By Anwaar Hussain*
February 24, 2006
Pakistan's Pak Tribune - Original Article (English)    

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Never before has one word, or its relentless repetition, done so much for one man as the word "terror" ("terra" in Texanese) has for the Texan who now resides in the White House. No other word, it seems, has done more to sustain and enhance Bush's fame among a certain naive group of Americans.

The word terra remains the cornerstone of this administration's past, present and future plans of action. Be it Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Katrina, domestic elections, the holding of sham legislations, the Guantanamo Gulag, the discovery of torture dungeons or the scandal of spying on its own citizens, no American crisis has ever been strong enough to withstand the administration's mantra of terra, terra, terra.

The latest scandal - the domestic spying program that has ripped apart U.S. law and its Constitution - is now conveniently referred to as the "terrorist surveillance program."

The only other word that approaches terra's level of influence is "freedom." Bush's entire presidential career is laced with the two words terra and freedom. Though most Americans have begun to suspect that freedom at home, like any fixed commodity, is declining at the same rate that its exports abroad allegedly increase, some still heed the incessant chant of terra, terra, terra.

Terra has been used as a well-oiled ramrod with which to shove unpalatable legislation down the dissenting Americans' collective throat, and as a stick to beat the anti-war opposition into mute submission.

In one of his West Point speeches, President Bush announced that the "war on terra will not be won on the defensive. We must take the battle to the enemy, disrupt his plans and confront the worst threats before they emerge." Not long after, when asked during an interview on NBC's Today Show if the war on terror could be won, Bush responded, "I don't think you can win it." He said first that Americans lives would "never be the same" because of his "war on terra," and then that, despite the sacrifice of Americans' freedom and prosperity, they would not ever really win the "war on terra."

How gullible can a people be? This president has convinced Americans that the "war on terra" requires them to sacrifice their freedoms, bankrupt themselves, allow spying on their private lives, change their lives forever and not ask for secrets that he keeps from them. He tells them to stay the course without telling them what the course is. Yet without batting an eye, he also says the war on terra will continue indefinitely and may even be unwinnable.

Ironically, some Americans still respond to the call of terra, terra, terra like the faithful to a shrine. Is it a secret any longer that Bush and Co. will keep Americans in a constant state of fear as long as they can get away with it, because terra continues to enrich certain corporations and power brokers? Is it a secret any longer that the only way to stop terrorism is to expose the war on terra as yet another dangerous U.S. government war scam?

Does anyone need reminding that so-called terrorism is a desperate tactic of a desperate people, not an evil ideology? That the root cause of present day terrorism lies in the U.S. government's failed foreign policies, upholding the violent occupation of Muslim lands and the cruel subjugation of millions of marginalized Muslims? That stopping terrorism is impossible until these unjust U.S. government policies are stopped? That the illegal and immoral U.S. occupation of Iraq aggravates the problem by patently authenticating the so called terrorists' claims of repression and brutal occupation of Muslim lands? That this bloody U.S. occupation practically guarantees Americans and their sidekicks will continue to be targets of violence wherever and whenever possible, and that the soon-to-come Iran misadventure is most likely to swell the ranks of these very "terrorists" like never before?

That all this is happening right before our eyes, with such obvious similarities to the rise of the Hitlers and Mussolinis of the past, is as sardonic as it is unbelievable. For the time being, however, riding on the wings of terra, the Americans are sleepwalking into history's hall of shame. The day will surely come when the mass delusion of Bush's supporters will evaporate. And on that day, these Americans are certain to wake up and, in a deafening global chorus of error, error, error, ask themselves, "What have we done?"

So on the eve of yet another war about to be thrust upon yet another innocent mass of humanity, let us remember that, like all empires, the Bush Empire too will eventually come to an end. And when that does finally happen, I don't want to be around, for fear of those involuntary tears when the charlatans are being meted out the Mussolini treatment.

In the meanwhile, however, "Cry terra and let loose the dogs of war."

[Editor's Note: Mussolini was ripped to pieces by the mob].

*Anwaar Hussain is a former Pakistan Air Force F-16 fighter pilot. With a Masters in Defense and Strategic Studies from Quaid-e-Azam University Islamabad, he now resides in United Arab Emirates. He has published a series of articles in Defense Journal, South Asia Tribune and a host of other web portals. Other than international affairs, Anwaar Hussain has written extensively on the religious and political issues that plague Pakistan.