What are we Afraid of? What Should we be Afraid of?

          Regardless of the legitimacy of rationale, the United States is now locked in combat with an insurgent force inside Iraq. Yes, Saddam was finally removed. Strangely, the support given to Iraq, even through Saddam’s worse atrocities were not mentioned in the rush to war. Nonetheless, the brutal dictator is now being tried for war crimes, in the mean time, estimates of civilian casualties run anywhere from 40,000 to 100,000 following the invasion. 2,500 American lives have been lost, with countless more wounded. Yet no weapons of mass destruction were found, no imminent threat to America and her allies. Al Qaeda has had a chance to establish itself in Iraq amidst the fog of war. Ironically, the false allegation of Saddam having Al Qaeda ties has morphed Iraq into a hot bed for this very terror group. Saddam was indeed a brutal dictator; however Iraq was also portrayed as a threat to the world, a safe haven for terrorism, and possessing “some of the most deadly weapons known to man”. So of course the ‘logical’ answer is to have the most powerful army, with the most powerful nuclear arsenal in the world invade, decimate the ‘threat’ all the while allowing a terrorist group to gain a foothold in a country where it had otherwise been not permitted to function. Why the irony? It is hard to pin down a single reason. For instance, is it really a surprise that the United States military, an army that consumes more oil than any other on earth, is fighting above one of the largest petroleum reserves in the world? Or consider perhaps the signing of Iraqi reconstruction contracts over to Halliburton? Regardless of the true intention, the United States is three trillion dollars in debt and locked into an illegitimate and illegal war. The country was intentionally and carefully placed into a state of fear that would justify this invasion. War with Iraq was inevitable; the reasons on the other hand, were negotiable as long as they produced a panic. Saddam was living proof to the American people that fear is the key to oppression. What many Americans fail to realize is that the same tactics are and have been employed throughout the history of the United States. Who should we really be afraid of?