Coastal
Post Online
January
2002
Eternal Vigilance
By Antonio Serna
Before we totally get carried away by the
current frenzy of showering our commander-in-Chief with undeserved
"Hosannas" for the effectiveness by which his administration has
plunged us into a senseless conflict, let us stop for a moment and reflect why
we find ourselves in this tragic situation.
Here are some pertinent questions that are begging for
answers:
1) More than half of
the Americans believe that Bush stole the election from Vice President Al Gore
who garnered half a million more votes in the last presidential election. Why
was the election stolen and who are benefiting from it?
2) It is not a secret that the oil industry
bank-rolled the Bush campaign. It is not a secret that Dick Cheney is Vice
President because the oil industry wants him a hair's breath away from the
presidency. It is therefore not surprising to find both men currently pushing
the oil industry's agenda. Is it then a wonder why, like his father who is also
an oil man, Bush Jr. is now conducting a war in the interest of oil?
3) Is there truth to the rumor that the US
oil industry has huge investments in tapping the world's largest oil deposits
in the Caspian sea? Is it true that what has frustrated the success of that
endeavor was the refusal of the Taliban government to allow the vital pipe
delivery system that needed to be laid across Afghanistan?
4) The Talibans were not hostile to the US.
The US, as a matter of fact, assisted them in their war against Russia. The
only sin committed by the Talibans was to buck the desires of the US oil
industry in its quest for oil.
5) Why did the Bush government irresponsibly walk out of a very
sensitive meeting at the UN convened to address the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict? Was it intended as a provocation to the Fundamentalist Muslims who
were predictably going to react violently?
6) Was the September 11 attack an expected end-result of that
provocation?
7) US intelligence
had previous knowledge that Al-Qaida terrorist cells existed in the country and
were ready to strike at the slightest provocation. Shouldn't they have been
rounded up rather than provoked?
8) Was the September 11 attack totally a surprise to the US intelligence
authorities considering its magnitude and the number of people and planes
involved in the carefully crafted suicide missions?
9) Could it be a repetition of the Pearl
Harbor attack which was carried out by the enemy in exactly the very manner
that US intelligence predicted? Was it a fool proof formula to get the American
people behind its government in a war effort?
10) Are we already at war? Did the American people, through
their Congress, approve an official war declaration?
11) The sagging approval rating of
President W. Bush jumped to almost 90 percent after the loss of 4,000 American
lives in New York and Washington, DC. What did the president do to deserve such
a nod of approval?
12) Is
bombing innocent women and children in Afghanistan, in the name of American
patriotism, the reason why we are showering President Bush with all these
accolades? No one but he and his friends in the oil industry are benefiting
from this brutal blood bath.
13)
George Bush Sr. brought us "Desert Storm" to gain control of Kuwaiti
and Saudi oil. Bush Jr. is now busy with his Afghanistan adventure in pursuit
of the Caspian Sea oil. What do Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein have to do
with these oil ventures? Are they terrorists in the service of the US oil
industry.
14) If you are the
president, will you want to put an end to the benefits that he and his friends
in the oil industry are deriving from the current situation? How about
prolonging it up to the year 2004?
15) Is it not curious to note that of the four commercial jets used in
the September 11 suicidal attacks, all the planes reached their targets except
for the one that should have hit the White House? Why was that attack aborted
and the rest were not? Coincidence? Probably.
Only time will tell if the above questions are indeed valid and
have any relevance to our current national crisis. As an intelligent people to
whom the world looks upon for leadership, we have a moral obligation to be
leaders and not a bunch of sheep being led to the slaughter house. Our
forefathers made serious sacrifices to give us the freedom and independence
that we now enjoy. It is incumbent upon us to carry on that glorious task of
remaining free and prosperous. We have a form of government that does not only
allow us to think and speak up freely, but vigorously demands us to do so. Let
us not forget that the price of freedom is eternal vigilance. Vigilance from
external as well as internal threats.