AL QAEDA: The Chameleon Enemy

The propaganda machine that brought us weapons of mass destruction, yellow cake uranium, domestic terrorist cells, dirty bombers and an assortment of eminent threats that mysteriously appeared and disappeared at election times, never tires of informing us that among the enemies we face in Iraq is an element that carries the banner of Al Qaeda.

The promoters of perpetual war rarely bother to explain that Al Qaeda in Iraq is not the same beast that struck America in September 2001.

It was the twisted mind of Senator John McCain that attempted to explain the American strategy in the war on terror by arguing that it did not matter where we fought (or why) – Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Iran, Somalia, any nation will do – because the enemy will follow our lead.

In the twisted minds of neocon warlords, it is better to fight in someone else’s back yard than not to fight at all.

Let it be clear: Our mindless and genocidal response to an horrific event has created such bitter and enduring hatred that a growing number of our enemies are willing to assume the brand name of the miscreants made famous by the eleventh of September.

Al Qaeda in Iraq is a phenomenon born of hatred and revenge for what we have wrought in a nation that posed no threat and bore no responsibility for the attack on American soil. It is not led by Osama bin Laden and its members are not the Saudi jihadists that struck us. It is a homegrown movement that is sworn to fight a foreign occupation.

The only commonalities Al Qaeda in Iraq share with the Al Qaeda of 9-11 are a name and a vow of vengeance. Al Qaeda of 9-11 was enraged that we had established military bases on the holy land of Saudi. Al Qaeda of Iraq has a more compelling case.

After the first Gulf War, we should have removed our bases as we promised to do – not because of Al Qaeda but because we are an honorable nation. We should remove ourselves and our bases from Iraq for the same reason.

Al Qaeda is a name. Words do not kill. If we had responded to a tragic, criminal act with reasoned restraint, if we had struck Osama bin Laden and the extremists who attacked us with deadly but targeted action, Al Qaeda would have remained a peripheral cluster of outlaws on the run, isolated and hiding in caves, rather than a global resistance movement made legitimate by our crimes.

Al Qaeda has become an idea that gains adherents with every casualty in Iraq and Afghanistan, with every day we overstay our welcome, with every new offensive, every atrocity and every insult to national pride and common dignity.

We stand exposed as false liberators and pretenders to democracy yet we press on as if victory was a cause in itself.

The only way we can fight our true enemies is to separate those with legitimate cause from those who have no claim of justice under the rule of law.

Though few in our political establishment have the guts to admit it, terrorist acts by independent organizations such as Al Qaeda are not acts of war. When we responded with a declaration of war, first in Afghanistan and then in Iraq, we rewarded them with a legitimacy they did not deserve and could not have achieved without our designation.

There are precious few left in the world of reasoned discourse who would argue that we are safer or better off in any way because of our actions.

Al Qaeda has survived and grown stronger as a movement and a brand name because we have failed in our responsibility as a nation. Al Qaeda has thrived because we have turned the world against us.

The idea of Al Qaeda is anathema to all nations but the individuals who have taken the name of Al Qaeda in Iraq are the enemies of our actions. They have taken the name precisely because they know the guttural reaction it triggers in us; it mirrors what they feel as a victim nation.

On September 11, 2001, an obscure terrorist organization led by Osama bin Laden used passenger planes to attack the World Trade Towers, the Pentagon and an unknown third target. Over three thousand of our people died that day and we will never forget the horror or the sacrifice.

No one knows precisely how many Iraqis and Afghans have died as a result but we do know that it is infinitely more than the casualties we have suffered.

When will we make an end?

Jazz.

JACK RANDOM IS THE AUTHOR OF THE JAZZMAN CHRONICLES (CROW DOG PRESS) AND GHOST DANCE INSURRECTION (DRY BONES PRESS). THE CHRONICLES HAVE APPEARED ON THE ALBION MONITOR, PEACE-EARTH-JUSTICE, THE NATIONAL FREE PRESS, PACIFIC FREE PRESS, LEFTWARD, DISSIDENT VOICE AND COUNTERPUNCH.