State Terrorism and the United States: Prelude

The book at my possession is entitled "State Terrorism and the United States" by Frederick H. Gareau, American author and former Professor of Political Science at Florida State University, USA. The book can be ordered online from sites such as Amazon for less than $15 (£20 from Blackwell in UK), published in 2004 by Clarity Press, and I strongly suggest those who are not aware of the deceptive tactics used by US government for decades, to have a go at this book.

The book can be partially read from Google, following this link: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=qjcdFLAd9cwC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
Amazon also suggested a book called "How America Gets Away With Murder: Illegal Wars, Collateral Damage and Crimes Against Humanity" by Michael Mandel, a Canadian law Professor specialising in criminal law, with experience of teaching at various Universities in Canada. The books can be bought together for less than $50, but I sincerely hope that this 50 bucks you spending would help you avoid turning into "braindead patriotic Americans/Westerners". And I hate to say this, but there are many ignorant Muslims who have started sympathizing with the oppressive Western political leaders in their oppression, just as a large number of Muslims started supporting al-Qaeda in their oppression.

Some people seem to be just dead silent about the oppression, so I supplicate, may Allah replace people of silence, Muslims and non-Muslims, with people of justness and conscience, even if they are the likes of Tony Benn and Michael Mandel. Because if the religion you follow supports torturing the innocents, then by my Lord, I free myself from your religion. My Lord be praised, the religion I follow offers me salvation and forgiveness for standing against oppression to the best of my ability.

This prelude is just to mention what the book "State Terrorism and the US" is about, what experts have said about it and what the context of the topic is, as inshaAllah, I'd quote sections from the book in future.

Stating what some of the Scholars and Experts said regarding this book:

1. In his State Terrorism and the United States, Frederick Gareau shows that, contrary to the war on terror imagery of a United States hostile to terrorism and dedication to its elimination and to democracy-building, Washington has regularly supported state terrorists (and dictators) who serve US economic and political interests. Using as his evidentiary base the truth commission reports that have followed the ouster of terror regimes in El Salvador, Guatemala, Chile, Argentina and South Africa, along with a varied array of sources for Indonesia, Israel, Iraq (until August 1990), and Nicaragua, he makes his case for vital Washington support for these regimes compellingly and soberly. Gareau stresses throughout how little the US public is permitted to hear about what its government has done, which provides a cover for actions the public might well disapprove, and he ends with an appeal for a much needed truth commission for the United States itself. This book is a valuable addition to the literature on terrorism.

Edward Herman, Professor Emeritus, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, USA

2. Frederick Gareau's State Terrorism and the United States is an important, courageous analysis of America's long involvement in the training of foreign military and police organizations in techniques of torture, assassination, and ethnic cleansing. The US military itself directly committed these types of war crimes in the Phoenix Program of Vietnam, where we killed a minimum of 20,000 people, and in Central America during the Reagan administration. Gareau's research and documentation is path-breaking. The day has arrived when we in the United States desperately need a "truth commission" to examine our own many secret "dirty wars" and hold our military and political leaders accountable. Gareau's chapter one, "The School of the Americas and Terror in El Salvador," is itself worth the price of admission.

Chalmers A. Johnson, American author and Professor Emeritus, University of California, San Diego, USA

This is NOT an anti-Americanism type of book. The author is American and the experts in the field who praised this book are all Americans. And we are not talking about average Tom here; so many laymen would not even understand or have the ability to understand a lot of what is in the book. This is understandable, and I am not saying we should all turn into politicians or go to Universities to study Political Science. In fact, ask yourself, how dumb does one have to be to not understand that the public is kept in the dark by the governments and get away with committing oppression by feeding false information and by using force? Do you need revelation from up the heavens to appreciate that if your mother is gang raped in the name of fighting terrorism or offering freedom, then that is oppression? Do you need revelation to understand that worshipping trees, statues and humans only makes you worse than the tree and the statue?

While it is not about anti-Americanism, many sections of the book provide insight into what triggers anti-Americanism. God willing, I'd touch on that topic some other time, but go ask that Hindu in Kerala, India about America and George Bush and the response you get would be largely similar to what you would get if you ask a Muslim in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. And when a person criticises by saying something starting with "Americans/British are..." then it is not the public/laymen that they are talking about; rather it is the governments, the political and military leaders that they are criticising. Let me state the opening quote from the Introduction of the book, p. 11 (after the contents):

This entire book is written in blood and with much love for our country.

In the footnote on p.11, Professor Gareau mentions, "These words were first written by Cardinal Arns, Archbishop of Sau Paulo, concerning a Archdiocese report on torture in Brazil and I echo them here in this book on state terrorism, with great love for my own country, the United States."

There you go. The book is the research product of an American patriot, a Professor of Political Science, someone who is not braindead to support anything the US government is doing in the name of curbing terrorism and offering freedom. The Introduction (p. 11-21) alone provides his rationale for the book and his motivations for his research (post 9/11, Iraq war, etc).

Terrorism is called Irhaab in Arabic and terrorists are called Irahabis. We do not defend terrorism and terrorists, be them Muslims or non-Muslims, be them people from our own race and nation or even from our own family. This is what I, Ahmad, had to say for the prelude.