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St. Cloud State University
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Assumptions
By Ibrahim Bah
Published:
Monday, October 14, 2002
Ibrahim Bah -- Guest Column
The U.S. shaken by the unimaginable, an attack right at home. Leaving bodies to be counted and buried in months, and lots of revenge to be expressed.
The phrase "you're either with us or with the terrorists" has a drifting tone in which both the enemy and citizens will pay a high price of punishment and lowered freedoms. 9/11 left a wound that needed public appeasement.
The government's failure to prevent 9/11 with a sense of denial for its poorly run intelligence community only means citizens will pay. Tax dollars will be used to increase a false sense of security, fighting wars, and more government control over citizens' rights. A false sense of security seemed best to satisfy public opinion. Airport gates are now filled with armed guards clowning around creating horror tales for travelers with their BB's. Citizens are consistently put through the hassles of detainment and unnecessary delay.
Let's be realistic here, taking your belt and shoes off for proper search takes away your simplest rights. If "molesting" you at airport gates makes you feel any safer than before, seek professional help immediately. They are looking for weapons while they know the terrorists. 9/11 suspects were on the FBI's watch list before the attacks.
Thanks to political correctness and protest-ready groups no one group can be targeted for profiling. INS had its share of discrepancies and irresponsibility but still received nearly $1billion in assistance with more laws to "rape" immigrants. The FBI received its biggest pay in years with the support to harass citizens.
The government now has the right to watch you on the net, monitor your religious activities, and pick you up whenever. Everything labeled under "terrorism" is addressed with no mercy. This is one of those things where freedom taken way little by little and you won't like the end picture when most fades away completely.
Expanding the war on terrorism by attacking Iraq is a cheap excuse. Getting rid of Saddam is only for the interest of oil. There are countries with irresponsible governments that are more prone to using its deadly nukes than Iraq if it has any. But of course they don't supply oil.
If Saddam was the madman he was portrayed to be, the countless years he's been harassed would have certainly pushed him to use whatever means he had. So far the only reasons given are based on assumptions that he might have"weapons of mass destruction" What kind or how powerful, never proven. Are those weapons capable of reaching U.S. shores?
If Saddam were ever to be taken out, let's hope the U.S. can manage to have the puppet leader of Iraq it's long sought. Besides, if Saddam is dealt with who's next in line? I am not a fan of Saddam but it's the principle behind attacking countries especially without consensus among allies that I find most alarming.
