Dick Cheney and "Why they hate us"

'They' being Middle East Muslims, especially those who have taken up arms against the American presence in the region.  In his speech to the American Enterprise Institute (in defense of torture), Cheney explained the roots of Arab resentment:

"They have never lacked for grievances against the United States.  Our belief in freedom of speech and religion…our belief in equal rights for women…our support for Israel… — these are the true sources of resentment."

Not so, says retired CIA analyst Ray McGovern, at least not entirely.   They hate not our freedoms, but our policies, particularly American  "support for Israel."   Cheney, McGovern says, got that part right, a deliciously odd admission coming from the man responsible for undermining so many of our vaunted freedoms and civil liberties.  

Not that those on the left haven't tried to convince the "they-hate-our-freedoms-crowd" of the damage done by American policy on Israel-Palestine.  The complaints of leftists, however, are cavalierly dismissed as rants from the "blame America first" fringe.

Even when terrorist masterminds like Osama bin Laden, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Ramzi Yousef explain that their animosity toward the U.S. is almost entirely due to its Israel policy, who takes them seriously?  They're terrorists.

But what if the same policy criticisms were voiced by the U.S. Department of Defense itself?  Would people then sit up and take notice?  Perhaps.  And therein lies the genius of McGovern's piece on Cheney.

McGovern, you see, has unearthed a U.S. Defense Science Board report written just two months after 9-11, and then sent directly to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in 2004, two months before the fall presidential election.  Here's an extended quote from the report --page 48:

"American direct intervention in the Muslim World has ... elevated the stature
of and support for radical Islamists, while diminishing support for the United States to single-digits in some Arab societies.

• "Muslims do not 'hate our freedom,' but rather, they hate our policies. The overwhelming majority voice their objections to what they see as one-sided support in favor of Israel and against Palestinian rights, and the ... support for ... tyrannies, most notably Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Pakistan, and the Gulf states.

• "Thus when American public diplomacy talks about bringing democracy to Islamic societies, this is seen as no more than self-serving hypocrisy. Moreover, saying that 'freedom is the future of the Middle East' is seen as patronizing, suggesting that Arabs are like the enslaved peoples of the old Communist World — but Muslims do not feel this way: they feel oppressed, but not enslaved.

• "Furthermore, in the eyes of Muslims, American occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq has not led to democracy there, but only more chaos and suffering. U.S. actions appear in contrast to be motivated by ulterior motives, and deliberately controlled in order to best serve American national interests at the expense of truly Muslim self-determination."

Sound familiar?

The report, now declassified, was suppressed by those in charge --and according to McGovern-- by the mainstream media. 

But hey!  We're still in Iraq.  We're still in Afghanistan and bombing targets in Pakistan.  We still support Middle Eastern kingdoms and dictatorships.  And... our policy toward Israel shows no signs of changing.

So maybe, just maybe, the conclusions in the report will, at long last, do some good. 

Comments

[Harry Kershner]

The "they-hate-our-freedoms-crowd", including Cheney, are not presently in power, are they?

Only when the so-called "anti-war-crowd" is sufficiently impressed to end their religious devotion to the new dear leader will we be able to move forward on this issue (as well as on a sane health care policy, fundamental economic restructuring, etc.).

Those of us in the center (not the left, which does not exist in America) have been arguing for many years with the elites of both hegemonist parties that their policy choices re Israel endanger us more than any other matter. All politicians who give unqualified support for Israeli crimes should be removed from office. (Yes, I'm aware that's almost all of them.)

"The people’s good will toward Obama and the expectations they had for him were sufficient for Obama to end the gratuitous wars and enact major reforms. But Obama has deserted the people for the interests. He is relying on his non-threatening demeanor and rhetoric to convince the people that change is underway.
"The change that we are witnessing is in Obama, not in policies. Obama is morphing into Dick Cheney."
(Watching Obama Morph Into Dick Cheney)

[Rich Rubino]

Hi Olso, I am the managing editor of a www.politicsdmz.ning.com I would love for you to become a member. I have a similar post to yours.

http://politicsdmz.ning.com/forum/topics/why-they-hate-us-we-need-the

Thanks,
Rich Rubino