The war between the rich and well armed, democratic Western countries (mainly USA, UK, France, Israel) and the peoples of the Arab world has been in progress since the end of the First World War. It has been mainly fought on the lands of the Arabs. It has been fought directly with military force or indirectly with economic sanctions and with the support of puppet governments that serve the interests of the West and their companies. Hundreds of thousands of Arabs have died in this war. Most of these deaths remain unreported in the Western media and unmourned.

This war played little part in the lives of the Europeans and North Americans until about 70 years after the Sykes-Picot Agreement and the Balfour Declaration. Around the mid 1980s, Arab groups began attacking Western targets. These included civilian, diplomatic and economic interests in Europe, North America and the rest of the world.

Western governments and their media had previously ignored the suffering, oppression, death and dispossession of millions of Arabs. Now they were outraged. The Arabs were labeled as evil and fanatical. Their religion was insulted and demonized. The people of the West were told that Arabs were attacking the West for no reason. They hated Western civilization, culture and standard of living. They hated freedom and democracy. No historical background to the conflict was given. It was important to keep the real reasons behind the conflict away from the public domain.

Westerners were informed that Arabs were unlike the freedom loving Americans, lacked the culture of the French and had no idea of fair play like the British.

Observers who suggest that Arab attacks on Western targets might have something to do with Western foreign policy or the political situation in the Middle East, are accused of being anti-American or anti-Semitic. The official line is that the attackers are terrorists and had no demands that could be negotiated. In addition, the targets of the terrorists are the entire "civilised" world, rather than the USA and its allies and their interests.

Other countries have joined in the charade. Israel has reclassified its occupation of Palestine as part of the "international war on terror". Russia uses the same rhetoric when crushing resistance to its rule in Chechnya. India uses the "war on terror" to justify its continual occupation and oppression of Kashmir. The USA and UK collude with these world views as it keeps opposition to their policies in the Middle East muted.

Islam, the major religion of the Middle East, is demonized and derided so as to make it easier to treat its people as less than human. All Muslims are judged by the actions of a few extremists. This is the equivalent of judging Western society, Christianity or Judaism by some or all of the following:

• Christian Americans who shoot doctors practicing abortion and who attempt to ban the teaching of evolution in schools;
• The actions and writings of the racist Ku Klux Klan (USA), the British National Party (UK) or the Front National (France);
• Israeli settlers who shoot Palestinains while they are praying in their mosques.

One of the leading terrorist groups is Al-Qaida, lead by Osama Bin-Laden. He makes frequent statements to the West which are not reported. It is useful to keep up the myth that groups like Al-Qaida have no demands that can be negociated with. For this reason I quote some of their statements.

The following statement was made in 2001 as the USA and UK invaded Afghanistan:

"The Palestinian people have been living under the Jewish and Zionist occupation and nobody moves to help them. Here we are as an Arab land, this is a land that has been desecrated. People have come to take its wealth. The American interests are everywhere all over the world. America must know that the battle will not leave this land until America leaves our land. Until it stops supporting Israel, until it stops the blockade against Iraq. The Americans must know that by coming to the land of Afghanistan, they have opened a new page of animosity between us and the forces of the unbelievers. And they must know that the land of Afghanistan and the Mujahideen are being subjected to a full crusade with the objective of getting rid of the Islamic nation."

Al-Qaida is a violent indiscriminate terrorist group. Their language is flowery and full of religious references. Their actions against civilians cannot be condoned. However, the grievances listed above are real and resonate with much of the Arab world - indeed, the Muslim world. Attempting to crush groups like this will not remove the grievances. Only by removing the many injustices perpetrated by the West will groups like this lose support. Only by treating the Arabs as human beings and as equals and not trying to control their land, resources, governments and culture can there be a just and lasting peace.

The message was clearly laid out after the bombing of Madrid (Spain) in March 2004 that killed 200 people and brought "regime change" to Europe:

"Stop targeting us, release our prisoners and leave our land and we will stop attacking you. The people of the US allied countries have to put pressure on their governments to immediately end their alliance with the US in the war against terror (Islam)."

A month later, Al-Qaida offered a truce to the countries of Europe:

"I am offering a truce to European countries, and its core is our commitment to cease operations against any country which does not carry out an onslaught against Muslims or interfere in their affairs as part of the big American conspiracy against the Islamic world. Whoever wants reconciliation and the right (way), then we are the ones who initiated it, so stop spilling our blood so we can stop spilling your blood."

"Security is a need for all humans, and we could not let you have a monopoly on it for yourselves. People who are aware would not let their politicians jeopardize their security."

"By describing us and our actions as terrorism, you are necessarily describing yourself and your actions. ... Our actions are reactions to your actions that destroy and kill our people in Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine."

Al-Qaida are aware of the economics behind the 2003 invasion of Iraq:

"This war brings billions of dollars to big companies, either to those that manufacture weapons or those who reconstruct Iraq, like Halliburton and its sister companies. And from here it becomes clear who benefits from the outbreak of wars and bloodshed: war traders and vampires who administer world politics from behind the curtain."

And, of course, there is always Palestine, a continuing sore to the Arabs:

"I plead with the honest people, intellectuals, activists and traders to form a permanent committee to raise people's awareness for the justice of our causes-- on top of which comes Palestine."

Arab and Muslim societies have many problems (like their Western counterparts). They must be allowed to solve their problems and develop at their own pace. If the West is to help it must be as friends and by request; not as colonisers and certainly not by force.

The War on Terror has not just begun - it has just changed location.

It has returned home.