FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM?

I've been meaning to write about this topic for a while but as usual, procrastination seeped in. That seepage has finally stopped with this little piece of mine.

There is no one word more exploited today for political gain that that of "freedom". Ever since a bunch of sadistic, religious zealots decided that their only route to heaven where they would be greeted with open arms by virgins was to kill innocent Americans, politicians on the right have insidiously exploited that tragedy as a textbook example of how people in the Middle East detest the plethora of civil rights that are afforded to Americans.

The corollary of that is that there is also a common mis-conception among Americans that their soldiers serve in order to protect their freedom. The notion that a nation sends soldiers to war because if it doesn't so, its citizens would lose their existing freedom is nothing short of hogwash.

Contrary to what many conservatives (foolishly) think, Iraq was never a war to protect the freedom of Americans. Last time I checked, citizens in this country had the right to vote, visit any place of worship of their choice, say anything in public without fear of prosecution, travel in between states, in between countries, buy property, marry someone outside their own race, establish their own business, etc... on the day before the first bomb was dropped on Baghdad. 2 years later, those same fundamental civil rights are still afforded to Americans. So what kinds of freedom were conservatives referring to that going into war in Iraq would bring to Americans that were not previously available?

Even if we go back to WWII, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour solely to cripple the Pacific fleet so that it could continue its uninhibited invasion of SE Asia. I can't imagine any level-headed American would think that the Japanese had any intention of occupying the United States and forcing every living American to replace ketchup, apple pie & bud light with wasabi, sashimi & sake respectively.

Similarly, the war in Afghanistan had nothing to do with freedom as well. It was simply an act, and a justifiable one if I may add, of obliterating the bastards that planned the atrocities of 9/11.

Osama bin Laden, as diabolical as he is, never had any intention of curtailing the civil rights of Americans. Ironically, it was the ultra-conservative nut job Pat Buchanan who got it right, that 9/11 happened because of

(a) Perception of relentless American support of Israel in its attempt to marginalize the Palestinians, and (b) Western presence on Middle Eastern grounds, especially Saudi Arabia, considered sacred by Islam.

The last thing I'm doing here is offer justifications for the travesties of 9/11 but one would have to be extremely naive to think that we can conquer the enemy without first understanding it or its intentions, strategies, and goals. In an interview on CNBC, Buchanan remarked that to say that the asinine idea that Osama hates the freedom that Americans currently have is to think that he is sitting in a cave somewhere, reading the Bill of Rights and going bananas.

Let's face it, Osama bin Laden doesn't give a rat's ass even if our women dressed up in burkhas instead of tank tops. He doesn't care if Americans surf porn, read Penthouse magazines, visit brothels, or engage in other acts of sin.

It's almost laughable to see those pro-war protestors take to the streets claiming to support the troops because they are fighting for our freedom. As the famous British economist John Stuart Mills once said, "I never meant to say that the Conservatives are generally stupid. I meant to say that stupid people are generally Conservative. I believe that is so obviously and universally admitted a principle that I hardly think any gentleman will deny it."

Having said that, if there is a need to wage war to protect the freedom of Americans, it is without doubt the war against Christian conservatives whose parochial, ideological agenda threatens to aborgate the right of women to privacy, and the right of gays and lesbians to obtain the same priviledges afforded to heterosexuals. The growing clout that these hypocrites-i.e. Pat Robertson, James Dobson, Jerry Falwell and co.-exercise in Washington is a cause for concern. If this group of radicals get their way, there is no way to predict what other rights they will attempt to destroy.

It's high time America wakes up from its slumber and realize that the biggest threat is in its midst, and not in the Middle East.