And we are now fifteen years into the war on terrorism. The great powers of the US, the UK, France and their "allies" managed to destroy the nation states of Afghanistan and Iraq, creating Islamic State in the process. The great powers, with additional help from Russia when needed, then went about the destruction of Libya, Somalia and Syria. Almost weekly US drone missions continue to bomb targets in Pakistan, and other places we don't know about.
It's difficult to know who will be the next leading terrorist state. Iran? North Korea? Venezuela perhaps?
On the home front of this war, we have governments of otherwise democratic nations spying on their own citizens. Even in Canada our government collects and sifts through information it collects on virtually all of us, through our emails, phone calls and credit card transactions. All because of the war on terrorism.
Gore Vidal was an American writer of fiction, essays, screenplays, and stage plays. He was also a prominent intellectual known for his educated manner, wit, and a polished style of writing and speaking. We would do well to remember the words of Gore Vidal from October 25, 2006:
You can’t have a war on terrorism because that’s not an actual enemy, it’s an abstract. It’s like having a war on dandruff. That war will be eternal and pointless. It’s idiotic.
That’s not a war that’s a slogan. It’s a lie. It’s advertising, which is the only art form we ever invented in America. And we can use it to sell soap, wars and presidential candidates in the same fashion.
As with most wars, somebody has made a great deal of money off this one. We should follow the money.
Copyright 2016 by Jim Murray.
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