For well over a decade, since the events of 9/11, the group Al-Qaeda has performed quite a service for the West and its imperialist ambitions. Since then, the Mideast has been hurled into hell, and Iraq has joined Afghanistan as places to flee from, to get away from as quickly as possible. No one can dare to honestly say that things are even remotely better in any occupied state. Nations split asunder by Western arrogance, paranoia, greed, and fear.
Since the invasions by the U.S. and its so-called allies, communities have fallen into sectarian wars, and Western-supported leaders have given puppetry a bad name. Iraq has become a bloody curse, a den of hatred and corruption. To the imperialists this is progress, for it is easier to exploit. And now, in the name of the so-called “war on terror,” new wars are being bred in the Arab world, in North and East Africa. New intrusions on the rights of Americans, the right to the explosion of the national security state; complete government surveillance of every American communication of every privacy.
Just several months ago, the Obama administration announced that Al-Qaeda was on its heels, its leaders droned into eternity, its followers scattered. Today, the whole of Northern Africa, an area larger than the U.S., is on high alert because of Al-Qaeda chatter. Are they on their heels or on the run? It doesn’t look like it, as 22 embassies closed their doors. Al-Qaeda came into being, researchers say, because of the training and money of British, Saudi, and Pakistani, not to mention American, intelligence. They needed them to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan. They are what they made them, yet they remain instruments of empire. From in prison nation, this is Mumia Abu-Jamal.
These commentaries are recorded by Noelle Hanrahan of Prison Radio.
