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 Most of us know David Brooks as the balding goofball on “The Jim Lehrer
News Hour” who shrugs his shoulders and giggles gleefully whenever he’s
asked a question. He’s actually a political pundit whose far-right
analysis of culture and politics appears regularly on the op-ed page of
the New York Times. Like fellow-traveler Tom Friedman, Brooks loves to
offer his sage advice to Muslims about how they can improve themselves
in the eyes of westerners and, thus, limit the relentless bombing and
massacres brought on by a belligerent American foreign policy.
Last week’s article “The Grand Delusion” is typical Brooks’
paternalistic claptrap. He sets out to scold those ‘backwards’ Arabs
while discrediting the findings of the recently released National
Intelligence Estimate (NIE) The NIE has caused a uproar in Washington
by showing (conclusively) that the Iraq war is creating a new
generation of terrorists and making the world considerably “less safe”.
As one of America’s premier propagandists, Brooks’ job is to dispute
these ugly facts and promote Bush’s absurd claim that terrorists simply
“hate our freedoms”.
What Brooks calls the “Grand Delusion” is the belief “that if we
just leave the extremists alone, they will leave us alone.” Brooks
assures us that this is flawed reasoning even though it is corroborated
by the 16 “preeminent” American intelligence agencies.
Brooks
offers a different explanation: “Radical groups are driven by
resentment towards the West, but also by internal competition for
prestige and standing”.
Ah-ha!
Many of us unwisely believed that the root of terrorism was military
occupation, stealing vital resources, propping up corrupt puppet
regimes and training their brutal security forces. Brooks has seen
right through that ruse! Terrorism is really an expression of a twisted
competition between genocidal maniacs, each trying to out do the other.
At least that’s settled!
Brooks praises Bush for seeing that “the terror threat is
fundamentally an ideological threat, a product of deep historical
consciousness.” In other words, we, as westerners, can feel vindicated
in bombing the living daylights out of the Arab world because their
cultures are infected with a poisonous ideology.
Sounds like a prescription for mass slaughter to me.
Brooks ignores the “unanimous” findings of the NIE, which exposes
Iraq as the breeding ground for terrorism. Clearly, the document is not
compatible with his racist views of Islamo-fascism.
Brooks’ article depicts a world where peace or even a temporary accommodation is totally impossible.
Why? Because, according to Brooks, Islamic radicals have overtaken
moderate Muslims and are continuing to “wage their competition for
anti-Semitic glory all around.” (I swear I’m not making this up) In
other words, Muslims are responsible for their own suffering. This is
also called “blaming the victim”.
Someone should remind Brooks that the millions of pounds of
ordnance that is dropped on Muslim countries every year is made in
America, delivered in American planes, and dropped by American pilots.
From start to finish, the Muslims are the blameless victims of American
aggression.
Brooks is entitled to his opinion. He is not entitled to his own facts
Finishing his sketchy rebuttal of the NIE, Brooks pessimistically adds:
“Today’s extremists are not the product of short term historical
circumstances, but of consciousness and culture. They are not the fault
of the U.S., but have roots stretching back centuries. They will not
suddenly ignore their foe—us—when their hatred of us is the core of
their identity…..This war is forever.”
“Their hatred of us is the core of their identity”; think about that for a minute.
Have you ever heard a more racist statement intended to demonize
another religion or ethnicity? Have you ever heard a more passionate
plea for genocide?
Brooks’ comments are a justification for whatever carnage the Bush
administration chooses to unleash. After all, we’re simply ridding this
sick culture of a spreading cancer.
If this sounds like a chapter out of the “Bush Playbook”; it is.
This is just the first of (what will certainly be) many attempts by
America’s foremost propagandists to disprove the truths in the NIE.
Bush will have to do everything in his power to refute the underlying
facts, which are:
1 The NIE proves that the Bush administration is the real source of
terror because (all 16 agencies agree that) the Iraq war is fueling
Islamic radicalism.
2 The NIE proves that the Bush administration will be responsible
for any future attacks on the American people since there is a straight
line between Iraq and the increase in terrorist activity.
3 The NIE proves that the WAR ON TERROR IS A SHAM; a bogus public
relations scheme intended to dupe the people into surrendering their
“inalienable” rights while supporting a global resource war.
4 The NIE proves that terrorism is NOT an action but a “reaction” to a vicious and aggressive foreign policy.
No wonder Brooks is fighting so hard to discredit the NIE while
pushing his “culture-wars” gibberish. It’s the last bit of duct-tape
holding Bush’s fraudulent war on terror together.
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