Being a fifty-year-old man, raised in the seclusion of world events in East Los Angeles, California, USA, terrorism has never been part of my formal education or understanding of it. For many ignorance can never be an excuse for the arrogance or self-engrossment, the kind that is used to perpetuate a world where women, men, and young children fill a need to kill.
In the search for grasping true freedom of expression, freedom of press and true democracy, in an attempt to understand terrorism, the following thoughts are shared:


If I were a terrorist…

If I were a terrorist would it seem insane? Strapping a bomb to my body to kill those people that claim innocence sounds sick. Like other men and women that kill for a cause in the name of God or religion, territory and sovereignty, justice and freedom, or a taste of democracy, should I kill for those ideals?
Many would say that terrorism is unequivocally wrong, deplorable. But is it not an extension of the violence of war that breeds every soldier throughout the history of humankind?
If I were a terrorist, would I be less of a soldier or warrior than those who are in a stealth bomber, a tank, or an apache helicopter? Those pilots will receive medals for their deadly deeds. Because their proximity to the killing of the innocent (collateral damage) is further, does it make their humane slaughtering less criminal, more tolerable or palatable to the moral, self-righteous, war machines of the technologically rich imperialist colonial complex who rule the world today?
Will you condemn me? Will you see me as a mere crazy psychotic, or do you want to hear the truth?
The indigenous people and others that sit at the bottom of the imperialist cesspool, beaten, malnourished, aids infested, have no alternative but to resist this kind of brutal oppression and you wonder why I seem mentally deranged?
I may be a bomb with no wings, but smarter and more precise than the million dollar “smart bombs.” It appears to be cowardice and sinister to those that do not want to understand our plight, nor attempt to seek out new knowledges, yes, more than just one knowledge.
Those that prepare new arsenals of baby “nukes” to penetrate the caves of ancient warriors, terrorize me.
Ultimately, every soldier knows it might be his own life that is going to be the sacrificial gift to humanity. Japan’s infamous kamikazes in World War II, are examples of combatants who lived by that standard. Others that fell on grenades to prevent the death of their fellow soldiers, fall into this category.
My death will make others see how much meaning there is in the lives of those I am protecting. I do not want to die, but I must. It is my duty, the ultimate sacrifice of the soldier.
I do not kill the innocent because there are no innocent. Those that I might blow up to bits and pieces, must not pretend to always be at the carnival, movies, or oblivious to the hungry, sick, and oppressed of the world. They must all bear some personal responsibility for the actions of their leaders and for their cherished self-engrossment. They can rise to change the governors of imperialism or accept it as their own beliefs and stand side by side with their offspring to face the ugly consequences.
The visions of a life ending with a horrible, violent act, has never been my dream. People that are desperate, undertake steps necessary to correct injustice even when they seem horribly violent. It can never be what I wanted, but what I needed to do without hesitation.
When women joined the ranks of human bombers it speaks volumes. They have included themselves as part of the sacrificial gifts, placing them as equals with men in victory or defeat, in life and death. Proving to humankind that women’s roles can no longer be defined by her oppressive surroundings, but by her communal strength which makes them inclusive. She has exhumed herself passed the patriarchal systems of the world. It proves that they are as strong or weak as any man. The patriarchal world is now under attack, the clock ticks forward as women become inclusive beyond any doubt.
No one’s life should end this way, not mine, not theirs, not yours, not ours. Humanity must face up to terrorism as a lasting tactic that hundreds of years of brutal, violent colonization have created. The constant interference into the natural progression of culture, religion, economy, and government can no longer be the prime directive of the profit seeking oligarchies and the capitalist governments that harbor, provide their military might, to maintain control over the subjugated masses.
In very close proximity to their reservation, the U’wa Indian Tribe of Colombia contemplate mass suicide over the exploitation of land in search of oil by Occidental Petroleum Oil Corporation.
When we do not include the indigenous people of the world into civilization but impose it on them, they become desperate. Many of the terrorists acts occurring in all corners of the world today, reflect the violent cycle of death that plagues and haunts humankind repeating history over and over again.
One last look at my mother’s eyes, my lover, my brother, my life. Saying good-bye to them as I walk on my land, one last time.
If I were a terrorist, it would reflect the tragedy of humankind. It is our propensity to lash out, kill, eliminate, and destroy people, culture, environment, in order to bring justification to a cause, ideology or thought.

Robert Bracamontes
Community Columnist
 Braco8@msn.com