British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said 'war on terror' was wrong

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.khaleejtimes.ae/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/international/2009/January/international_January778.xml§ion=international

LONDON - British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Thursday the notion of a “war on terror” was “misleading and mistaken”, in an outspoken critique of a key policy of outgoing US President George W. Bush.

Writing in the Guardian, Miliband said the phrase gave the idea of a unified enemy where none existed, and also encouraged a primarily military response to problems that top generals admitted the West could not “kill its way out of”.

The article appears to be a comprehensive attempt to discard what was a defining mission of the Bush administration, which comes to an end on Tuesday.

“The idea of a “war on terror’ gave the impression of a unified, translational enemy, embodied in the figure of Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda,” wrote Miliband, who is currently in India.

“The reality is that the motivations and identities of terrorist groups are disparate.”

He added: “The more we lump terrorist groups together and draw the battle lines as a simple binary struggle between moderates and extremists, or good and evil, the more we play into the hands of those seeking to unify groups with little in common.”

[ananda]

1. Smart man.

I mean, how DO you make war on an abstract noun?
Hmmmm????

[Peace Patriot]

2. It's the same old crap we saw with the "communist menace" from the 1950s

through the 1980s--lumping anti-colonial nationalist movements, democracy movements, leftist movements all into one "enemy" that our war profiteers could scare us with, and makes lots of money on killing lots and lots of people, as well as destroying people-oriented governments that would curtail exploitation by our global corporate predators. In Africa, in Asia and South America--in the Congo, in Vietnam, in Laos, in Cambodia, in Chile, in Guatemala, in Argentina, in Nicaragua, in El Salvador, in Cuba, in Iran--very different countries, with very different histories, but often with a common desire for democracy and social justice, were treated as one "enemy" for the purpose of killing leftists and destroying the country's sovereignty, and making scads of money doing it. Two hundred thousand Mayan villagers were slaughtered in Guatemala in the 1980s, for this reason--the war cry of the "communist menace," with Reagan's knowledge and support. Two million Southeast Asians were directly slaughtered by the U.S. military, and over 55,000 U.S. soldiers lost their lives, because Vietnam--if UN sponsored elections would have been permitted by the U.S.--would have voted for a communist for president.

The Bushwhack "terrorist menace" conveniently targets the countries with oil that have any notions of independence and use of the oil for the betterment of their people--Iraq, Iran, Venezuela. It's so transparent. Notice that what might really be a menace--largely of our own creation--Afghanistan--has been utterly neglected in the "war on terror." Not that military action would solve that problem either. But it shows you what this is all about. It is NOT about solving problems. It is about using "terrorism" for profit.

Further, most of us barely noticed when the Bushwhacks re-wrote Plan Colombia, a supposed "war on drugs" program--to include the leftist guerrillas who have been fighting the fascist thugs and narco-traffickers running Colombia for over 40 years. It's a civil war--but they are lumped into this all-purpose "enemy"--"terrorism." The FARC guerillas in Colombia are not our enemy; they are the enemy of the Colombian military and closely tied rightwing paramilitary death squads, who have murdered thousands of union leaders, small peasant farmers, human rights workers, political leftists and others, who have dared to speak out or organize in their own country. Venezuela has one of the best, most democratic and most peaceful governments in the western hemisphere. They get called "terrorists." Why? Because they have oil and are using the profits for social justice. Cuba, which hasn't lifted a finger against anybody in 35 years, and exports doctors and literacy programs, gets called "terrorists"--when in fact, WE have terrorized THEM, literally--for instance, with a CIA operative blowing up a Cubana commerical airliner full of passengers.

All lumped together--anybody that has oil that our corporate predators want, or anybody who sets an example of social justice, or anybody who resists oppression, gets conflated with suicide bombers and dictatorial regimes like North Korea.

When are we going to wake up and recognize this for what it is?--the BIG LIE. The Forever War. The endless war profiteer killing and looting project.