It’s 9/11.

All governments lie to its citizens about the conduct of its foreign policy, playing that chess game to serve the interests of the military contractors and corporate interests. 9/11 and Afghanistan are classic examples of blowback, a term the CIA first used in 1954 to explain the unintended consequence of a covert operation, in that case the U.S.’s overthrow of the democratically-elected government of Iran.

American citizens usually see blowback as "random" acts of political violence without a discernible, direct cause, because the public are unaware of the effected secret attacks that provoked revenge. American political and military leaders exploited 9/11 to advance their own agendas, plowing ever greater tax dollars to military contractors while curtailing civil liberties both at home and abroad.

The human right abuses inflicted by America’s multiple military invasions and occupations helped recruit even more terrorists while contributing to the eroding power and respect for the American empire. Since 9/11, the US has continued to turn a blind eye to the numerous human rights abuses of our allies, particularly the Saudis and Israel in exchange for access to oil and power in the Middle East.

We have continued to isolate ourselves by using military power rather than diplomacy to advance our foreign policy agenda. To the rest of the world, the US is the dark imperial power that arrogantly tramples upon the rights of all other countries as a manifestation of “American exceptionalism”, viewed at posing the greatest threat to democracy in their countries. US troops still remain in Iraq to help prop up its government.

Drones and mercenary contractors often replace American soldiers – at greater taxpayer expense. The US continues to escalate tensions with Iraq, China and Russia as well as numerous Latin American countries starting with Cuba and Venezuela. The first 9/11 was the US role in 1973 in murdering Chilean President Allende and overthrowing his democratically-elected government; President Bush unsuccessfully sought to appoint former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the architect of that coup, as the chair of the 9/11 Commission.

The military-industrial complex resists all efforts to end the Cold War; a new Axis of Evil is always ready to be trotted out. More than half of the discretionary federal spending goes to the Pentagon and military contractors while domestic needs are underfunded.

Illinois Green Party
www.ilgp.org