, while Bechtel has
been plagued by problems related to shoddy work. While flag waving propaganda
may fool some Americans into believing the war in Iraq is "making
the world safe for democracy", many in the rest of the world see
the profit motive that has led to so much human suffering. I cannot
imagine what could possibly motivate detestation of the Red, White,
Blue, and Green(backs).
Terrorist acts and
acts of military aggression are morally repugnant. Those committing
these crimes deserve to face justice. Regrettably, as evidenced by the
poignant example of Iraq, the leaders of the United States have been
committing war crimes and acts of terrorism for years without consequence.
While the US has rendered justice upon its attackers throughout its
tenure as the worlds superpower (and has rendered a grossly misplaced
justice on the terrorists by invading Iraq), the rest of
the world has had little choice but to turn the other cheek when it
comes to the profiteering, imperialism, and state-sponsored terrorism
perpetrated by Americas Oligarchy. Acting with impunity and arrogance,
Americas leaders have an unprecedented military might at their
disposal, possess a nuclear arsenal powerful enough to destroy the world
thousands of times over, ignore international law but impose it on others,
use the UN to inflict damage on other nations but openly defy its rules,
hoard the worlds riches and resources, defile the Earth which
sustains us, support ruthless dictators, and employ terrorism through
the CIA. George Bush knows why they hate us, and he likes it
Jason Miller
is a 38 year old free-lance activist writer with a degree in liberal
arts. He is a husband and a father to three boys. His affiliations include
Amnesty International, the ACLU and the Americans United for Separation
of Church and State. He welcomes responses at [email protected]
or comments on his blog at http://civillibertarian.blogspot.com/.