|
|
Article: Empire claptrap. (U.S. policy of intervention in other countries can backfire as in the Saudi Arabia base bombing)(Column)
- Article from:
- The Progressive
- Article date:
- August 1, 1996
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 The Progressive, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
When a bomb exploded in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, in late June, killing nineteen American servicemen and wounding some 300 more, the Administration and much of the media tried to cast the event in the usual manner: The United States, trying to do good, was once again victim to irrational, inexplicable acts of terror.
President Clinton trumpeted "America's mission of peace and freedom" in Saudi Arabia, and made the deaths out to be the wages of modernity. "While the modern world brings to all of us many new opportunities," he said, "it also leaves us more open to the forces of intolerance and destruction, and especially to terrorism."
The bombing fueled ...