Who is
it that truly hates our freedoms? The Islamic terrorists? Or is it somebody
much more close to home? Al Qaeda has very specific stated goals, not one of
which is the destruction of freedom in the US. In fact every goal stated in bin
Laden's 1998 fatwa has to do with the Middle East: driving out American
influence in Muslim nations, toppling of pro-Western dictatorships, and the
destruction of Israel. Getting rid of American influence in a land far away from
US borders is hardly a goal of getting rid of any freedom of the American
people. And yet I seem to hear this 'hate our freedoms' bullshit more than I
hear substantive about terrorism.
But,
after 9/11 we have seen a decline in freedom. Whether it be invasive pat downs
or scanners, warrantless widespread wiretapping of phones and monitoring of
internet use, or even the extrajudicial murder of citizens. But it has not been
the terrorist group that has done this to the American people, but the leaders
elected into office. The things the state has gotten away with using terrorism
as a scare tactic has done more damage to the world than al Qaeda could ever
hope to do.
But the
state is no stranger to these tactics. It merely changes boogeymen. When the
USSR was the boogeyman, COINTELPRO reigned. After Pearl Harbor over 100,000
Japanese Americans and Japanese were put into internment camps. The US had made
a hobby of overthrowing anyone who is not friendly enough to US interests and
replacing them with puppet dictators all over the world.
Al
Qaeda is certainly a terrible organization, but we must give the US its due.
