The Guantanamoization of America

TEHRAN, Oct. 17 (MNA) -- What is the so-called war on terrorism really all about? Well, one thing is certain, it is not what it seems.

The ideologues in the U.S. administration claim it is some kind of battle between freedom and democracy on one side and barbarism and despotism on the other, a sort of battle between good and evil. This comic-book simplification of geopolitics is so patently absurd it hardly warrants a refutation. Yet, for the sake of argument, it should be said that the failure of these so-called defenders of freedom to address the root causes of what they call terrorism, such as hunger, poverty, injustice, occupation, and racism, gives the lie to their fake mission to save the world.

Many Muslims believe the so-called war on terrorism is really a war on Islam, but they are only partly right because that is just one aspect of it. The campaign against terrorism is a war on true Islam, despite all the rhetoric coming out of the West about it only being a campaign against certain intolerant fanatics who claim to be Muslims. U.S. President George W. Bush’s use of the word crusade may be dismissed as a slip of the tongue, yet the evidence proves that is what he meant. U.S. officials’ remarks about revising the school textbooks in the Islamic world by deleting the Islamic teachings they disagree with makes the point loud and clear.

The war on terrorism is also a war on Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, indigenous religions, and every other traditional religion and spiritual belief system. It is focused on Islam in order to divert the attention of the followers of other religions from the fact that they are being targeted, too. Islam is also the main religion being targeted because the powers that be see it is as more of a threat than the other religions.

Many people in the global South say the war on terrorism is a war on the people of the Third World. The war on terrorism clearly uses rhetoric that is racist against the people of the Third World, and seizing resources of the Third World is obviously part of the plan. Yet, the scope of this phenomenon is even more far-reaching.

The war on terrorism is also a war on the citizens of the Western world in general and a war on the citizens of the United States in particular. It is a war on civil liberties and personal freedom.

The U.S. Constitution is a prime target of the so-called war on terrorism because it is a legal document protecting civil liberties and personal freedom. The restrictions on civil liberties and personal freedom in Patriot Act I and Patriot Act II are clearly violations of the U.S. Constitution, yet very few U.S. citizens have protested, either because of their fear of “terrorism” or because of their fear of reprisals from their own government.

Fear and disinformation are pillars of the so-called war on terrorism. Places like the Guantanamo detention camp are used to scare people.

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