Commentary:

There Is No War on Terrorism

A "War on Terrorism" is a cover for a multitude of sins committed in our name. There is no "War on Terrorism," and it is doubtful that there could ever be. Terror will always spring up somewhere new, no matter what steps are taken to eradicate it, and like rogue cops, some elements of any force to combat terrorism will eventually join the opposition and further the aims of those they were appointed to oppose. Who are our friends and who are our enemies? Their names are changed every day.

We are living in an apocalyptic moment, and being moved further daily inexorably in the direction of increasingly meaningless violence and increasing damage to US polity, peace, security, liberty, equality, and shared prosperity. The current US administration, headed by George W. Bush, the legitimacy of whose election is highly dubious, is seizing almost dictatorial power in the face of a passive and vacuous opposition party. Daily it moves forward, but really backward, hellbent on a series of increasingly destructive actions that can only be seen as furthering strictly the interests of the enormously wealthy few and their multinational corporations, especially those involved in the production of petroleum products and weaponry. The chief victims of this destructive onrush are the masses of common people everywhere, whose interests are nowhere furthered.

At the moment the chief target is North Korea; before that and still in the future Iraq; before that Afghanistan; before that al-Qa’ida, whose leader, Osama bin Laden, the chief ogre and satan of a year ago, our protégé in the past like Saddam Hussain, is now forgotten, his name never mentioned by our leaders.

What has happened to the War on Terrorism? Isn’t this more like a war on liberty, security, and the pursuit of happiness? No sensible or consistent goal is being sought here in democratic, human terms.

If this is leadership, give me anarchy!