Oppose The Real "Terrorists!"

On the Bombings of Afghanistan and Sudan

by Vietnam Veterans Against the War - Anti-Imperialist

Many people are asking "Why is it abhorrent to explode two car bombs in front of U.S. embassies - but heroic to drop 60,000 bombs from war planes onto cities, water treatment plants and hospitals as the U.S. did in Iraq?" Everybody knows that U.S. imperialism is the #1 terrorist in the world. The violence the U.S. has been sending out has come back to haunt them.

The U.S. responded to two bombs with 75 cruise missiles. Claiming that the target was "terror," Clinton ordered cruise missiles fired into a capital of an African nation and on suspected terrorist training camps in Afghanistan. A chemical plant that supplies half the country of Sudan's famine stricken people with medicine was bombed based on "evidence" the U.S. refuses to disclose. Amidst the suffering and death, we here in the U.S. never saw the smoke or the fire. We didn't smell the blood or see the dead. We certainly didn't see the hatred in the eyes of the people, a look we veterans remember from Vietnam, Panama, Haiti and Iraq.

Clinton justified the U.S. bombings as an act of "self defense" in a speech aimed at trying to corral the people of this country into supporting this attack and future actions against "terrorism." He claims to be fighting a "war against terrorism" that is being waged by religious fanatics who are opposed to what the U.S. stands for-peace and freedom-and who are responsible for the deaths of innocent men, women and children.

Bullshit. As Vietnam vets we know who the real terrorists are and we know that the U.S. has the ultimate responsibility for the deaths and devastated lives in these incidents. The U.S. is a world class champion at massacring the innocent-from the U.S. Calvary annihilating the Native Americans, the U.S. Air Force dropping nukes on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the massacres of Vietnamese women and children, the deaths and destruction in Panama, and on and on. The world's memory is long and so is ours.

All over the world the people have many grievances against the U.S. It is the U.S. that has exploited, bullied, invaded and bombed other people's countries. It is the U.S. that has been the biggest and most ruthless perpetrator of bombings in the world. The victims number in the millions and yet anyone who dares to use violence against the U.S. government is instantly labeled "terrorist." There is no such thing as self-defense for anyone who dares oppose U.S. interests-here at home or overseas. The U.S. claims the right to commit crimes, but comes down with brutal violence when people respond in any way.

We oppose this latest U.S. violence but also see the larger agenda for which the U.S. government is preparing. The U.S. is telling the world that IT will define who is or isn't a terrorist based on its laws-like the "anti-terrorist" law recently signed by Clinton-and secret evidence. In this country, this law prepares the way for new repression against civil liberties. It also demonizes and criminalizes, here and around the world, all opposition to the U.S. as terrorist. Under the guise of portraying U.S. military interventions as the struggle for freedom, these bombings are a message to the whole world that the U.S. is the sole superpower with the ability to launch bombs anywhere/anytime, even by a president who is hampered with scandal. As anti-imperialists and opponents of all U.S. military intervention, we see a dangerous precedent being set for future bombings and interventions, all in flagrant violation of international law and of other nations' sovereignty. And some people wonder why the U.S. embassies, bases and other symbols of U.S. power are targets?

We call on all veterans, youth, activists and progressive-minded people to oppose these attacks by the U.S. Opposition to U.S. interventions needs to be raised on all levels. We need to dream about a world without imperialism but more importantly we need to fight against all imperialist crimes.

To the people of the world we say, "Those are not our embassies!" We have more in common with the people of the world than with the murderers who are leading our country. We are not just Americans-we are internationalists.

Vietnam Veterans Against the War Anti-Imperialist (VVAW AI)
PO Box 21604
Seattle, WA 98111-3604
Ph/Fax (206) 374-2215
email: vvawai@oz.net
http://www.oz.net/~vvawai

[posted September 2, 1998]