United States at War in the Middle East in the 21st Century

United States at War in the Middle East in the 21st Century
Are things always what they at first seem?

I am thankful to be an American, to have been born in an experiment aimed at liberty and justice for all people. I am profoundly sad for the terrorism that took the lives of uninformed, unsuspecting and mostly innocent people.

Over the past few days I have sat in front of the television and radio interviews and commentaries about the tragic crash-bombings of the World Trade Centers in New York and Pentagon in Washington D.C. I have heard a great deal of talk from government leaders, local politicians, and news media about securing airports (and hopefully other public places and transportation systems), dismantling terrorist cells, preserving the American way of life and returning to business as usual.

We are warned against seeking and expecting a "quick fix" to the terrorism trouble, yet we are not encouraged to use our minds to understand the context of fundamentalist EXTREMIST Islam. Further, we are not encouraged to understand the possible role that the American people and American way of life might play in creating the very monsters we now are at war against.

Perhaps we are setting our own selves up for defeat and setting up our monsters for survival.

I do NOT want to return to business as usual or the "American way of life" IF these things mean that we Americans are mindless-patriots and remain uninformed and uninterested in knowing the full truth as far as possible.

Have we become the strongest nation with the dumbest, most un-intelligent, uninformed and uninterested citizens? I hope NOT!

My concern for the living and my grief for the dead and suffering requires me to volunteer and commit every ounce of intelligence, and critical thought that is available to me in order to see and understand the full picture.

Here are links to information that have helped me begin my journey to better understand the context behind the horrible events of September 11, 2001. I hope that they help you begin the journey too. I begin the links to articles with questions that I had which led me to seek the information:

Is Osama bin Laden a decoy for the REAL culprits?
Who Did It: An Alternative View Jane's Security Foreign Report - September 19, 2001

Who are the Taliban?
Who are the Taliban? PBS Interview - September 15, 2001

What is the Taliban all about?
Politics of the Taliban PBS Interview - September 15, 2001
Culture of Terror Archaeology (Website)
Film Industry Interview Screen India (Website)

What's the history and is there more to this than meets the eye?
US, Taliban, Oil CBS NEWS - September 15, 2001
Afghanistan Fact Sheet Energy Information Administration/EIA (US Gov. Website)
Heroin, Taliban, Pakistan South Asia Analysis Group (Website)

Are we (USA) and our sanctions partially to blame?
Cause of Afghan Suffering Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Famine Aid to Afghans US Dept. of State
Sanctions - Peace Action (Website)

What really IS Jihad/Holy War and is it evil or justice and why?
What is Jihad? - Beliefnet (Website)
Jihad - Islaam.com (Website)

The questions that remain for me are these:

What is the acceptable level, place or time for the end of Jihad? With the radio, TV, Internet and the pluralistic public place, when REALLY will Islam NOT be in need of defense? Are non-Muslim non-Americans welcome and free to be and live non-Muslim lives within Islamic nations?

Does the existence of the "American [economic] way of life" require unjust, inhumane and intolerable systems of economics for those outside of it? Is American freedom (as head of the Western World) based on the slavery of others, is prosperity of one built on the destitution of another? How long will such systems stand? Are there intolerable religious/social if not economic inequalities within Islam?

Is the military a force of protection for the economic and political ideology of a nation; and will "war" heal the economic, political and spiritual terror of our national and international systems, or only set us up for the next round?

As the world leader (the strongest and richest nation) is the American economic and political ideology working to bless all people and nations or is it an ideology of false peace at home while creating economic and political terror at home and abroad?

I truly hope and pray that you can have a higher, broader, more hopeful and creative understanding through the information I have become aware of. As living human beings, we have a responsibility to know and live the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Civilization depends on it.