The War on Oil-Producing Terror

World Trade Center attacks, September 11th 2001

On September 11th, 2001, America experienced a traumatic event. The collapse of the World Trade Center towers, combined with an attack on the nation's military headquarters, was so shocking to American citizens that it changed our entire world view. It created such widespread fear and panic that Americans became united around the common purpose of defending the nation. They were provided with a new enemy, the "terrorists", who were now perceived to be an existential threat to the United States. The most powerful military in the world was then deployed to fight a small, stateless, poorly equipped terrorist organization. The terrorists did not have tanks, jets, helicopters, aircraft carriers, or any other modern military hardware, and yet they were deemed to be a grave threat to America. More importantly, the terrorists were viewed as savages, who hate western civilization with religious fervor and are incapable of reason or negotiation. It was this caricature of the terrorists, as purely evil and irrational, that allowed Americans to cope with the trauma they experienced on September 11th. The idea that a human being, just like us, could be capable of murder and destruction on such a massive scale is so repulsive that we prefer to think of the culprits as subhuman. In truth, terrorists are, of course, just as human as anyone else. Denying the humanity of a nation's enemies prevents them from being understood, and makes the continuation of conflict inevitable. But there is a purpose behind this denial, beyond just providing a means of coping with a national trauma. The mainstream narrative of the so called "War on Terror" is just a facade for what has become an increasingly sinister chapter in American history.

The term "War on Terror" is often attributed to a comment made by President Bush just 5 days after the September 11th attacks, in a quote that quickly became an infamous example of American power being exposed for what it is. Upon returning from Camp David, Bush said that "This crusade, this war on terrorism, is going to take a while". This quote is notable for two reasons, the first of which is his use of the word "crusade". In Western culture, a crusade is a struggle against forces of evil for the greater good. In Muslim culture, however, the word "crusade" has a much darker meaning. This difference in meaning is obviously a historical legacy, the result of differing perspectives in the Crusades of the Middle Ages. Because the Crusades were European invasions of the Middle East, Muslims rightly associate the word with a struggle for freedom against aggressive foreign powers. It is not surprising, then, that when Bush called the impending War on Terror a crusade, it evoked deep fear and anger in the Muslim world. The millions of people living in the Middle East became worried that the United States would punish all Muslims for the World Trade Center attacks. Their fears, tragically, would soon be proven true.

US mortar team in Afghanistan, December 2001

America's longest war began on October 7th, 2001, as US and NATO forces invaded Afghanistan in the immodestly-named Operation Enduring Freedom. For over ten years now, we have been occupying Afghanistan with the purpose of preventing the Taliban (the local Islamist government) from providing a haven for Al Qaeda (the terrorist organization blamed for September 11th). Although many politicians spoke about bringing democracy to the Middle East, the main motivation for Americans to support the war was to avenge the victims of September 11th and prevent another attack from happening. Two years later, Bush launched another war, this time against Iraq. The official purpose of this war was to secure the so-called "weapons of mass destruction" from Saddam Hussein, who was portrayed as a modern Hitler-like dictator. The unofficial implication was that Iraq was just like Afghanistan, another unstable country that needs to be occupied to prevent the spread of terrorism. In June 2004, Bush said "The reason I keep insisting that there was a relationship between Iraq and Saddam and al Qaeda: because there was a relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda". Despite Bush's eventual denial of this relationship being part of the government's policies, public support of the war in Iraq was possible by the same fears that justified the war in Afghanistan. After the invasion of Iraq, public perception of the War on Terror expanded to a larger struggle to control Middle East. It was no longer just a reaction to the attacks of September 11th, it was a long-term struggle against those who oppose the United States and Western civilization. As the casualties accumulated, the wars became increasingly serious. In Afghanistan: 14,000 US and allied deaths (Taliban and Al Qaeda deaths unknown), 12,000 - 14,000 Afghan civilian deaths. In Iraq: 24,000 US and allied deaths, 28,000 - 37,000 Iraqi military deaths,  103,000 - 113,000 Iraqi civilian deaths. Estimates of the civilian deaths in Iraq vary greatly, with some being as high as one million. By any estimate, it is clear that the War on Terror had caused violence on a scale much greater than the attacks of September 11th. This violence, which has now spread to the entire Muslim world, was the realization of the Muslims greatest fears after hearing Bush's infamous crusade comment. The narrative of a coming "Clash of Civilizations", promoted by Western intellectuals like Samuel Huntington as well as Muslim extremists, was unfolding as a harsh reality in the Middle East. But the aggressive nature of the War on Terror reveals ulterior motives behind its humanitarian facade.

The fact that the War on Terror is being fought in the Middle East has two possible explanations. The one that the Bush administration and the mainstream American media would have us believe is that Muslim culture has fundamentalist tendencies and is thus prone to terrorism. Again, this mainstream narrative is a dehumanization of our perceived enemies that has no factual basis. It is also ignorant of the United States' historical role in supporting fundamentalist regimes in the Middle East. The other explanation of these wars is that there is something in the Middle East that the United States wants to control, a vast supply of oil. This explanation is more consistent with the history of American foreign policy since World War II, which has been a policy of projecting power across the globe to secure American interests. This strategy of global dominance has been explicit, despite its contradiction of traditional American values. Ever since Roosevelt promised that the "Arsenal of Democracy" would protect the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, American foreign policy has been one of outright hypocrisy. The War on Terror, a series of invasions masquerading as either preventative anti-terrorism measures or humanitarian interventions, is no exception. The term is nothing more than an attempt to create a brand, an ideological framework, with which to disguise the latest phase of American imperialism. By any reasonable measure, it is the United States that is the greatest source of terror in the world.