Lt. Col Robert M. Bowman (ret)

["Angelo Melocchi" <melocchiangelo@libero.it>]

Da: <http://www.middleeast.org/bowman.htm>http://www.middleeast.org/bowman.htm


What Can We Do About Terrorism?

by Lt. Col Robert M. Bowman (ret)

October 15, 2001


"Mr. President, you did not tell the American people the truth about why we
are the targets of terrorism. You said that we are the target because we
stand for democracy, freedom, and human rights in the world. Baloney! We
are the target of terrorists because we stand for dictatorship, bondage,
and human exploitation in the world. We are the target of terrorists
because we are hated. And we are hated because our government has done
hateful things."

"We are not hated because we practice democracy, freedom, and human rights.
We are hated because our government denies these things to people in third
world countries whose resources are coveted by our multinational
corporations. And that hatred we have sown has come back to haunt us in the
form of terrorism - and in the future, nuclear terrorism."


A FEW YEARS AGO, terrorists destroyed two U.S. embassies. President Clinton
retaliated against suspected facilities of Osama bin Laden. In his
television address, the President told the American people that we were the
targets of terrorism because we stood for democracy, freedom, and human
rights in the world.

On that occasion, I wrote: "Tell people the truth, Mr. President ... about
terrorism, not about poor Monica. If your lies about terrorism go
unchallenged, then the terror war you have unleashed will likely continue
until it destroys us.

"The threat of nuclear terrorism is closing in upon us. Chemical terrorism
is at hand, and biological terrorism is a future danger. None of our
thousands of nuclear weapons can protect us from these threats. These idols
of plutonium, titanium, and steel are impotent. Our worship of them for
over five decades has not brought us security, only greater danger. No
'Star Wars' system ... no matter how technically advanced, no matter how
many trillions of dollars was poured into it ... can protect us from even a
single terrorist bomb. Not one weapon in our vast arsenal can shield us
from a nuclear weapon delivered in a sailboat or a Piper Cub or a suitcase
or a Ryder rental truck. Not a penny of the 273 billion dollars a year we
spend on so-called defense can actually defend us against a terrorist bomb.
Nothing in our enormous military establishment can actually give us one
whit of security. That is a military fact.

"Mr. President, you did not tell the American people the truth about why we
are the targets of terrorism. You said that we are the target because we
stand for democracy, freedom, and human rights in the world. Baloney! We
are the target of terrorists because we stand for dictatorship, bondage,
and human exploitation in the world. We are the target of terrorists
because we are hated. And we are hated because our government has done
hateful things.

"In how many countries have we deposed popularly elected leaders and
replaced them with puppet military dictators who were willing to sell out
their own people to American multinational corporations?

"We did it in Iran when we deposed Mossadegh because he wanted to
nationalize the oil industry. We replaced him with the Shah, and trained,
armed, and paid his hated Savak national guard, which enslaved and
brutalized the people of Iran. All to protect the financial interests of
our oil companies. Is it any wonder there are people in Iran who hate us?

"We did it in Chile when we deposed Allende, democratically elected by the
people to introduce socialism. We replaced him with the brutal right-wing
military dictator, General Pinochet. Chile has still not recovered.

"We did it in Vietnam when we thwarted democratic elections in the South
which would have united the country under Ho Chi Minh. We replaced him with
a series of ineffectual puppet crooks who invited us to come in and
slaughter their people - and we did. (I flew 101 combat missions in that
war which you properly opposed.)

"We did it in Iraq, where we killed a quarter of a million civilians in a
failed attempt to topple Saddam Hussein, and where we have killed a million
since then with our sanctions. About half of these innocent victims have
been children under the age of five.

"And, of course, how many times have we done it in Nicaragua and all the
other banana republics of Latin America? Time after time we have ousted
popular leaders who wanted the riches of the land to be shared by the
people who worked it. We replaced them with murderous tyrants who would
sell out and control their own people so that the wealth of the land could
be taken out by Domino Sugar, the United Fruit Company, Folgers, and
Chiquita Banana.

"In country after country, our government has thwarted democracy, stifled
freedom, and trampled human rights. That's why we are hated around the
world. And that's why we are the target of terrorists.

"People in Canada enjoy better democracy, more freedom, and greater human
rights than we do. So do the people of Norway and Sweden. Have you heard of
Canadian embassies being bombed? Or Norwegian embassies? Or Swedish
embassies. No.

"We are not hated because we practice democracy, freedom, and human rights.
We are hated because our government denies these things to people in third
world countries whose resources are coveted by our multinational
corporations. And that hatred we have sown has come back to haunt us in the
form of terrorism - and in the future, nuclear terrorism.

"Once the truth about why the threat exists is understood, the solution
becomes obvious. We must change our government's ways.

"Instead of sending our sons and daughters around the world to kill Arabs
so the oil companies can sell the oil under their sand, we must send them
to rebuild their infrastructure, supply clean water, and feed starving
children.

"Instead of continuing to kill thousands of Iraqi children every day with
our sanctions, we must help them rebuild their electric powerplants, their
water treatment facilities, their hospitals - all the things we destroyed
in our war against them and prevented them from rebuilding with our
sanctions.

"Instead of seeking to be king of the hill, we must become a responsible
member of the family of nations. Instead of stationing hundreds of
thousands of troops around the world to protect the financial interests of
our multinational corporations, we must bring them home and expand the
Peace Corps.

"Instead of training terrorists and death squads in the techniques of
torture and assassination, we must close the School of the Americas (no
matter what name they use). Instead of supporting military dictatorships,
we must support true democracy - the right of the people to choose their
own leaders. Instead of supporting insurrection, destabilization,
assassination, and terror around the world, we must abolish the CIA and
give the money to relief agencies.

"In short, we do good instead of evil. We become the good guys, once again.
The threat of terrorism would vanish. That is the truth, Mr. President.
That is what the American people need to hear. We are good people. We only
need to be told the truth and given the vision. You can do it, Mr.
President. Stop the killing. Stop the justifying. Stop the retaliating. Put
people first. Tell them the truth."

Needless to say, he didn't ... and neither has George W. Bush. Well, the
seeds our policies have planted have borne their bitter fruit. The World
Trade Center is gone. The Pentagon is damaged. And thousands of Americans
have died. Almost every TV pundit is crying for massive military
retaliation against whoever might have done it (assumedly the same Osama
bin Laden) and against whoever harbors or aids the terrorists (most notably
the Taliban government of Afghanistan). Steve Dunleavy of the New York Post
screams "Kill the bastards! Train assassins, hire mercenaries, put a couple
of million bucks up for bounty hunters to get them dead or alive,
preferably dead. As for cities or countries that host these worms, bomb
them into basketball courts." It's tempting to agree. I have no sympathy
for the psychopaths that killed thousands of our people. There is no excuse
for such acts. If I was recalled to active duty, I would go in a heartbeat.
At the same time, all my military experience and knowledge tells me that
retaliation hasn't rid us of the problem in the past, and won't this time.

By far the world's best anti-terrorist apparatus is Israel's. Measured in
military terms, it has been phenomenally successful. Yet Israel still
suffers more attacks than all other nations combined. If retaliation
worked, Israelis would be the world's most secure people.

Only one thing has ever ended a terrorist campaign -- denying the terrorist
organization the support of the larger community it represents. And the
only way to do that is to listen to and alleviate the legitimate grievances
of the people. If indeed Osama bin Laden was behind the four hijackings and
subsequent carnage, that means addressing the concerns of the Arabs and
Muslims in general and of the Palestinians in particular. It does NOT mean
abandoning Israel. But it may very well mean withdrawing financial and
military support until they abandon the settlements in occupied territory
and return to 1967 borders. It may also mean allowing Arab countries to
have leaders of their own choosing, not hand-picked, CIA-installed
dictators willing to cooperate with Western oil companies.

Chester Gillings has said it very well: "How do we fight back against bin
Laden? The first thing we must ask ourselves is what is it we hope to
achieve -- security or revenge? The two are mutually exclusive; seek
revenge and we WILL reduce our security. If it is security we seek, then we
must begin to answer the tough questions -- what are the grievances of the
Palestinians and the Arab world against the United States, and what is our
real culpability for those grievances? Where we find legitimate
culpability, we must be prepared to cure the grievance wherever possible.
Where we cannot find culpability or a cure, we must communicate honestly
our positions directly to the Arab people. In short, our best course of
action is to remove ourselves as a combatant in the disputes of the region."

To kill bin Laden now would be to make him an eternal martyr. Thousands
would rise up to take his place. In another year, we would face another
round of terrorism, probably much worse even than this one. Yet there is
another way.

In the short term, we must protect ourselves from those who already hate
us. This means increased security and better intelligence. I proposed to
members of Congress in March that we should deny any funds for "Star Wars"
until such time as the Executive Branch could show that they are doing all
possible research on the detection and interception of weapons of mass
destruction entering the country clandestinely (a far greater threat than
ballistic missiles). There are lots of steps which can be taken to increase
security without detracting from civil rights. But in the long term, we
must change our policies to stop causing the fear and hatred which creates
new terrorists. Becoming independent of foreign oil through conservation,
energy efficiency, production of energy from renewable sources, and a
transition to non-polluting transportation will allow us to adopt a more
rational policy toward the Middle East.

The vast majority of Arabs and Muslims are good, peaceful people. But
enough of them, in their desperation and anger and fear, have turned first
to Arafat and now to bin Laden to relieve their misery. Remove the
desperation, give them some hope, and support for terrorism will evaporate.
At that point bin Laden will be forced to abandon terrorism (as has Arafat)
or be treated like a common criminal. Either way, he and his money cease to
be a threat. We CAN have security ... or we can have revenge. We cannot
have both.

============================

*Dr. Robert M. Bowman directed all the "Star Wars" programs under
presidents Ford and Carter and flew 101 combat missions in Vietnam. His
Ph.D. is in Aeronautics and Nuclear Engineering from Caltech. He is
President of the Institute for Space and Security Studies and Presiding
Archbishop of the United Catholic Church.   Dr. Bowman can be reached at
<mailto:RobertBowman@MiddleEast.org>RobertBowman@MiddleEast.org