I didn’t want to let this anniversary pass without comment—that is the 68th anniversary of the single most obscene and pointless example of state sponsored terrorism ever perpetuated on humanity. On August 6, 1945 the United States of America dropped a bomb so devastating on the non-military town of Hiroshima, Japan; followed 3 days later by another over Nagasaki. The claim, cemented in history, that the action was necessary to end the war (WWII) and save many American lives was in fact an outright lie—Japan was in the process of negotiating surrender terms, and the war was, in effect, already over when the bombs were dropped. The reaction across America, and the rest of a war weary world was one of horror that the US military would use such a powerful and destructive weapon for no strategic purpose against what were primarily civilian populations—killing tens of thousands of Japanize women and children.
Now committing acts of terror against women and children—civilian populations– has a long and honorable history by the United States. The Europeans who first settled on his continent (both in the north and the south) had no qualms when it came to killing entire villages and communities of the native population. Lincoln essentially made it part of the US military strategy when he sent Sherman on his scorched earth march across Georgia, and another similar campaign down through the Shenandoah valley of central Virginia. As weapon technology grew stronger, the number of dead from these terror attacks grew larger and larger. The fire bombings of Dresden, and Tokyo were attacks meant to put the fear of god into the survivor’s hearts, and completely demoralize the civilian population in hopes of political change within their respective governments. We also used terror campaigns against civilian populations in Vietnam, sponsored the rightwing death squads so common in Central America during the 70’s and 80’s, and destroyed the civilian infrastructure in Iraq in 91, leading to the deaths of some 100,000 children from disease contributed to by a lack of clean water, and embargoed medicine.
Now, we make war against and financially (and militarily) support the same terrorist organizations, depending on where they are located and who they are fighting at the time. Today, it is Al Qaeda that is our “enemy” in Afghanistan and Pakistan, but our ally in the US backed revolutions in Libya, and currently Syria. And, we have developed the ultimate terror weapon—the unmanned drone which can unleash death and destruction anywhere, anytime against anyone.
One cannot imagine how upsetting it is to realize that the United States I learned about in school was at best a myth, but more likely an outright lie. Seem that the country that I love has been the biggest threat to world peace because of a government that is only responsible to the military – industrial complex and the big banks. Or have I repeated myself???
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