Glenn Greenwald, Salon: They Hate Us For Our Freedoms

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Sunday, May 15, 2011 06:16 ET
Glenn Greenwald
They hate us for our freedoms
By Glenn Greenwald

For the second time in three days, a night raid in eastern Afghanistan by NATO forces resulted in the death of a child, setting off protests on Saturday that turned violent and ended in the death of a second boy. . . .

There's nothing much new to say here, but every now and then, it's worth highlighting not only what we're doing, but what the results are. Just imagine the accumulated hatred from having things like this happen day after day, week after week, year after year, for a full decade now, with no end in sight -- broadcast all over the region. It's literally impossible to convey in words the level of bloodthirsty fury and demands for vengeance that would arise if a foreign army were inside the U.S. killing innocent American children even a handful of times, let alone continuously for a full decade.

It's the perfect self-perpetuating cycle: (1) They hate us and want to attack us because we're over there; therefore, (2) we have to stay and proliferate ourselves because they hate us and want to attack us; (3) our staying and proliferating ourselves makes them hate us and want to attack us more; therefore, (4) we can never leave, because of how much they hate us and want to attack us. The beauty of this War on Terror -- and, as the last two weeks have demonstrated, War is the bipartisan consensus for what we are and should be doing to address Terrorism -- is that it forever sustains its own ostensible cause.

[dotymed]

1. "We have always been at war with Oceania."

:kick:

[txlibdem]

15. +1

K&R

[bvar22]

2. Meet Hamid Karzai

or as Obama calls him, "The Government of Afghanistan".

He was appointed by Bush the Lesser to run Afghanistan.
He is one of the most despicable criminals in The World,
But NOW we like him so much
that our children fighting and dying in the deserts of Afghanistan to keep him in power.

[truth2power]

14. "We like him so much". Yeah, and in some far future day

he will go the way of others we once supported, like Saadam Hussein and OBL, probably hanged in the public square. After, of course, the American people have been brought up to date on the official narrative - that we always hated him.

The main reason I never feel sorry for these thugs is that they deserve what they get for being stupid enough to throw their lot in with the US govt. crime syndicate.

[Keith Bee]

3. Straight to Greatest Threads

Enthusiastic K&R!

[GeorgeGist]

4. but, but,but, Obama killed Osama ...

so that makes it worth it. :phucktards:

[walerosco]

8. and if you listen to the experts

that actually made things worse. I just wonder how releasing the irrelevant info about Osama having a stash of porn is going to affect our security

[OnyxCollie]

16. It's always about sex.

Domestic surveillance with blanket warrants, scanning phones without consent, monitoring image hosting websites, the reluctance to create a .xxx domain- all lean toward trapping people interested in sex.

It's a great way to control people. Find out what sexual outlets people are pursuing and then subject the targets to public shaming/criminal prosecutions.

[dotymed]

19. Anything to demean. These are the same

tactics they use on "friend (if they stand in their way) and foe alike." Our politicians mostly, are pathetic bottom feeders who remind me of the wresslin' industry.

We must unite. Without a form of the Fairness Doctrine being re-instated, it will be hard, almost impossible unless Americans switch, in multitudes, to alternate news sources. TheRealNewsNetwork is priceless for news. Democracy Now and Grit tv are very informative but may cause conservatives some trouble because they do have a left leaning narrative, PBS used to be the answer, it is now neo-con controlled under the surface of impartiality.

We live in the "information era" yet when it comes to anything political, not much real information, mainly disinformation. If (as in the past many decades, ending under Reagan) our government wanted an informed citizenry, then Re-instating the Fairness Doctrine would be done. Since all it takes is the President to tell his appointed FCC commissioners to do so. Proving that we are still under rethuglican control. President Obama has largely left the majority rethug run FCC alone. He was supposed to appoint HIS (our) people to run this hugely formative agency. Another case of, "Meet the New Boss,Same as the old Boss...IMO.
Politburo anyone?

[walerosco]

20. couldnt agree more

The problem is what happens to enforcing the fairness doctrine when a conservative gets into power? Personally I have given up on mainstream news. I have cut my cable, local paper and am now getting 90% of my news from da web. But the pentagon releasing this info is one of those you cannot escape from.

[Hissyspit]

5. Kick nt

[sabrina 1]

6. It's almost as if we want to make them hate us. This has been

happening, along with imprisonment and torture of many Afghans, and with the presence of out-of-control mercenaries running around partying and prostituting on US tax dollars, for ten years.

And, the people of Afghanistan have been protesting in huge numbers throughout all of it. All ignored by our US media.

Either we are governed by the stupidest people in the world, or someone wants to keep inciting violence to keep these insane wars going.

Greenwald is the conscience of the media. And he takes a lot of abuse for it. But those who attack him have never once shown where he is wrong. If this were happening in this country the rage and anger and calls for the deaths of those responsible would be heard around the world.

Yet, no one in a position to do so ever acknowledges that these are the policies that are threatening the security of this country.

Kudos to Greenwald for not being intimidated into silence. But we need more doing what he does.

[walerosco]

7. Classic greenwald

Pointing out the failures of both parties especially when it come to war. The MIC owns both parties atm, it is the reason why the wars never ends. The problems in this country can be traced by to the expanding US empire: terrorism, budget deficits etc

END THE WARS NOW

[Keith Bee]

9. Rec, damn you, REC!

:P

[bjobotts]

10. It's not about terrorism, it's about feeding the war profiteers who demand perpetual war.

[bjobotts]

11. Bring back the draft and cancel all military contracts that can be done with military personnel

[bjobotts]

12. That is the first step in ending war -remove the profiteering.

[OnyxCollie]

17. War is a racket.

Well, it’s a racket, all right. A few profit- and the many pay. But there is a way to stop it.
You can’t end it by disarmament conferences. You can’t eliminate it by peace parlays at
Geneva. Well-meaning but impractical groups can’t wipe it out by resolutions. It can be
smashed effectively only by taking the profit out of war.

-Brigadier General Smedley D. Butler, War is a Racket, p. 39

[dotymed]

22. Amen, and end the "special circumstances" that allow most

"Elites" to avoid military service. No deferments (maybe a few if they are proven to be administered equally to wealthy and non-wealthy), no National Guard "hideouts", college deferments, etc..

If the affluent have to face the prospect of their child (almost ALL of the soldiers are children!! Man, I love (Kurt Vonnegut,Jr. and "The Children's Crusade" ).

We used to enforce laws against "War Profiteering", now "we" embrace it and consider it a huge part of our economy. YES, reinstate the draft, remove the exemptions and outlaw Mercenaries.

Our "wars" (against the poorest nations in the world) would end tomorrow. Skip and Buffy would never be exposed to the horrors of war. Wall street is waiting for them.

[walerosco]

13. +1000

Same way the TSA is not about security. Its all about enriching some multinational corporation

[OnyxCollie]

18. K&R. nt

[BobbyBoring]

21. Sick!

We need a total ban on military contractors. If we had contractors instead of Seabees and the Corp, we still might be fighting WWII.

[RussBLib]

23. I thought Greenwald was going to say ...

...that the REPUBLICANS (and Christians) hate us (Democrats, free thinkers) because of our freedoms. It would almost be apropos.