Terrorism Is the Price of Imperialism

What happened in Paris is not right, just inevitable

Since 2011, France has been militarily involved in five countries – four of which have a predominantly Muslim population:

Do those who mourn the victims in Paris recognize that France is killing people in other countries and that those actions have created enemies? Indeed, France is experiencing payback for it’s military expansionism in largely Muslim countries.

France struck the first blow by dropping bombs in Libya, Mali, Iraq and Syria. The Islamic State didn’t start this fight.

It doesn’t make what the Islamic State did right, but when one country drops bombs in another country they make it more likely that someone is going to attack them in their own country.

In claiming responsibility for the attacks in Paris, the Islamic State made it clear that the actions were due to French militarism, which they label a "crusader campaign":

"Let France and all nations following its path know … that the scent of death will not leave their nostrils as long as they partake in the crusader campaign … and as long as they boast about their war against Islam in France and their strikes against Muslims in the lands of the Caliphate with their jets," read their statement.

There are those who say the Islamic State is going after all western countries because of the west’s way of life. If that were true then why haven’t they targeted countries like Switzerland and Brazil?

And if the Islamic State is public enemy #1, why are France and the US opposed to those who are actually fighting the Islamic State? Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, the Houthis in Yemen, Russia and Iran are all fighting the Islamic State, yet each one of those is an ‘enemy’ of the US. When it comes to these groups and the targeted governments, the US is on the same side as the Islamic State.

France had it right when they refused to support the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Had the US never invaded Iraq, the Islamic State would not exist and the attacks in Paris may not have occurred.

One hopes France recognizes that the way to prevent acts of terror in their country is by not committing acts of terror (which is what war is) in other countries.

Chris Ernesto is cofounder of St. Pete for Peace, an antiwar organization in St. Petersburg, FL that has been active since 2003. Mr. Ernesto also created and manages OccupyArrests.com and USinAfrica.com.

27 thoughts on “Terrorism Is the Price of Imperialism”

  1. Not a excellent post at all! France are not killing random people in any of the recent conflicts they are targeting those that murder rape and pillage innocent people in the name of their religion! To even suggest it is acceptable for them to conduct mass murder of civilians is unbelievable! And you will find more than likely the ones conducting the terror attacks are not even from any of the countries you have listed they are more likely to be french!
    You also need a history lesson! To say these terror attacks are due to the wests foreign policies is an out right lie, if you bothered to look you will find very easily the terror attacks against the us started in the late 70’s! Lockerbie in the early 80’s the world trade centre in the mid 90’s long before the invasion of iraq and afghanistan!
    And the situation in syria is very complex with lots of different groups who hate each other! For example the us turkey and the kurds are all fighting IS the us is allies with turkey and the kurds but turkey and the kurds hate each other!

    1. so the Wests foreign policy in the Middle East only started in the 1970s – LOL

      the article is pointing out whether you like it or not that if you start dropping bombs on foreign countries whatever the reason, good or bad, there will be blowback there will be retaliations

    2. Post 9/11 Western foreign policy certainly gave jihadi groups a HUGE boost in the arm and has caused people to join them who otherwise wouldn't have. Its almost as if western leaders read Bin Ladens fatwa from 1996 and thought "ok, lets prove him right" so he can say to muslims worldwide "see, i told you so, now come an join me".

      After 9/11 had the US and co actually waged a war on terror non of these attacks like the one in paris on the 13th would be happening. All that was required after 9/11 was to go and slit bin ladens throat, unfortunately for us the 9/11 attacks happened when there was a pack of rabid neo-cons and idiots presiding over US foreign policy, many of whom had an alternate agenda which included regime change across the middle east.

      Western foreign policy fuels islamist groups in much the same oil (gas) fuels your car, without US foreign policy it wouldn't go anywhere and in fact there some evidence that Bin laden was going to retire before 9/11 but decided to carry out one last attack in the hope of luring US troops into his trap, thats how weak al qaeda was before 9/11 and they could have been eradicated with a smart response to the attacks.

    3. LMAO – that you think the "terrorist" attacks of the 1970s are the genesis of this conflict shows just how ignorant you are. Study some history and then get back to us.

    4. America's rape of the middle east began with it's support for the Palestinian genocide in 1948. France's began much earlier with the brutal colonization of Algeria and there abuse of there own Algerian population is what gives ISIS it's recruits within the country.

      Lockerbie, which was blamed on Libya with zero evidence in order to justify another bombing, was most likely committed by Ahmed Jibril's PFLP-GC on behalf of Iranian hardliners in retaliation for the American downing of a civilian Persian airliner, killing all those on board.

      The World Trade Center bombing was committed by American trained Mujihadeen who used the skills Uncle Sam taught them to overthrow the secular socialist government in Afghanistan and kill there Russian neighbors who attempted to save it on the hand that feeds.

      The point is terrorism begets terrorism. ISIS are the bastard children of western terrorism. There acts are no less disgusting then the french bombs and police truncheons that taught them how to hate.

      Try to educate yourself before you post mr bojangles. Your clearly not as informed as you think you are.

  2. Western foreign policy, oil or any other reason they use to justify their terrorism is just plain wrong. Hussain, Gaddafi, Burak, Assad all dictators who kept a lid on the middle east by murdering anyone who stepped out of line, when the arab spring started the western world thought yes democracy and supported the rebel groups. But the problem lies with religion, islam is not a tolerant religion it is all about controlling its believers and non believers. It subdues the women it subdues learning! Look how many nobel peace prizes have been won by muslims since the iman declared a fatwa against maths a thousand years ago when the islamic scholars were leading the world in scientific discovery.Imagine where we could of been today as a species if they had been allowed to contribute? The simple facts are we are at war and putting your head in the sand will not make it go away. Why are the terrorists whom commit these crimes not from syria or iraq ect where the bombs are being dropped? Why are they from their home country, like the 7/7 bombers in london, all young well educated men with families?
    Like the Israeli prime minister stated if hamas ect lay down their weapons there would be no more fighting, if israel lay theres down there would be no more israel.

    1. so the wests continuous bombing of middle eastern countries for the last 14 years (obviously it goes back further than that) nations has nothing to do with the 7 fold increase in terror attacks over the same period of time ? …. there's no connection there ? it's just a coincidence that whilst the west have literally been bombing non stop for 14 years in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria (not to mention a number of African nations) there's also been a rise in islamic terrorism.

      I'm not even saying you're totally wrong, these groups have always existed and Islam is a brutal religion in many ways, but to deny the wests reckless and misguided foreign policy post 9/11 has nothing to do with people being motivated to join these groups, is just plan ignorant. Western foreign policy is the food that these groups feed off, it provides these groups the nutrition it needs to thrive, without it they would wither and die off.

      On a wider point isis' very formation would not have come about absent the Iraq war! so the very fact it exists as an entity is down to misguided and down right dumb western foreign policy in the "war on terror".

      and if the west is so keen on peace and democracy in the middle east how come they funded Mubarak for 30 years ? how come they were allied with saddam for many years ? how come they are allied with the Saudis ? how come they're allied with Uzbekistan ? how come they installed the shah of Iran and supported him for 25+ years ?. The west don't want democracy in the middle east, unless they can control the outcome of elections.

  3. " but when one country drops bombs in another country they make it more likely that someone is going to attack them in their own country."

    True enough. But in the case of this attack in Paris it might not apply! The terrorists appear to be mostly French citizens of multiple ethnic-transnational backgrounds with many of them living in Belgium. So even to some degree "their country" was bombed, it was also by their other country!

    It seems, like so many Islamic terrorists, that one takes up the cause or associates with a land but only because of a principle applied, some link with history, some link to end of times but mostly as training grounds to get battle hardened and "jacked up".

    So no, it's not "their" country under attack. They're over here because they already were?

  4. I agree, if you take action against another country to expect a retalliation, but if bad things are happening in another country and you have the ability to stop it, do you just say its not our problem? Sometimes negotiation, sanctions do not work, and the only way is by force. If we had not stood up against oppression in the past we would all be talking german now.
    Religions have held the human race back and caused huge losses of life. And there is no end in sight????

    1. "If bad things are happening in another country and you have the ability to stop it," Mr. Bojangles said. So, does another country have the right to come into the US and stop bad things from happening? And by the way, the bad things that are happening in the Middle East are in large part due to US militarism and support of despots, so that pretty much takes the US out of the equation of trying to solve the problem.

  5. As for Islam, a religion is a reflection on the state of it's society, not vise versa. As you stated, Muslim scholars use to lead the world in science, there religion didn't impede there abilities then, why should it now? What changed?

    The answer is the Crusades, which robbed the Muslim world of there progress and used it to start the Renaissance. Europe's enlightenment was essentially the greatest act of plagiarism in history. There advanced society is a direct result of there enslavement of the Muslim world.

    If the situation were reversed and the Crusades and the subsequent colonialism that followed never occurred, I suspect that the Middle East would be the advanced secular society it was already well on its way to becoming and Europe would still be drowning "witches" and slaughtering heathens.

    Blaming all the worlds woes on religion is childishly over simplistic and short sighted. It is also all to often based in the continental chauvinism that stems from a severe lack of historical foresight. I suggest you turn off Real Time with Bill Maher and try cracking open a book not written by neo-racist gadflies like Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins.

  6. I never said this conflict started in the 70’s! How far back in history do you go to justify their actions? Do we have to apologise for the crusades? Do we keep reminding the germans of the holacaust? The japanese over the rape of nanking? Do these events give me justification to attack them today? Most fighting age males are between 20 and 40 some will only just remember 9/11! While you argument holds for palestinian/algerian/irish terrorists that have grown up in the troubles it does not explain those terrorists that are only connected by religion? And to say there actions are no more reprehensible than ours?? Do we use women and children as suicide bombers? Do we behead people for not believing in the correct god? Do we rape there women? Do we shoot people for going to school? Or just kill as many innocent civilians as we can? They want to drag the world back to the dark ages.

    1. Those who forget history are damned to repeat it. You don't necessarily have to apologize for the Crusades (couldn't hurt) but you would be ignorant to dismiss it's impact on an entire civilization. Would you tell African american's to stop bellyaching over slavery? Wounds can't heal if there left open to fester. The Middle East remains oppressed and most of there oppressors are propped up by the same nations that led the crusades.

      Those terrorists in Paris are connected by more then just religion. They were probably the children of North African refugees who escaped French colonialism only to find generations of oppression in the motherland of there abusers. If you grow up with no hope, surrounded by hate and violence, the odds of growing up to be a hopeless, hateful and violent person are going to be pretty high. This isn't an excuse but it is an explanation worth considering.

      As for all that noise about suicide bombers, decapitation and rape. When your a first world country you ferry out that kind of dirty work to proxies like the Saudi's, the Contra's, Al-Nusrah, the Turks, the Northern Alliance, Mugabe's Rwanda, the Kosovo Liberation Army, the South Vietnamese, the AUC, SAVAK, Banderist Nazi's, the Indonesian Special Forces, The Ulster loyalists, etc, etc, etc. I could literally go on for years but I think you get the point. (btw-6 of those groups are primarily Christian)

      Any Questions?….

      Good! Now f**k off.

      1. Little bit of both, love, but that doesn't make my point any less valid. Facts first, then insults. It's the best way to handle ignorant bigots like our dear mr bojangles and I'd rather be a deranged troll then an ignorant bigot any day of the week.

        All the best.

        PEACE, LOVE & EMPATHY (with a measured dose of insanity)

        CH

  7. Iman Ghazzali issued a fatwa against maths and philosophy a thousand years ago! And islam never recovered until the 21st century! So clearly there religion did have an impact!

  8. How about if governments stop bombing other countries. Then they wouldn't have to deal with payback.

  9. This also blow back from France's war in Libya. The weapons were given to Turkey to hand out like candy to the mujaheddin. Bad mistake.

  10. Mr. Bojangles, you are the one desperately in need of a history lesson. All these dictators we’ve overthrown were no worse than our beloved ally Saudi Arabia. And in many ways, they were far better at protecting minorities, including women. With our interventions, we’ve consistently created a power vacuum in which the ignorant extremists flourish. The Northern Alliance in Afghanistan is a prime example.

    And as far as the argument about the Paris terrorists being westerners, they say that at least one of them had traveled to Syria to fight. The vast majority of these rebels are foreign, supported by the US and Gulf monarchies. Syria may be the venue, but the rebels are not only Syrians. Our intervention in the ME over many decades have created these conditions. Pulling support of all the rebel groups, and ceasing all support of either side, is the only way to wipe our hands clean. It is not our fight, it is not our interest.

  11. Payback is brutal. And that's exactly why France suffered this catastrophe. Yet no one has asked the question "why did this happen?" Stop committing acts of terror and no one will terrorize your country in return.

  12. Well at least France has only bombed 5 Muslim countries vs. the US who has bombed 7. If everyone stopped bombing everyone else, there would not be a terrorist attacks. It's really that simple.

    1. there are always disgruntled a–holes but yes the predominant recruiting angle would be neutralised – of course bombing has worked – look how successful its been since 2001 – LOL

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