Wednesday, August 18, 2004

The 9/11 Commission Report Is a Masterpiece of Obfuscation

By Rosemarie Jackowski

image The 9/11 Commission Report has raised the art of obfuscation to new heights. Its name should be changed to The Red Herring Report, or The Ostrich Report. The 9/11 Commission members should be retired and replaced with people who would do something to end the violence.

Author-historian William Blum states in his book Rogue State that he could end terrorism. He writes, “... If I were the president, I could stop terrorist attacks against the United States in a few days. Permanently. I would first apologize—very publicly and very sincerely—to all the widows and orphans, the impoverished and the tortured, and all the many millions of other victims of American imperialism. Then I would announce to every corner of the world that America’s global military interventions have come to an end. I would then inform Israel that it is no longer the 51st state of the union but—oddly enough—a foreign country. Then I would reduce the military budget by at least 90% and use the savings to pay reparations to the victims and repair the damage from the many American bombings, invasions and sanctions. There would be more than enough money. One year’s military budget in the United States is equal to more than $20,000 per hour for every hour since Jesus Christ was born...”

I confess. I have not read all 567 pages of the 9/11 Commission Report. I have watched the Congressional Hearings on C-Span. Kristen Breitweiser, in her testimony before the Congressional Committee said, “...The jigs up...” (C-Span2, Aug. 17, 2004, 10:45 a.m.). It would have been a move in the right direction if she had been referring to U.S. actions around the world, but the context of her statement showed that she believes that the tragedy of 9/11 was a failure of Intelligence. The testimony of other family members of victims, Stephen Push and Mary Fetchet, indicated a greater willingness to recognize that 9/11 was a failure of Diplomacy. In Mary Fetchet’s testimony, she stated, “...Foreign policy is the core of the threat of terrorism...”

The most compassionate act, that any of us can do in support of the 9/11 families, is to inform others about the government’s international policies that led to 9/11. I have not seen any member of Congress or any member of the commission mention the part that U.S. foreign policy played in the tragedy. Ignoring the role that U.S. foreign policy played in causing the tragedy of 9/11, is like ignoring the elephant in the middle of the room.

Authors have been predicting a 9/11 type of attack for many years. Chalmers Johnson wrote his book, Blowback, before the attack happened. The CIA has been using the term “blowback” for decades because they knew that there would be a violent reaction to U.S. foreign policy. It was common knowledge. In view of this, how can it be that not one of our elected officials in Washington could foresee the event?

There are two possibilities...first; none of our representatives was smart enough to think in terms of cause and effect. That is hard to believe. There is a better explanation. Some of them DID know. They did not know the time and place of the attack, but they had to know that an attack would be the inevitable result of U.S. foreign policy. If they didn’t know before 9/11, they surely have to know now.

Still, even today, there is no one in Washington suggesting that the time has come for a major change in U.S. foreign policy. One can only conclude that the U.S. government has made the conscious decision, that the loss of thousands of lives in the U.S., and millions of lives in other countries, is an acceptable part of the cost of doing the business of the Empire.

Rosemarie Jackowski is a free-lance advocacy journalist, living in Bennington, Vermont. She was arrested on March 20, 2003 in a peaceful protest against the U.S. invasion of Iraq. She is currently awaiting trial with the possibility of a prison sentence. She can be reached at dissent@sover.net.

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