Islam Supplants Communism

Since the turn of the 20th century, the U.S. has been actively involved in wars and covert activities by the CIA globally. The U.S. fought World Wars I and II, the Korean War, The Vietnam War, the 1991 Gulf invasion and the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the Afghanistan war. The covert war activities that were made public took place in many countries, fighting regimes that were Socialist or trying to implement that type of economic model or were not supporters of the U.S. One of these regimes was in Afghanistan during the 1980s. The attempt to remove the Socialist regime under Najib Allah led to the invasion of Afghanistan by Russian troops. This led the U.S., through its CIA, to recruit Muslim Mujaahideen from Islamic countries, especially in the Arab world, to fight the atheist Communist forces in Afghanistan. It was estimated that the CIA with the help of Saudi’s government, was able to recruit more than 12,000 young Muslims. Bin Laden was among them. That war bled the Russian forces to death and contributed at the end to the collapse of the old USSR and its Communist ideology. On the negative side, it led to the creation and development of al-Qaeda, which has been a major national problem for the U.S. government, especially after the 9/11 attacks that caused the death of more than 3,000 Americans. Furthermore, the rise of al-Qaeda replaced the old demon “Communism”. The new demon has been “Islam” and some Muslim countries, like Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen and others were targeted as countries that harbor terrorists. The American military industrial complex has been playing a very influential role through their lobbyists in shaping American policy at both the national and international levels.

During the past century, the U.S. extended itself all over the globe, where the Pentagon has established more than 900 military bases. All such activities by the military industrial complex have created a concept of fear about America’s national security, which strengthens U.S. defenses. Over many decades, the Defense Department established a policy for the Pentagon budget, which was hardly challenged by Congress. Those few who did that were labeled “soft” on the defense of the U.S. This reflected negatively on them and threatened their elections. The lobbyist for the military industry complex played an important role in support of the defense budget. This policy has been criticized by President Eisenhower and in his farewell speech to the nation at the end of his term during the 1950s he warned of the abuse of the American military industrial complex and pointed out that he “pitied the American people if they elected a president who will not be aware of how the Pentagon operates”. President Eisenhower’s prophecy turned out to be true. The American people elected President Reagan in 1980. At that time, the U.S. was the biggest creditor nation in the world and its debt was less than one trillion dollars. By the end of Reagan’s time as president in 1988, the U.S. became the debt nation of the world. Its debt exceeded $3 trillion. President Reagan spent trillions of dollars on defense as a necessity to fighting the “Evil Empire”, communist Russia. The military industrial complex thrives on instability and conflicts around the world and used it as justification for military contracts from the Pentagon. As of 2009, the U.S. military spending almost equaled the defense spending of all 22 NATO members, plus China and Russia combined. After the collapse of the old USSR (communism) the new military industrial complex strategy was to create a new demon. Islamic terrorism replaced communism as the new threat for the American national security and its interests abroad. Former President G.W. Bush declared war on “terrorism” which he used as justification for the incursion in Iraq and Afghanistan, despite the fact that neither were a threat to the U.S. During his tenure as president, the defense budget more than doubled to exceed $700 billion dollars per year and the U.S. national debt more than doubled to exceed $9 trillion. The U.S. government is borrowing billions of dollars to finance its wars and as of 2010, the total debt was over $14 trillion. U.S.A. Today (2/3/2010) noted that the share of the U.S. debt equals $40, 065 per person in the U.S.A. or equal to $770 a week for a year per person or $110 a day for a year per person.

To put it in a clear way, the U.S. government is using its credit cards to fight foreign wars. In the meantime, the national infrastructures are deteriorating at a rapid rate due to the lack of financial resources needed.