Valenzuela's Veritas

In ominous times truth always finds a way out from darkness into light. Always. Through truth knowledge grows into the power and strength to question the actions of governance. In times that try men's souls it is those who seek enlightenment who are truly free. Given the choice of possessing ignorance or knowledge, even when ignorance would lead to an easier life, I would choose knowledge,thus escaping the life of sheeple, escaping the bondage of not knowing, not caring and not understanding.

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Manuel Valenzuela is a social critic, commentator, Internet essayist and author of Echoes in the Wind, a novel now published by Authorhouse.com. His essays appear regularly at various alternative news websites from around the globe. Mr. Valenzuela welcomes comments and can be reached at manuel@valenzuelas.net. He encourages readers to surf the collection of over 100 essays he has written which can be found visiting his archives and by searching the Internet. He welcomes comments at euromeximan@yahoo.com

Tuesday, April 20, 2004

No Muslim Left Behind: The Christian Crusader, Religious Ideology and War Waged in Name of the Almighty

“With the might of God on our side we will triumph over Iraq. God will watch over our troops and grant us a victory over the threat of Saddam’s army. God will bless us and keep us safe in the coming battle.”

“God told me to strike at Al Qa’ida and I struck them." "And then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did."

"And now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle East.

"Yet I know that liberty is not America's gift to the world-- liberty and freedom are God's gift to every man and woman who lives in this world."

“I also have this belief, strong belief, that freedom is not this country's gift to the world; freedom is the Almighty’s gift to every man and woman in this world. And as the greatest power on the face of the Earth, we have an obligation to help the spread of freedom”

"There is a higher father that I appeal to."

“Going into this period, I was praying for strength to do the Lord's will. I'm surely not going to justify the war based on God. . . Nevertheless, in my case I pray that I be as good a messenger of His will as possible. And then of course I pray for personal strength and forgiveness.”

"This crusade, this war on terrorism, is going to take awhile."

--- George W. Bush (2000-2004)


Part I: In The Beginning


In the beginning, before the arrival of Man, Earth was a Garden of Eden, a virgin canvas of immaculate beauty and untouched splendor. The air was pure, the skies clear; its bodies of water were pristine while its forests stretched in abundant radiance.

In the beginning, before the arrival of Man, balance in nature was law and freedom of life was the rule, not the exception. Gods and idols were non-existent, religion not even a sprinkle in the eyes of our mammal, rat-like ancestors. Earth was at peace, silent and placid, with only the power of nature calling forth the planet’s set of laws.

The universe had spawned a planet erupting with life, one of thousands, perhaps millions of celestial bodies floating in balance in the unimaginable expanse of dark heavens, energized by a symphony of organisms evolving together.

For billions of years Earth evolved, along with its plethora of life, godless and resplendent, flourishing not with the limiting boundaries of mystical religion but with the pragmatic realities of science, nature and progress. The theology of a living, breathing planet was not that of an all powerful god but rather an omnipresent nature flourishing with the passage of time.

Splendorous Eden thrived for millions upon millions of years, its circle of life assuring continual energy while working in concert with the ever-present power of nature from which all things derive.

One day, however, Man placed his foot on solid ground, falling from the trees above for the last time, sending tremors echoing through the tectonic plates of history. That most ominous footprint marked the beginning of the end of Eden, for the billions of footprints to follow would go on to ravage, rape and destroy the planet. Man had descended from the experiment of evolution, and Earth would never be the same.

In time and with growing intelligence Man began contemplating life and the environment that surrounded him. He began to question the unanswerable; he sought answers to the mysterious. Primitive minds could not fathom the complexities of nature or of life, and an ever-curious mind, absorbing stimuli like a giant sponge, therefore created answers to life’s most vexing questions using the intelligence and meager technology of prehistoric times.

A developing brain sought remedy from a bizarre and oftentimes confused environment. With a growing sense of self Man contemplated his own beginnings, his own existence. Becoming aware of an ever-changing world, Man sought to explain the purpose of life, the creation of his home and the reason for being. Awed by nature, clueless as to its blueprint and fearful of what he did not comprehend, Man eventually began worshipping nature, its complex phenomenon and the dynamic environment that surrounded his reality.

With solutions to dumbfounding problems, early Man could now explain to himself the world around him. The multiple tentacles of nature became gods; rain, sun, moon, stars, water, fire, lightning, forests and animals all became deities, mythical entities that had, through the imagination of early Man, become divine answers to all vexing questions.

Fear of death and what followed thereafter had to be explained. The thought of ceasing to exist into perpetuity was too much to bear. Man’s never-ending quest to continue living along with his insistence on never perishing gave way to the afterlife; now Man could be secure that even in death he was still alive, that he could go on living even after his body succumbed to the perpetual melting away into the circle of life.

Fear had engendered theology, a belief in the divine, in the afterlife and in the security that Man was not alone in a lonely and desolate world. Taxing insecurities of self and of not wanting to be alone in the world, along with trepidation of what was not understood spawned beliefs in the supernatural.

Questions as to how Man came into being were now answered; solutions to understanding a frightening and alien world were provided. Man thus gave birth to religion, not knowing the consequences such actions would have on history and on the fate of billions of human energies throughout time and in every corner of the globe.

With the passage of the sands of time religion became the central theme of Man’s life. Tribes united and separated, joined others they came in contact with, absorbing their respective beliefs and in many instances assimilating various mechanisms of each other’s theology. As the human Diaspora continued to all regions of the world, religion evolved along with environments, experiences and circumstances. Yet the belief in gods and idols never ceased.

Stories, myths and fables were created to better explain dogma. These beliefs were, through the telling of stories, more easily passed down from generation to generation and more readily absorbed by Man. Different tribes and peoples occupying the same region oftentimes shared very similar religions as a result of assimilation and contact.

Through time, beliefs evolved and adapted to changing circumstances. Civilization sprung cities and towns, saw the construction of temples and pyramids and brought together different peoples, each espousing their own tribal interpretation of human religion. Advances in technology began solving questions once posed to the gods. Human religion began to change, as it always has.

From the same religion the peoples of the Mediterranean arose. From one long ago source, most likely in Mesopotamia, the religions of Islam, Judaism and Christianity came into existence. Similar to other Mediterranean beliefs, such as those of the Greeks and Egyptians, the three pillars of Abraham can trace their origins to the stories and tenets created in the Fertile Crescent, that Cradle of Civilization from where Man’s ancient beliefs fused together to help form today’s three most clashing and polemic religions.

Thanks to diverging views and different cultures, egos, beliefs, interests, ethnicities, philosophers, visionaries and environments a once similar theology based on common ideology began to split apart, much like today’s various branches of Christianity. Over millennia three separate branches arose, each claiming to espouse the truth and the written words of God. Yet the central tenets remained similar, but religion makes blind those who follow too close.

Over the centuries more wars have been fought and battles waged over religion than any other human endeavor. Religious wars have killed more millions than any disease or natural calamity. Religion has been used over and over to justify the murder, rape, pillage and oppression of untold millions who have walked this Earth through the parameters of time and space.

More suffering and misery has been unleashed on the peoples of the world as a result of religious dogma than any other mechanism known to man. It has become the angel of death, a malevolent creation visiting humanity throughout time to claim an untold number of innocent victims into the grave of eternal damnation.

Religion has become that which it ultimately aims to destroy: Evil.


Part II: The Christian Crusader

Historically, humanity’s epochs of descent into misery and destruction are initiated by decadent leaders of immoral predisposition and moronic inclinations.

Warmongers and greedmongers in power, easily manipulated by ideological advisers knowing the intellectual limitations of the leader, force upon the populace war and death for the benefit of a small group of elites. It is leaders, elected or appointed, anointed or chosen, who lack an endowment of intelligence and are easily influenced by simple-minded decision-making capabilities that unleash the worst in the human condition upon our lives. History is replete with those whose blunders and mistakes have led to the violent extermination of hundreds of millions of human energies throughout our short reign on this planet.

George the Lesser is one such figure.

A born-again Christian of low intellect and real world curiosity, insecure in his own existence and soiled in god-fearing fright has taken residence in the White House. Perhaps in a hundred years America has not seen such a pious and devoted man sitting in the Oval Office. Using his god’s name and authority at every conceivable opportunity, reading the bible and Christian literature more than intelligence reports, pushing domestic and foreign policy in line with Christian extremism (to the great detriment and misery of millions worldwide; no doubt helping fulfill god’s wishes and those of his base), this bible-thumper-in-chief has, since 9-11, been under the impression that his god has chosen him to do the “Almighty’s” work.

George W. Bush is on a mission from his god to rid the world of evildoers, to bring freedom to the world that it is hoped will usher in the second coming of Christ. In the dull-witted mind of George the Lesser, the terror he creates must he exterminate in a convoluted vicious circle of cause and effect that is as asinine in structure as it is in implementation. What the Christian Crusader cannot see is that the terror he breeds around the world through his perpetually damaging policies cannot be defeated either by him or the Almighty until he is extinguished from power. Cause and effect.

Christians have been waiting 2000 years for the second coming, from the moment of Christ’s death until today. Generation after generation believes they will be the lucky ones, yet again and again the passage of time denies this fallacy. For 2000 years devout Christians have awaited prophesy to be fulfilled, though always hopes are dashed and patience is extinguished by that thing called age. The second coming is one more bible-laced interpretation without a foothold on reality, or the immovable reality of history.

Another 2000 years will pass, I am afraid, and still the horizon of salvation will be devoid of the burning light of a brave yet simple political activist/freedom fighter seeking independence from the Romans and the greedmongering hands of the Jewish high priests. For his message was much like Gandhi’s or Martin Luther King’s, yet they have yet to claim god-like status among men. Of course to the Christian Crusader, Jesus would today be a “thug and criminal,” a “terrorist,” “evildoer,” “insurgent,” dead-ender,” and “hater of freedom.” In George the Lesser’s simple world, people like Christ, fighting the power, oppression, corruption, inequality, injustice, misery, indigence and humiliation are battling the Almighty and must be destroyed. It is up to him to rid the world of this “evil,” since it is he doing god’s will.

For the first time in a long time, perhaps even ever, a Christian extremist is the world’s most powerful man, President of the United States of America. We have grown to fear Ayatollahs and Mullahs, fundamentalist sheikhs and crazed evangelists, yet today the world is controlled by a man who seriously believes he was chosen by god to govern during these troubled times. The world is today in the grip of a demented spirit believing he is doing god’s will. The absurdity of such belief can only be superceded by the danger of such delusion. To have such a man yielding so much power, fighting the world in the name of his Christian god, is to suddenly have a knot in one’s stomach as the nervous stress of the day’s reality slowly percolates through the veins and arteries of one’s incredulous body.

The Christian Crusader has been told by his god that he must rid the world of the “evil” forces sent by Satan to destroy “good.” The only way to appease this invented delusion, it seems, is to perhaps eliminate himself from the hallowed corridors of Washington. Messianic militarism has no place in the modern world, where humanity thinks itself beyond the diluted beliefs of prehistoric thought. Beliefs such as those of George the Lesser and the people who embrace them belong to times long since passed when primitiveness commanded the acceptance of such rudimentary contemplation.

The war being waged today against Islam is a reversion back to Christianity’s claimed superiority over heathen savages and those subhuman entities needing salvation and guidance. The Dark Ages have returned, and so have its messianic leaders, ignorant, easily manipulated, weak-minded and a scourge onto humanity. A Crusade is under way, there is no more masking the truth of reality under the guise of the “war on terror”. In this fast paced world we must understand the complexity of such an operation and see the fruition of what has transpired under the ever patient eyes of wisdom and pragmatism. It is here, it is slowly developing, and we must see it for what it is: a Christian Crusade.

To claim war out of religious dementia against peoples espousing different dogma, in their own sacred lands, is to dive into the confines of crazed zeal. All thinking men and women should pause to analyze the consequences of the inherent danger lurking in the continued presence of the Christian Crusader at the top of the world’s hierarchy.

George Bush is on a Crusade, the first of the 21st century, trying to rid the world of his interpretation of evil. It just so happens that his battle is being waged in the lands of Islam. The Christian Crusader, delusional in mind and invigorated in spirit can do as he pleases, unleashing hell to bring forth heaven, destroying a people in order to bring forth salvation. Anointed by god he can do no wrong. His mandate from heaven means he is mistake proof. God, after all, cannot err, and, therefore, in appointing George Bush, the Almighty has let the world know that what the Christian Crusader does is perfectly fine with him, even if it means leveling Iraq and murdering over 11,00 innocent men, women and children. When directly appointed by god – even when the Almighty had to commit fraud in Florida to assure employment – a man can do no wrong, as the Christian Crusader has told the world.

A religious fundamentalist controls the world’s greatest military, doing the self-delusional deeds of the Almighty to bring freedom to the world. An entire army of Christian soldiers has invaded Muslim lands, conquering, pilfering and raping a nation that was better off under yesterday’s “evil” than under today’s version of “good.”

If Bush’s mandate from heaven, which has unleashed so much death, destruction, misery and evil onto the world comes directly from his god, then, in all honesty, I care to not ever meet this most heinous of gods.

To believe you are doing god’s will by destroying thousands of his children who are born in his image is to seriously consider checking yourself into a psyche ward. It is to proclaim to the world that delusion is your best friend, rapacious self- aggrandizement your mistress. To seriously even consider such a fantasy betrays your mental ineptitude to hold the office you possess. It is to allow the world to tremble at the thought that such a demented personality dictates wars and condemns thousands to their premature death.

A Crusade of a nut case is upon the world, being advised by lunatics such as Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, two of the most ignorant, bigoted, closed-minded
disseminators of falsity a civilized nation has had the misfortune of producing. Bush,
Falwell and Robertson are viruses upon the world, proclaiming to help it but in reality only constraining progress and subverting the betterment of civilization. Together they are helping to make real the prophesies of extinct belief lost among the dunes of times past that served to control and command peoples living in times of ignorance and unfettered religious power. Their action are leading to self-fulfilling prophesy that endanger all the people of the world.

Together with Zionists, Christian and Jewish, George the Lesser is helping the rapture be born. Israel must fulfill its role in the coming prophesy, and so the Christian Crusader must insure that its survival and expansion is guaranteed, even at the expense of Palestine’s indigenous people. The second coming needs Israel as a viable state, and Jews to be exterminated or converted. In the meantime, Jewish and Christian Zionists seem content to dance together as friends and war criminals in arms. Comrades today, Zionists seem not to mind that Jews will have to suffer still another Holocaust when Christ descends to make final judgment. Until then, however, Christian fundamentalists and zealot Zionists are fighting together to assure Israel’s “rightful” claim to the “promised land,” nothing but the greatest lie ever bestowed onto the world.

Under the rubric of the “war on terror,” proclaimed by the Almighty himself directly to the American president, Bush has granted himself powers to kill, maim and destroy thousands of innocent infidels who fit his definition of evildoer. As the Christian Crusader, Bush has proclaimed his messianic mission to rid the world of those entities at odds with Bush’s simple-minded vision of black and white, good and evil. As a result, Bush has unleashed the beginning stages of a much wider, grander war, what could conceivably be labeled the early stages of the Third World War, pitting Christians and Jews against Muslims, America and Israel against the greater Middle East.

Pitting Islam against the armies of western Christian nations that have invaded Arab lands, Bush has opened a Pandora’s Box full of flammable matches ready to ignite the fuse of explosive warfare. His foray into Iraq, combined with his one-sided alliance with Israel, has angered an already searing region that already saw Bush and the United States as the Great Satan.

As a result of the Iraq invasion, the Middle East might soon see the elimination of American-friendly puppet regimes as the people living on the street bring down those residing in the palaces. Instability may continue to grow, hatred will only expand and Holy War might one day be declared. If the Almighty wants world war, as Bush and his lunatic actions seem to suggest, that is exactly what it will get, and the Christian Crusader, hand picked by god, will be the catalyst to yet one more sad moment in humanity’s bloody history.

From the minds of the ignorantly demented and powerful arise the miseries and destruction of humanity.

Part III: No Muslim Left Behind

Severed limbs and body parts lay thrown indiscriminately on the streets of Fallujah. Pools of blood, both dry and fresh, fill the streets as if a blood-soaked storm had just passed through. Anywhere from 700-1000 innocent civilians have died, many women and children. Ambulances have been shot at by American snipers, hospitals have been made inaccessible; relief aid has been denied entry into the city under siege. Mosques have been damaged and destroyed, those seeking comfort and shelter inside murdered. Bombs rain down daily, some of them weighing 2000 pounds, some of the cluster variety, innocently looking like toys. To many, Fallujah is synonymous with the powerful Guernica painting by Pablo Picasso.

Iraq is in turmoil, as is Palestine. The humiliation of Arabs in these two nations by American and Israeli powers has escalated the temperature throughout the entire Middle East. Hatred is boiling; the winds of vengeance traverse the porous borders of the region. In Washington and Tel Aviv, it seems, Arabs have been declared subhuman. To those in power, their actions have betrayed their intentions. Infidels, heathens and savages must be oppressed and quashed. American and IDF forces punish without remorse, or empathy. They shoot anyone, anything, asking questions only if their crimes are brought to the surface and if a camera happens to record the atrocity.

Crimes against humanity are being committed by Christian and Jewish armies against people of mostly Muslim faith, and we think this war is for freedom and defeating terror? It seems those espousing these silly ideas are themselves guilty of state-sponsored terror, itself considered evil in the eyes of the Christian Crusader. But when the Almighty converses in secret with you the definition of evil ceases to exist and can further be defined by those writing and rewriting history.

On two fronts Muslims are being attacked and subjugated. In partnering up with Sharon and Israel, Bush has in essence declared that he will leave no Muslim behind, joining those of Iraq and Palestine suffering like no human being should. Every Muslim is in the same boat. Their lands are being invaded, occupied and exploited. Misery, indigence and lack of opportunity abound. Their nations are run by American puppets and patsies loyal to the Great Satan, furthering not the interests of the population but rather those of the US.

To the Muslim world, indeed, the world at large, America has become more than the Great Satan; it has become the essence of evil itself.

No Muslim left behind seems to be the new call emanating from the White House. Subjugation and exploitation of Muslim lands continues its dastardly path. A military draft in America will soon be introduced, sending more young Christian soldiers into Arab lands. There they will be told to fight peoples alien to them, subhuman brown-skinned terrorists one and all, just like those in Fallujah.

A Crusade has begun. Iraq is the launching pad where America will extend its tentacles to pacify Muslims all over the Middle East. The Christian Crusader has declared war against Islam; hundreds of millions of Arabs are now in the cross-hairs of the American military machine.

Countdown to Armageddon has begun in the minds of the lunatic and demented, all to the great pleasure of Christian fundamentalists, Muslim extremists and zealot Zionists. To them end times are upon human civilization, and they will use anything at their disposal to help guide it on its rightful sojourn towards fulfilling prophesy.

Anger against the United States has never been more profound in the Middle East. Bush and Sharon are now seen as the two-headed beast. Soon the war will spread across the region, Syria, Iran are most likely next. No Muslim left Behind is the call for this new Crusade, kneel down to your Christian and Zionist masters or you will pay the ultimate price, the Christian extremists and zealot Zionists seem to say.

Overwhelming military might will be unleashed, young American men and women will soon be conscripted, and a war greater than Vietnam will soon commence. Iraq is but the first battle in a much wider war. George the Lesser is on a mission from the Almighty, thousands will die in the malicious calamity that will devour life, limb and humanity.

Insurrections and revolutions are about to erupt like a mighty volcano spewing hot magma miles in all directions. The carnage in Iraq is the rallying cry for all Muslims who see the injustice and the oppression, the exploitation and the humiliation. The call for jihad is not far off. Soon minarets will sound the cry for Holy War.

Leave No Muslim Behind, the Almighty has told the Christian Crusader. And so, as George the Lesser prepares to meet his god’s demands, hundreds of millions of innocent people in the Middle East prepare for the coming storm that will release the winds of war upon the world. In Bush’s footsteps, rumbling like the American bulldozers destroying homes and lives in Palestine and Iraq today, lies the military industrial complex and its war machine, built to eviscerate, exterminate and decimate.

In its wake will be a trail of blood and tears traversing the deserts of Muslim land, yet occupied peoples never stop fighting and battling those intent on occupying their nation. Just ask the Palestinian people, who in over sixty years have yet to yield to the Nazi-like tactics of the Israeli government.

The war for Iraq is lost, and the Christian Crusader knows it. Revolution there is growing, along with the resistance. The people want America gone; they want freedom from oppressive occupation. Yet admit mistake Bush will not do, he would much rather send to death thousands more troops. It’s an election year, after all, and to lose Iraq now would be to get buried by the quicksand that is the Iraq debacle. At all costs Iraq and his election must be won; No Muslim Left Behind is now the rallying cry.

Only carnage, death, maiming and destruction will be left alive.

The fight for freedom is being waged, as Bush has said, yet the fight is for freedom from Bush, America and the Corporate Global Empire itself. In trying to bring freedom to the world, Bush has succeeded in creating a movement for freedom from the omnipotent and corrosive tentacles of American power. The battle has started in Iraq, and may soon spread to Latin America, Europe and Asia, and perhaps even the United States.

If George Bush wanted to bring freedom to the world, he is on the right path. The world, it is becoming quite apparent, wants freedom from the Evil Empire. Perhaps the Almighty wanted this all along, using the Christian Crusader as the ultimate pawn.

Brace yourself, the calm before the storm is fast approaching. The world as we know it is about to take a paradigm shift towards the surreal.