No Real Choice

Former President Eisenhower warned that the greatest threat to our country could eventually become the military-industrial complex. Nevertheless, most politicians have managed to convince most Americans that a loosely organized band of third world criminals are the greatest threat our country faces.

The former head of the bin Laden unit, Michael Scheuer, wrote: “It’s about the impact of our policies in the Islamic world. And because we won’t talk about that here in America, we’re not adequately defended.” However, my Democratic representatives in Congress, Senators Clinton, Schumer and Rep. Gillibrand refuse to mention that our past and present policies in the Middle East endanger our safety.

They ignore the fact that our CIA brought twenty-five years of tyranny and repression upon the Iranian people, which concluded with the Ayatollah Khomeini’s revolution. That covert operation helped convince many people throughout the Islamic world that America was its mortal enemy. They avoid mentioning the fact that in 1980, Iraq’s president, Saddam Hussein, invaded Iran and was supported our tax dollars. Eight blood-soaked years later, hundreds of thousands of young Iranian men and boys had been injured or killed.

We’re not adequately defended, because they refuse to talk about how our past and present policies impact the Islamic world. They won’t acknowledge that our military has been ordered to commit horrendous acts, which has caused needless tragedy in the lives of millions of people. Yet, they've never suggest that America spend less on its military, whose primary mission is to protect the assets of the very wealthy or admit that most of the anguish, which our country suffers from can be traced to militarism and imperialism.

Those Republicans and Democrats in Congress that depend on contributions from arms dealers and the military industrial complex are endangering our safety.