War Is The First Casualty Of truth

War is the First Casualty of Truth
All war is founded on the lie: "The Other is not like us." The truth is that we all share the same dreams, the same hopes and fears. If we know the truth, we cannot kill. That is why war will be the first casualty of truth.

http://mujca.com/chicagostory.htm

By Kevin Barrett, http://mujca.com
6/9/2006

(inspired by Eduardo Galeano)
Bravo 911truth.org!

As a representative of "the other group" behind the recent 9/11 truth conference in Chicago, I can sum up the weekend's events in two words: Bravo 911truth.org!

The conference 9/11: Revealing the Truth, Reclaiming Our Future was co-sponsored by my organization, the Muslim-Jewish-Christian Alliance for 9/11 Truth (http://mujca.com), and received considerable support from many other groups. This stunningly successful event, whose attendance more than doubled expectations, was a masterpiece of collaboration and cooperation.

But as the glitter of that amazing weekend in Oz fades, and we find ourselves back in whatever sleepy but slowly awakening corner of Kansas we happen to live in, we all can take heart in a little-noticed but important development: 911truth.org has proved itself the effective umbrella organization of the 9/11 truth movement.

Yes, I know there are still a few folks who prefer to remain out in the rain. And yes, I admit that many people already considered 911truth.org the leading activist umbrella group years ago. But the June 2006 Chicago conference marks a quantum leap to a new level of unity, optimism and enthusiasm in our movement-and the good people affiliated with 911truth.org, thanks to Herculean go-to organizer Janice Matthews, and savvy, indefatigable visionary Gabriel Day, among others, deserve a good share of the credit.

The success of the Chicago conference answered three questions about 911truth.org: Are they competent enough to pull off logistically daunting feats? Are they audacious enough to follow the evidence all the way to full MIHOP (made it happen on purpose), the complete-inside-job thesis? Are their diplomatic skills delicate enough to bring together the many chaotic, all-too-often-quarreling factions of the 9/11 truth movement and create a coalition that could actually win?

While the final 9/11 truth victory still awaits us, I think it is safe to say that these questions have been answered. Despite a few technical glitches, the Chicago conference was, overall, an organizational masterpiece. The Embassy Suites Hotel provided the perfect physical forum for a sixty-hour 9/11 truth marathon. The march in downtown Chicago on Friday generated excitement, and drew a positive response from about half the passersby, with very few overtly negative responses. The more than fifty events, led by an even larger number of presenters, were by all accounts high-quality and successfully choreographed. That a tiny handful of activists could pull this off on a minuscule budget is a minor miracle.

The Chicago conference also proved, once and for all, that 911truth.org is willing to follow the truth wherever it leads, and that the 9/11 truth movement's consensus is that it leads to MIHOP (see the Tarpley statement following this article, adapted by acclamation at the Chicago conference).

Top US officials did not simply "let it happen on purpose" - they did it. Like MUJCA-NET, 911truth.org has always taken a "big tent" approach and remained open to all sincere truth seekers. Perhaps more than MUJCA-NET, 911truth.org has traditionally been wary of getting too far out ahead of its main audience, the not-yet-converted. But now, with almost half the US population believing the official version of 9/11 is a coverup, and with the preponderance of the evidence, and most of the 9/11 truth community, supporting MIHOP, 911truth.org is right where it should be: in the middle of our movement, speaking truth to power audaciously yet effectively.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, 911truth.org has shown itself capable of pulling together a fractious, wildly diverse bunch of truth-seekers and truth-speakers. 9/11 truth supporters hail from all points of the geographical and ideological compass. From revolutionary socialists to libertarian Republicans, from pious Muslims, Jews, Christians, Buddhists, and Hindus to avowed atheists, from rabidly patriotic military veterans to pacifist hippies, from the hinterlands of rural America to the capitals of Europe, Africa and Asia, this is a movement that includes just about every kind of person under the sun. Harnessing all that chaotic energy, and turning all these seemingly incompatible people towards a common goal, would strike many as an impossible dream. But in Chicago, the impossible dream began to look like reality.

As a Muslim co-founder of the Muslim-Jewish-Christian Alliance for 9/11Truth, I know something about trying to bring seemingly incompatible people together in pursuit of an audaciously utopian vision. I have worked with the religiously agnostic Morgan Reynolds, who is as outspoken a MIHOP believer as anyone could hope to find, as well as the devout Jew and 9/11 agnostic Rabbi Michael Lerner, who politically leans as hard to the social-democratic left as Reynolds leans to the libertarian right. From moderately pro-Zionist Jews like Rabbi Lerner to Zio-skeptic Muslims like Enver Masud (and myself, truth be told) my MUJCA work has forced me to embrace people of seemingly incompatible backgrounds and worldviews.

Even more, it has led me to respect those who can unite a group of extremely diverse people-because I now know how hard that can be. 911truth.org, more than any other activist organization in our movement, has shown it can do that.

It is time to scrap the petty squabbling, check our egos at the door, and get to work on strategies that can carry us to victory. It is time for sensible people of goodwill, especially those of demonstrable competence and integrity, to join forces synergistically and use the Chicago miracle as a springboard to take this movement to a whole new level. Having been blessed with the amazing opportunity to help 911truth.org and its many allies put together the Chicago event, I call on others to consider assisting with future efforts. If we can pull this off with a few relatively inexperienced people operating on a shoestring budget, imagine what a larger, adequately-funded team with experience under its belt could accomplish. If you have skills, energy or funds to contribute, please help us make each succeeding event another quantum leap for 9/11 truth.