-Iraq (bombed and starved by sanctions, over 1 million dead, thousands killed in Gulf War)
-Tanzania (spends more $ on repaying loans to the IMF than on healthcare or education)
-Japan (occupied by US Army)
-Cuba (Right-wing Cuban Americans from Miami conducted numerous assassination attempts and terrorist acts over the last 40 years; victim of inhuman US economic blockade)
-Palestine (US supports Israel in illegal occupation of West Bank and Gaza, thousands dead)
-Nicaragua (thousands of civilians murdered by US funded death squads, now forced to cut health and education spending due to an IMF structural adjustment plan)
-Chile (US backed Fascist military coup, resulting in the deaths of thousands)
-El Salvador (US backed death squads overthrow democratically elected officials and murder thousands)
-Guatemala (US backed death squads, at the behest of United Fruit Company, overthrow democratically elected president and murder thousands)
-Vieques, Puerto Rico (Used for bombing practice by US Navy)
-Mozambique (because of IMF/World Bank policies, spend more on debt repayments than on social services)
-Europe (US backs out of Kyoto Accords on Climate Change, pushes ahead with "Star Wars" missle defense system, despite ABM treaty)
-Colombia (US military aid currently funding Colombian military and therein right-wing paramilitary death squads that have killed thousands)
-Sudan (Factory producing children's pharmaceuticals bombed by US; mistaken for weapons factory)
-Serbia (Violating the Geneva Conventions on War, the US destroyed Belgrade's civilian infrastructure (bridges, water, sanitation))
-Russia (US poised to pull out of ABM treaty and build missle defense system)
-Kenya (IMF threatens to withdraw loan if public school teachers are given raise)
-South Africa (US drug companies attempt to stop govt. from producing generic AIDS meds, would cause millions to lose prescription coverage)
The US military, corporations and their instruments of financial
control, the IMF and the World Bank adversely affect millions
of people worldwide.
The easy thing for you to do now is to embrace nationalism, revenge and violence. Thousands of innocent people are dead and that's something to be angry about. It's easy enough; Arab cab drivers have already been attacked in New York. It's painful to critically examine the motivations of the terrorists. However, it is no coincidence that the centers of both US financial and military control were bombed today. These attacks are a direct result of, and probably a response to, US imperialism. The only way to protect ourselves from violence is to stop perpetrating it against others. We've long lived by the sword and are now curious why we die. Now's the time to act constructively; give blood to the Red Cross, comfort your friends and family and spread words of peace. Now's the time for us as a nation to stop thinking about retaliation and start acting on ways to prevent a tragedy like this from ever happening again.
(Written by Dan Denvir)