Interesting LTTE: Why do we support allies of al-Qaida?

[Eddie Haskell]

TO THE EDITORS:

In "Meddling overseas" (July 12, New Era), columnist John Stossel made excellent points about the folly of U.S. interventions in Afghanistan and Syria. He even helped explain why politicians find such interventions so attractive: "war is the health of the state."

But Stossel dodged key questions. If the U.S. military is working with forces associated with al-Qaida to bring down Syrian President Assad, why have we spent $1 trillion on "homeland security" since 9/11? Why have thousands of U.S. troops died and hundreds of thousands been wounded in the war against terror? Why have we given up our civil liberties via passage of the Patriot Act and a huge expansion of government surveillance?

And why did Congress give the military authority to detain any one of us indefinitely without a trial, based solely on the accusation that we have done what the U.S. military does every day in Syria -- support a group associated with al-Qaida?

A vocal minority has been saying for years that the War on Terror is a fraud designed to strike fear and docility into our hearts and enrich the myriad defense contractors dependent on Pentagon contracts. But such warnings have gained little traction because most people are entranced by what they think they know about 9/11.

Al-Qaida is real enough, but I am convinced it is only a pawn being used to destroy democracy in the U.S. and justify wars of aggression. We're living George Orwell's nightmare. After an honest look at what's happening in Syria, what other conclusion can we make?

[Vinnie From Indy]

1. Stossel is a jackass, but the question is very relevant.

The facts would seem to be quite clear. One might ask what ever happened to the Red Scare of the 50's, 60's, 70's and 80's? In those years it would be absolutely unheard of not to publicly and loudly declare all things communist devil's spawn and worse. Any American business that started to move large portions of their work to communist China would have been the target of backlash so enormous that the executives responsible would have seen their careers ended overnight. There would have been Congressional committees, studies and thousands of editorials decrying anyone doing business with the Godless Communists. In the late 1980's the Soviet Union dissolved leaving the MIC and Republicans without a boogieman. Their deep thinkers came up with a brilliant solution (albeit stolen from Orwell). They created a stateless, amorphous enemy that can never be defeated - Al Queda. Now the money taps are once again wide open pouring oceans of money into the pockets of a very select few. Not only has the money kept flowing, it has increased. This enemy will never be defeated insuring a never-ending flow of money.

Now when US jobs leave for China, there are press releases and Wall Street cheers. No, the reason we quit hating SOME communists (sorry Cuba!) is because the 1%'ers figured out how much damn money could be made by betraying the middle class in America. The largest retailer on the planet Walmart has as its central business model forcing jobs to communist China by the millions and at the same time having the US taxpayer subsidize their employees to the tune of $6k a year on average. That is quite a stunning bit of reality actually!

History is littered with examples of the cognitive dissonance of the American public.

Including 9/11, there have been slightly more than 3000 Americans killed by Jihadists. Tens of thousands of Americans die EVERY YEAR from lack of healthcare and tens of thousands more die from gun violence EVERY YEAR. It is projected we will have spent over three TRILLION dollars on our last two wars when it is all said and done.

[Eddie Haskell]

2. Communists!

People my age still worry about the communist. I have friends that still consider the communist our greatest threat, but how many young people consider the communist a threat? To the young American consumer, communist China represents cheaper phones and low cost products. Our very way of life depends upon these products.