Fear Is the Name of the Game By Jacob G. Hornberger(الخوف هو اسم اللعبة) مقالة منقولة
November 27,
2015 "Information
Clearing House" -
President Obama announced, “We do not succumb to fear.”
What did he
mean with his use of the pronoun “we”?
He’s got to be
talking about the military and the CIA — i.e., the national-security
establishment — which undoubtedly will not be afraid to drop more bombs in
the Middle East and kill more people in that part of the world.
He certainly can’t
be talking about the American people. They are among the most frightened
people in the world! They succumbed to fear a long time ago, on a permanent,
ongoing basis.
Think back to
the 9/11 attacks, when most every American was terrified that the al-Qaeda
terrorists were coming to get them. That’s how Americans ended up living
under a government with emergency totalitarian powers, including the power of
the Pentagon, the CIA, and the NSA to arrest Americans, put them into
military dungeons and concentration camps, secretly spy on them, and even
assassinate them, all without trial by jury or due process of law.
Fear did that.
Americans were so terrified that Osama bin Laden and his million-man army of
Muslim terrorists were coming to get them that they eagerly traded away their
freedom to live under a regime with totalitarian powers — a regime that
promised to keep them “safe.”
Fourteen years
later, has their fear dissipated? Are you kidding? It’s bigger than ever!
“ISIS! ISIS! ISIS! They’re coming to get us! Renew the PATRIOT Act! Give even
more power to the Pentagon, the CIA, and the NSA! Do whatever is necessary to
keep us safe!”
Look at how
Americans are reacting to the possibility that Middle East refugees might be
admitted into the United States. “Oh, my gosh, they’re going to come and get
me and behead me, or make me read the Koran, or force me into a mosque! Don’t
even think of letting those horrible people into my country,” the fearful
beseech the president.
The dark irony
of the refugee crisis, of course, is that it’s the U.S. government that is
the major cause of the chaos, violence, and war that has caused people to
flee their homelands in a desperate attempt to save their lives and the lives
of their spouses and children.
Even more
darkly, the Americans who have lived their lives in fear ever since 9/11 and
who now fear the refugees have been major supporters of the interventionism
that has caused the refugee crisis.
Remember Iraq?
When the U.S. government invaded that country, it was the fearful who blindly
supported the aggression. Neither the Iraqi government nor the Iraqi people
ever attacked the United States. But U.S. officials preyed on the post-9/11
fear that held so many Americans in its grip. “Oh, my gosh, Saddam Hussein is
coming to get us! WMDs! Mushroom clouds! Yellowcake uranium! Operation Iraqi
freedom! Support the troops! ”
And now we see
many of the same fearful ones railing against letting any of the refugees
from Iraq come into the country because they’re afraid that some of them might
be angry over what the U.S. government did to them, their families, and their
country.
Even more
darkly, these same fearful ones are scared to publicly condemn the U.S.
invasion of Iraq and the lies and deception that went with it. They’re scared
the U.S. government might get angry at them for that, maybe even cut off
their Social Security, Medicare, or education grants.
Young people
missed all the fear that took place in the 1990s. The entire decade was a
daily litany against Saddam Hussein, who was called the “new Hitler.” Just
think about how fearful people are about ISIS today and transfer that to
Saddam. Day after day, Americans were treated to diatribes of fear against
Saddam, just as they are today with ISIS (and, until recently, al-Qaeda). I
recall a conservative friend of mine finally getting so frustrated and
exasperated over “Saddam! Saddam! Saddam” on television every day that he
said to me, “We just need to send the troops in there and take him out!”
Never mind the large number of innocent people that would have to be killed
in the process of taking him out. That didn’t matter.
Of course, my
friend genuinely believed that if the troops or the CIA were to take out
Saddam, he would finally be fear-free and live a life of inner peace. What a
joke that was. I am sure the guy is more fearful than ever before and is
exclaiming, “Oh, my gosh, ISIS, ISIS, ISIS!”
Consider Syria
and the hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees. The fearful are certain
that if they’re admitted to the United States, a few of them will be
terrorists. But why would Syrian refugees want to do anything bad to
Americans? Well, the reason is because the U.S. government has been doing
some very bad things to Syrians. It’s been killing them for the past several
years.
Why has the U.S.
government been killing Syrians? Because U.S. officials don’t like Syria’s
president and want to replace him with another dictator. Like Iraq, Syria has
never attacked the United States. The U.S. government is the aggressor there
too. That’s why some Syrians — the ones who have lost brothers, sisters,
parents, relatives, or friends because of U.S. interventionism — might be
angry.
What has been
the attitude of the fearful during the U.S. government’s regime-change
operation in Syria? Either full-throated support or muted support. Remember:
this is the national-security state we’re talking about. It’s the idol of the
fearful. Through all the death and destruction that the U.S. national
security state has wreaked in Syria and the rest of the Middle East for the
past several decades, the fearful have just loyally and blindly repeated
their favorite mantras: “Support the troops!” and “Thank you for your
service.”
Actually,
though I should say that U.S. officials don’t like Syria’s president anymore. The
word “anymore” needs to be added because they used to love him. During the
time they loved him, they struck a secret deal with him to torture a Canadian
citizen on behalf of the U.S. national-security establishment. For that
matter, they also used to love Saddam Hussein, which is why they furnished
him with those infamous WMDs — so that he could use them to kill Iranians
with.
What was the
attitude of the fearful during those sordid love affairs between the U.S.
national-security state and foreign dictators? Blind allegiance, rooted in
fear. That’s how they have been able to excuse or support the U.S.
renditions, torture, and assassinations, actions that are traditionally
carried out by totalitarian dictators.
Of course, the
fear goes back further, before 9/11. Don’t forget the Cold War, when
Americans were absolutely terrified that the communists were coming to get
them and turn American Red. That’s what the anti-communist crusade was all
about, when the FBI was spying on innocent Americans — that is, Americans who
were suspected of being communist moles — and when the civil rights movement
was considered a communist front for turning America Red. Just ask the family
of Martin Luther King.
An interesting
part of the Cold War was that no one was afraid of Islam, the Muslims, or the
terrorists. The fear of communists and communism was everything.
When President
Truman was considering altering America’s original governmental system with
the adoption of national-security state — a type of governmental apparatus
inherent to totalitarian regimes — he was told that in order to secure the
support of the American people to this radical and fundamental change to the
U.S. government, he would have to scare the hell out of them.
Truman
succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. Despite their having the most powerful
military and intelligence force in the history of the world, Americans are
among the most fearful people in the world.
Or should I say
that it’s because they have the most powerful military and
intelligence force in history, Americans are among the most fearful people in
the world?
Jacob G.
Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation
|
تعليقات
إرسال تعليق