..... So the fact that one set of people in sharp suits murder innocent people for their own political ends (ie terrorism) makes it no less a crime than if the perpetrators were wearing robes and sandles and directing operations from the caves of the Tora Bora.

Planes smashing into the twin towers on 9-11 in New York didn't metaphorically emerge from a clear blue sky, but were the product of historical injustices underpinned by a series of duplicitous US foreign policy objectives that extend from central and south America through to the middle east and beyond. These objectives have often been implemented in various interconnected ways.

In the case of Bolivia, Brazil and Argentina in recent years for example, the World Bank and the IMF, at the behest of US capitalism, imposed the mis-named free market economic ideology on those countries resulting in the enforced privatization of publicly owned state assets. The euphemism often used is 'Foreign Direct Investment' which is another way of saying 'asset stripping' or the private plunder of public resources for private profit.

If this process fails or is perceived as likely to fail, as is the case with the US approach to Iraq, then the ruling class will tend to emphasise religious and cultural differences - what Samuel Huttington famously referred to as "the clash of civilizations" - as the justification for a land grab and occupation. DuH2 hilariously made a Freudian slip in a previous post when he said: "The Iraq is occupied line is grabage". I couldn't have said it better myself!

The truth of the matter is when the invisible hand of the market is not likely to work, or has deemed to have failed, then the visible might of the military fist steps in. This is the situation with respect to Iraq. The US-led invasion and subsequent occupation of that country represents the personification of US imperialist power in this respect.

To this end, the occupation of Iraq is not only about the control of oil (China being the major future competitor to the US), but is equally about the expression of US strategic geopolitical and economic interests and leverage in the region. Israel is the US proxy in the middle east to help further this process.

In this respect, it is a commonly held mistake to suggest that the US works for Israel. On the contrary, Israel is under the auspices of US control and is used as a bulwark against Islamic fundamentalism in the same way for instance that the US manipulated Saddam for their own interests against the Iranians. It is manipulation of this kind that has so inflamed much of the muslim world.

To sum up then. Many of the problems we face in the world today stem from a history of US foreign policy duplicity and double standards. This has been further perpetuated by the mis-named "war on terror" and the enforced implementation of a 'one-size fits all' socio-economic and political ideology. 9-11 in New York and the terrorist atrocities in London, Madrid and elsewhere represent the culmination of these failed policies and strategies.