Illogical slogans!

I like watching the presidential debates which have started quite early this year. I notice that some candidates make astounding statements to show how ‘macho’ they are against terrorism. Candidate Mitt Romney wants to expand Guantanamo prison so that he can interrogate suspected terrorists without any court intervention. Mayor Rudy Giuliani is for ‘extended enhanced interrogation’ to whip out secrets out from a terrorist. Hilary Clinton scored some easy points for using the term ‘retaliate’ as reaction to a terrorist attack, while Barack Obama was criticized for concentrating only on intelligence and preparation for disaster recovery. A clever slogan can win you or lose you an election. Remember ‘compassionate conservative’ and ‘flip flopper’?

There are two slogans I often hear in these debates, which drive me crazy. One is, ‘Islamic people hate us because of the freedom we enjoy here’. What? Actually the opposite is true. Most of the people in the Muslim nations admire our lives in USA. ‘Coming to America’ is the dream of many, especially the young. What they hate is the foreign policy of USA. United States have been meddling in their region for years. (It started in 1952 with the USA instigated the installation of Shah as king of Iran replacing the democratically elected government there). USA has been a blind supporter of Israel who has treated all Muslim nations as their enemy. In addition to Iraq, USA maintains a military presence in many parts of the middle east. Actually, Osama Bin Laden has clearly stated that it was the presence of American soldiers in Saudi Arabia, which provoked him to plan the 9/11 attack. Nobody wants to address this root cause of terrorism against USA.

The second slogan which annoys me is, ‘if we leave Iraq now, the terrorists will follow us here!’. This statement does not make any sense to me. Is Iraq like a Sears 'bug zapper' we put in the porch to attract all the bugs? Do the terrorists prefer a war front in Iraq to fight the mighty army of USA? Are they going to hop over planes and come here to fight when we withdraw from Iraq? It is frustrating to realize that a lot of people believe in this hogwash!