Hail to the new state religion

Recently I did a quick tally of the number of “enemy combatants” tortured to death by U.S. forces in our various gulags/torture chambers across the globe. The acknowledged and undisputed number is 100+ but our hit parade by any reasonable estimate far exceeds this. We have murdered terrorist taxi drivers, terrorist college students, terrorist fathers, terrorist brothers, terrorist farmers — it’s a mistake to minimize our considerable achievements here.

So here’s the question of the day — perhaps the question of the new century. Why is there virtually no protest or outrage over the fact that we are routinely torturing and murdering prisoners? The answer can be found at the bloodstained altar of our new state religion, “war on terror” Our old-time state religion, “anti-communism,” served the empire well for decades until the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The commandments and edicts of “anti-communism” allowed us to plunder, terrorize, start wars, overthrow governments, murder hundreds of thousands of people and support tyrants and monsters the world over with righteous halo intact. Consider our deeply moral successes in Iran, El Salvador, Chile, Guatemala, Brazil, Nicaragua and Haiti, just to list a few.

However, our “war on terror” gospels present us with exciting new opportunities unheard of even at the height of our “anti-communism” crusades. The “war on terror” New Testaments allow us to attack and destroy nations on any pretext, utterly shred and destroy any adherence or observance of international law, murder, torture and terrorize entire populations and ethnic groups, and enact sweeping and hopelessly repressive legislation at home intent on muzzling any possible civil disobedience.

So let’s open our hymnbooks and sing an ode to the glories of our new state religion – “war on terror.” Just think if we reach and maintain the right crescendo — we’ll be able to drown out the tormented screams of our victims. Hallelujah.

Jim Sawyer

Edmonds