Terrorism is theater, it is the mechanism used to promote national policies which would otherwise be so unpopular they would be rejected. To put it another way; terrorism is the politics of fear. Once the public is fearful enough the government is free to implement gun control, attack foreign countries or introduce mass surveillance strategies like Bill C-51.
Lets examine the terrible Islamic State threat. We have all seen the pictures, a bunch of guys in balaclavas riding around the desert in the back of pickup trucks waving pirate flags. Wily desert foxes with sharp knives, it’s like revisiting Lawrence of Arabia or more likely 1950’s Hollywood; passe. We now have satellites and high altitude drones that can read the licence plates on those Toyota trucks. There is no where to hide in today’s desert, the Americans made that very clear when they incinerated Saddam’s army on it’s way home from Kuwait. Google “highway of death” if you want to check that out. My point here is that the US could demobilize ISIS at any moment it chooses. So why doesn’t it? Why do they keep dropping supplies that just “unfortunately wind up in ISIS hands? Why do they train fighters in Jordan who “unfortunately” defect to the ISIS? Why do the Americans and Canadians bomb infrastructure in Iraq and Syria? Why don’t we support Syria in their fight against Islamic fundamentalists?
For answers lets examine the illegal war on Iraq, the one that Jean Chretien kept us out of and Harper tried so hard to get us into. That war has clearly been proven unjustified, there were no “weapons of mass destruction”, the Anthrax attacks originated from a US army lab and Saddam did not support Al Qaeda. We did not bring peace and democracy to Iraq nor did we bring it to Libya or Afghanistan. What we brought instead was death, destruction and failed states. It appears this was the intent. Failed states have no effective defense, what was theirs becomes ours. The problem with Iraq is it is so resilient. Iraqi’s are united in their hate for America, they do not want the US to continue to occupy the numerous strategic air bases in their country. They detest the massive security complex in Baghdad, a fortress the US refers to as an “embassy”.
So what miserable excuse would allow America to remain in Iraq? Well – how about some great evil, some unstoppable force that commits horrifying violence on TV. How about we plaster the media with swords, pirate flags and beheadings until the world unites behind the US as they continue their wars of aggression? How about we encourage small town newspapers to spread the fear as well. When you want to keep a war going all assets must be utilized.
So to sum up I say “fear not the deadly terrorist” statistics tell us we are more likely to be squashed by our TV than killed by a terrorist. Sleep well, peace and may good fortune continue to save us from ourselves.
Brian McKirdy
Valemount
