war on terror

The modern war on terror may have begun with the attack on the al-Shifa plant in Khartoum. To a large extent it grew out of the war on drug users and the Cold War. The war on drug users prepared the U.S. and other imperialist countries for it by eroding search & seizure protections, presumption of innocence, and a market free from confiscations; while this war and the Cold War contributed to the refinement of terror methods in Italy, Germany, the Philippines, S. America, etc. The use of suicide bombings, invented by Russian nihilists, was adopted and popularized by the oppressed Tamils of Sri Lanka and India. This method epitomized the goals of bourgeois "resistance" leaders--not to organize a broad working class movement to struggle for power, but to pressure capitalist forces through spectacular acts of violence into reaching a backroom deal.

Al-Qaeda used religion as part of a substitute nationalist narrative. Its fighg had little in common with the Iranian mullahs, who used religion to stifle the revolution and impose capitalism and conservatism on it, and more in common with the populist nationalism of the Fulani jihad and the Mahdi Army. Its greatest success was the capture of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, a popular action that resulted in expansion of democratic breathing-space in Saudi Arabia.

Al-Qaeda was enriched by the fight against the Soviets, subsidized by the U.S. on behalf of landlords of Afghanistan, and by construction contracts in Sudan, which meanwhile under Cold War and internal political pressure had become increasingly conservative and theocratic.

Emboldened by the defeat of the Soviets and by the U.S.'s retreat under pressure by Iran- and Syria-backed Hizballah in Lebanon, and al-Qaeda-allied militias in Somalia, and seeing their social position slip as a result of repression in Muslim countries and popular revulsion at their thuggish tactics, al-Qaeda struck American embassies in E. Africa and troop positions in Saudi Arabia. The bombing of the al-Khifa plant was the U.S.'s response.

The plant was partly owned by al-Qaeda, which was among other things a business empire operating major "legitimate" businesses around the world. U.S. intelligence may have feared chemical weapons' being developed there--although this was shown not to be the case, and regardless it was a war crime and crime against peace--but it behooved the U.S. to deal a commercial blow to al-Qaeda regardless. The timing of the attack, too, was probably indeed affected by Clinton's wish to distract attention from the Monica Lewinsky "scandal." At any rate, the destruction of the only pharmaceutical factory in Sudan created a profound social crisis resulting in perhaps 2 million direct deaths, and intensified the desperatiom of impoverished Arab and African tribes. Sudan responded by seeking to get back into the U.S.'s graces by reaching a deal with the dominant S. Sudanese tribes and the SPLA, which would give the U.S. more reliable access to oil. Coming largely at the expense of the east and west, this peace deal ironically contributrd to the rise of fighting in Darfur. The recent squeeze on Gadhafi, the main backer of Darfur's rebels, will probably shift the balance in the government's favor, allowing them to defeat Darfur's tribal, secular, and religious militias and ensure peaceful acquiescence in the poverty imposed thereby.

Meanwhile the 9/11 attacks succeeded spectacularly (in killing) partly as a result of the coincidental removal of American safeguards for training, failure to follow other procedures, I.e., incompetence of the Bush administration, the firing of thousands of veteran, competent air traffic controllers under Reagan, and the disregard for building codes by the mob-linked construction companies that built the WTC. But after years of the war on terror, the top leadership of al-Qaeda is dead, command and control is disrupted, and al-Qaeda (as well as nmost of its allies) are less popular among Muslims today than in 2001, much less 1979.

Meanwhile, NATO invaded Afghanistan, increasing the encirclement of Russia, sharpening the disputes among NATO powers, and seizing control over oil & gas and heroin. Then there was the war on Iraq, prompted partly by the desire to stop Iraq from developing nuclear weapons, at least a theoretically realistic possibility; partly by the desire for oil; and mostly for a strategic location bordering Iran, Saudi Arabia, and (almost) Russia. This war lessened the U.S.'s dependence on Israel, and since then the U.S.'s pro-Israel tilt has decreased considerably.

More than that, the "war on terror" has blurred the boundaries between overseas wars and wars at home, with the U.S. government openly targeting U.S. citizens for assassination. It has legitimized torture, Orwellian "memory hole" b.s. (are we at war with Sunni extremists or Shi'ite extremists in Iraq? Depends what day of the week it is). And meanwhile the imperialist powers are increasingly at odds over strategy, material interests, and now depression and trade wars are more and more creating conditions for WW3.

Next in this series: military goals of the major powers.