The terror attacks and their cause

July 8, 2005

[Dear warriors.... I am off for the next 5 weeks on vacation. Will get back to all of you in late August for the new political season which will certainly require your commitment and dedication. Thanks for your letter-writing. - Murray]

The hideous attacks in London bring home once again the debate about the cause of these monstrous bloodlettings. Blair and Bush wax on about how the terrorists will not prevail and will be caught (apparently not, as bin Laden is still at large). And they talk about the terrorists “hating our freedoms” and “wanting to attack our civilization.”

This is sheer nonsense of course and if we allow this framing of the terror issue to prevail then the real cause is never talked about. That cause is quite clear and those who take “credit” for the blasts say so: the slaughter of innocents in Iraq and Afghanistan, the continued occupation of Palestinian land by Israel and US military bases on Arab land. So long as things prevail, terror will in fact prevail - that is, it will continue to murder and maim people who have nothing to do with US policy and oil company profits.

Canada is threatened in exact proportion to our complicity in US foreign policy in the middle east. Our role in Afghanistan puts us at some risk, our refusal to go into Iraq reduces that risk. We are about to double our contingent in Afghanistan at a time when the Taliban/el Qaeda are gaining strength and mounting a counter-offensive. This means that Canadian troops could soon be killing Afghans - some of them, inevitably, innocent civilians - risking putting us on the terrorists list for revenge attacks.

The response to this propaganda spin is straight forward and again takes only a paragraph or two to counter.

The framing of this issue is important: ridicule the notion that the attackers “hate our freedoms” and argue that there is very real cause - US foreign policy and Canadian complicity.

• We are right to be disgusted at the horrific attacks on innocent working people and the monsters who carried them out. But we should be equally angry at those who support US and British policy in the middle east for these leaders and their policies are at the root of Islamic terrorism - and providing a rationale for terrorism.



• Terrorists, suicide bombers or otherwise, do not sacrifice their lives for some vague notion of hating western civilization - they hate the American occupation of Arab lands, uncritical support of Israeli policies and support for corrupt regimes like the Saudi royal family.



• Canada is complicit in US foreign policy even if we did not join the war on Iraq. We are in Afghanistan and will inevitably be drawn into the war that is just beginning with the revived Taliban. We should be getting out - not sending more troops. The first time Canadian soldiers kill innocent civilians, Canada risks being put on the list of countries to attack.



• Canada is complicit as well by its silence regarding US policy. We should be demanding that the US get out of Iraq - or at the very least setting a short time table for getting out. We should be criticizing US policy in the middle east - especially the establishment and maintenance of US military bases on Arab land.



• Canada should be adopting these policies not just because we are otherwise at increasing risk of terrorist attacks but because it is the right thing to do. Whatever the weaknesses of Arab regimes - largely created by Britain, France and US decades ago to be compliant dictatorships - western industrial nations have no business interfering in the middle east. Just get out and let Arab peoples determine their own future.

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