Will Thomas is a retired high school history teacher and a member of New Hampshire Veterans for Peace living in Manchester.

Let me be frank. In light of the events of recent history, I am going to designate both Israel’s government and the U.S. government as “terrorist” organizations. Why so?

After the 9/11 attacks, the U.S. declared a Global War on Terrorism. But what if 9/11 and subsequent attacks on the U.S. were the result of what historian Chalmers Johnson called “blowback?” Blowback refers to the unintended consequences of U.S. foreign policy decisions that have resulted in what many would term “terrorism.”

Reading Johnson’s book, “Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire,” was relevant after 9/11, and I think it still is today. Another book that sheds light on terrorism is “Why Do People Hate America” by Ziauddin Sardar and Merryl Davis.

The late historian Howard Zinn also wrote that “since war itself is the most extreme form of terrorism, a war on terrorism is profoundly self-contradictory.” Both the U.S. and Israel use terror against their perceived “enemies,” which sadly includes women and children.

As a U.S. Navy veteran and as the son of a WW II and Korean War veteran, I agree with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who said on April 4, 1967, that “the U.S. is the biggest purveyor of violence in the world today.”

When Dr. King spoke that day in a New York City church, he addressed the carnage going on in Vietnam, Laos and, later, Cambodia. His speech is called “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence.” We know today that our leaders at the time lied about the reason why America retaliated against the North Vietnamese for their alleged attacks on U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin.

The result was some three million dead Vietnamese, Laotians and Cambodians — or more. Perhaps, Dr. King was also thinking about how our government was involved in overthrowing various governments around the world, including Iran in 1953, Guatemala in 1954, but failing in 1961 against Cuba. In 1973, the CIA via Nixon-Kissinger, sponsored a coup against and killed the leader of Chile. The CIA, of course, has been involved in various assassinations or supported those who did our “dirty work.” A young African leader, Patrice Lumumba was killed in 1961, Diem in Vietnam in 1963, Che Guevara in 1967, and many failed attempts were made against Fidel Castro.

When the Twin Towers were attacked and many innocent people died, Osama bin Laden was blamed as the mastermind. What most people don’t recall is how bin Laden supported U.S. efforts to train and arm the Afghan mujahideen who would go on to help defeat the Russians who had been sent to assist the government in Kabul at that time. Many members of that group later became Al Qaeda.

Following the 9/11 attacks, President George W. Bush said terrorists hated us for our freedoms and democracy. Wrong. Bin Laden told several Western reporters that he deeply resented the stationing of U.S. military bases in Saudi Arabia, especially near Mecca. He asked the U.S. to stop the sanctions on Iraq that were causing so much misery and the deaths of 500,000 Iraqi children, and he complained that America’s support for Israel and its policies toward Palestinians had to change. And, as we see today, Israel’s treatment of Palestinians both in Gaza and in the brutally occupied West Bank and in East Jerusalem has gotten much worse.

So, I see both Israel and the U.S. government as “terrorist” entities who ignore international law. In Israel’s case, this involves violations of the Geneva Conventions, the Convention on Genocide and Illegal Settlements. Both countries have acted as “rogue” states violating U.S. laws such as the Leahy Law, the Export Control Act, the Genocide Prevention Act and the U.S. War Crimes Act.

Following both nation’s recent actions, I would also identify both nation-states as pariahs in the eyes of much of the world. One wonders when, if ever, the U.S. and Israel will understand that violence only begets more violence. As I write this, the U.S. is bombing Yemen with Israel’s encouragement and threatening to attack Iran for its support of the Houthis in Yemen.

As Professor Zinn said: “We need to stop sending weapons to countries that oppress other people or their own people. We need to decide against war, no matter what reasons are conjured up by the politicians or the media . . . because war is terrorism, magnified hundreds of times.”