Have we surrendered our integrity and public conscience to the oil giants that sponsor our polls?

Have we surrendered our integrity and public conscience to the oil giants that
sponsor our polls?

A new Democratic Congress and Senate has quelled the terrorism fear mongers
inside the Executive branch - at least for now. Surely they will soon resume
with similar rhetoric about Iran, but before it begins, "We The People" need to
seize the moment for some collective soul searching as a nation. We need to
objectively reflect back upon that horrific event that has become the Pearl
Harbor of the baby boomer generation - 9/11. And rather than dwell on what
happened, we need to focus on "why". Few want to actually confront the ugly
truth, much less admit it. It is far more comfortable and even convenient to
become the proverbial ostrich who buries his head in a hole to avoid the painful
realities of life. When it comes to 911, we have collectively become a nation in
denial and here's why...

Over the last five years, "we the people" have been herded like sheep into a
frenzy of revenge - to find, punish, and kill anyone and everyone we can
remotely link to the 911 tragedy. Very few of us, including the media questioned
the motives, explanations, or "evidence" presented by our leaders, because we
were too focused on retribution. And while we were all distracted by the war
mongering rhetoric about those invisible weapons of mass destruction, and
fabricated "nuclear Iraqi threats" we were also diverted away from the most
important issues and questions of all. Even to this day, not one American
Senator or Congressman has had the courage to publicly ask "Why did this
happen?" or "Why do people so far away hate America so much?" or more to the
point... "What is the root cause of terrorism" The answers to these questions
are quite ugly, But if you are a true American patriot, the truth, once
confronted, is enlightening and provides a path to resolution of all the hatred
and perhaps even peace in the world we must share with others.

First and foremost, we should all look around and notice that countries like
Argentina, Norway, Austria, Singapore, Mexico, The Netherlands, etc. do not have
to spend billions of their tax dollars fighting terrorism or send their
children, husbands, and fathers off to die in bloody wars chasing down
terrorists and so now the question becomes "Why not? Frankly, these countries do
not have a history of invading , occupying or secretly fomenting revolutions in
other sovereign nations. Their foreign policies are not exploitive, nor
provocative, and they do not get their way in the world by becoming the biggst
bully on the block who gets his way at the end of a gun barrel or economic
extortion (aka "trade sanctions). Likewise, these nations who live without fear
of terrorism do not openly deffy the United Nations, The World Court, or
casually violate treaties whenever there is money to be made or lost (i.e. the
Canadian softwood lumber case, SALT II Treaty, etc.). Most importantly, in these
terror-free countries, their governments do not attempt, much less force their
"democracies" and cultures upon others as "a better way to live". Their leaders
ceratinly don't go on international TV and threaten, denigrate, and inuslt the
leaders of other sovereign nations as our President does on a regular basis and
as his father did as well. Instead, they respect all cultures and leaders and
find a quiet diplomatic way to deal with their differences. Dialogue and
diplomacy between the U.S. and our enemies have never been fully utilized since
the 1960s. The American way has become the "or else" way recognized around the
world.

But this arrogance alone is not what provoked 911 - it is just the underlying
attitude of our current leaders that continues to fuel the flames of hatred and
contempt that has even spread to some of our once greatest fans - the Europeans.
We have let our "Superpower" status be misused and abused by a handful of greedy
campaign funders and their bought and paid for politicians whose own children
will never see a battlefield. Our elected leaders could be respected and honored
statesmen of the world yet this administration prefers the gun slinging, John
Wayne swaggering cowboy approach to everything. Machismo makes for great movies
but not for world peace. Nobody likes provocations and ultimatums, yet that is
what has emanated from the White house for the last six years friends.

But getting back to 911, one only has to recall their childhood days and
learning about that little "Golden Rule" - you know : Do unto others as you
would want them to do unto you". It seems too many of us left it behind in our
childhood even though it is far more applicable in world politics than on the
playground at both socio-economic, and commercial levels. Just think for a
moment, would any red-blooded American stand idle and allow a foreign invader to
depose our President by military force, reduce our cities and towns to
smoldering ruins, take over Wall Street, Silicon Valley, and all of our oil
wells and refineries too?

Would we passively allow foreign soldiers to randomly break down our doors at
3:00am and traumatize our young children for life? And what if these foreign
invaders killed over 30.000 civilians "by mistake" or tortured and humiliated
those of us they imprisoned for resisting their imposition? What would we do?
What would YOU do? Take it one step further and ask yourself how you would feel,
and what would you do if you came home from the office one day and found your
home destroyed by a "smart bomb" and bits and pieces of your charred children
and spouse scattered all about? The rage is compounded a hundred times by the
fact these are innocent people, not soldiers, not politicians, but people just
like you and I. Without hesitation I think if this happened in America, every
one of us would arm ourselves to the teeth and fight to the death to expel the
occupiers and seek revenge on those who killed our infants. We would be called
"patriots" for our efforts, yet we let our government call the Iraqis
"insurgents" for doing exactly what we ourselves would do. If someone killed my
only child and wife, I too might strap on a bomb and hunt down the perpetrators.
It matters not where these victims reside or what God they pray to, or what
language they speak. Family is sacred in every culture around the globe and for
almost fifty years, American foreign policy and military forces have destroyed
more families than any hurricane, tsunami, disease, or forest fire over the last
fifty years.

As an American who actually enlisted during the Vietnam War out of what I
thought at the time was patriotism, it pains me to make this admission. But it
is as true as the night is dark or the oceans are wet. Why an we not own up to
the fact that perhaps, just maybe, over the last few decades, our own government
officials created, or at least planted the seeds of this Frankenstein monster we
call terrorism? Just over 220 years ago American militiamen fighting for their
independence from Britain were routinely identified as "insurgents" and even
"terrorists". Were our forefathers really terrorists or freedom fighting
patriots trying to overcome oppression and exploitation? Perspective depends on
whether you?re the oppressor or oppressee when debating terrorism. What happened
to objective news reporting? We all know that some 2,500 American troops were
killed, but how many of our newspapers report that over 30,000 Iraqi civilians
were killed or almost 3,000 children maimed for life? Because we ignore the
reality certainly doesn't change it. Surely the rest of the world is not
ignoring the civilian casualities and we are starting to appear as brutal
barbarians in their eyes. Again, image is everything if we truly are trying to
win the "hearts and souls" of Iraqis and not just their oil fields.

This brings me back to 911 and the Golden Rule thing. You can only beat a dog so
long before they ultimately and inevitably lash out and bite back in
self-defense, and this is truly what may have happened on 911. Terrorism can
never be condoned, but it's cause can be understood and perhaps eliminated much
like extinguishing a fire by eliminating the heat, fuel, or oxygen needed for
combustion. By Muslim standards and culture our western ways are provocative at
best and immoral and repulsive at worse, yet we still let our government try to
impose our will and ways upon them. This is a social crime, especially since
one-third of the world's population is now Muslim. From their perspective, it is
not difficult for America, a primarily Christian nation, to be seen as modern
day crusaders bent on converting the world, especially since President Bush
frequently uses the word "crusade" in his many speeches. Perception can easily
become the reality as we all have just experienced in Iraq. Most people do not
realize that American troops have invaded and occupied more countries in the
last fifty years than any other nation even the Soviets (ie Grenada, Panama,
Haiti, El Salvador, Iraq, Kuwait, etc). Americans troops killed more Iraqi
civilians in the last four years than Saddam killed in his last decade of rule.
As you read these very words. we have our troops in 89 countries around the
world and less than half of these nations invited them. We are the only nation
in history to use nuclear weapons against another country, yet our President
regularly tries to dictate which other countries should "be allowed" to have
them. Throw in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal and how can we possibly expect
anything else but contempt from the world?

It is now no secret that our own government has recruited and funded the
campaigns of over a dozen ruthless dictators in the last half century (i.e.
Somoza, Marcos, Noriega, Saddam, etc) and even a few terrorists like the Taliban
and Bin Laden, who George Bush Sr. once called "freedom fighters" when they were
trying to expel the Soviets from Afghanistan. But now that we have replaced the
Russians as the occupiers, the "terrorist" label becomes more convenient. These
waffling allegiances of ever-changing convenience do not go unnoticed in the
world, and honestly, if you witnessed the events of the last ten years abroad as
a Jordanian, Italian, Peruvian etc. could you possibly trust the American
government?

We Americans may enjoy the luxury of modest wealth and technology but we do not
have a monopoly on intelligence. Politically we may even be one of the least
astute people on this planet given our tolerance of the current status quo in
America, It matters little that we call ourselves "liberators" if the rest of
the world sees us as "aggressors", "invaders", and occupiers". It is the
public's perception of reality rather than the actual reality itself that our
politicians manipulate so well. "Imbedded" news crews are a great way to censor
the news as even the late Peter Jennings pointed out in a CBC documentary. While
President Bush adheres to his "might makes right" policies, what little friends
we have left in this shrinking world are being alienated by the scores. We have
become a nation that is feared but no longer trusted nor respected - a dangerous
scenario that breeds even more hatred and schemes to attack "the common bully".

There is a way of course, to stop most of this hatred and restore some of the
world's lost respect and trust in America, but the solution is not one that
would ever be easily embraced by our current administration. It would require
some simple but public acknowledgements and basic apologies to the people of
Iraq and followed with restitution for civilian casualties and a sincere effort
to rebuild Iraq back to its original modern glory and polished sheen. We must
admit that our invasion of Iraq was a mistake based on misinformation and
clearly tell the world that Iraqi had no role in 911 as we now know to be true.
Our government would have to open a dialogue with those whose hatred runs deep
because Muslim law mandates that they "forgive all who seek forgiveness with a
sincere heart".

We would not have to abandon our support for Israel, but our support for Israel
could no longer be unconditional. It would have to be a fair and just alliance
that compels Israel to be a good neighbor. Diplomacy and perseverance would only
prevail if we compel our government to stop exploiting and meddling in foreign
lands, and withdraw our troops form lands where the local people clearly don't
want them. All of this would demonstrate a genuine good will that just maybe,
might be embraced and bear fruit. Granted, it might take decades to erase all
the hatred and emotional scars we inflicted upon these people, but is not a life
without fear of terrorism in a relatively peaceful world worth the effort? If we
continue on our current path of "big stick intimidation" policy it won?t be more
than a decade before we fully isolate ourselves in the world from even our most
traditional allies. Should the world really do as we say and not as we do?

Indeed, America is a great country and superpower. But nobody appointed us as
the world's policeman or babysitter. Our real national interests should stop at
our own borders and our troops utilized only in genuine national defense or
clear threat of imminent attack. We have the security of nuclear deterrence so
there is really no need for political arrogance. Norwegians sleep safe, secure,
and soundly every night, and so can we, if we choose to be a good neighbor in
the world and actually abide by that Golden Rule principle, A simplistic
solution? Perhaps, But we'd have to at least try to find out. Those who died
five years ago at the World Trade Center would not want their deaths nor the
sacrifice and suffering of their families to be in vain. As a civilized,
intelligent, society, do we not owe them something more than just revenge? Do we
want to leave our children a better and safer world, or shall we just keep our
heads in the sand?




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The author is an Honorably-Discharged Military Veteran. He is a former Fortune
500 executive, and the founder/chairman of the Veteran Organ Donors
International. He can be reached at BruceAGorcyca@xxxxxxxxx
.