Playing into right-wing hate

As the dust settles, radical conservatives have found their enemies

In times like these, it's difficult to know what to do or say. It is now more than 32 hours since four civilian aircraft were hijacked; two crashed into New York's World Trade Center, one into one side of the Pentagon, and one went down in Pennsylvania. Hundreds of people are known to be dead, and who knows how high the death toll will become when the rubble is finally cleared away. Watching the two New York towers crumble on live television was horrifying and shocking. My heart goes out to the families of all the people who died and were injured in this devastating attack.

To tell the truth, I'm in a kind of daze. The destruction was so enormous that some reporter noted that the Cosmonauts reported that they were able to see the plumes of smoke emanating from the World Trade Center from several hundred miles above the Earth.

The television networks focused all their resources on the calamity -- without commercial interruption. By night's end the usual coterie of experts on terrorism -- many that we've seen before -- were being trucked out. President Bush spoke to the nation several times. In the nation's capital, Democrats and Republicans joined hands, resolved to stand together as one America.

As of early this morning, it seemed that it was too early to think about the long-range implications these horrific terrorist acts would have for future U.S. policy. Would an increased military budget, greater attacks on our Civil Liberties, more money for Intelligence agencies, state-sanctioned assassinations and indiscriminate U.S. military air attacks be coming down the pike? These possibilities seemed too huge and distant to really get a handle on.

Two things shook me out of my daze this afternoon: an interview I saw on CBS with Senator Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), and the latest edition of The Federalist Society's The Federalist Chronicle.

Senator Shelby was, well, unhinged -- believe me when I tell you that there's just no other way to describe it -- as he basically called for an all-out war against terrorists and the countries that harbor them. He seemed to assert that there should be no stopping until they were all removed from the face of the earth.

If this was the raving of just one conservative Senator, that could be seen as par for the course. But, the fact is that when it comes to military and intelligence issues, Senator Shelby is an extremely powerful and influential voice on Capitol Hill. His rage surely represents a large body of congressional opinion that is undoubtedly building as I write this. And, there's little doubt it will continue to grow in the days to come.

I've monitored the conservative movement in this country for a long time. I'm not easily shocked or even surprised by some of the things I read in the right-wing press. However, the tone and language of today's edition of The Federalist Chronicle set me back. It was patently outrageous; it was so over the top. And it too undoubtedly reflects the thinking of most of those running the Bush administration.

The Federalist Chronicle begins by laying the full burden of blame for these terrorist attacks directly at the doorstep of Bill Clinton:

"The United States of America is at war This momentous event caps the tragedy of years of appeasement of rogue nations and terrorists, appeasement that reached a zenith during the eight years of Bill Clinton's administration The real legacy of Bill Clinton was sketched in graphic images yesterday, across the skyline of Manhattan, before the eyes of the entire world. Clinton's DNC [Democratic National Committee] Chairman Terry McAuliffe said, 'There are no partisans today, only patriots.' But, to be sure, the partisans of yesterday have patriot blood on their hands today."

The Federalist Chronicle asks: "Where do we go from here?" Their answer is startling in its brutality.

Despite pressure from "leftists on Capitol Hill" the president should make it clear that "Tuesday's events were, indeed, an act of WAR." The Chronicle quotes former House Speaker Newt Gingrich as saying, "I don't want to bring them to justice. I want to defeat them."

"It is The Federalist's position that we should give nation's [sic] which harbor terrorists the same advance warning we gave Hiroshima - and let fly. We must to [sic] turn the sands of Afghanistan into molten glass - NOW - and let [Osama] bin Laden's other host nations know that our actions against Afghanistan are only the first volley of fire."

Bottom Line for the Federalists: "Support President Bush's effort to rebuild our military and intelligence capabilities. Support his efforts to establish a viable missile defense system to protect our nation from the high frontier of terror that will soon be available for rogue states and their surrogate actors. And we call once again for all Americans to maintain a level of civil preparedness for such tragic events. Tuesday's attacks were the opening rounds - not the closing rounds of this war."

This is not the time to recount the history of U.S. support for Afghanistan's Taliban, or the CIA's connections to bin Laden (see "Bin Laden comes home to roost: His CIA ties are only the beginning of a woeful story"). It is, however, worth pointing out that as recently as this past May the Bush administration awarded $43 million to the Taliban. According to the Los Angeles Times' Robert Scheer, this made the U.S. "the main sponsor of the Taliban."

I am grieving for the dead. I'm hoping that there will be more rescues in the hours to come. It is rare that the nation stops and everyone is focused on one thing and that thing alone. Therefore, let this be a time of reflection, not retribution. The people who planned and participated in these terribly brutal and cruel acts should be brought to justice. However, the conditions that caused these acts will not be resolved by escalating the cycle of violence. Entire countries and peoples should not be laid to waste as a show of America's unrelenting imperial power.

------------------------------------------------------

Bill Berkowitz is a longtime observer of the conservative movement. His WorkingForChange column Conservative Watch documents the strategies, players, institutions, victories and defeats of the American right.