23 February 2011
By Jacob G. Hornberger Once it became clear that Egypt's dictator Hosni
Mubarak was on the way out, U.S. officials quickly
shifted gears and took the side of the demonstrators,
the people who had suffered for 30 years under the
brutal Mubarak dictatorship. U.S. officials even
offered their guidance for moving Egypt toward a
democratic political system. Of course, all this pro-democracy hoopla was
designed to disguise the fact that the U.S. government
has been the prime partner and enabler of this brutal
dictatorship for the entire 30 years under which the
Egyptian people have suffered. It has been the U.S.
government that has been providing the $60 billion in
U.S. taxpayer money to Mubarak and his henchmen in the
Egyptian military and secret police. It has been the
U.S. government that has been paying the salaries of
Egypt's jailors and torturers for the past three
decades. It is the U.S. military that has been
training the Egyptian military. In fact, it's actually worse than that. Believe it
or not, U.S. officials actually cut a deal with
Egypt's torturers to torture people on behalf of the
U.S. government. The deal called for the U.S.
government to bring people into Egypt, where they
would be tortured for information or confession, with
the understanding that Mubarak would publicly deny
that the prisoners would be tortured. In that way, U.S. officials could proclaim, "We're
shocked that our prisoner has been tortured because
they promised that they wouldn't torture him." Of
course, it was all a sham, one that would enable U.S.
officials to deceitfully express shock over the
torture, acquire the information or confession with
torture, and then secretly thank their Egyptian
partners for employing their torture expertise on
their behalf. The torture deal was a testament to the
U.S. government's partnerships with dictatorships. Supporters of the U.S. Empire might respond, "But
Jacob, the U.S. government's longtime support of the
Mubarak dictatorship is an exception because the U.S.
government is an exceptional government." Well, then explain this paragraph from an article
about Yemen in yesterday's New York Times:
"Yemen, one of the poorest nations in the Middle East,
has become a cause of concern for the United States as
the protests have spread because Mr. Saleh has
supported the fight against the Yemeni branch of Al
Qaeda." In other words, here's another U.S.-supported
dictator in the Middle East, one who has been in power
as long as Mubarak—30 years! And the U.S. government,
which pro-empire advocates say is exceptional, has
been partnering with him, just as it did with Mubarak.
What's the rationale for the U.S. government's
support of this brutal dictatorship in Yemen? The
Yemen dictator has served as a loyal partner in the
U.S. Empire's war on terrorism against al Qaeda. And,
as everyone knows, the war on terrorism trumps
everything else. As in Egypt, Tunisia, and elsewhere,
it doesn't matter how much U.S.-supported dictators
oppress, torture, rape, and brutalize their own
people. All that matters is that they are loyal
members of the Empire, especially when it comes to the
war on terrorism. The irony, of course, is that it is the U.S.
Empire's support of dictatorships in the Middle East
that is one of the principal motivations of al Qaeda
and other anti-American groups in the Middle East
(along with the U.S. Empire's presence and meddling in
the Middle East, including its unconditional financial
and military support of the Israeli government). So, the U.S. government supports the brutal
dictatorships that oppress their own people, which
inspires anger and rage not only against the
dictatorship but also against the United States, which
the U.S. government then uses as a justification for
its support of the dictatorship. How's that for empire
logic? And when that anger and hatred materializes in
terrorist retaliation against the United States, U.S.
officials then use that to justify the same type of
anti-terrorist measures against the American people
that are employed in the brutal dictatorships that
they're supporting. The solution to this morass of evil is obvious: The
American people should require their government to
cease all support for dictatorships (and every other
foreign regime). They should require their government
to dismantle its overseas military empire and bring
all the troops home and discharge them. They should
prohibit their government from meddling in the affairs
of other nations. With this solution, not only would the anger and
hatred against the United States dissipate, the
termination of foreign aid would also help alleviate
the impending bankruptcy of the United States arising
from out-of-control federal spending. Moreover, a
principal justification for the U.S. government's
adoption of the type of anti-terrorist measures that
are inherent in foreign dictatorships would be
removed. Hasn't the time arrived for the American people to
confront the wrongdoing of their government, much as
people in the Middle East are confronting the
wrongdoing of their governments? It's great that
Americans are celebrating the toppling of dictators in
the Middle East. But my question is: When are
Americans going to be become as angry and outraged
over their own government's support of dictatorships
as the people who have had to suffer under such
dictatorships? Jacob Hornberger is founder and president of The
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