Who_Is_the_Real_Terrorist

Who is the real terrorist by Khalil Abdul-Malik Is history really doomed to repeat itself. Do you truly reap what you sow. Daily we hear about acts, acts of terrorism. Things that are blamed on people that we assume that are just automatically true when someone tells you. But is it really truth. Is it really what you see, or is there something else going on behind the scenes Everyday we are programed to accept the reporting’s from various news outlets as absolute, certain and unquestionable, without even realizing it, when what we should do is research there sources to confirm its validity. A perfect example of this was made when Ronald Reagan and others in the American administration frequently called the Afghan Mujahiddeen “freedom fighters” during their war against the Soviet Union, yet twenty years later, when a new generation of Afghan men are fighting against what they to be a regime installed by foreign powers, their attacks are labelled “terrorism” by George W Bush. The irony of the above statement is how the U.S. is quick to label who is and isn’t a terrorist, and honestly speaking we should know. Our countries past history is littered with and was built by terrorism. Which begs the question, Who is the real terrorist 'What exactly is terrorism. The United States Department of Defense defines terrorism as “the calculated use of unlawful violence or threat of unlawful violence to inculcate fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological.” Within this definition, there are three key elements—violence, fear, and intimidation—and each element produces terror in its victims. The FBI uses this: "Terrorism is the unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives." The U.S. Department of State defines "terrorism" to be "premeditated politically-motivated violence perpetrated against non-combatant targets by sub-national groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience. Our earliest tactics of terrorism were implemented against The American Indian : It is said that that Christopher Columbus discovered America, but how do you discover something that was already inhabited by the Native American. The Native American welcomed the europeans, yet the were met with deception, wrongfully killed, enslaved, had their land stolen from them, then placed on a reservation as a means of pacification. The greatest act of terrorism in our countries history was committed against my people. Africans were taken from another country brought across waters, were we drowned by the hundreds of thousands. Treated us as sub human beings, going as far as to call us 3/5 of a person in our own constitution. We had our history destroyed, our family system broke down causing damage thats desperately in need of repair till this very day. We were enslaved , separated by skin complexion to cause descension among our race, we were killed by the millions, lynched, had water hoses sprayed on us, dogs sicked on us. It was just 46 years ago that our equal rights were established. That is not a long time ago, it was in most of our parents time. Theres not a tactic spoken of in the definition of terrorism that was not implemented on my people. Though more underlining , this very terrorism continues to this day. Another group of people who were pillaged out of their land rights from Florida all the way to California, was the Mexican. Our president at the time Andrew Jackson devised ways to systematically force the Mexican to give up their land through coercion and fear. Starting with words, sending out contracts to unlawfully take property and ending with unjustified military force to gain a foothold for the spreading for slavery. This how we obtained the states of Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Texas, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona and California. The U.S. government has killed civilians for well over a century. During the Civil War, General William Tecumseh Sherman waged war on civilians in Atlanta. During the Philippine Insurrection at the turn of 20th century, U.S. forces killed about 200,000 civilians, and even had a policy to shoot anyone more than 10 years old who dared to resist the U.S. occupation of the Philippines. During World War II, the Allies ruthlessly firebombed Dresden and Tokyo and other cities in Germany and Japan, killing hundreds of thousands of innocent noncombatants. But there was nevertheless something special about Hiroshima and its sequel of mass horror, Nagasaki. People still defend Harry Truman’s atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on pragmatic grounds. Truman’s defenders say that the bombings saved far more lives than they extinguished. They concede that the bombing was an act of targeting civilians, but insist that it was for the worthy goal of ending the war. Before even examining the plausibility of this argument, we have to acknowledge the argument’s essence. In effect, to rationalize the targeting of noncombatants as the best method of bringing about a greater good is to make excuses for state terrorism. Terrorism, if it means anything, is a method by which civilians are the targets of violence for the purpose of achieving political goals. Having Imperial Japan surrender, even if a worthy goal, was nevertheless a political one, and the targeting of innocents to achieve that goal was an act of terrorism and the affects of it reverberate through Japan till this very day. 200,000 to 400,000 innocent Japanese were instantaneously wiped off the earth on August 6 and August 9, 1945. Many more died in the following years from the radioactive climate left behind by the bombings. We are the only people on the face of the earth to drop a nuclear weapon on anyone. Yet we worry about someone else terrorizing us with those very same weapons. Our government through its various agencies like the CIA put Sadaam Hussien and Usama Bin Laden, among others in power. Its more than fair to say we knew what we were dealing with. If you mess with the bull, you will get the horns. If you had told me that you could fake your death 20 years ago, I would’ve looked at you and laughed. now know for a fact that its more than possible. The CIA,NSA, and the FBI do it every day. We have done more dirt in other countries than any other nation that the typical american is not aware off. Whats the difference between the U.S. during the American Revolution and Iraqi in the Iraq war. There absolutely is none, we were both invaded by foreign parties, that impeded on sovereign land. Yet one is labelled a liberator and hero and the other is named a terrorist or an insurgent. Who is the real terrorist. When you point one finger at someone your have three fingers pointing back at you. You truly do reap what you sow, and I for one think that the United States should think twice before it uses the term terrorist so loosely.