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  The nation let out a collective sigh of relief that we had dodged yet another terrorist bullet with the apprehension and detainment of the Nigerian underwear bomber. His was the latest in a series of thwarted attempts by those recruited by Al Qaeda to wreak havoc on the homeland. The reports of recently discovered homegrown terrorist suggest the recruiting base is expanding to include our own countrymen.
The popular perception promoted by the Bush administration is that the terrorist threat is based on a Bin Laden generated hate for “who we are” as a people. “They hate our freedom.” They hate our way of Life.” This has to be one of the more ridiculous motives assigned to an enemy as their reasons for launching an attack in the history of the world.
It says they’re attacking us not to take our wealth or land. They aren’t angry or offended with us for anything we’re doing to them, or to anyone to whom they relate. Nope, they just hate us for who we are.
Traditionally, nations go to war for tangible reasons such as wealth, power, to gain land, to aid others, to retain land, politics, and freedom. However, with the attack on the World Trade Center, known as 911, this new and never before heard of motive was introduced, not by the terrorist, but by people who came to the forefront to explain “Why they hate us.
Basically this “hate our freedom and way of life” explanation was a well-timed con job sold to naïve Americans appealing to our vanity of being the “greatest nation in the world.” The con job started right after 911 when Americans, shocked at the attack, became open to examining the source of the hate that compelled Arab Muslims to commit suicide, by flying into buildings to destroy Americans.
To stifle any developing groundswell of interest in reexamining our Middle-Eastern policy supporting the Israeli government as having a causal connection to this recently discovered Arab/Muslim hate, a public relations effort was swiftly and aggressively launched. Netanyahu, Israeli Ambassador Alan Pincus, Publisher Mort Zuckerman and other supporters of Israel’s land grab policy were appearing on American television selling the self-serving diversionary argument supported by cover stories in Time, Newsweek, and Zuckermans’ U.S. News and World Report, raising and answering the question “Why Do they Hate Us.” And the “They hate us for who we are, they hate our freedom” mantra was born.
The disinformation campaign worked like the proverbial charm. George Bush one of the most ill informed politicians on international affairs was in the White House at the time and a perfect dupe for the ridiculous “they hate our freedom,” bull. He immediately began parroting the Sharon liberating line . The combination of that perspective becoming the official administrative policy and the same group selling the idea that the terrorist that attacked us are the same as the Palestinians terrorist resisting Israeli occupation, allowed Sharon, with our blessings and support, to unleash an unprecedented attack on the Palestinians and the Arafat PLO government.
If one recalls, the post 911 Israeli aggression on Ramallah compelled the Saudi King to fly to Crawford Texas bringing photo albums documenting the wanton destruction that Sharon’s troops had inflicted in Gaza and the West Bank. Tanks rolled through the narrow streets knocking over buildings, American made F-16s and helicopter gunships rained down fiery destruction. The Prince told Bush that the Israelis were about to “take us all over the cliff.” His point was that what Israel was doing was exacerbating the very issue that was at the crux of the Arab Muslim hate.
On Sunday November 24th, 2002 Osama bin Laden’s letter to the American people was reported in the Observer Worldview. And sure enough, the isssue that those supporting Israeli occupation had steadfastly attempted to keep Americans in the dark was the first order of business in Bin Laden’s letter.
Some American writers have published articles under the title 'On what basis are we fighting?' These articles have generated a number of responses, some of which adhered to the truth and were based on Islamic Law, and others which have not. Here we wanted to outline the truth - as an explanation and warning - hoping for Allah's reward, seeking success and support from Him.
While seeking Allah's help, we form our reply based on two questions directed at the Americans:
(Q1) Why are we fighting and opposing you?
Q2)What are we calling you to, and what do we want from you?
As for the first question: Why are we fighting and opposing you? The answer is very simple:
(1) Because you attacked us and continue to attack us.
a) You attacked us in Palestine:
(i) Palestine, which has sunk under military occupation for more than 80 years. The British handed over Palestine, with your help and your support, to the Jews, who have occupied it for more than 50 years; years overflowing with oppression, tyranny, crimes, killing, expulsion, destruction and devastation. The creation and continuation of Israel is one of the greatest crimes, and you are the leaders of its criminals. And of course there is no need to explain and prove the degree of American support for Israel. The creation of Israel is a crime which must be erased. Each and every person whose hands have become polluted in the contribution towards this crime must pay its*price, and pay for it heavily.
Here we are eight years later and, an exchange that took place on the Ed Show on MSNBC is typical of the prevailing mindset that has taken hold despite Bin Laden’s letter.
“But in fact, we have really got to look at what is fueling the fury out there.” said Laura Flanders thoughtfully, host of “GRITv on (Dish Network), author/writer and guest commentator on cable news talk shows. She was one of two guest on The ED Show Thursday 1-7- 10 Her counterpart Susan Molinari former congresswoman now making appearances on talk shows and reportedly contemplating running for the Senate and contesting U.S. democratic first term Senator, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, countered with “I think there is always going to be people out there who hate us for who we are and the freedom we enjoy. And I think we need to do our best to keep those people out of the United States.”
Molinari expressed the kind of ego satisfying, we are the greatest, chest thumping thinking “they hate us for who we are,” that has blinded and prevented far too many Americans from taking an honest realistic assessment of the cause and effect reason for the ongoing terrorist threat.
A similar exchange took place at the press conference held in the Whitehouse earlier that day. Janet Napolitano, and Counter Terrorism Adviser John Brennan, were chaperoned in the press conference by press secretary Robert Gibbs. During the questions and answer session, award winning, world renown reporter, Helen Thomas, after repeatedly raising her hand for acknowledgement was finally recognized and. The following Q and A ensued:
GIBBS: Helen.
HELEN: Was there an outside contractor used for security in Amsterdam? And also, what is really lacking always for us is you don't give the motivation of why they want to do us harm.
GIBBS: Why don't you take the first part, and then, John, you can address the second.
SECRETARY NAPOLITANO: The screening at Schiphol Airport was done by Dutch authorities. And they did the screening that was described to you earlier this afternoon. The hand luggage was screened, the passport was checked, he went through a magnetometer. But it was done by Dutch authorities.
HELEN: And what is the motivation? We never hear what you find out on why.
MR. BRENNAN: Al Qaeda is an organization that is dedicated to murder and wanton slaughter of innocents. What they have done over the past decade and a half, two decades, is to attract individuals like Mr. Abdulmutallab and use them for these types of attacks. He was motivated by a sense of religious sort of drive. Unfortunately, al Qaeda has perverted Islam, and has corrupted the concept of Islam, so that he's able to attract these individuals. But al Qaeda has the agenda of destruction and death.
HELEN: And you're saying it's because of religion?
MR. BRENNAN: I'm saying it's because of an al Qaeda organization that uses the banner of religion in a very perverse and corrupt way.
HELEN Why?
MR. BRENNAN: I think this is a -- this is a long issue, but al Qaeda is just determined to carry out attacks here against the homeland.
HELEN: But you haven't explained why.
At that point a reporter sitting next to Helen raised his hand, was reconized and the Q and A moved on from Helen’s most important question, which goes to the heart of the matter.
The point Helen was trying to force those people on the podium to explain the logic of their premise. It seems to defy credulity that some guys over in Saudi Arabia or anywhere else in the world are hating us because of the freedoms we embrace enough to fly into buildings versus some circumstances in their neighborhood where they can see visceral connections which they attribute to American activity or policies.
Nevertheless, the “they hate us for who we are” remains the raison de guerre as far as too many American politicians and pundits are concerned.
If the most powerful nation in the world has an Achilles’ heel, a built in vulnerability, an inherent weakness, it would be in not recognizing a policy that is hands down the poster child for the recruiting their enemies. Ignoring those who see us as being behind one of the worlds longest running injustices by one nation against a people, which is Israel’s inhumane actions against the Palestinians is suicidal.
In an article entitled “Are you Ready To Face The Facts About Israel” James Craig
writes about a Rev. Are, a Presbyterian pastor who used to tell his Atlanta, Georgia, congregation: "I am a Zionist." Like most Americans, Rev. Are was uninformed and misinformed about the facts on the ground pertaining to the Israeli Palestinian conflict.
Paul Craig Roberts wrote the Kemp-Roth bill and was assistant secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was associate editor of the Wall Street Journal.
Around 1990 Rev. Are credits the Christian Canon of St. George's Cathedral in Jerusalem and author Marc Ellis, co-editor of the book, Beyond Occupation for opening his eyes to the injustices
Craig writes, Realizing that his ignorance of the situation on the ground had made him complicit in great crimes, Rev. Are wrote a book hoping to save others from his mistake and perhaps in part to make amends, Israeli Peace/Palestinian Justice, published in Canada in 1994.
These are a few of the atrocities and Israeli war crimes that Rev Are. recounts.
In 1949 the United Nations counted 711,000 Palestinian refugees.
In 2005 the United Nations Relief and Works Agency estimated 4.25 million Palestinians and their descendants were refugees from their homeland. The Israeli policy of evicting non-Jews has continued for six decades. On June 19, 2008, the Laity Committee in the Holy Land reported in Window Into Palestine that the Israeli Ministry of Interior is taking away the residency rights of Jerusalem Christians who have been reclassified as "visitors in their own city."
On December 10, 2007, MK Ephraim Sneh boasted in the Jerusalem Post that Israel had achieved "a true Zionist victory" over the UN partition plan "which sought to establish two nations in the land of Israel." The partition plan had assigned Israel 56 percent of Palestine, leaving the inhabitants with only 44 percent. But Israel had altered this over time. Sneh proudly declared: "When we complete the permanent agreement, we will hold 78 percent of the land while the Palestinians will control 22 percent."
Sneb could have added that the 22 percent is essentially a collection of unconnected ghettos cut off from one another and from roads, water, medical care, and jobs.
Rev. Are documents that the abuse of Palestinians' human rights is official Israeli policy. Killings, torture, and beatings are routine. On May 17, 1990, the Washington Post reported that Save the Children "documented indiscriminate beating, tear-gassing and shooting of children at home or just outside the house playing in the street, who were sitting in the classroom or going to the store for groceries."
On January 19, 1988, Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin, later Prime Minister, announced the policy of "punitive beating" of Palestinians. The Israelis described the purpose of punitive beating: "Our task is to recreate a barrier and once again put the fear of death into the Arabs of the area."
According to Save the Children, beatings of children and women are common. Rev. Are, citing the report in the Washington Post, writes: "Save the Children concluded that one-third of beaten children were under ten years old, and one-fifth under the age of five. Nearly a third of the children beaten suffered broken bones."
On February 8, 1988, Newsweek magazine quoted an Israeli soldier: "We got orders to knock on every door, enter and take out all the males. The younger ones we lined up with their faces against the wall, and soldiers beat them with billy clubs. This was no private initiative, these were orders from our company commander.... After one soldier finished beating a detainee, another soldier called him 'you Nazi,' and the first man shot back: 'You bleeding heart.' When one soldier tried to stop another from beating an Arab for no reason, a fist fight broke out."
These were the old days before conscience was eliminated from the ranks of the Israeli military.
In the London Sunday Times, June 19, 1977, Ralph Schoenman, executive director of the Bertrand Russell Foundation, wrote: "Israeli interrogators routinely ill-treat and torture Arab prisoners. Prisoners are hooded or blindfolded and are hung by their wrists for long periods. Most are struck in the genitals or in other ways sexually abused. Most are sexually assaulted. Others are administered electric shock."
Amnesty International concluded that "there is no country in the world in which the use of official and sustained torture is as well established and documented as in the case of Israel."
Even the pro-Israeli Washington Post reported: "Upon arrest, a detainee undergoes a period of starvation, deprivation of sleep by organized methods and prolonged periods during which the prisoner is made to stand with his hands cuffed and raised, a filthy sack covering the head. Prisoners are dragged on the ground, beaten with objects, kicked, stripped and placed under ice-cold showers."
Sounds like Abu Gharib. There are news reports that Israeli torture experts participated in the torture of the detainees assembled by the American military as part of the Bush Regime's propaganda onslaught to convince Americans that Iraq was overflowing with al-Qaeda terrorists. On July 23, 2008, Antiwar.com posted an Iraqi news report that the Iraqi government had released a total of 109,087 Iraqis that the Americans had "detained." Obviously, these "terrorist detainees" had been used for the needs of Bush Regime propaganda. No one will ever know how many of them were abused by Israeli torturers imported by the CIA.
On the same day of Napolitano John Brennan Press conference, Chris Mathews on his Hardball show, ask Chuck Todd in his know it all meandering conversational style, “Chuck, Can he {Obama} hold this line that we’re going to remain a liberal society in terms of human rights, and trial by jury , and writ of habeas corpus and Miranda , and also not get really angry in a reactive way at the Islamic world generally that Israel has to take from time to time when it just gets hey the whole neighborhood hates us we’ve got to be reactive to that.”
Chuck Todd offers that the great challenge is that there are not enough Muslim leaders around the world who stand up and criticize Al-Queada publicly enough, saying that these guys in Yemen are thugs they are bastardizing Islam and this is not what it is. “And that I think has been this challenge. I think the president believes this in his heart I think 99 percent of the Muslims around the world believe this is not a violent religion an extremist religion.”
But there is so much fear in the middle-east among some leaders of some of these countries that they are going to be toppled by this extremist movement that they are afraid to speak out about it and that of course put the President in a box here with his own domestic critics. You see conservatives sitting here saying hey it doesn’t seem like the Muslim world wants to stop these guys.
The irony is that there is fear on both sides of the street. On this side, the intimidation and automatic attacks on those who raise questions regarding Israel’s offensive policy towards the Palestinians can be measured in how rare is the denouncement of Israel engaging in acts that are routinely denounced if engaged in by any other country.
It’s not AIPAC or the Evangelicals both of who extend their unconditional support to Israel that are the problem. Those groups have long since subordinated their allegiance to America’s national security to support whatever policy Israeli leaders pursue. They are doing what they believe in however self-destructive to America and short-sighted it might be. These groups have long since neglected to consider the harm that the Israeli policy is doing to how we are perceived in the world in our one sided support of Israel.
Actually, the people most responsible for our self-defeating policy are the Chuck Todds, and the Chris Mathews, and the thousands in the newsmedia, and the numerous politicians and pundits who, like the Muslims they criticize for being afraid to speak up against the terrorist, also dare not speak up against Israel. Even when Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu openly defies our President in seizing more Palestinian land and building settlements, our press and politicians don’t treat it as Israel against America they treat it as Obama against Netanyahu.
For Arab Muslim leaders to denounce those elements who claim to be championing the cause of the Palestinians would be foolhardy. There cause appears to be more just than supporting a country that is taking peoples land and engaging in numerous war crimes to pursue that mission and suppress resistance from those whose land is being seized.
Because we rarely report this daily activity that is occurring in the middle-east does not make it any less offensive and infuriating to those who are being exposed to it around the world. The old head in the sand approach is doing nothing for America except preventing us from seeing the masticizing cancer that is producing increasing numbers of recruits responding to the call for justice. And that is the simple truth.
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