America’s 9/11 response subverted our values, liberties (Cole @ Detroit News)

My column is out at the Detroit News, “America’s 9-11 Response Subverted our Values & Liberties.

Exerpt:

“Then-French President Jacques Chirac advised George W. Bush to avoid the phrase “war on terror,” and urged that 9/11 be treated as a crime by a cartel. It is not as if such rogue organizations are harmless. Mexico’s drug cartels are alleged to have killed 47,515 people since 2006.

But by pursuing wars against states in Iraq and Afghanistan instead of making the destruction of al-Qaida its highest priority, the Bush administration turned America toward perpetual war. Worse, it gave al-Qaida new life and recruiting grounds by militarily occupying Muslim countries and overseeing conflicts that led to the deaths of tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands of innocents.

The Iraq War squandered American blood and treasure on a fruitless quest to impose American empire on the Middle East (Iraq was not related to 9/11). More than eight years later, Iraq is still unstable. On Sunday, some 100 died in bombings and violence and the Supreme Court sentenced an elected vice president to death for running Sunni death squads, after he had been accused by the elected Shiite prime minister. The U.S.-installed Shiite government predictably tilts toward Iran, and supports the government of Syria.

Last week Washington complained bitterly that Iraq was giving Iran over-flight rights for resupply of the army of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whom the U.S. wants to see removed from power.

Read the whole column at The Detroit News: