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Essays, Opinion, & Commentary |
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Something to Think About
by Gordon Francis Corbett
Why should a fanciful scenario about imaginary terrorists' having exploded a ship in San Francisco a century ago concern us today? Western Europe and the United States are building an empire. Consider the following. Latin America: at our government's behest, many Latin American nations have junked their currencies for our dollar, which will let us control their economies. The Balkans: our government's interference in the Balkans' perennial wars has helped to impose an uneasy "Pax NATO." Iran: our government has frozen Iranian assets in our country. Iran trains terrorists. Our government undermines its economy. Iraq: our government prevents Hussein from slaughtering rebels in Iraq's northern and southern sectors. He trains terrorists. Our government undermines his economy. Afghanistan: Afghanistan's Taliban government sheltered Osama bin Laden's Al-Quaeda. After 11 September, our government attacked Afghanistan, destroyed the Taliban, and shattered Al-Qaeda. Our government will shortly begin restoring Afghanistan's economy. Our people have not assembled these mosaic "chips." When they do, they will understand a possible reason for 11 September's so-far-unnamed sponsor's attack, but they will not react quite as our predecessors would have done to an attack on San Francisco. Today's Americans have been educated against the ethos that inspired Rudyard Kipling's admonition, "Take up the white man's burden." Education for resuming the support of that burden may well be in the works. It will cover the evil of men like Iraq's Hussein, of Iran's Khatami, and of the Taliban's Mullah Omar. It will feature the benevolence of Afghanistan's new Western-installed rulers. It will ponder the question of whether our government should remove other despotic regimes. It will push subtly, but steadily, for our government to play the world's policeman. Watch your television and read your newspapers. Look for signs that we are building a new empire.
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Something to Think About Index |
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