How the U.S. is Its Own Worst Enemy When It Comes to Fighting Terrorism

Impact

With news of the TSA misbehaving like never before and of the NSA acting unconstitutionally thousands of times a year, once can only wonder if these agencies are worth their massive budgets is or if they are only a stark reminder of Ben Franklin's old quote: "Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both."

Because should you be a suspected terrorist, you won't be told why and could actually be chased based on information obtained under torture, which is highly unreliable. In other words, your constitutional rights are meaningless.

So why have these governments agencies (plus the CIA and the FBI) meant to protect the U.S. come to exist? Are they genuinely there to protect the U.S. from genuine threats or they are simply there to contain the damage from Uncle Sam's protection of its interests by meddling in the internal affairs of other countries?

In other words, is the U.S. government proving that, just like physics, every action has a reaction? The recent declassification of the U.S. intervention in the Iranian coup of 1953 and the (possibly) fake hostage crisis of 1979 are such indications. Fervently pro-American before these interventions, most Iranians have become staunchly anti-American since then, even more so with sanctions now decimating their country. And we're supposed to believe they definitely want war with the U.S., since they have their country so close to U.S. military bases.

Let's not forget about U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, either. It started in 1979 when the USSR wanted to invade this mountainous country in order to support a communist government that seemed to have little chance of holding onto power. Since it was considered part of the Cold War, the Carter administration started harming mujahideen (holy soldiers) so they could fight back the Soviets. Reagan even said that watching these "courageous Afghan freedom fighters battle modern arsenals with simple hand-held weapons is an inspiration to those who love freedom."

But once this war ended in 1989, these mujahideen didn't disband; they actually spread over the Muslim world in order to continue their jihad (holy war). In Afghanistan, it gave rise to the Taliban, who in the mid 90s gradually seized power and started their oppressive theocracy. When the 9/11 attacks happened and surprised everyone (well, almost), Talibans were immediately noticed as the hosts of Osama Bin-Laden and were ultimately bombed into near oblivion. Hamid Karzai replaced the Taliban regime thanks to the U.S. but proved to be nearly as uncaring about women's rights and ascorrupt as the Taliban themselves, severely undermining U.S. credibility.

So instead of trying to stop terrorists when they are ready to strike, Washington must instead thoroughly rethink its strategy and stop breeding terrorists in the first place, like it's doing in Pakistan. It's no wonder that the country despised Obama so much during the last election: they've been droned like crazy since Obama took office in 2008. Orphans, people whose families have been killed by these strikes, and those who have lived through or witnessed torture will become easy prey for the propaganda of fundamentalists who vow to destroy "America."