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Seeking
Truth
Major
questions remain unanswered one year after 9/11.
By Ted Rall, AlterNet
One year has passed since Sept. 11. Yet we, the American
people, still don't know exactly what happened. There are still no
plans for a public investigation of how more than 3,000 Americans
lost their lives, of what could have been done to prevent the attacks
or reduce their impact.
Secrecy has been the watchword of the obsessively
inscrutable Bush Administration. So preoccupied is the Administration
with keeping the people's business away from the people that, rather
than spark a national discussion of what went wrong and what we could
do better, these public servants are asking members of Congress to
take lie-detector tests — to find out who's been leaking plans
to attack Iraq.
Without a doubt, military intelligence requires secrecy.
But there is no conceivable national security interest in keeping
Americans in the dark about Sept. 11. A crisis whose first few weeks
were marked by patriotic unity rapidly devolved into a divisive "war
on terrorism" marked by opportunistic assaults on the Bill of Rights,
old-fashioned oil wars and a cynical neo-McCarthyism whereby those
who questioned Bush and the Republican Party were smeared as "anti-American."
United We Stand bumper stickers aside, the terrorists have skillfully
turned us against each other: citizen against immigrant, Republican
against Democrat, Christian against Muslim. Secrecy only deepens those
divisions.
To hell with closed-door Congressional hearings. America
needs a full, open, publicly televised investigation into 9/11, and
it needed it last October. Using the post-JFK assassination Warren
Commission as a model is a start, though that panel's lack of openness
fed conspiracy theories that continue to cause Americans to distrust
their government four decades later. The best way to avoid alienating
the public from its public servants is to keep an investigation 100-percent
transparent.
During times of crisis both the electorate and the
elected forget that this country belongs to the people. As American
citizens and taxpayers, therefore, we deserve — and should demand
— honest answers to the following still-unanswered questions:
Before
the Attacks
What did Bush know and when did
he know it? A few months ago it was revealed that, while vacationing
in Crawford, Texas, on Aug. 6, 2001, Bush had received an "analytical
report" warning from National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice that
a terrorist attack was imminent. What was the exact nature of that
warning? How detailed was it? Should Bush have cut short his vacation
and headed back to Washington? The administration has stonewalled
on this issue, but they can only allay suspicions of a September Surprise
by coming clean now about the briefings he received before 9/11.
Did Echelon cough up the 9/10 warnings? The
National Security Agency acknowledges that it "intercepted" two messages
(one said "tomorrow is zero hour") from terrorists indicating that
the next day, Sept. 11, would be the date of a major attack. Unfortunately,
those messages weren't processed and evaluated until it was too late,
on Sept. 12. The NSA maintains a sophisticated voice- and keyword-recognition
computer system called Echelon. A former NSA director told the French
magazine Le Nouvel Observateur that Echelon uses automation
to monitor every phone call, fax transmission, e-mail and wire transfer
in the world. Did the 9/10 warning come from Echelon? Is Echelon being
used to monitor ordinary Americans? Is there any way to speed up the
rate at which the NSA processes important intercepts?
The
September Surprise
Why didn't our Air Force shoot
down the hijacked planes? Air traffic controllers lost contact
with all four aircraft within minutes of takeoff. Two were off course
and ignored controllers for more than an hour and a half, yet the
mightiest air defense network in the world failed to prevent the suicide
bombers from striking their targets. Did overworked air traffic controllers
fail to notice the errant planes? How long did it take them to get
the word to military authorities? Did a bureaucratically inept Air
Force fail to react quickly enough?
Why were only 12 jets patrolling U.S. airspace?
According to The New York Times, only 12 Air Force National
Guard planes, most of them on the ground, were assigned to patrol
the entire continental U.S. at the time of the attacks. Whose judgment
determined that this level of protection was adequate? What would
happen in the event of a nuclear first strike against the U.S.? Would
an increased budget have increased that number, and what is our current
field strength?
What is American policy concerning hijackings?
Had an Air Force jet successfully intercepted one of the doomed flights,
would its pilot have been ordered to shoot it down? If so, would that
order have had to come from the President, or would a lower-ranked
official be sufficient? If a shooting were authorized, would it ever
be implemented over a densely populated area? Passengers need to know
where they stand before they board a plane.
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Was United Flight 93 shot down over Pennsylvania?
The Pentagon has neither denied shooting down Flight 93 nor confirmed
that its heroic passengers caused the flight to crash while trying
to wrest its controls from the hijackers. The flight was airborne
some two and a half hours before crashing outside Shanksville, leading
many to speculate that it was fired upon to protect the White House
or other likely targets in Washington. It seems unlikely that a cockpit
voice recording of a struggle between passengers and jihadis exists;
if it did, why not release such an inspiring artifact to a public
hungry for inspiration? All 9/11 flight information, including any
Flight 93 recordings, ought to be given to the media. And it's time
for the military to indicate whether or not it, rather than the passengers,
brought down the jet.
Why didn't federal law require reinforced cockpit
doors? This common-sense proposal had been adopted by carriers
in other countries years earlier, but not in the U.S. Did the airlines
lobby against the move because of increased costs? If so, which airlines?
And which federal officials and/or members of Congress are criminally
responsible for jeopardizing the safety of the flying public for the
sake of a few bucks?
Who locked the roof doors at the World Trade Center?
During the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, hundreds of workers escaped
smoke by going to the roofs. On Sept. 11 hundreds died when they went
up dozens of flights of stairs only to find those same roof doors
locked. Why did city fire officials order those doors locked between
1993 and 2001, and more importantly, why didn't they post notices
through the World Trade Center complex to advise that roof doors would
now be locked? Prosecutions may be in order for criminal negligence.
Who skimped on FDNY communications? Scores
of New York firefighters died in the stairwells of the World Trade
Center after they'd been ordered to evacuate the buildings —
because they couldn't hear those orders on their antiquated radio
system. The fire department had requested up-to-date equipment years
earlier. Which city officials refused to allocate the necessary funding,
causing firefighters to die needlessly? Do the FDNY and other urban
fire departments now have better communications?
How much asbestos was released by the World Trade
Center collapse? The WTC was one-third completed when builders
stopped using asbestos fire retardant, which means that the equivalent
of four normal-width 60-story skyscrapers full of a banned carcinogen
was pulverized and released in a cloud that blanketed lower Manhattan
and Brooklyn. The Environmental Protection Agency has never come clean
on what may eventually become known as America's Chernobyl, but New
Yorkers deserve to know the full extent of their exposure.
Why was the Pentagon so vulnerable? Not only
did Defense Department employees perish at the Pentagon, the attack
revealed that even the headquarters of American military power can
be successfully targeted. Does the Pentagon have a surface-to-air
missile system that could avert similar catastrophes in the future?
If not, one should be constructed.
What about the other knives? After American
planes were grounded, investigators found box cutters attached under
seats on Delta flights out of Boston's Logan airport and from Atlanta
bound for Brussels. Was anyone ever arrested in connection with would-be
hijackings of these other flights? What were the intended targets
of those aborted hijackings? Were those box cutters, and those on
the four hijacked flights, placed there by personnel who service aircraft
("These look like an inside job," a U.S. official told Time
magazine) or were they smuggled aboard through lax security checkpoints
by would-be hijackers?
Were there other plots? American officials
have questioned thousands of individuals in connection with 9/11.
Have they uncovered other schemes intended for that day, or for later
on?
Aftermath:
The War on Terrorism
Did anyone take responsibility or make demands? It's difficult
to imagine that the group that carried out an act as expensive and
carefully planned as 9/11 chose not to claim credit for it. Furthermore,
terrorist organizations typically make demands — requests for
changes in policy, say, or the release of political prisoners. Secretary
of State Colin Powell initially promised to provide proof of Osama
bin Laden's Al-Qaeda group's leading role as instigators of 9/11,
but has since reneged on that pledge. Moreover, that assertion doesn't
fit bin Laden's known methods; rather than plan or carry out operations
himself, he usually agrees to fully or partially fund plots conceived
and executed by other Islamist groups. If the Bush Administration
received communiqués from a group or groups claiming responsibility
for 9/11, Americans need to know that.
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When did the U.S. decide to invade Afghanistan?
As recently as April 2001, the Bush administration funneled millions
of dollars in aid to the Taliban in order to reward the hardline Islamic
regime for virtually eliminating opium production. By June, however,
relations had cooled noticeably and invasion plans were being prepared.
Would we have invaded Afghanistan if Sept. 11 hadn't happened? Were
there any discussions between future U.S. puppet Hamid Karzai and
the Bush administration before or immediately after 9/11?
Where was Osama bin Laden on 9/11? Afghans
told reporters that bin Laden and his entourage fled Afghanistan for
Kashmir on Sept. 10, yet military officials were saying as late as
January that the world's most wanted man was holed up in the Tora
Bora region. Did the U.S. really know where Osama was on 9/11, and
if so, where was he? Why weren't American commandos inserted into
Afghanistan or Pakistan in order to apprehend him? If the U.S. knew
that he had left Afghanistan, is this why we refused to negotiate
with the Taliban for his extradition?
How many civilians died in Afghanistan? Perhaps
the most deliberately underreported story of 2001-2002 was the number
of Afghan civilians killed by American bombs, missiles, mines and
bullets. (Estimates begin at CNN's conservative 3,500.) While the
Pentagon's argument that it is difficult to track these things from
satellites and high-flying planes rings true, there's no doubt that
they know more than they care to admit. We deserve to know how many
innocent people our tax dollars have killed, and how many of their
relatives now have reason to despise America.
Is the government spying on American citizens?
Not only is the federal government asking postal workers and meter
readers to report on anything unusual they see in our homes, anecdotal
evidence suggests that opponents of administration policy are being
targeted for wiretaps and other forms of harassment and intimidation
by government intelligence agencies. Obviously there is no place for
such retro-Cold War behavior in this country; the FBI, CIA and NSA
must reveal and cease all such unconstitutional activities against
Americans.
Why doesn't the Bush administration want a real
investigation of 9/11? The House and Senate, whose intelligence
committees are now meeting in private, are considering bills that
would set up limited, closed-door independent investigative panels,
but Bush has stymied even those watered-down efforts at openness,
arguing they "would cause a further diversion of essential personnel
from their duties fighting the war." What is he hiding? Americans
pay George W. Bush's salary, and Americans deserve to know what he's
doing.
Nationally syndicated columnist and cartoonist Ted
Rall has a new book, To Afghanistan and Back, available at nbmpub.com
Finding
Sanctuary
A
9-11 reflection on grief and resolution.
By
Christopher Forrest McDowell, PhD
Like millions of people in the aftermath of Sept.
11, 2001, I experienced what is called "vicarious psychological trauma."
All my unresolved wounds from 16 years of domestic terrorism as a
child by an alcoholic father were re-activated by the familiar fear
for lack of safety and peace in an armed world. The collapsing of
the Twin Towers symbolized two distinct turning points in my life:
my loss of innocence as a child, and my loss of naiveté as an
adult. Unfortunately, my new trauma plunged me into the depths of
eight months of depression that almost cost me my family and a 20-year
marriage.
As an adult of the new millennium, I sought sanctuary
from the world in similar ways as my post-World War II childhood:
sitting in reflection for hours in my room in a specific chair; listening
to inspiring music; finding solace in simple activity like reading,
writing, or playing my guitar; praying and meditating; and being in
nature.
However, my current grief and depression allowed me
to become a student of terrorism, curious about how others find refuge
from it. To my shock, the media only used the term "sanctuary" to
describe the asylum given bin Laden by his kind in his flight from
the allied military front. A gross misuse of a beautiful word meant
to describe a very special place — a sanctus sanctorum —
of refuge, safety, comfort, and peace! This misappropriation was made
more stark in light of the fact that millions of U.S. citizens, in
their fear for safety, sought a renewed haven in religion (church
attendance skyrocketed), family intimacy (new marriages, pregnancy,
and counseling dramatically increased), home security, and community.
Nevertheless, my dismay deepened when the people who most needed sanctuary
from war and abuse — the Afghan women, children, elders, and
other innocent citizens — were only given the depraved term
"collateral damage."
I know another form of collateral damage from war:
soldiers and enraged men who take the war into their homes. Spousal
abuse exploded after Vietnam and the Gulf War. The recent spousal
homicides at Fort Bragg are being linked to soldier's stress. And
of course, my father relived WW II everyday (as I am sure many veterans
did) through his alcoholic rages.
As I coped with my personal depression after 9-11,
I rediscovered the solace of walking. I saw details and heard sounds
of everyday life in a new way. I caught serendipitous activities of
human and animal life. I observed both the subtle and stark changes
of nature over the seasons. I rediscovered the simple connecting with
neighbors and neighborhood. I felt my aging body flex and limber up.
I watched my breath fall into the rhythm of my step, my step into
the inward chanting of a hopeful prayer. I watched my thoughts, judgments,
opinions, desires, and emotions rattle for attention in my mind. I
invited my deceased father and all tyrants to walk with me on one
side, and on the other all those great and humble figures who have
fought for the dignity of life and the human spirit. Walking, in short,
gave me a new sense of compassion for life.
I believe the greatest human needs today are for a
sense of safety/security, comfort, and peace — sanctuary within
our homes, our land and gardens, our communities, and our dignity.
We need to know we can find daily refuge amidst a troubled world.
To put it into practice is simple:
• Show respect, reverence, and compassion for
life without judgment.
• Live more simply so that the less fortunate
may simply live.
• Give a kind, loving, and caring thought, word,
or deed everyday for your family, a friend or stranger, an animal,
and nature.
• Identify a place in your home, yard, and community
that gives you solace and regenerates your spirit, and spend time
there.
• Create time everyday for reflection, prayer,
meditation, spiritual practice/study.
• Study and walk your grief/loss to discover
its good
Above all, do not ignore your grief. Fortunately,
my childhood trauma led to my life work as a wellness practitioner:
helping others create a sense of sanctuary in their daily lives. Invite
your human woundedness for a walk and find the good within it. You
might discover a deeper state of daily sanctuary for your soul: a
place in your heart to love and forgive, and a place in your mind
for peace.
Christopher Forrest McDowell, Ph.D. is a best-selling
author (The Sanctuary Garden), speaker and musician who co-stewards
Cortesia Sanctuary in Eugene's south hills, and is director of the Cortesia
Sanctuary Project. The public is invited to a free Good Grief Walk at
the gardens and woods of Cortesia Sanctuary, from 1-5 pm Sunday, Sept.
8. Details and pre-registration: www.cortesia.org
or call 343-9544.
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| REMEMBERING
KEN KESEY, MIXED MEDIA BY TOM GERALD. |
Painted
Meditations
Art
on Sept. 11.
By
Lois Wadsworth
For Tom Gerald, last Sept. 11 was more than a national
tragedy. The event set in motion a creative outpouring that claimed
all his attention for months. Personal loss combined with grief over
the attack demanded artistic expression. He left the UO Bookstore,
where he had worked for many years, to devote himself to painting.
The thematic work Gerald produced during this period can be seen in
a series of paintings, eleven, part of a mixed media exhibition
of his work at Provenance Sept. 6-30. The work incorporates found
objects into acrylic paintings on canvas or recycled plywood.
Gerald said he was inspired by Native American singer
and songwriter John Trudell's practice of "including something old
in his music to remind him of who he has been." So Gerald worked into
his art the objects he found on the streets and alleys around the
university area, such as bottle caps, a crushed beer can that had
been run over many times, pleated cardboard scraps. He used found
foil chewing gum wrappers to make the two gold/silver, narrow vertical
columns of Souls, the work on EW's cover this week.
Gerald said such objects are like a nexus, a connection or link between
the past and present.
"We have an opportunity to figure out who we are after
Sept. 11," Gerald said. "It's our obligation to do so." The ruptured,
misshapen beer can "looked like an open maw to me," he said, referring
to its gaping quality. He used the can in Nexus and painted
a highly energized shape emerging from its opening. It's a dream-like
evocation of the attack.
"I came out of my house that morning into a peerless
blue sky, like the sky was in New York, and I realized that nothing
could protect us anymore," Gerald said. He came home that night to
paint a Mark Rothko-inspired piece of two yellow ocher columns against
a blue background.
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| BLOOD
MOON , MIXED MEDIA BY TOM GERALD. |
Compare the relative simplicity of the first work
to the tumultuous emotions of a later painting, (and my favorite),
Fighting Out. Gerald said he had such a sense of loss as he
worked on this painting that it took him a full six weeks to paint
it. Strong vertical blue columns with a boiling surface are set against
a background of diverse shapes and colors, where thin blue brush strokes
contrast with multiple levels of paint. Small red shapes add to the
picture's complexity and pleasing composition.
Blood Moon, shown here, marks a returns to
simplicity where ghost-white columns stand in front of the ruined
hulks of a skyline, the moon as mute witness. And Remembering Ken
Kesey, seen here, is a joyous piece with two vertical columns
in a Jackson Pollock-inspired splatter of yellow, orange, blue and
green. Gerald incorporated a yellow Dixie cup from Kesey's funeral
into this colorful piece.
Gerald's painted meditations offer us the opportunity
to reflect on our personal and collective feelings about Sept. 11.
It's my hope that these personal images may enlighten us about the
pictures we all carry with us from television. The artist will be
present at the reception at Provenance's gallery downstairs from 5:30
to 9 pm Sept. 6.
A
Community Remembers
Eugeneans are remembering the events of Sept. 11,
2001 and the year following with numerous gatherings and events including
a "Week of Dissent," reflections on the conflict in Israel, and a
"Day of Community for Peace and Justice." Here are the details available
at press time:
Week of Dissent. The events begin with a community
picnic in memory of 9/11 at 6 pm Saturday, Sept. 7, in Maurie Jacobs
Park by the Valley River Bike Bridge. At 4 pm Sunday at Foolscap Books
(West 8th and Monroe) will be a discussion on "Raising Children in
a World of Terror." At 6 pm Monday is "Resistance in Our Lives" with
Eugene Playback Theatre at Monroe Park. Cascadia Media Collective
is planning a video showing and discussion at 7 pm Sunday at "My House"
on West 5th and Van Buren. The whole schedule and more details have
been posted at http://portland.indymedia.org
and are available on paper at Foolscap Books and New Frontier Market
(West 8th and Van Buren).
From Sept. 11 to the West Bank. Joe Gessert and Liv
Dillon witnessed the two planes that crashed into the World Trade
Center and coping with that event took them to Israel's West Bank
in March as members of an international group planning to plant trees
and rebuild demolished houses. They will speak of their experiences
at 7 pm Tuesday, Sept. 10, at the First United Methodist Church, 1376
Olive St. This event is co-sponsored by Eugene Middle East Peace Committee,
Eugene PeaceWorks, Oregon PeaceWorks, and Women's Action for New Directions.
The event is free, with optional donations asked.
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| PEOPLE
GATHERED IN DOWNTOWN EUGENE SEPT. 14 TO HONOR THE DEAD. |
Day of Community. A coalition of local organizations
is sponsoring a "Day of Community for Peace and Justice" beginning
at 6 am Sept. 11 and ending 24 hours later, at the Federal Building
Plaza in Eugene. The peace vigil is "dedicated to the memory of all
who perished on that day and in the war that followed, and in honor
of their grieving survivors still coping with their losses," say organizers.
The event includes a hospitality tent with refreshments, an informal
art exhibit and areas for anyone wishing to commemorate and express
responses to 9/11 through art, writing, fasting or other means. A
candlelight vigil will be held beginning at dusk Wednesday. The event
is free with optional donations for expenses accepted.
This event is sponsored by a coalition of individuals
and organizations including the Justice Not War Coalition, Eugene
PeaceWorks, Lane County Pacific Green Party, Oregon PeaceWorks, Faith
in Action Committee, and Voter March LLC in association with The Families
of September 11th, Global Exchange and the United for Peace Coalition.
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