FRANKENSTEIN REMAKE TO STAR UNCLE SAM, AL-QAIDA

If Hollywood were seeking the perfect cast for a Frankenstein remake, they should look no further than Uncle Sam as Dr. Henry Frankenstein and al-Qaida as the monster

They wouldn't need rehersals since they could simply act out their real life drama of creation and betrayal. Like the misguided Doctor, Uncle Sam helped create al-Qaida in the mid 1980's as a means of waging proxy war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. The US CIA's Operation Cyclone channeled funds and training to the Afghan Mujahedeen through Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Agency. Afghan Mujahedeen eventually combined with foreign Mujahedeen inspired by Osama bin-Laden and other fanatics to form al-Qaida. The US effort to defeat the Soviets in Afghanistan was so successful the radical Islamists involved were inspired to expand their operations against all non Islamic influences in the region, including their benefactor Uncle Sam.

Maybe that's a stretch to the creation of the monster and his betrayal of Dr. Frankenstein. But the scenario comes to mind as we learn that Uncle Sam is once again flirting with al-Qaida in their support for the Syrian rebels fighting to overthrow Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad. Apparently, al-Qaida has wormed its way into the coalition of forces Uncle Sam and his Western and Middle East allies are supplying with arms and intelligence so they can control the outcome. Endless warfare sure makes strange bedfellows.

If Frankenstein is remade with the aforementioned cast, it would no doubt get a R rating: restricted to anyone over the age of reason. A more appropriate rating would be T for truthfulness.

Also published in the Kane County Chronicle, August 18, 2012