Terrorist: Anyone - especially Muslims and/or Arabs - who fights against the United States

the money quote is in bold below...

glenn...

I've often written that Terrorism is the most meaningless, and thus most manipulated, term in American political discourse. But while it lacks any objective meaning, it does have a functional one. It means: anyone -- especially of the Muslim religion and/or Arab nationality -- who fights against the United States and its allies or tries to impede their will. That's what "Terrorism" is; that's all it means. And it's just extraordinary how we've created what we call "law" that is intended to do nothing other than justify all acts of American violence while delegitimizing, criminalizing, and converting into Terrorism any acts of resistance to that violence.

Just consider: in American political discourse, it's not remotely criminal that the U.S. attacked Iraq, spent 7 years destroying the country, and left at least 100,000 people dead. To even suggest that American officials responsible for that attack should be held criminally liable is to marginalize oneself as a fringe and unSerious radical. It's not an idea that's even heard, let alone accepted. After all, all Good Patriotic Americans were horrified that an Iraqi citizen would so much as throw a shoe at George Bush; what did he do to deserve such treatment? The U.S. is endowed with the inalienable right to commit violence against anyone it wants without any consequences of any kind.

lemme see if i got this straight...

• accountability...? no, not for us...
• rule of law...? lip service...
• international conventions...? quaint but obsolete...
• justice...? an ideal, poorly suited to reality...
• human rights...? good talking point when browbeating other nations...
• war crimes...? maybe for ratko mladic...
• lies...? lies and propaganda serve our national interests...
• civilian casualties...? criminal when perpetrated by others, merely unfortunate when perpetrated by us...
• endless war...? maintains the flow of cash to our super-rich elites and keeps their government puppets in power...

and there ya have it...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet