Editorial from Kommunistisk Politik, No. 18, September 14, 2002
Still, there is a lot of mystery of what really happened on September 11, 2001.
Who was behind it? Allegedly, Osama Bin Laden has not been killed yet. Lots
of information warning the US intelligence services and authorities, which did
not react to it, has been revealed. But why did they not react?
It is a fact that the "War against Terror" was already proclaimed
on September 11, 2001, not by the US president, but by the former Israeli Prime
Minister Ehud Barak in an interview on the BBC.
It is also a fact that Osama Bin Laden, already on September 11, was pointed
out as the man behind the terrorist attack, which the US did not suspect before
it was taking place. A few hours later, the US was ready to start a war against
Afghanistan in order to punish the culprit.
It is not a coincidence that people have received the impression that September
11 was a welcome opportunity and pretext for throwing the world into a state
of permanent war under the leadership of the US and with Israel's Ariel Sharon
and the UK's Toni Blair as loyal partners.
The US made use of the opportunity to push for a new "anti-terror coalition"
and for the overthrow of Afghanistan's ruling Taliban regime in a bloody war
and the instalment of Hamid Karzai, a US lackey, as the new president of Afghanistan.
The bloody campaign of the US in Afghanistan has claimed thousands of civilian
bomb victims and tens of thousands of killed as a result of the actions and
effects of the war.
Besides, the war in Afghanistan is not over: a guerrilla war, with the aim of
kicking out the US occupying power and the other foreign troops, is unfolding.
Moreover, the US took advantage of September 11 to fasten militarily on Central
Asia - an area that has traditionally been Russian and Chinese interest sphere.
An extended system of military bases in the former Soviet republics in Central
Asia has now been established, improving the possibilities of the US to ensure
its huge oil interests in the region. The new geostrategic positions of power
in Asia mean that the US has now militarily encircled both China and Russia.
While the Afghan people were the first victim of the terror war, the second
victim was the Palestinian people. Using the "War against Terror",
Ariel Sharon has been able to frustrate the so-called "Oslo Peace Process",
reoccupy the Palestinian territories, and severely weaken the Palestinian Authority.
Israel has no will to recognize a free and independent Palestinian state, but
is even planning to extend the repression of the Palestinian people by new massacres
and expulsions if the war against Iraq, which Bush and the Pentagon are anxious
to wage, becomes a reality.
The third victim of the "War against Terror" was the democratic rights
in all countries. The implementation of terror legislation aimed at named organizations,
and more generally against political protest, is the most serious attack on
the civil rights in the so-called "democratic countries" since fascism
in the 1930s and the 1940s.
The fact that the "War against Terror" is aimed at the popular resistance
everywhere, and specifically against the armed liberation struggles around the
globe, is seen from the fact that the peace negotiations in countries like Colombia
and the Philippines have been broken off while the regimes, backed by US military,
are seeking a final military solution by crushing the liberation movements as
the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the Philippine New People's
Army.
Half a score of countries have been put on Bush's list of "rogue states",
whose regimes the US wants to topple in the course of the endless terror war.
In addition to the "axis of evil" and other countries, Cuba is about
to be put on the list as well.
The objective of the next war is to overthrow Saddam Hussein and install a US
puppet regime in Iraq. This will, according to the American hawks, only constitute
the first step on the road of completely reorganizing the Middle East whose
rich oil resources the US wants to control directly. The time after September
11, 2001 has been a year of building the US Empire. In the twenty-first century,
the US behaves like a classical colonial power, which openly strives for complete
world hegemony - politically, economically, and militarily.
Just like September 11, 2001 was used to stir people up for a war against Afghanistan,
the one-year anniversary has been used to stir people up for a new war against
Iraq. The next months will show if it can be hindered.
The "War against Terror" has no final date, the US says. Nor has the
resistance to it.
No War against Iraq!
For a Free Palestine!
September 11, 2002