Why Do They Hate Us?

It's easy for Americans to believe that the reason terrorists attacked us is because they hate our “freedoms.” That’s what President Bush told us, and that’s what we desperately want to believe. After all, we’re Americans, aren’t we? We believe in American Exceptionalism.

American Exceptionalism is a belief that died a long, slow death in me. I was raised on a steady diet of Superman, The Lone Ranger, GI Joe, Roy Rogers and the like. You know, “Truth, Justice, and the American Way.” I believe in the Declaration of Independence and the ideals of the Founders. Culture and schooling taught me that everything America did in the world was for the good, and appreciated. We were American GI’s handing out chocolate to grateful German children in bombed out Dresden. I still believe in these ideals, but no longer believe American Exceptionalism covers a multitude of US government sins.

Most people I know are really nice and good at heart. They believe these things, too. Many even believed Iraqis would greet us as liberators. Only evil people would resent our occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan and fight against us. And only very evil people would try to outwit our massive firepower and technology by engaging in such un-American activities as Fourth Generation warfare using IEDs and suicide bombings. Americans prefer bombing suspected terrorists from a high altitude. They believe five-hundred pound cluster bombs are not tools of terrorism.

This history of the CIA is coincidental with the rise of anti-American sentiment in the world. Chalmers Johnson (see "Oil and Blowback," "The Sorrows of Empire," and "The Military Industrial Complex") and many others have written extensively on the “blowback” from American policies, especially the clandestine activities of the CIA. Assassinations, training death squads, toppling governments, creating al Qaeda, setting Saddam Hussein in power in Iraq and giving him WMD to fight Iran – all have been the stock in trade for the CIA.

One example of Americans' blindness because of their ignorance of history and belief in American Exceptionalism is the email that’s made many trips around the internet. It maintains that all this Islamic terrorism started when, for some unknown reason, Iranian students took over the US embassy in Iran in 1979. None of the perpetrators of this email seem to know, or care, that the Iranian problem really began when the CIA overthrew the democratically elected government of Mohammed Mossadegh in 1953 and replaced him with the repressive Shah.

We would do well to realize that most of the earth’s population now sees the United States as the greatest threat to world peace and stability. We’ve used up our good will. They’re now coming to hate us, and want to see us brought down. We’ve now become what Charley Reese calls a “Rogue Nation.” (If you think an attack on Iran would be in our best interests, read this article. You might change your mind.)

It is time for us to have an intervention so we can break through our denial. Once we begin to see how others see us, then maybe we can get real and take the steps necessary to regain the moral high ground in world opinion.

Start with Paul Craig Roberts’ excellent article, “We, the Salt of the Earth, Take Precedence.” This is American Exceptionalism in action.

Then Karl Schwartz has a sobering dissertation on why America’s awful elected representatives are taking us down the road to ruin. Whether we elect Obama or McCain, this will not change.
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Ron Paul reports on "The Mother of All Bailouts." The Treasury is now supplying an open-ended line of credit to buy mortgages no one else wants. This is yet another nail in the coffin for the US Dollar, further ensuring runaway inflation. If you keep your investment and retirement funds in US stocks and bonds, don't say you weren't warned. As an addendum, all credit card transactions will now be reported to the IRS!
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I’m gathering a lot of data about what to expect from President Obama. It’s not pretty or hopeful. And most of you won’t like the things he will continue, or the changes he’ll make. A “perfect storm” in American politics is coming on us at the same time it is happening to the economy. I hope to start writing on that next week. For a humorous look at O's recent "Rainbow Tour" (ala Eva Peron), read this. And note the free rock concert prior to his German speech.