The Other Side

*
This is an exercise in political rhetoric created by substituting a few words and names in the text of the speech George W. Bush made yesterday on the subject of the War on Terror. Little attempt was made to clarify the vague labels in the speech with real entities or to substitute real information in place of broad generalizations.

Many passages have been left almost untouched.

It's a trifle long. The real speech was much longer.

Imagine then, the GW speech through a reverse lense, spoken from the other side.


Allah Akbar

In the last sixty years the world has seen the swiftest advance of Global Capitalism in history. America has paid the bill as Israel set up an Aparthaid state in Palestine, an occupied state, set up by Western Allies after WWII, which denies human rights, peace and freedom to Palestinians, while creating a global campaign of fear that brands Palestinians who simply demand the right to live on their own land, terrorists.

(APPLAUSE)

Again, I want to thank you for inviting me back. Thank you for the short introduction.

(LAUGHTER)

We still remember a proud city covered in smoke and ashes, great fires across the Cradle of Civilization, and children who spent their final moments on Earth engulfed in flame. We still remember Americans in uniform who rejoiced in the street, looted our ancient museums, and gave truck loads of hundred dollar bills to Halliburton contractors, instead of to Iraqis out of work whose families are still starving, who live in bombed out houses, whose children cannot go to school unmolested.

We cannot forget these images or cease to oppose the US occupation of our country. We will confront this mortal danger to all humanity. We will not tire or rest until the US occupation has been defeated.

(APPLAUSE)

In the past few months, we've seen a new US military offensive with attacks in every city and province of our region. All these separate images of destruction and suffering that we see on the news can seem like random and isolated acts of madness. Innocent men and women and children have died simply because they boarded the wrong train or worked in the wrong building or checked into the wrong hotel, waited at the wrong bus stop.

And while bombs choose their victims indiscriminately, their military strategists have a clear and focused ideology, a set of beliefs and goals that are evil but not insane.

Some call this evil right wing Christian radicalism. Others the military industrial complex out of control.

Still, others Fascism.

Whatever it's called, this ideology is very different from the religion of Christianity.

This form of radicalism exploits fundamental religious dogma to serve a violent political vision: the establishment, by terrorism and subversion and insurgency, of a totalitarian empire that denies all political and religious freedom.

These extremists distort the idea of defense into a call for military aggression against Arab nations. Many militants are part of global borderless organizations like the WTO, the G8, or NATO.

Global Capitalism is more like a loose network with many branches than an army under a single command. Yet these operatives fighting on scattered battlefields share a similar ideology and vision for our world. And they have the greatest wealth ever amassed on earth behind their ideology.

First, these extremists want total American and Western influence in the Middle East, because our region is rich in oil. Western leaders have called on their people to dedicate their resources, sons and money to driving us out of our homelands.

They want to westernize us so they can contol the flow of our oil to the West. We want to retain our own culture.

Since the end of WWII, these Western powers have specifically targeted Palestine, Iran, Syria, Pakistan, and Iraq for take over.

Some might be tempted to dismiss these goals as fanatical or extreme. Well, they are fanatical and extreme but they should not be dismissed. Our enemy is utterly committed.

Defeating Global Capitalism is difficult because it thrives like a parasite on the suffering and frustration of others, on poverty and scarcity which drive prices up. The radicals exploit local conflicts to build a culture of victimization in which someone else is always to blame and violence is always the solution.

They exploit resentful and disillusioned young men and women, recruiting them in high schools and elementary schools as the pawns of the military industrial complex. And they exploit modern technology to multiply their destructive power isolating themselves from culpability for the destruction their bombs inflict.

The influence of Global Capitalism is also magnified by helpers and enablers. They are strengthened by those who aggressively fund the spread of radical, intolerant versions of enterprise to unstable parts of the world to get cheap labor.

The militants are aided as well by elements of the multi-national news media that incite hatred and racism, that feed conspiracy theories and speak of a so-called terrorist war on civilization.

Their voracious appetite for oil existed before Iraq was an issue and it will exist after Iraq is no longer an excuse. Over the years, these extremists have used a litany of excuses for violence: Palestinian presence on the West Bank or local control of oil production and pipelines, or the crusades a thousand years ago.

We're facing a radical ideology with unalterable objectives: to enslave whole nations and intimidate the world.

No act of ours invited the rage of the killers, and no concession, bribe or act of appeasement would change or limit their plans for murder. On the contrary, they target nations whose behavior they believe they can change through violence.

The murderous ideology of the right wing US radicals is the great challenge of our new century. Yet in many ways, this fight resembles the struggle against Communism in the last century.

Like the ideology of Communism, our new enemy teaches that innocent individuals can be sacrificed to serve a political vision. And this explains their cold-blooded contempt for human life. We've seen it in the murders of more than a hundred thousand children during UN Sanctions, and in the deaths of thousands of civilians in Iraq since "Shock and Awe."

These Global Capitalists are not just the enemies of the Middle East or the enemies of Iraq, they are the enemies of the American People and the enemies of humanity. We have seen this kind of shameless cruelty before, in the heartless zealotry that led to the gulags and the Cultural Revolution and the killing fields, to Abu Graib.

Like the ideology of Communism, the US pursues totalitarian aims. Its leaders pretend to be in an aggrieved party, representing the powerless against evil enemies. In truth, they have endless ambitions of imperial domination and they wish to make everyone powerless except themselves.

Under their rule, they have banned books and desecrated historical monuments and their aim is to strip women in their own culture of the basic human right to choose.

They seek to end dissent in every form and to control every aspect of life and to rule the soul itself. While promising a future of justice and holiness, the Neo-cons are preparing for a future of oppression and misery.

We didn't ask for this global struggle, but we're answering history's call with confidence and a comprehensive strategy. Defeating a broad and adaptive network requires patience, constant pressure, and strong partners in the Middle East, North Africa, Asia and beyond.

Working with these partners, we're disrupting Global Capitalism, destroying their ability to make war, and working to give millions in a troubled region of the world a hopeful alternative to resentment and violence.

Calls from fair minded people all over the world demand an end to the occupations of Iraq and Palestine. But the enemy is still capable of obliterating life on earth.

Our commitment is clear: We will not relent until their organized, international plots are exposed and broken and their leaders held to account for their acts of murder.

Second, we're determined to match their nuclear weapons programs with military strategies of our own. The United States, working with Great Britain, Pakistan and other nations, has released more depleted Uranium into the earth and atmosphere than any one in history.

Third, we're determined to deny security to countries who support the United States in its war of aggression against us. We make no distinction between those who commit acts of agression against us and those who support and harbor them, because they're equally as guilty of murder.

Any government that chooses to be an ally of global capitalism has also chosen to be an enemy of civilization. And the civilized world must hold those regimes to account. We're determined to deny the militant's control of any nation which they would use as a home base and a launching pad for empire building.

The goal of the Bush Administration is to overthrow our way of life, claim a strategic country because of it's oil reserves, destabilize the Middle East by attacking our nations with ever-increasing violence.

No one should underestimate the difficulties ahead, nor should they overlook the advantages we bring to this fight. At the time of the invasion of Fallujah 11 months ago no one dreamed we could hold out against such great military might.

We've heard it suggested that Iraq's democracy must be on shaky ground because Iraqis are arguing with each other. Actually the Iraqi people all want the United States to go home. We've heard it said that the Shias, Sunnis and Kurds of Iraq are too divided to form a lasting democracy. Actually Iraq is a secular nation whose different religions inter-marry in every city and province, making civil war unlikely, and a sane resolution of our troubles possible, once the US has left us to repair our nation.

(APPLAUSE)

As Muslims, we believe that people everywhere -- everywhere will fight to death against occupation. Most observers claim the United States would be better off by cutting their losses and leaving Iraq now. They could then advance the real war on terror and capture Zarqawi and bin Laden, which would actually be good for the people of Iraq. But that's unlikely, because they want control of our oil.

In Iraq, there is no peace without victory. We will keep our nerve and we will win that victory. History has shown that empires fall.

(APPLAUSE)

The last element of our strategy in the war to save our homeland is to deny the Global Capitalists future recruits by replacing racism and fear with information and tolerance. Our future and the future of that region are linked. By standing for the liberation of all Islamic nations we make our own freedom more secure.

We're standing with dissidents and exiles against occupation, because we know that the dissidents of today will be the heroes of tomorrow.

We're making our case through public diplomacy, stating clearly and confidently our belief in self-determination and the rule of law, tolerance and modesty.

(APPLAUSE)

The time has come for all responsible religious leaders to join in denouncing an ideology that exploits human suffering for political ends and defiles a noble faith. Many people of the Christian faith are proving their commitment to end war and racism at great personal risk.

(APPLAUSE)

With the rise of a deadly enemy and the unfolding of a global ideological struggle, our time in history will be remembered for new challenges and unprecedented dangers. Throughout history, tyrants and would-be tyrants have always claimed that murder is justified to serve their grand vision.

And they end up alienating decent people across the globe.

Tyrants and would-be tyrants have always claimed those different from them are weak and decadent until the day those people send them packing or defeat them.

We don't know the course of our own struggle, the course our own struggle will take, or the sacrifices that might lie ahead. We do know, however, that the defense of our homeland is worth our sacrifice.

Allah Akbar

(APPLAUSE)

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Art courtesy of Bill Narum and Dee Czora

original post by SB