April 2, 2024 Stop war at its source By Mumia Abu-Jamal Mumia Abu-Jamal wrote the following article from death row. When U.S. President George W. Bush spoke about an "endless war," some took it as mere political speech, or rhetoric designed to gain the top spot on the evening network news. I did not. "W" is an agent of his class, the wealthy oil merchants of the land, and his intentions are to press for an ever-wider war in all corners of the earth, to make the world safe for capital exploitation and unbridled commerce. This will eventually become a war that reaches into a slew of countries in the Middle East, on behalf of the rich and powerful elites who rule. Make no mistake: this is a war that has nothing to do with democracy. The U.S. enters the region, armed to the gills, not to defend democracies, but to defend theocracies; to defend kings, princes and sultanates; to defend U.S. access to vast oil resources in the region. And how can the U.S. credibly claim to be leading a war against terrorism, when the world's largest training academy for terrorists is the School of the Americas, in Georgia, where some of the most brutal military dictators in the world are alumni? The U.S. may have since renamed the school, but it has the same essential mission--to create foreign military leaders who are the enemies of democratic and popular movements, and who are beholden to their imperial masters in Washington. The graduates of the SOA have proven relentless fighters, to be sure, who are masters of the dark arts of torture, cruel interrogations, rape and mass murder; and who do they fight but their own people? To millions of people in Latin America, the school is known by the popular name, "la escuela de golpes"--the school of coups! There is scarcely an infamous massacre that cannot be traced to its graduates: the Vraba massacre in Colombia, the El Mozote massacre, the rape and murders of four U.S. churchwomen and the Jesuit massacres in El Salvador; the La Cantuta massacre in Peru--and hundreds more. When the U.S. brays about a war on terrorism, there are millions in America to the South who snort in derision, for they know another America, which breeds state terrorism! The people who brought you 9/11 were brought to you by the CIA--for they were all graduates of a CIA school of terrorism designed to wreak havoc upon the soldiers of the former Soviet Union. They were jihadis recruited, paid, indoctrinated and armed by U.S., Pakistani, Saudi and related intelligence to wage a holy war against the former communist government in Afghanistan. And like the proverbial dogs of war, they turned on those who fed and trained them, to remind them of what they've unleashed. And now, with little thought to its true beginnings, the nation is, once again, embroiled in war. A war that was born not in Kabul, nor in tropical Asia. This war began in cool office buildings in Washington, where men of wealth and power drew up plans to draw the former Soviets into a neighboring territory, into what they called "the Afghan trap." And now, as Malcolm X once said, "The chickens have come home to roost." You wanna stop war? Then stop them where they are born--in Washington. This column may be reprinted and/or distributed by electronic means, but only for non-commercial use, and only with the inclusion of the following copyright information: Text (c) copyright 2024 by Mumia Abu-Jamal. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of the author. ****************************************************** Mumia Abu-Jamal is the author of three books: 'Live from Death Row', 'Death Blossoms', and 'All Things Censored'. You can write to Mumia directly at: Mumia Abu-Jamal AM 8335 SCI-Greene 175 Progress Drive Waynesburg, PA 15370