BOBBEE BEE: THY KINGDOM COME with Cayenne "THE LION KING"

THY KINGDOM COME with Cayenne "THE LION KING"

By Eric D. Graham

With over 30 MC’s scheduled to perform, Cayenne The Lion King, who has perfectly blended and fused the African rhythms of Reggae and the “boom bap” lyricism of Hip-Hop, is preparing to throw one of the “Biggest Birthday Bashes” in the history of the Bull City, which will be hosted by SHOWDOWN of 102 Jamz on Friday, November 3, at the Vault in Durham, NC.

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With over 29 years in the music industry, The Lion King, who said he has been influenced by older R&B singers such as Sam Cooke, James Brown, Isaac Hayes as well as Hip-Hop Artists like KRS-One, Busta Rhymes along with Reggae legends Bounty Killer and Capleton, feels that musicians should use their voices to inform the masses of the people, especially during these troubling times.

“We, as musicians, are giving a voice from God, the Ancestors and the Elders to speak on issues addressing our communities” said the consciousness underground MC, who is known for his high energy stage performances.

“A lot of people, who have voices to educate, unfortunately, don’t do so. (However) we , as artists, can inspire, uplift, guide and build up our listeners.”

So, while chanting “Down Goes Babylon”, Cayenne, is still extremely excited about celebrating, life, love and longevity with all of his family, friends and true fans on Nov.3 , which will include performances by Tuscon, Mally Evans, Nox, Mic Savvy, Deliverance, and QuT BossChic to name just a few.

When asked, “What does the name Cheyenne “The Lion King” mean?

The humble Hip-Hopper and brilliant businessman offered this simple yet complex answer.

“Cayenne is a hot spice that enhances anything it touches” he explained.

“Therefore, I feel the core of my essence is the same. (Lion)Because of my heart and passion, I have for everything in life. And King, (well) Because, of my royal way of speaking, style and levity.”

With that said, while showcasing the "Blackness" of a Garveyite, the self-pro-claimed “Prince of the Sun and the King of the Shine,” from his Warrior album is giving us all “Warning Shots” as he prepares for his up-and-coming (2018) Tours and his BIG AZZ BIRTHDAY BASH on Friday.

So, let’s celebrate like royalty at The Vault in Durham,NC on November 3rd with Black Sounds Marketing and Management. For tickets and more information www.eventbrite.com or call 919-627-1216. Doors open at 9 am. Party ends at 2 am. www.bobbeethehater.blogspot.com

BOBBEE BEE: Remembering Muammar Qaddafi and the Great Libyan Jamahiriya

October 20th, 2017, marks the sixth anniversary of the martyrdom of Muammar Qaddafi, revolutionary Pan-Africanist and champion of the Global South. This day also marks the sixth anniversary of the historic battle of Sirte, where Qaddafi, along with an heroic army, including his son Mutassim Billal Qaddafi, and veteran freedom fighter, Abu-Bakr Yunis Jabr, fought until their convoy was bombed by French fighter planes. Wounded and demobilized, they were captured by Qatari scavengers and executed by Al-Qaeda operatives.

The courageous men of the original Free Officers’ Union, who were guides and leaders of the then 42 year-old Al-Fatah Revolution, demonstrated extraordinary revolutionary fortitude, heroism and audacity in the face of their enemies. As young men in their twenties, they overthrew the Western-installed Libyan monarchy and ushered in the Jamahiriya, and as elders in their seventies, they refused to leave Libya, and instead, fought to the bitter end, on the frontlines, alongside their people.

Their example will forever shine as an eternal light in the hearts of all those who struggled alongside them to build the closest thing to a real democracy, and a United States of Africa, that modern history has ever seen. The execution of Muammar Qaddafi and those that fought alongside him, and the destruction of the Libyan Jamahiriya is one of the greatest crimes of this century.

Circa 1970: Muammar Qaddafi with members of the Free Unionist Officers who later formed

the Revolutionary Command Council. Far right is Abu-Bakr Yunis Jabr who, at 71 years of age, was captured alongside Qaddafi at the Battle of Sirte.

Those responsible, including Nicolas Sarkozy, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, David Cameron, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Emir Tamin bin Hamad Al Thani, should be tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Heroes: the millions of armed Libyan men and women who stepped up to defend their Revolution

What we knew all along is now a substantiated and indisputable fact – there was never a mass uprising in Benghazi or anywhere in Libya. The Libyan people in their millions made it clear that they supported the Al-Fatah Revolution.

During the invasion of Libya, 1.7million people – 95% of the population of Tripoli and one third of the entire population of Libya – gathered in downtown Tripoli in what has been called the largest demonstration in world history to support Qaddafi and the revolution. Syrians living in Libya can be seen in the centre of the photo waving the Syrian flag.

A coalition of the wicked, comprising US/NATO forces, the semi-feudal Arab regimes of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Sudan, and a rag-tag bunch of monarchists and al-Qaeda linked terrorists inside Libya, that had been working with the CIA and M15 for decades, was assembled, and united in their goal. For them, total destruction was the only solution.

Every attempt was made by Qaddafi and his supporters to negotiate a peaceful solution, including inviting international observers into the country to see for themselves what was really taking place, something the imperialists could not allow to happen. This was their golden opportunity to destroy Qaddafi and the Jamahiriya, a plan they had been waiting to execute for years. There were mass uprisings on either side of Libya, in Tunisia and Egypt. The West had already coined the term “Arab Spring” and was busy hijacking revolts elsewhere. Time was of the essence.

In fact, in what can only be described as a frenzy, they may have set a world record for the speed with which they managed to push through the illegal resolution at the UN, their cover for the invasion. The fake news and false narrative machine was in full swing.

Within 24 hours, UN bodies had transformed Qaddafi from a person about to receive the UN Human Rights Award into a man killing his own people. The Jamahiriya was targeted for destruction and nothing was going to stop them.

Foreign forces, including the CIA, Dutch Marines, French and Sudanese military personnel, Qatari Special Forces, Al Qaeda fighters – facilitated by the Saudis, as they are facilitating Al Qaeda in Yemen today, were all in place weeks before the staged protests began in Benghazi in February 2011. This was a well-planned and coordinated operation.

“Sometimes the enemy is the best teacher”

Kwame Ture, revolutionary Pan-Africanist and former executive member of the World Mathaba, opined that sometimes the enemy is the best teacher. He instructed us to study the enemy’s strategy and tactics and to remember that the enemy only goes after those whom they deem to be a real threat to their imperial interests. Pan-Africanist and former president of Guinea, Ahmed Sekou Toure, said that, “if the enemy is not bothering with you, then know that you are doing nothing”.

The forces of US-EU imperialism were always bothering Muammar Qaddafi. They were bent on discrediting, demonizing and finding a way to obliterate him and the Libyan Jamahiriya from its inception in 1969, until they finally achieved their nefarious objective in 2011.

Referring to Qaddafi as “the mad dog of the Middle-East”, Ronald Reagan, in a nationwide broadcast, said that Qaddafi’s goal was “world revolution”, claiming that he (Qaddafi) was promoting “a Muslim fundamentalist revolution, which targeted many of his own Arab compatriots.”

T
here is an African saying: “Mouth open, story jump out”. What Ronald Reagan was describing sounds like the imperialist plan. It was Ronald Reagan who welcomed leaders of the Afghan Mujahadeen who were fighting the Soviets at the time, to the Oval Office and referred to them as Jihadi freedom fighters. Today as we face Al Qaeda and their various offshoots, including the infamous ISIL, we are witnessing the devastating results of this sinister imperialist game plan. Ever since the days when the British colonial forces facilitated the creation of the Wahhabi kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the imperialists have encouraged, supported and funded the growth of Islamic fundamentalist groups.

They understood that this was imperative if they were to counter the resurgence of an Islamic theology of liberation, in the revolutionary tradition of Abu Dharr al Ghifari, and as propounded in contemporary times by outstanding Islamic thinkers, such as Muammar Qaddafi, Ali Shariati, Kaukab Siddique, Ayatollah Mahmoud Taleghani, Muhammad Iqbal and Mahmoud Ayoub.

Again, we can learn from the enemy. Just as the imperialists and right-wing Christian fundamentalists waged an unrelenting war against the Social Gospel Movement and Christian liberation theology, as articulated by revolutionary theologians such as Gustavo Gutierrez, Miguel Bonino, James Cone and Enrique Dussel, they knew very well that Islamic liberation theology must be countered. The enemy understood the power of this theology in term of its ability to act as a bulwark against the imperial hegemon. They knew that this authentic and revolutionary Islam would prevent them from exercising control over an awakened Muslim World.

Reagan was right about one thing, Muammar Qaddafi indeed had a goal of world revolution – it was a revolution that would put the tenets of Islamic liberation theology into practice. Qaddafi’s conception of this revolution was holistic. His revolution would challenge every aspect of Eurocentric epistemology and its inherent racism. The Libyan revolution was more than a social, political and economic revolution; it was nothing short of a spiritual and cultural revolution. This confounded not only the imperialist powers but also their reactionary Arab satraps. 

The World Mathaba

The World Mathaba, established by Muammar Qaddafi in 1982, had as its stated mission, “to resist imperialism, racism, fascism, Zionism, colonialism and neo-colonialism”. 

The Mathaba denotes a place where people gather for a noble purpose. Based in Libya, it became a meeting place for revolutionary and progressive forces from all over the world. Similar to the House of Wisdom in Baghdad, which became a major intellectual center during the Islamic Golden Age and the University of Sankore in Timbuktu, where scholars of the day converged to discuss and debate ideas and formulate new ideas, the Mathaba became a forum for the advancement of a Third Universal Theory beyond Capitalism and Communism. Prior to the Mathaba, the only international formations for progressive and revolutionary organizations had been the Soviet dominated Comintern, that demanded an ideological allegiance to Marxism-Leninism and the Socialist International, which brought together social-democratic parties. The ideological rigidity of these two international formations excluded organizations and movements that rejected Eurocentric ideologies, including many Indigenous and Pan-African organizations who found a home in the World Mathaba.

Through the Mathaba, Qaddafi assisted all those who were fighting for liberation and self-determination, regardless of whether or not it was in Libya’s geo-political interests to do so. Under Qaddafi’s visionary leadership, material assistance and moral support was provided to the oppressed from every corner of the earth, regardless of religion or ideology. All were helped – from the Roma people of Eastern Europe to the Kanak people of New Caledonia in the Southwest Pacific, to the Rohinga people, who are presently being ethnically cleansed by the Buddhist chauvinists of Myanmar, and who the UN recently referred to as “the most friendless people”. What the hypocritical UN body failed to mention was that they once had a friend in Muammar Qaddafi.

Qaddafi noted on many occasions that the Libyan Revolution had a sacred duty to help all those who were in legitimate need and suffering persecution, since this was in accordance the teachings of the Quran, which was Libya’s constitution The bedrock of Islam is to enjoin that which is good and condemn that which is wrong and unjust. Any Muslim, regardless of their interpretation of Quranic teachings, will admit that the Quran clearly states that the weakest response to injustice is to hate it in your heart, the second weakest response is to speak against it and the strongest response is to oppose it in every way possible.

Leader of the Philippine based Moro National Liberation Front, Nur Misuari, in a lecture he delivered in 1990 at the Green World Institute in Tripoli, explained that inserting the word “Islamic” into the name of a country or organization, like the ‘Islamic Republic of Pakistan’ or ‘Moro Islamic Liberation Front’ did not make the country or organization Islamic.

Declaring yourself an “Islamic” country like Saudi Arabia and Qatar does not make you Islamic. To be a truly Islamic society and nation, there has to be a spiritual revolution. A revolution that raises the spiritual consciousness of the people. A revolution that counters the false Islam that the oppressors promote, that abolishes capitalism and the semi-feudal social relations sustained by the ruling elites in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE and Sudan. This is why Qaddafi was such a threat to the imperialists and their Muslim surrogates. He was not only propounding dangerous ideas, he was building a new society – a Jamahiriya – a state of the masses, a real democracy based on the revolutionary teachings of the Quran, which according to South African political scientist, Themba Sono, “created conditions for the many to rule themselves”. Sono goes on to explain,

“For Qaddafi, this is part of the natural order in which the majority rules themselves rather than for a minority to exercise power over a majority… Qaddafi denies that the emanations from the activity of electoral participants can never be called rule, not only because such rule would be unethical and thereby unstable, but also because it would contradict the very essence and fundamental tenet of democracy, which is, to be tautological, that, naturally, free people must and can rule themselves.”

It was a dangerous precedent that the imperialists could not allow to continue.

As Sono notes in his book, The Qaddafi Green Syndrome: Shaking the Foundations:

“Qaddafi does not care to investigate whether or not the people are capable of ruling themselves, for he asks the question, how do we do that without giving the people, not only the right but the opportunity to do so? Who is to know beforehand and therefore to decide a priori that the people are not qualified to rule themselves?”

Dangerous Ideas Indeed

Applying the principles of Qaddafi’s Third Universal Theory transformed Libya from one of the poorest countries in the world, to not only one of the most prosperous countries in Africa, but in many respects, one of the most prosperous countries worldwide.

Facts and figures substantiate this claim. Libya had no foreign debt and actually deposited payments from oil revenue into the bank accounts of its citizens. As is by now well documented, Libyans had access to free quality healthcare, free education from nursery to university level, rent free housing, free electricity, subsidized food – a very high standard of living. Imperialists hate these types of precedents. What if, upon seeing these achievements, other nations decided to disregard the Western-style systems of governance and the neo-liberal capitalist model that simply widens the gap between have and have-nots?



What if countries in Africa, seeing Libya’s advancement and prosperity, decided to rid themselves of the bogus liberal-democratic tradition that empowers 1% of humanity to rule over 99%? What if others decided to reject the multi-party electoral circus, designed to divide and fragment our countries along ethnic and tribal lines, and instead, opted for a Jamahiriya or State of the Masses?

Once asked by a journalist, what was the one thing he wanted to achieve most in his lifetime, Qaddafi replied, “to change the world”.

And he was coming close. Muammar Qaddafi and the empowered Libyan Jamahiriya were leading the movement to establish a United States of Africa, with a united military and a single currency, a dinar backed by Africa’s gold reserves. This would have actually dethroned the US dollar and shifted the global economic imbalance.

This would have indeed changed the world.

So, on October 20, 2011, the Satanic forces that had been at war with Qaddafi and the Libyan Jamahiriya from its inception in 1969, dealt their final blow to the man known to revolutionaries throughout the world as the Brother-Leader, and to revolutionary Muslims throughout Africa and the world, as the “Commander of the Faithful”.

“If they get past Libya, they are coming for you…”

Six years later and the fallout from this criminal act is still being felt everywhere. Key development projects throughout Africa, financed by Libya, have all grounded to a halt. Saudi Arabia and Qatar, key players in Libya’s demise, are now busy grabbing large tracts of land in Africa. This would not have been possible if Qaddafi was alive. The expansion of AFRICOM, the expansion of US military bases, and the building of new military bases by the Chinese and the Turks in Africa would also not have been possible if Qaddafi was alive. Indeed, there would have been a fierce resistance to the current recolonization and re-carving of Africa if Muammar Qaddafi was alive and the Libyan Jamahiriya was flourishing as before.

Of course, the urgent need to recolonize an Africa that was awakening to its own power and ability to unite and self-determine was the very reason for the overthrow of Qaddafi and the Libyan revolution. It is not surprising that the French led the charge.

In March 2008, former French president, Jacques Chirac said, “Without Africa, France would slide down into the rank of a Third World power”. As early as 1957, long before he became president, Francois Mitterrand said, “Without Africa, France will have no history in the 21st century”.

Libya has been transformed into a dysfunctional neo-colonial entity, where an array of militias squabble over territory and spoils. Its vast landmass has become a safe haven and training ground for ISIL and other Al-Qaeda offshoots. Thousands of Libyans and other African nationals are still detained without trial in what can only be described as concentration camps.

Many have been tortured and executed in these same camps, their only crime, being Qaddafi loyalists. Those now in control of Libya hated Qaddafi’s Pan-African objectives. They are Arab supremacists and are persecuting Black Libyans and other African nationals.

Thousands of loyalists and migrants from other African countries languish in prisons.

Africans who once travelled to Libya to work and send back much needed funds to their families are now crossing the Mediterranean. Entire boatloads of people, including women and children are drowning as they make the perilous journey. Our ancestors were once captured and forced on to boats against their will, many perished during that crossing, today, we are clamoring to secure a place on boats that are not even seaworthy to escape the conditions created by our former enslavers. Many are still perishing.

Qaddafi would often lament, “the world shakes, but it doesn’t change”.

Workers from as far afield as the Philippines, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, Turkey, Germany, England, Italy, Malaysia and Korea lost their jobs.

The entire refugee crisis across Europe is a result of the destruction of the Jamahiriya.

February 2, 2011: Muammar Al Qaddafi in a desert tent in the Aziziya army barracks in Tripoli.

The push to establish a United States of Africa, which prior to Libya’s demise was a dynamic and energized initiative, is presently a dream deferred. Revolutionary Pan-Africanism has suffered a huge setback. Today’s African leaders, with the exception of a few, are only good for talking Pan-Africanism in the halls of the African Union headquarters. Outside of these confines, they are committed to maintaining the old neo-colonial relationships that keep Africa in bondage.

We Salute You

On this day, all those who resist oppression and tyranny worldwide, salute the great freedom fighter and our Brother-Leader, Muammar Qaddafi and the other revolutionary leaders of Al Fatah. We pay homage to their dedicated and life-long struggle for human emancipation and dignity. We are forever inspired by their steadfast and courageous fight to the end, and by their unwavering faith in, and service to God. We are grateful for their undying love for the African continent and all of humanity. We salute the millions of Libyan men and women who heroically resisted the invasion of their country, and who continue to suffer to this day.

We stand in solidarity with the family of Muammar Qaddafi and the families of all the martyrs. We stand in solidarity with the thousands of political prisoners inside Libya and the more than 1.5 million Qaddafi loyalists exiled from their country. We commit our full support to the struggle being waged by the patriotic and nationalist forces to liberate and reunify Libya once again. For the Green revolutionary, death is not the end, but the doorway to a new beginning. Martyrs never die.

Gerald A. Perreira is chairperson of the Guyanese organizations Black Consciousness Movement Guyana (BCMG) and Organization for the Victory of the People (OVP). He is an executive member of the Caribbean Chapter of the Network for Defense of Humanity. He lived in Libya for many years, served in the Green March, an international battalion for the defense of the Al Fatah revolution, and was a founding member of the World Mathaba, based in Tripoli, Libya. He can be reached at mojadi94@gmail.com. 

BOBBEE BEE: TRUMPISM IS FASCISM (14) POLITICAL POWER POINTS

TRUMPISM IS FASCISM (14) POLITICAL POWER POINTS-

They are: 1.Powerful and continuing nationalism; 2.disdain for recognition of human rights; 3. identifying enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause; 4. supremacy of the military; 5. rampant sexism; 6. controlled mass media; 7. obsession with national security; 8. religion and government intertwined; 9. corporate power is protected; 10. labor power is suppressed; 11. disdain for intellectuals and the Arts;12. obsession with crime and punishment; 13. rampant cronyism and corruption; and 14. fraudulent elections with help from the judiciary-

(by Dr.Lawerence Britt)-This is the Evolution of an MC: Pocket Full of Ghetto Poems Vol.2

BOBBEE BEE: HOW DOES ONE DEFEND THE SYSTEM OF RACISM/WHITE SUPREMACY?

A TEACHER IS TEACHING-

By Eric D. Graham

How does one defend the System of Racism/White "Supremacy": Whether it is in the field of religion, sports, politics, entertainment, media, law, history or economics, Here is a "conceptualized" 8 step program:

I. Deny 2. Deflect 3. Distract 4. Deceive 5. Demonize 6. Derail 7. Disrespect 8. Destroy-

Now, ask yourself have you seen this lately in the current new cycle-This is the Evolution of an MC: Pocket Full of Ghetto Poems Vol.2 www.bobbeethehater.blogspot.com

BOBBEE BEE: THE SOCIAL PATHOLOGY OF THE LAS VEGAS MASSACRE

By Patrick Martin

Global Research, 

In yet another eruption of savage impersonal violence, at least 59 people were killed and 527 people wounded as an outdoor music festival on the Las Vegas Strip, attended by more than 20,000, was suddenly converted into a war zone.

The alleged gunman, Stephen Paddock, used multiple semi-automatic weapons that had been converted to fully automatic use, through an attachment known as a bump-stock device—available for a mere $40 per weapon—as he opened fire on the helpless crowd from his vantage point on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel and casino. He took his own life after the rampage.

Paddock could lay down a field of fire on a military scale, nearly 100 rounds per minute. He was found in possession of about 20 weapons, many of them high-powered semi-automatics, along with additional ammunition. The first minutes of gunfire triggered a smoke alarm that allowed police to locate Paddock far more quickly than through a search of the huge 3,300-room hotel, a fact that suggests that the toll of death and injury could have been much higher.

The gunman’s motives are unknown, and his identity sheds little light on what drove him on this murderous course. Paddock was 64 years old, shared a comfortable home with his female companion, and was, according to some reports, financially well-off. One of his brothers described Paddock as a real estate multi-millionaire. He had a pilot’s license and owned two small planes. He had no known associations with any political or religious group.

There is a family history of mental illness—Paddock’s father, Richard Hoskins Paddock, was a bank robber and diagnosed as a psychopath. He was on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted List for nearly a decade. But Stephen Paddock had no contact with his father after he was seven years old, and there are no reports that he exhibited mental illness or received any treatment for it.
As in virtually all such shootings, the gunman knew none of the wounded and killed. They did not exist for him as individuals. Paddock saw the concert-goers packed below him in a parking lot not as fellow human beings, but as objects to be destroyed. The victims were the random targets of the uncontrolled and impersonal hatred of a gunman indifferent to their fate and the lifelong suffering that awaits their surviving family and friends.

Clearly, this was not the act of a normal person. Some form of mental illness, even if not previously diagnosed, must be involved in Paddock’s crime. But there is certainly a socially induced element in this terrible event. The frequency of these occurrences cannot be explained in purely individual and personal terms. The Las Vegas massacre is a peculiarly American crime, arising out of the social pathology of a deeply troubled society.

What is the social context of this latest episode of domestic mass killing? The United States has been at war more or less continuously for the past 27 years. The US government has treated tens of millions of people in the Middle East, Afghanistan, and Africa as targets for extermination through bombs, bullets, and drone-fired missiles. These wars have penetrated deeply into American culture, celebrated endlessly in film, television, music and even sport.

Social relations within the United States, characterized by the growth of economic inequality on a scale that exceeds any previous era in American history, fuel a culture of indifference, and even outright contempt for human life.

One telling detail: on the day that the media was filled with reports about the worst mass shooting in American history, the stock market continued its relentless march upwards, with new records for the Dow-Jones Industrial Average and other indexes. Wall Street is celebrating in anticipation of the Trump administration pushing through the biggest tax cut for corporate America and the super-rich in history.

The damage inflicted on American society by constant war and deepening social inequality has found expression in an endless series of events like the mass shooting in Las Vegas. With only 5 percent of the world’s population, the US accounts for 30 percent of the mass shootings. And the scale of such horrors is increasing: the four worst mass shootings, in terms of casualty toll, and six of the seven worst, have taken place since 2007.

Corporate media pundits and government officials are incapable of more than perfunctory

expressions of shock and dismay over such atrocities, which recur with appalling frequency in the United States. Even uttering such rote statements seems to be too much to ask of President Trump, whose remarks Monday morning were both banal and palpably insincere. How can anyone take seriously a foul-mouthed misogynist and pathological liar as he begins a sentence with the words, “Scripture teaches us”?

As for his moronic statement that the killings in Las Vegas were “pure evil,” such a characterization explains nothing. It doesn’t even explain Trump himself, who gave a speech two weeks ago at the United Nations where he threatened to use nuclear weapons to incinerate the 27 million inhabitants of North Korea. Yet CNN, ever the sycophant, described his televised remarks on Las Vegas as “pitch perfect.”

Trump is to visit Las Vegas Wednesday, one day after an equally stage-managed and bogus display of compassion set for Puerto Rico. There he will view the devastation inflicted by Hurricane Maria, while pursuing his Twitter feud with local government officials who have dared to criticize the poorly executed federal response to the catastrophe.

During the 16 years since the 9/11 attacks, during which the US government has been supposedly engaged in a “war on terror,” an average of one American per year has been killed by a foreign terrorist. During the same period, at least 10,000 Americans have been killed every year by other Americans. Mass shootings like Virginia Tech, Newtown, Orlando and now Las Vegas have killed six times as many Americans as all the terrorist attacks in that period.

Further investigation into the circumstances of the Las Vegas tragedy is vital. But one conclusion can surely be drawn: what happened late Sunday night outside the Mandalay Bay hotel was a manifestation of a deep sickness in American society.

BOBBEE BEE: Las Vegas Shooting: Refocus on Terrorism and Causes of Suicide Attacks

by Sajjad Shaukat for Veterans Today

At least 59 people were killed and more than 500 others injured on October 1, this year, when a gunman opened fire on concertgoers from the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada. An American national, Stephen Paddock was identified by the US security agencies as the shooter, who was armed with as many as 20 weapons, including automatic and semi-automatic rifles and committed suicide by turning one of the guns on himself.

Next day, through its Amaq propaganda agency, Islamic State group (Also known as Daesh, ISIS and ISIL) claimed responsibility for the incident, disclosing that “the Las Vegas attacker is a soldier of the Islamic State in response to calls to target coalition countries—converted to Islam several months ago” — but provided no evidence to support the assertion.

According to the US media, “Senior US homeland security official said that there was no evidence Paddock had links to international or domestic terror groups. Paddock’s brother Eric told Reuters, he was sure there would be no terrorism link. I will bet any amount of money that they will not find any link to anything … he did this completely by himself.”

NBC News, CNN and some other newspapers pointed out, “A lone wolf gunman carried out America’s deadliest mass shooting in a meticulously planned attack after waiting for three days in a hotel suite before striking at a festival crowd of 22,000…FBI agent Aaron Rouse, who is leading the investigation, told reporters…

We have determined at this point no connection to international terrorist organization…He was reacting to a statement ISIS released earlier, which read…The Las Vegas attack was carried out by a soldier of the Islamic State…But despite…the claim, Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said no motive had been found during their initial investigations nor was there any connection with a militant group. Stephen’s family said he had no political or religious affiliation.

The extremist organisation has suffered a string of major setbacks in Iraq and Syria, where it has lost much of the territory it once claimed as part of a self-styled Islamic caliphate. But the group remains active in recruiting followers on social media, and has repeatedly called on its supporters to carry out attacks in Western nations…

Within hours came the bizarre revelation that Paddock was the son of a bank robber named Patrick Benjamin Paddock, who used the alias Benjamin Hoskins Paddock and had once been on the FBI’s Most Wanted list.

Drapes billow out of broken windows at the Mandalay Bay resort and casino Monday, Oct. 2, 2017, on the Las Vegas Strip following a deadly shooting at a music festival in Las Vegas. A gunman was found dead inside a hotel room. 

As has been its habit of late, ISIS claimed credit for the latest explosion of U.S. domestic terrorism. But the FBI quickly dismissed that…Nor was Paddock on law enforcement’s radar.” The girlfriend of the Las Vegas gunman said, she had no idea what her partner was planning…A shooting at a country music festival in Las Vegas on Sunday night…the deadliest shooting in modern American history.

The group’s [ISIS] claims can be difficult to confirm or deny, with one alleging that explosives were planted at Charles de Gaulle airport recently disproved after being published in its al-Naba propaganda newspaper. Conversely, Isis has also failed to claim responsibility for several attacks carried out by potential supporters, including a deadly knife rampage in Hamburg and terrorist stabbing in Finland.”

Meanwhile, Newsweek reported on October 5, 2017, “The Islamic State militant group (ISIS) has published a new infographic detailing how the jihadists orchestrated the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history on Sunday night, despite serious doubts as to the group’s involvement by authorities. In the latest edition of ISIS’s weekly Al-Naba online magazine, which was shared by its supporters Thursday on encrypted messaging app Telegram, the militant network provided more information intended to bolster its prior claims…now specified that Paddock, who the group dubbed Abu Abdul Barr al-Amriki, had allegedly “converted to Islam six months ago”, and provided a play-by-play of Sunday’s bloodshed.”

However, since Trump took office, more Americans have been killed by white American men with no connection to the ISIS terrorists or the foreign Muslims. While, President Donald Trump signed his since-revised executive order, banning people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States, he claimed, “it was to protect Americans from “radical Islamic terrorists…inspired or directed by groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda do pose a clear threat to the US.”

In Trump’s very first speech to Congress, he said that “the vast majority of individuals convicted of terrorism and terrorism-related offenses since 9/11 came here from outside of our country.”

But none of the perpetrators of the major US terrorist assaults carried out in the name of Islam in the past 15 years have come from the nations on Trump’s travel ban.

In fact, the country home to the biggest number of terrorists who have carried out successful attacks inside the US is the US itself.

The NBC News said on October 4, 2017, “More Americans have died from gunshots in the last 50 years than in all of the wars in American history. Since 1968, more than 1.5 million Americans have died in gun-related incidents, according to data from the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

By comparison, approximately 1.2 million service members have been killed in every war in U.S. history, according to estimates from the Department of Veterans Affairs and Casualties. Org.  a website that maintains an ongoing database of casualties from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sunday’s massacre in Las Vegas—which left 59 dead and 530 others injured—is the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history. And such attacks are becoming more common.”

The New York Times described on October 3, 2017, “If only Stephen Paddock had been a Muslim…If only he had shouted “Allahu akbar” before he opened fire on all those concertgoers in Las Vegas…If only he had been a member of ISIS…If only we had a picture of him posing with a Quran in one hand and his semiautomatic rifle in another…If all of that had happened, no one would be telling us not to dishonor the victims and “politicize” Paddock’s mass murder by talking about preventive remedies. No, no, no.

Then we know what we’d be doing. We’d be scheduling immediate hearings in Congress about the worst domestic terrorism event since 9/11. Then Donald Trump would be tweeting every hour “I told you so,” as he does minutes after every terror attack in Europe, precisely to immediately politicize them. Then there would be immediate calls for a commission of inquiry to see what new laws we need to put in place to make sure this doesn’t happen again. Then we’d be “weighing all options” against the country of origin.

But what happens when the country of origin is us? What happens when the killer was only a disturbed American armed to the teeth with military-style weapons that he bought legally or acquired easily because of us and our crazy lax gun laws? Then we know what happens: The president and the Republican Party go into overdrive to ensure that nothing happens. Then they insist — unlike with every ISIS-related terror attack — that the event must not be “politicized” by asking anyone, particularly themselves, to look in the mirror and rethink their opposition to common-sense gun laws.”

Nevertheless, American President Donald Trump described the massacre as an “act of pure evil”, but, sidestepped calls for tighter gun laws. His spokesman later said, “Mr Trump stood by the Second Amendment which guarantees the “right to bear arms”.

As President Trump departed on October 3, 2017 for a visit to Puerto Rico, he ignored shouted questions on whether the Las Vegas shooting should prompt stricter gun control laws. But, he did have harsh words for the suspected gunman, Stephen Paddock by saying, “He’s a sick man, a demented man, lot of problems, I guess…We’re dealing with a very, very sick individual.”

It is surprising that by denying the shooting at a concert in Las Vegas as an act of terrorism, US media and officials are calling it an individual act of Paddock “who acted with malice, and individually, but, he also did so by taking advantage of a nation that permits the near unbridled manufacture and distribution of high-powered weapons and ammunition that have but one purpose: to kill.”

In the wake of renewed calls for curbs on the high-powered guns which have been used to kill so many Americans, a majority of the US analysts, including law-makers describe the incident of La Vegas shooting as criminal act instead of terrorism-related event.

Nonetheless, we need to refocus on terrorism and causes of the suicide attacks in order to know that either shooting at music festival in Las Vegas amounts to terrorism or criminal act of an individual.

While, writing regarding terrorism and causes of the suicide attacks, Western psychiatrists believe that many terrorists have had a difficult childhood producing narcissistic wounds, resulting in “projecting the hated parts of the self onto the outside world”.

According to another similar reasoning, “The desire to destroy the establishment is driven by the terrorist’s search for identity.” This dynamic could result in operatives taking unauthorized vengeance against society for their own reasons unrelated to the group’s cause; such acts are equivalent to military officers making politically unauthorized use of their weapons.

In his book, “The Readiness to Kill and Die: Suicidal Terrorism in the Middle East.” a professor of psychology, Ariel Merari who provides a comprehensive analysis of suicide attacks and terrorism by showing how personality characteristics interact with group pressure and public atmosphere, points out, “Most suicide terrorist attacks are carried out by sub-state groups, whether organized as terrorist groups or as self-starter cells…this is because it is easier for groups to transform susceptible individuals into terrorists by radicalizing, recruiting, indoctrinating and training them to become suicide bombers and then videotaping their commitment to martyrdom. Such groups receive their oxygen from religions and societies that glorify martyrdom into an afterlife in paradise.”

Besides mentioning other causes of terrorism, a number of writers, authors and researchers agree by remarking, “Terrorists recruit mentally unbalanced youths to carry out suicide missions.” However, some depressed operatives may follow instructions in carrying out suicide missions.

Since the US started fake global war against terrorism, after the 9/11 tragedy, various political experts have opined that terrorism comes in a variety of forms such as religious terrorism, secular terrorism, economic terrorism etc., but its main aim is to achieve political, economic and social ends.

Bruce Hoffman, in his book “Inside Terrorism” writes: “For the religious terrorism, violence is the foremost divine duty executed in direct response to some demand or imperative…the secular terrorist sense leads to a sanctioning of limitless violence against a virtually open-ended category of targets.”

Besides, in various countries, including America, laws have been enforced to cope with the problem of terrorism. For example, in case of Pakistan, almost all the political parties unanimously had agreed on a draft of legislative measures—the 20 points National Action Plan—the bill as 22nd (Constitutional) Amendment was enforced soon after its approval from the parliament.

Now, individuals will be punished in accordance with the National Action Plan which includes countering hate speech and extremist material, choking financing for terrorists and terrorist organizations, taking effective steps against religious persecution, ban on glorification of terrorism and terrorists organization through print and electronic media, measures against abuse of internet and social media for terrorism, dealing firmly with sectarian terrorists and so on.

It is worth-mentioning that war between two sovereign states is a reciprocal activity between like (though not necessarily equal) forces. War especially between the militants and state terrorists is a one way relationship between unlike. As in most of the cases, both the US-led military troops and the Muslim militants led by Al-Qaeda and ISIS also kill the innocent people, apart from the concerned combatants; war or different war might most clearly be defined as the use of violence by the armed against the unarmed.

Only because the targets are unprepared by organizational training to cope with the shock of violence, are they put into terror or fear. Conventional military action through military forces against the innocent civilians as found by the Americans, Israelis and Indians in case of Iraq (During occupation), Afghanistan (By NATO), Syria and in the ‘controlled territories’ of the Palestine and Kashmir respectively may well terrify the general mass, is also terrorism, hence, part of this new style conflict.

Quincy Wright, while observing in relation to strategy and diplomacy, takes war as “the use of regulated violence for political ends.” It is an approach comfortably shared by such realist thinkers as Hobbes, Bacon, Machiavelli, Clausewitz and Morgenthau.

We must keep in mind that terrorism in all its manifestations either practiced by a group or the state or an individual is manipulation of force to meet objectives.

But, it is a terminological confusion, if we only justify the war between two rival states and do not call the induction of fear by military action in suppressing freedom movements as terrorism. It also includes the terrorist act of an individual who seeks revenge by killing innocent persons through weapons and afterwarsds commit suicide. It is not doubtful that fear-inducement, created by terrorist groups like ISIS, state terrorists and an individual who employ abnormal force on the unarmed amounts to terrorism. People continuously live in the shadow of fear, terror and death.

There is no denying the fact that since 9/11, the US-led global war on terror has been functioning in much the same way as terrorism. The methods of force employment overtly and covertly by the American troopers and CIA, and covertly by the Muslim fighters are the same, though difference exists only in the tactics.

It is notable that the character of Donald Trump has emerged as a political terrorist. In order to win the presidential race of the Republican Party, Trump had started exaggerating the threat of Islamophobia by manipulating various terror attacks in the US and Europe. Trump manipulated the terror attacks which occurred in Paris, Brussels, San Bernardino, Orlando, Nice and Munich etc., which were, in fact, false flag operations, conducted by Israeli Mossad and some agents of CIA who were playing the double game by using the terrorists of the ISIL in this respect, while, some incidents were not linked to ISIS, but were the result of self-radicalization of the individuals.

Donald Trump used each terror assault and the shooting at San Bernardino, California in fueling anti-Muslim racialism in America and to get the sympathies of a majority of the ordinary Americans and those of Europe, who did not have much time to go into depth-analysis and have been misguided by his emotional speeches, statements and false hopes.

The more he exploited the threat of Islamic militants, the more popularity he got among general masses of America, who have been impressed by his stereotypes. Particularly, after the incident at San Bernardino, which resulted in the deaths of 14 persons by a Muslim couple, Donald Trump had called for a ban on Muslims, entering the United States.

The Washington Post in an article, under the caption, “Trump’s reckless, dangerous Islamophobia helps the Islamic State”, wrote on June 13, 2016, “Trump’s standards, his comments about the Orlando shooting have been reckless and self-serving. They are also dangerous for the country…the strongest remaining force that propels the Islamic State is the Islamophobia of Trump and his European counterparts, argue senior intelligence strategists for the U.S.-led coalition. Inflammatory, xenophobic statements about Muslims reinforce the jihadists’ claims that they are Muslim knights fighting against an intolerant West. Trump unwittingly gives them precisely the role they dream about.”

In this regard, Khaled A. Beydoun opined on the Aljazeera multimedia network on March 13, 2016,

“The world brand Trump is becoming synonymous with expansion of racism and incitement of Islamophobia…I think Islam hate us, said Donald Trump, 24 hours before the Republican presidential debate in Miami…is a call to his voting base, to further galvanise them around a disdain for Islam that not only heightens hateful fervour at his rallies, but incites violence on American blocks and pushes bigots to the ballot box…the statement is rooted in the very ignorance and hate which made him the darling of bigots and surged him up the polls…Islamophobia…the suspicion and fear of Islam and its 1.7 billion adherent-is political ideology for Trump.”

Anti-Muslim rhetoric of Trump could be judged from his several other statements. Trump’s opposition to Muslim refugees, especially from Syria is very well known. During his appearance with the National Border Patrol Council’s Green Line radio show on May 15, 2016, Donald Trump predicted that refugees with ISIS-funded cell phones will conduct another 9/11-like terrorist attack in the US.

During a GOP debate in December, 2016, he had already expressed similar thoughts by giving

“Americans wake-up call about border security and to take it seriously,” elaborating that he had “no doubt, the attackers were already entering the country.” On February 14, 2016, CIA Director John Brennan warned that ISIS attacks on “U.S. soil is inevitable.” However, these warnings were exploited by the Israeli Mossad and its affiliated CIA operatives to target the night club of Orlando, (Florida) so as to provide Donald Trump with an opportunity to accelerate his campaign against the Muslims.

After the shooting at the gay night club in Orlando, he also criticized the US President Obama to resign, slamming him for having “disgracefully refused to even say the words “Radical Islam.”

Calling on his opponent-candidate Clinton to get out of the general election race for the same reason, Trump said, “Because our leaders are weak, I said this was going to happen…we cannot afford.”

Trump again remarked that he would decrease immigration from the Middle East because “since 9/11, hundreds of migrants and their children have been implicated in terrorism in the United States.” He, once again, asked for the ban of any Muslims, entering the US. On June 19, 2016, during his interview with the CBC News, he called for racial “profiling of Muslims inside the United States to combat terrorism.” He reiterated his call for more surveillance of mosques and warned that radical Muslims were trying to take over our children.

Trump continued move against Muslims. In this context, toughening immigration checks for the French and Germans in the US, questioning NATO obligations and hinting at an exit from the World Trade Organization, Donald Trump said on July 24, 2017, “We have problems in Germany and we have problems in France…they have totally been compromised by deadly Islamist attacks in Nice and last year in Paris…you know why? It’s their own fault…because they allowed people to come into their countries.”

Nonetheless, the incident of shooting at the gay club in Orlando not only exposed that false flag operation, but also endorsed other false flag terror-attacks in the US and Europe. In this connection, in an interview with Brazilian TV on June 14, 2016, the ex-wife of the Orlando shooter Omar Mateen Sitora Yusufiy revealed that American FBI pressurized her to keep quiet about his homosexuality. While, Mateen had been dubbed as an Islamic terrorist by the American politicians, senior officials and commentators, following reports that he had pledged allegiance to the ISIS, but FBI wanted to downplay the personal and self-hating nature of the assault.

In this respect, on June 28, 2016, The New York Times wrote, “The mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., on June 12 included a curious phrase: false flag…the victims in the shooting? They were “crisis actors” hired to promote the story as a pretext to impose tighter gun restrictions, the theory goes…the term false flag relates to naval warfare when a ship would fly a flag that would conceal its true identity as a way to lure an enemy closer. Today, it is commonly a shorthand for an act of deception…conspiracy theorists have applied the label to high-profile attacks, including the shootings by a husband and wife last year in San Bernardino, Calif, that killed 14…the phrase has even been used to doubt the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.”

Similarly, the teenager Ali David Sonboly who killed 9 people in Munich had no connection with the ISIS. Police investigation revealed that he was “a mentally troubled person” and police also discovered extremist material, linked to the attack by Andres Behring Brevik, the white supremacist who murdered 77 persons in Norway in 2011. And the shooting in the French city of Nice was also a false flag terror-act, as CIA-Mossad arranged it with help of ISIS which used homegrown terrorists of France.

However, various terrorism-related attacks in the US and Europe, which occurred in 2015, 2016 and 2017 were false flag operations, managed by Mossad in connivance with the homegrown terrorists of the target-countries so as to obtain secret goals of America and Israel against Russia and the Muslims, and to provide Trump equal chance to exploit the same.

Trump remains silence about the American homegrown militants who have killed more innocent persons than those massacred by Al-Qaeda and ISIS inside the US. He has also set aside the assaults by the extremist Americans on mosques.

While, such a discriminatory policy towards Muslims is already annoying Islamic community in the multicultural societies of the US-led West and is causing more recruitment in the militant outfits like Al-Qaeda and especially ISIS, Donald Trump has left no stone unturned by providing new ammunition to these terrorist groups. He has, deliberately, taken his anti-Muslim rhetoric to a climax, inspiring the moderate Muslims to join the extremists or terrorist outfits.

It is mentionable that as part of the anti-Muslim approach, and with the support of its Western allies, American President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama deliberately created chaos in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Egypt and Syria, including other Islamic countries such as Somalia, Yemen etc. where Washington was indirectly involved to obtain the illegitimate political and economic interests of the Zionist Jews and Israel. The US President Trump who wants to complete the unfinished agenda of Israel continues anti-Muslim policies.

It is of particular attention that the most important cause behind the suicide attacks is that when real brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, parents and the fellows of the Muslims, demanding independence from the Zionist-Israeli-led colonialism, and neo-imperialism are being killed due to state terrorism, extremism develops in the concerned persons who feel psychologically compelled to commit violent acts (or suicide attack) and the political objectives they espouse are only a rationalization.

Psychologically speaking, when a person crosses the stage of fear towards non-fear in these adverse circumstances, the previous one can never be achieved and in such a case, even a coward person becomes bold to commit suicide or any violent acts. A number of suicide missions in Iraq (During occupation), Afghanistan, Israel and the Indian-held Kashmir verify this fact. Particularly, some events of women committing suicide also testify this fact. It is because of these reasons that human lives themselves become bombs, supplying the requisites of new style deterrence.

When the US and other pro-American coalition troops including Israeli and Indian forces kill the innocent Afghans, Palestinians, Syrians and Kashmiris through aerial bombardment, ground shelling and special operations, Europeans and Americans do not consider the same as terrorism, because they are rational actors, but, when Muslim freedom fighters seek revenge through ambush attacks and suicide operations, term of terrorism is being used against them, because these acts are committed by irrational actors.

Washington and Western media like Israel and India conveniently defines terrorism as actions by the parties which operate against their own interests and ignore any other kind. On the other hand, Muslims equate the use of force by America and its partners in the occupied territories with state terrorism.

Like other religions, Islam is a religion of peace and Jihad does not permit acts of terrorism or suicide attacks. But, it owing to the double game and religious fervour, created by the US-led state terrorism in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and occupied territories of Palestine and Kashmir (By Israel and India) that the militant groups such as Al-Qaeda and ISIS and their affiliated terror-outfits will further misinterpret the concept of Jihad to motivate the common Muslims to target Christians, Westerners and especially Americans. It is what President Trump, Tel Aviv and New Delhi want.

It is worth-mentioning that by following the double standards of the US in its worst form, President Trump also brushed aside the ground realities that Indian Prime Minister Narindra Modi led by the ruling fundamentalist party BJP has been implementing anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistan agenda, while encouraging Hindutva (Hindu nationalism).

Besides Muslims, BJP and other extremist outfits have also been targeting the Christians and their places of worship. Donald Trump has further encouraged Hindu terrorism inside India where other religious minorities are living under perennial fear. And the US-led Western countries have ignored Hindu terrorism.

It is owing to the double standards of terrorism and the dual policy of the US-led Europe, Israel and India that ISIS which is most dangerous terrorist group than Al-Qaeda has accelerated terrorism-related attacks in the US, Europe, Syria, Turkey, Egypt, Yemen, Iran, Iraq etc. and some African countries which besides Muslims also targeted the Christians.

After its defeat by the Russian-led coalition of Iran, Iraq and Lebanon-based Hezbollah in Syria and Iraq, Daesh is rapidly spreading its tentacles in Asia and especially South Asia.

Taking cognizance of Trump’s political follies—terror-hysteria, religious bigotry and racialism which are well-penetrated in his personality, some writers and researches, including American politicians call him a “crazy person” and some call him, a “mad man.” In these terms, his character itself falls in the category of terrorism.

As regards Las Vegas shooting, BBC said on October 3, 2017, “According to Nevada state law, an “act of terrorism” is described as…Any act that involves the use of violence intended to cause great bodily harm or death to the general population…At federal level, the US defines “domestic terrorism” as activities that meet three criteria-dangerous to human life that violate federal or state law”, those that are intended to intimidate or coerce civilians or governments, and which occur primarily within the US.”

Returning to our main discussion, we may conclude in light of various forms of terrorism and causes of suicide attacks that mentally unbalanced youths or individuals carry out suicide missions. In these terms, Stephen Paddock’s horrible act by shooting on concertgoers in Las Vegas and afterwards, committing suicide by killing himself amounts to terrorism.

Sajjad Shaukat writes on international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations

Email: sajjad_logic_pak@hotmail.com