The myopic foreign policy of the USA

The international relations of the United States of America is masterminded by three apes - one of which is blind, another deaf and the third, dumb. They do not see underlying causes, they do not listen to or respect others, there is no dialogue. Instead there is blackmail, bullying and belligerence. Bombing, violence, torture. It's the American way.

In just one week, President Trump has ordered a murderous terrorist strike against the Syrian authorities outside any forum of law, confusing this with a strike against Iraq in an interview (Has he any idea where these countries are? Has he any notion that both these countries are based on civilizations which are thousands of years older than his own?); and then yesterday launching a Massive Ordnance Air Blast against Islamic State assets in Afghanistan.

It is difficult to defend Islamic State because of what this organization has done in terms of human rights violations, including summary executions, sexual violence, terrorist acts, crimes against women, crimes against children, attacks with chemical weapons, including false flag operations to place the blame on others, and torture.

But the United States also carries out human rights violations, the United States perpetrates summary executions either directly or through its minions, the United States' representatives have committed acts of sexual violence, in many countries, the United States has committed terrorist acts - there was one last week in Syria -  the United States has murdered women and children but they call it "colateral damage", the United States has carried out chemical attacks, the United States has even carried out nuclear attacks and the United States has perpetrated acts of torture.

The difference? IS has not carried out an atomic terrorist attack

The difference? On an operational level, that Islamic State has not carried out a nuclear terrorist attack. The second difference, and on na ideological level, is that the United States as a country is not fundamentally evil, while Islamic State as an organization is. However, on the former level, the repeated human rights abuses by the USA proves that the country is run by people who should re-examine their values and their modus operandi.

The pictures illustrating this article (taken from Wikipedia, except for the main one at Guantanamo Bay - AP) were taken in Abu Ghraib torture and concentration camp, where shocking human rights abuses were carried out by US personnel and no, this was not a one-off, and this is my point. At Guantanamo Bay torture and concentration camp, people continue to be held without any form of due process, years after they were detained, or kidnapped. Few know this but there are also many detainees at Bagram air base in Afghanistan. There have also been acts of torture carried out by CIA operatives on aircraft and at airports at secret destinations. One only has to sift through the slots documents to see what handed where and when then follow up.

This was not a one-off. In the 1990s the USA/allies were strafing fields of cereals in Iraq to create famine among the civilian population. Since then the USA has sided with terrorists in Kosovo, the USA carried out air strikes against wedding parties in Afghanistan, politicians were detained and accused of belonging to al-Qaeda just because they spoke out against the corrupt Afghan government propped up by Washington, US soldiers were filmed guarding the opium poppy fields. The USA then carried out the worst policy disaster of all time, the Mother of Criminal acts, invading Iraq based on a lie, strafing civilian structures with military equipment, after lists had been drawn up in Washington consisting of the artefacts the White House cronies wanted and where they were. In museums.

The US Establishment uncovered, a cabal of thieves.

This was not a one-off

This was not a one-off. In Libya, children were targeted by NATO aircraft and considered as "legitimate targets" (murder of the Gaddafi grandchildren, considered fair game because they were apparently part of the command structure. They were playing in their own home). This was not a one-off. To Syria, western allies have been forwarding chemical weapons to al-Qaeda-linked forces, which in turn have several times deployed these weapons, usually on the eve of a conference, whereupon the United States of America and its MainStream Media launches a propaganda campaign blaming the Syrian government or "regime" and the democratically elected leader or "dictator". And again, basing policymaking upon lies.

Add to this support for murderous fascist regimes over the decades, Operation Condor in Latin America which saw thousands of politically motivated civilians murdered, tortured, imprisoned or forced into exile, the support for African "regimes" and "dictators" which make Islamic State look like fairy godmothers, and we see the true mettle of US foreign policy.

Few, if any, will have any sympathy whatsoever for those crawling around in caves in Afghanistan and would probably have liked to chalk their name on the MOAB which slaughtered 36 of them yesterday. This strike made far more sense than the puerile, murderous, criminal and terrorist act of idiocy last week in Syria.

But while the USA is so good at dropping bombs on people from 30,000 feet - well not that good, because many times they hit the wrong target and only 23 of the 59 "ten-meter-accurate" Tomahawks hit their targets - does US foreign policy work?

Does US foreign policy work?

The USA has been bombing people for decades; the USA has been murdering people with chemical weapons for decades, the USA has been bragging about its nuclear arsenal for decades. The USA spends more money on its military than any other nation, and even then the results are what we see - poor soldiering, worse discipline, multiple acts of murder outside the theater of war. An undisciplined rabble perpetrating war crimes, decade after decade after decade. And waves of white-knuckle, seething hatred growing by the second.

So it isn't working, is it? Forty years ago, you could catch a bus from western Europe to Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan then on through Pakistan to India. It was called the Magic Bus. Would that be possible today? Maybe only through Iran, another country the USA is demonizing. Can one dare to step off an aircraft these days in Libya? In Syria? In Mali? The list of no-go areas, the register of anti-western hatred, is growing and deepening.

So maybe it is time the US policymakers fired the three apes and replaced them with something that sees, something that listens and something that isn't just plain dumb. A meme with great insight is circulating today on the Net. It says: You bomb people, they get mad. People bomb you, you get mad. Moral of the story? Replace deployment with development and hey presto!

I have been saying this for decades... but the monkeys don't see it, don't hear it and stopped communicating decades ago.

Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey

Pravda.Ru 

Twitter: @TimothyBHinchey

[email protected]

 

*Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey has worked as a correspondent, journalist, deputy editor, editor, chief editor, director, project manager, executive director, partner and owner of printed and online daily, weekly, monthly and yearly publications, TV stations and media groups printed, aired and distributed in Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, East Timor, Guinea-Bissau, Portugal, Mozambique and São Tomé and Principe Isles; the Russian Foreign Ministry publication Dialog and the Cuban Foreign Ministry Official Publications. He has spent the last two decades in humanitarian projects, connecting communities, working to document and catalog disappearing languages, cultures, traditions, working to network with the LGBT communities helping to set up shelters for abused or frightened victims and as Media Partner with UN Women, working to foster the UN Women project to fight against gender violence and to strive for an end to sexism, racism and homophobia. A Vegan, he is also a Media Partner of Humane Society International, fighting for animal rights. He is Director and Chief Editor of the Portuguese version of Pravda.Ru.