The New Crusade: America's War on Terrorism

From year to year while amassing wealth and light-heartedly thinking that one can shut out world poverty and problems, the nation was forced to open its eyes to the atrocities of imperialism with the September 11 attacks. Mahajan's New Crusade speaks on U.S. imperialism and its effects on subordinate countries. From the blatant defiance of international law to impoverishing sanctions on Iraq, he touches on several subjects to explain the root of the 911 attacks and a prelude to potential Third World retaliation that he aptly labels the "blow back". Mahajan begins by explaining the role of the media as a propaganda machine, shifting public attention away from foreign policy and to justify war with Afghanistan. Weeks after 911, President Bush addressed the nation in his first speech by stating "America was targeted for attack because we're the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world" (p 13). Mahajan adds that news anchors jumped on the "They hate us for our freedom" bandwagon to stir controversy. He quotes the omnipotent news anchor Dan Rather of CBS News as saying, "They hate us because they are losers. They see us as winners. And those who see themselves as losers sometimes develop a deep and abiding hatred for those they see who are winners"(p 13). An onslaught of like statements invoked a delusive sense of supremacy, arrogance and promoted prejudice that according to Mahajan, was designed to steer public attention from the motives of the attack. Virtually unknown to the public, Mahajan also mentions the initial agreement of the Taliban to extradite Osama Bin Laden to Pakistan where he would be tried by Islamic law provided substantial evidence was produced indicating involvement in the 911 attacks (p.21) and the refusal of the Bush camp to negotiate. Though The New Crusade was published in 2002 during the Afghan war, Mahajan accurately predicts the recent Iraq conflict stating that the country has been a target since the early nineties during the Gulf War. He writes about the illegal patrolling of British and American aircrafts over Iraq in no-fly zones (p 91), and the continuous police of Iraqi nuclear weapons while neighboring countries are allowed to freely stockpile arms.An additional slap in the face came with the 25% taken from Iraqi oil sales to repay Western oil companies for their "loss" during Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. These penalties hinder cash flow into the country, stifle local economy and place Iraqis at the mercy of a Saddam ruled, Western funded government Besides from some slight personal disagreements, specifically Mahajans' view of racial prejudice towards Arabs following the attack (p 71-75), the book is well written and gives excellent facts about U.S. foreign policy and offers a non-conventional view of the US and its relation to the rest of the world. It points out the flaws of the United States: arrogance and its refusal to follow international law (Mahajan notes $17 billion to owed Nicaragua for

If you've ordered this book and read it, then you've taken the first step to freeing your mind from all the garbage the media suffocates us with. And if you swallow these eye-opening books like I do then I earnestly recommed anything by Noam Chomsky, as well as these two books, which will no doubt enlighten you about the Bush administration and the war in Iraq: (1) War Plan Iraq: Ten Reasons Against War with Iraq (Milan Rai); and (2) STUPID WHITE MEN (Michale Moore). And if you love a good laugh, here's a satire on Bush and the media: The little samba boy (Jay Singh). The truth is out there.

This is probably the best book I've seen on the 'War on Terror." It's clearly argued and well documented. Others have already discussed the books strengths so I won't go into them here, but there is one problem I have with it. For all his research into the history of the United States' constant flaunting of international law, he fails to draw the logical conclusion from it: the United States will not obey any law that it does not want to. From the local to the international level, laws are only as good as they are enforceable; otherwise, they're just words on paper. To put it another way: political power grows from the barrel of a gun, and the US has the most and the biggest guns so there is little reason to believe, as Mahajan and others like Noam Chomsky do, that an international body can somehow compel the US to do anything. Before we start looking to the UN for solutions, we should see what it's track record has been when it comes to preventing or facilitating US militarism and we'll find that it consistently does the latter. Is that simply due to weak-spined political leaders? I don't believe so. It's because the US is such a cornerstone of international capitalism, that its role has to be preserved for the system to keep functioning, even at the short-term expense of other nations. What that implies for social justice movements is that we must be brutally honest about our country and its social-economic system, and I think any debate has to start with this premise. Despite that, I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a good understanding of the US government's post-9/11 actions, both domestically and internationally. Addendum: for further confirmation of Mahajan's concerns about of domestic anti-Arab hysteria , see Jill Malter's review of this book on August 5, 2005. In it she says, among other things: "Sami al-Arian! For those of you who don't know who he is, he's on trial for having been the North American leader of Islamic Jihad, a notorious terrorist group that has claimed "credit" for attacks that have killed at least 100 people in Israel and the disputed West Bank territories. He's also accused of having played a crucial role in writing the Jihad's constitution, raising money for the Jihad, helping other Jihad leaders enter the United States, and planning an extensive espionage operation. If there were just one person the United States ought to have been firing from their position, arresting, and putting on trial, it might well have been al-Arian. He's not the right person to try to defend by claiming anti-Arab racism! He's not the right person to try to defend by implying that his only crime was that "in his youth" he made 'an intemperate speech.'" Notice how she points out that he's 'on trial' and 'accused' of certain activities in the first quoted parargraph above. Nothing proven yet. Then in the second paragraph she basically pronunces him guilty and says it was right for him to be treated the way

The New Crusade: America's War On Terrorism is a very serious treatise by peace activist Rahul Mahjan on current events which focus on the September 11 attacks and the consequent war in Afghanistan. The New Crusade also addresses the issues of American policy in Israel and Palestine, Iraq, humanitarian intervention in Somalia and Kosovo, and more. Scathing in its indictment of the US government and IMF for such advocations as denying AIDS drugs to third-world countries (unless sold at inflated prices no third world nation can afford) and demanding privatization of scarce water resources, as well as gauging how September 11 changed America and the world, The New Crusade is a sober, thoughtfully argued presentation not to be taken lightly and deserving of as wide a readership as possible. This is a highly recommended and welcome contribution to the current national dialogue regarding our "war on terrorism".

Why do they hate us? It's because they hate our freedom - was the picture painted by the media and the US government. It was a nice, comfortable idea (this line from book). If you delve into this question a little further, you will soon realize, "they" probably don't care how you live inside your country, and they might actually care more about what the US government is doing outside the US. We obviously don't sympathize with the brutal and senseless actions of the fanatics that caused 9-11. However, the actions of the US government cannot be justified either. The bombings took a lot of innocent lives and will continue to do so for several years from starvation, disease and even unexploded bombs. War as we know is death for the people who live there. What's very bothering is that a lot of people believe that this war was and is justified. A lot of people believe the lives of children and innocent people are justified.If you want to get an idea as to why they hate us, and whether or not the war can be justified, this book will give you a great insight. The book also talks about how the war on terrorism is affecting our daily lives here, our future, and what we can do to help. The book presents a lot of facts after thorough research, analyses and suggestions as well.Being aware is in itself a great help we can do to ourselves.