[Peace-discuss] Letter in today's NG

[David Green]

For those who don't subscribe, this letter was in today's paper; 
A recent letter by L. Daniel Metz typifies culturally derogatory abuse of “the Arab world and Islam.” In the wake of the murder of the U.S. ambassador it is open season for bigots, emboldened by politically acceptable Islamophobia, both in the News-Gazette and on the Daily Illini website. Political cartoons provide a particularly lurid medium for caricatures of primal American innocence and Islamic perfidy, as they did historically in Nazi caricatures of Jews.
Since World War II, U.S. policy has been to ruthlessly exploit relationships with Islamic fundamentalists and military dictators in a divide-and-conquer strategy to control Middle Eastern oil, undermine nationalist and popular movements, and bring “stability” (read profits for American corporations) to the region through repeated violent interventions, including those by our surrogate Israel. Our support at various times for the Shah, Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, Mubarak, and Gaddafi all exemplify this cynical approach, as does NATO intervention in Libya last year.
The death of Christopher Stevens is the latest example of “blowback” from this support for extremist and violent elements, and from imperial domination in general. The mainstream media pretends that the history of the region began the day of his murder, and our noble efforts must now be avenged. Both candidates for President encourage such righteous fantasies, because neither can acknowledge the true nature of “U.S. interests.”
Metz combines racist cultural superiority with apocalyptic fantasies about Islam. He warns that we will have to “fight or die,” when we simply need to withdraw.
David Green
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