I AM A TERRORIST

To confess right away, I am not. But it did attract your attention, didn't it? Since the eleventh of September terrorism is still a daily event. At least in the media. Because where is the terrorism actually?

A friend of mine flew from Ireland to Sweden and got stopped at the open borders by the customs for carrying a nail clipper. Not a small scissor but a nail clipper. She was being accused of that. She's no terrorist by the way. Someone else at the airport was being stopped for possession of a pencil sharpener. That was confiscated by the customs.

What is a terrorist actually? My dictionary says: a user of violence and intimidation. And for all clarity: violence: acts involving great force or intensity.

Soon after that drama on September the 11th came anthrax. Letters that everyone receives could suddenly hide an invisible danger. Not completely invisible because the media classified it as white powder. This happened in a far away country on the other side of the world. Immediately in Europe a series of measures took place based on the American situation. They searched everywhere but nothing was found - besides a few suspicious findings, which disappeared as quickly as they had appeared. And there was panic. Old people who were afraid to open their mail. And there was paranoia everywhere at the sight of white powder. A plane with a team of weightlifters returned to its airport after the discovery of a mysterious white powder at the toilet. It turned out to be talcum powder. Terrorism is the use of violence and intimidation. At least that's what my dictionary tells me.

Since those infamous attacks we are flooded with American warnings. The more frightened the people are, the easier it will be to install a number of repressive 'security measures'. Osama bin Laden became an abstraction thanks to the media and was used by political opportunism to install a series of harsh measures. To be able to continue the threat of terrorism in the shape of al-Qaeda, Osama could not die. That would mean the end of al-Qaeda just like the death of Hitler meant the end of the Nazis. The effect of Osama as the evil man weakened despite several video recordings of his so-called confessions. That two of those video interviews showed two different Osama's, was not mentioned in the large media. America decided to go back to its old enemy. Not the Russians but the Iraqi people, to be more specific: Saddam bin Hoessein (his complete name). His dead body is not found either. Unless he's still alive. Good to have him as a back-up with possible future incidents. And occasionally showing up with a dead relative to ease the emotions back home. The threat must stay real to justify the enormous military budget. The conservatives have used the drama of the eleventh of September to finally fill in their own agenda. You almost start to think why that second plane chose that second tower while could have chosen any other target that hour. The White House, Congress, a nuclear plant, Disney World, there are enough horrifying options. Because all the cameras were already pointing at the first tower and you get therefore the maximum effect to traumatize the people. That way the resistance is the least when you install an arsenal of repressive measures to 'protect' the country and the world. But where is the evidence actually? I don't know but when someone says they have evidence but are not showing it, it's usually a scam. The authorities claim they withhold the evidence for our own safety. Ignorance is Strength.

After 911 we were told that terrorism could strike anywhere. That it could strike anywhere before that is clear. We're talking about terrorism after all. And terrorism strikes… in the papers. The Pentagon even announces they founded an department that will deal with placing false articles in the foreign press, fake emails with made-up senders and other classified activities to manipulate public opinion. According to the US the threat comes from abroad en therefore the word abroad is often used. In that context it's more or less accepted by the American people. The fact that placing false articles in the foreign press will find its way almost immediately back into the national press is something that is easily left out.

From October 2004 everyone entering the US must either have a visa (including fingerprints and a digital scan of your face) or a biometric passport. To stop so-called terrorists. As if most terrorists have a terror record (and being foreign!). But terrorists seem to have a special relationship with their passports. The passport belonging to 911 hijacker Satam Al Suqami was found almost undamaged within 24 hours at top of the rubble of the World Trade Center and Chechen passports are being plucked from exploded suicide bombers in Russia within hours. Will the new passports also be made out of kryptonite?

The libraries in the US have to provide book registrations to the FBI on request. For making this easy, this is also brought under the label of 'global war against terrorism', stated in the 'US Patriot Act'. What the relationship is between books and terrorism is not explained. And what do they expect to find? After all, you will not find any recruiting pamphlets by extreme rightwing groups in the shelves. What you can find is Karl Marx and the biography of Abbie Hoffman. The same 'Patriot Act' - which was made up and signed by Bush in a record time of six weeks - even makes it possible to inquire into the programs a suspect has watched on TV. This has nothing to do with fighting crime but it's the result of a compulsive need for control to maintain power. Once there were Communist countries with a lesser controlling system than the one the US maintains these days. History repeats itself. Like Hermann Göring - one of Hitler's nazi politicians - said during the Nuremberg process: 'All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger.'

And patriotism gets fully exploited. Operation TIPS - the Terrorism Information and Prevention System - where American civilians in all kinds of professions and social meetings can report suspicious behavior to their government, has already caused many innocent victims. The paranoia caused by the media has put a number of people on edge and for example reported Arabic speaking people in a café as suspicious. Also the owner of a leftwing bookshop in Atlanta had recently received a visit by the FBI after a customer had reported him for reading a suspicious text. If he could tell what that was about. After worrying it out in his mind, the shop owner finally remembered it had to be an article from the Internet. The title: Weapons of Mass Stupidity.

While every attack in the world is now being classified as terrorism, it stays quiet with the choice of words when students shooting down their fellow classmates. The American government is full of supporters of the loyal gun laws and its club The National Rifle Association. Their Attorney General John Ashcroft announced a law that within 24 hours of a purchase and background check, all background-check files on individuals who had purchased guns will be destroyed by the Justice Department. Nobody knows therefore who or what kind of weapon he or she has. What is certain is that American pilots will carry a gun in the cockpit in order to shoot hijackers in the knee. There you go with your pencil sharpener.

The political situation that has occurred in the United States has direct results on society in Holland and other European countries. That's not a coincidence. Two years after date there are still laws and rules set up, which severely limits individual freedom. And that's based on an act of terrorism for which there has not been a single piece of evidence presented. But who needs evidence when you can convince the people by another way.

© 2003 Dennis Rodie

The Dutch version appeared in Kleintje Muurkrant 382, August 29, 2003