The red, grey and blue: a glance at American terrorism

The U.S. led War on Terrorism, also called the Long War by U.S. officials, has been commonly accepting as a defining conflict for contemporary America and much of the rest of the world. Immense political, military and economic power have been mobilized by the United States in order to prosecute the war.

Our nation has struggled to understand the War on Terrorism. In the American media, and by extension in the minds of the American population, something fundamental has been neglected: the United States’ relation to terrorism. It seems the common wisdom has been the United States must prevail against terrorism in the name of international security and decent universal values. In this black and white view, terrorism and America are two opposing forces. History paints a very different picture.

The inconvenient truth American media has systematically suppressed is that organizations like Hezbollah and the United States share an important characteristic: both employ terrorism. The FBI defines terrorism as, “The unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.”

The history of American terrorism is dense and murky but includes well documented cases. Among the best documented have been in Latin America. In 1976, Cubana Flight 455 was destroyed in mid-air by a bomb which had been planted on board, killing 73. It has been exposed that the CIA was involved in the operation, something confirmed by a document recently released by the National Security Agency.

Also active in Cuba, CIA sponsored terrorist group Operation-40 was responsible for nearly 300 civilian casualties throughout the 1960s. One former member, Porter Goss, served as the director of the CIA for a period under the current Bush administration.

In 1986, the International Court of Justice found the United States guilty of the “unlawful use of force” applied in Nicaragua two years prior. The CIA had not only trained and funded the Nicaraguan Contras in terrorist operations, but also planted mines in the waters of Nicaraguan ports. The death toll for these operations are unknown, but estimates range in the thousands.

Additionally, US agencies were both directly and indirectly involved in sponsoring terrorism conducted by rightist regimes throughout Latin America from the 1950s through the 1980s under the Operation Condor. The known deaths exceed 90,000.

Can the Untied States be separated from international terrorism? The evidence replies a resounding no. In fact, American terrorism has killed more than that of Hamas, Al-Qaeda, and Hezbollah combined. Despite all of the sensationalism, the world remains a very gray place.

Bill French can be reached at wfrench@monm.edu.