Friday, January 09, 2015

The Charlie Hebdo massacre: Martyrs to U.S. Endless War?

One sentence stood out in a NYT article on the two brothers --- not yet captured at the time of writing – who are allegedly responsible for the  terrible Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris.

"Chérif’s interest in radical Islam, it was said at the 2008 trial, was rooted in his fury over the United States’ invasion of Iraq in 2003, particularly the mistreatment of Muslims held at Abu Ghraib prison."

What Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld did  by initiating massive war with their invasion of Iraq was horrible enough, made even worse in that their agenda has not been broadly understood. In a word, their purpose was to destroy the country and keep it destroyed as a means of fighting endless war. They (still do) believe that war fighting is the only legitimate foreign --- and domestic --  policy activity.

And thanks to President Obama, the U.S. has been continuing and expanding their work. The public watches as the U.S. pours oil onto the fires of many countries, either overtly with drone attacks and U.S. troops on the ground, or covertly where  reportedly dozens of countries suffer as U.S. special forces do their dirty work.

Is it not worth asking whether the Paris attacks would have happened if President Obama had brought significant change to the destructive U.S. policies  he inherited in 2009? Is it not a real question whether those poor victims and their families and their society, along with scores of millions of Iraqis, Syrians, Afghanis, Yemenis, Pakistanis, and others are not martyrs to President Obama’s  dedication to endless war?

Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld had the excuse of their ideology. They believe war fighting is good – for Israel and for the United States.  But President Obama knows it’s wrong.. What’s his excuse?