9/11: The Ultimate WMD

9/11: The Ultimate WMD

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0604/S00019.htm

“The worst forms of tyranny, or certainly the most successful ones, are not those we rail against but those that so insinuate themselves into the imagery of our consciousness, and the fabric of our lives, as not to be perceived as tyranny.”
– Michael Parenti

“The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.”
- Steve Biko

By W. David Jenkins III

I shamelessly admit it; I simply cannot “get over” 9/11 and move on. Every time that the images of that day begin to fade in my mind, something happens or someone says something that brings it all back again. The most recent examples for me were a CNN on line poll and two articles which appeared in New York magazine and SFGate.com and once again, I am reminded that I’m not the only one out here that feels duped by the official version of events.

The poll I mentioned asked if people agreed that there was a government cover-up regarding the events of 9/11. Out of almost fifty four thousand participants, eighty three percent said “yes.”

Now I realize that on line polls can be less than accurate or “cyber bombed” by web users from opposing views, but a Zogby poll from October 2004 showed that half of the people in NYC and almost half (41%) of all New Yorkers felt that some federal officials ''knew in advance that attacks were planned on or around September 11, 2001, and that they consciously failed to act.''

Then there was New York magazine’s Mark Jacobson’s article The Ground Zero Grassy Knoll and SF Gate’s Mark Morford’s Long Live the 9/11 Conspiracy which brought up the subject of those of us who just don’t buy the “official version” of 9/11. Both of these pieces not only point to the various “conspiracy theories” we’ve all heard, but they also make the argument that there are many, many Americans who justly believed from the beginning that the 9/11 Commission didn’t tell the whole story.

We desperately need to find a way back to 9/11 and open the whole thing back up again. We need to stop being so afraid of asking some questions which should have been asked years ago. We need to remember that when it comes to the events of that day, the only “conspiracy theorists” who are engaging any form of disrespect to the victims of that day are those who desperately cling to the official story. We need to reopen not only the dialogue, but a real investigation into that fateful day. Only by achieving a loud voice demanding answers from a wide range of culprits will we deny the use of 9/11 as a weapon, conveniently welded against the people of this country and the rest of the world.

We have heard the old excuse ad nauseum for over four years now. Anytime a misguided patri-idiot (including various leaders in D.C.) fears that they may be losing an argument regarding Iraq, domestic spying or the flat tire they had that morning, they run willy-nilly to that good old stand by; “We’re at war!” And just to make sure they aren’t questioned any further, they will proceed to add into their argument that those poor victims in the World Trade Center probably wished that we had (insert constitutional violation here) many years ago. End of discussion!

That’s 9/11 as a weapon – and a very effective weapon which is designed to not only end any discussion or dissent, but also to instill a sense of shame into anyone who would dare question those in authority. Subsequently, these same 9/11 gunslingers have been able to break any law they see fit in their depraved quest for imperial power and 9/11 has become the cornerstone of their whole foundation.

But the strength of that foundation is strictly dependent upon the American peoples’ fear of divorcing themselves from that horrible imagery long enough to realize that they have not only been deceived, but that that deception has caused them to embrace those who violate them. Like children who are molested by their own parents, many Americans just cannot bring themselves to believe that those figures who are supposed to nurture and protect them would ever do them harm.

As an example of this mindset, I need only to point to my own father. I introduced him to two of David Ray Griffin’s works, A New Pearl Harbor and The 9/11 Commission Report; Lies and Omissions this last summer.

Now, I need to point out that both of my parents were among those who thought there was little difference between Gore and Bush back in 2000. But after traveling across the country over the last few years, they’ve related to me the things people have been saying about the administration and they’ve wanted to know what else is going on. What else hasn’t the media told them? So, I figured my father was ready for Griffin’s books.

For those of you who haven’t read Griffin’s work, his approach to the events of 9/11 isn’t a “this is what happened” argument but more of an in-depth analysis of the official story and why it just doesn’t add up. After he had finished both books, I could see my father had been unnerved by what he had read and he summed up perfectly the collective mindset of the rest of the country.

“I just can’t believe my government would do such a thing!”

I told him that it wasn’t “his government,” it was these people (PNAC group) who would do such a thing. There are folks who think that these people either made it happen or let it happen and it’s difficult to prove either theory. However, what is easy to prove is that this country did not get the whole story, let alone an accurate story, of what really happened that day. Griffin’s work along with numerous web sites, most notably Paul Thompson’s remarkable 9/11 Timeline, provide a more carefully researched and thorough picture of that day in our history than the official 9/11 Commission dared to even contemplate. But people need to not only want to look at that picture but they also must not be afraid to believe what they will see.

When one steps back and looks at the make up and conduct of the 9/11 Commission, one quickly realizes that it was little more than a White House led undertaking to do nothing more than “prove” the official version. Few people realize that the decisions regarding what would be the focus of the commission were made by Philip Zelikow, a member of Bush’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board.

Under the leadership of Zelikow, the 9/11 Commission either omitted or refused to hear testimony from first responders who were at the WTC, intelligence officials like Sibel Edmonds who testified that the “war on terror” was corrupt in its execution or any other testimony or blatantly obvious facts which contradicted the official version.

Go ahead and ask people, even those who think Bush is hiding something about 9/11, and witness how little is actually known about the events of that day or the farcical “investigation” that resulted after years of delays, under funding and barefaced stone-walling committed by the Bush administration. Go ahead and point out the obvious contradictions in the official version to some people and see how long it takes you to either be labeled a “conspiracy theorist” or even worse, be told “don’t go there.”

But if we are to have any chance at stopping this Bush driven American freefall recklessly descending into something America was never meant to become, then we must go there – and we must go there over and over with loud voices until we can drown out the rhetoric and the fear mongering.

There have been some recent developments and additional articles that point back to 9/11 and the real need to reopen that wound in order to allow it to finally heal. Robert Steinback of the Miami Herald recently did a piece titled Avoiding the Hard Questions which moved me to examine further many of the points he makes regarding people’s fear of not wanting to look too closely at 9/11. There is also a relatively new group called Scholars for 9/11 Truth who has begun to make waves on the Internet regarding the inconsistencies of the official version of events and I highly recommend folks check these out if you haven’t already.

There is something folks need to remember and I think this is very important. There is a huge difference between being a “conspiracy theorist” and having reasonable doubts. Anyone who has taken the time to explore the government’s case relating to 9/11 knows that it would fall apart in a court of law much as it seems to be falling apart in the court of public opinion.

You have to wonder if some people are more fearful of learning the truth than they are of the “terrorists.” What if it became known that we really don’t need more security in our ports or airports? What if it became known that illegal wire taps or the invasion of countries was not necessary in order to keep the country safe? What if the answer to preventing another 9/11 was simply insuring that certain people never achieved the highest positions of power in our government?

9/11 needs to be given a decent burial instead of being used as the basis for the policies of the most corrupt administration in American history. The victims who perished that day and their families deserve more than respect and prayers – they deserve justice. And until 9/11’s use as a weapon is ended, those victims and their families will be denied those very things.

And so will the rest of us.