Consequences of 9-11, Alternatives

OMNI 9-11 NEWSLETTER #2, September 9,  2011, COMPILED BY Dick Bennett for a Culture of Peace.  See Newsletters  Interdependence Day/9-11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows.   (#1 August 3, 2011)

SEE PEACEFUL TOMORROWS DAY NEWSLETTER (replacing Patriot Day)

Here is the link to all OMNI newsletters:   http://www.omnicenter.org/newsletter-archive/

Contents of #1

 Collapse Conspiracy?

CONSEQUENCES of Bombings:  Fear

Book by Engelhardt:   Foreign and Domestic McCarthyism

Film by Pena:   Unconstitutional Attacks on Civil Liberties

9-11 Commission: 2 Books

John Farmer

Philip Shenon

ALTERNATIVES to Retaliation, Invasion, and Occupation:

September 12:    Interdependence Day

Potorti’s Book:  September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows

International Police: Ali Soufan’s Book

Peace Rallies 2010 from NYC to Fayetteville, AR

9-11 1973: Chile

Contents of #2  THE PRICE OF 9-11

Engelhardt, Fear

Joseph Stiglitz, Negative Effects

Noam Chomsky, Imperial Mind

Greg Jaffe, US Endless War

Tariq Ali, US Vigilantism

NationOfChange, Hunting Down “Terrorists”

Making Contact, Persecuting Muslims and Arabs

PBS Frontline, “Top Secret America”

Marion Wang, Obama’s Renditions and Secrecy

Tom Hayden, US Blinded by 9-11: Casualties and Costs; bin Laden’s Strategy

Jackson, Rollback of Civil Liberties

Worthington,  Failure of Corporate Media

Richard Clarke, “The Lessons of 9-11”

The Nation, “9/11 at 10,” Six Essays

Alternative Values, A Different History:

September 11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows

Amy Goodman, Father Mychal

Sojourners: Building Peace

ACLU

9-11

--Engelhardt, Tom.  The United States of Fear.  Haymarket, 2011.   Advert.: “How the country—gripped by terror fantasies—was locked down, and how a brain-dead Washington elite profited while America quietly burned.”

Joseph E. Stiglitz,| “The Price of 9/11”

 Project Syndicate, 9-1-11, RSN

Joseph E. Stiglitz writes: "The September 11, 2001, terror attacks by Al Qaeda were meant to harm the United States, and they did, but in ways that Osama bin Laden probably never imagined. President George W. Bush's response to the attacks compromised America's basic principles, undermined its economy, and weakened its security."

READ MORE    http://readersupportednews.org/off-site-opinion-section/56-56/7320-the-price-of-911

Noam Chomsky, “9/11 and the Imperial Mentality”

Noam Chomsky, TomDispatch, Common Dreams, Sept. 6, 2011, RSN

Noam Chomsky writes: "The United States, first under George W. Bush and then Barack Obama, rushed right into bin Laden's trap ... Grotesquely overblown military outlays and debt addiction ... may be the most pernicious legacy of the man who thought he could defeat the United States - particularly when the debt is being cynically exploited by the far right, with the collusion of the Democrat establishment, to undermine what remains of social programs, public education, unions, and, in general, remaining barriers to corporate tyranny."

READ MORE   http://readersupportednews.org/off-site-opinion-section/423-national-security/7326-911-and-the-imperial-mentality

Greg Jaffe, “This Is the American Era of Endless War”

The Washington Post , Sept. 6, 2011 RSN

Greg Jaffe reports: "Today, radical religious ideologies, new technologies and cheap, powerful weapons have catapulted the world into 'a period of persistent conflict,' according to the Pentagon's last major assessment of global security. 'No one should harbor the illusion that the developed world can win this conflict in the near future,' the document concludes."

READ MORE   http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/306-10/7325-this-is-the-american-era-of-endless-war

Tariq Ali, “America's Selective Vigilantism”

Guardian UK, September 7, 2011, RSN

Tariq Ali writes: "A decade after the attentats of 9/11, the US and its European allies are trapped in a quagmire. The events of that year were simply used as a pretext to remake the world and to punish those states that did not comply. And today while the majority of Euro-American citizens flounder in a moral desert, now unhappy with the wars, now resigned, now propagandised into differentiating what is, in effect, an overarching imperial strategy."

READ MORE   http://www.readersupportednews.org/opinion2/287-124/7336-americas-selective-vigilantism

Special Report: 35K ‘Terrorists’ Convicted Worldwide After 9/11,” NationOfChange September 7, 2011

Special Report: “At least 35,000 people worldwide have been convicted as terrorists in the decade since the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. But while some bombed hotels or blew up buses, others were put behind bars for waving a political sign or blogging about a protest. In the first tally ever done of global anti-terror arrests and convictions, The Associated Press documented a surge in prosecutions under new or toughened anti-terror laws, often passed at the urging and with the funding of the West. Before 9/11, just a few hundred people were convicted of terrorism each year.” READ  |  DISCUSS  |  SHARE      http://www.nationofchange.org/35k-terrorists-convicted-worldwide-after-911-1315412479

Presumed Guilty: American Muslims and Arabs (9-11 Encore Edition)

Making Contact, Radio Program, Sept. 7, 2011:      American Arabs and Muslims are under the microscope, from Capitol Hill, to your local shopping mall. Some communities feel demonized and say they are living in fear of arrest. On this edition, we’ll hear stories about the past 10 years of America’s homeland war on Muslims and Arabs. We’ll also hear about racial profiling during previous war times. READ  |  DISCUSS  |  SHARE   http://www.nationofchange.org/presumed-guilty-american-muslims-and-arabs-9-11-encore-edition-1315416452

PBS FRONTLINE

Top Secret America September 06, 2011 A two-year examination into the massive, unwieldy, top-secret world the government has created in response to 9/11. Chapter 1: Code Name "Greystone"The plan for the secret war began at the CIA in the hours after the 9/11 attacks. (10:56) loading E-Mail This FRONTLINE > Iraq / War on Terror > Top Secret America FEATURED FROM THIS REPORT September 6, 2011, 4:54 pmDana Priest: Top Secret America Is “Here to Stay” September 6, 2011, 10:34 amInside the CIA’s “Kill List” September 1, 2011, 11:02 amTop CIA Official: Obama Changed Virtually None of Bush’s Controversial Programs Has the Balance Tipped? September 7, 2011, 3:30 pm ET · by Philip Bennett FRONTLINE Managing Editor Philip Bennett reflects on this week’s film. Live Chat with “Top Secret America” Reporter Dana Priest and Producer Michael Kirk September 6, 2011, 10:54 pm ET Read a full transcript of the conversation. John Rizzo: The Lawyer Who Approved CIA’s Most Controversial Programs September 6, 2011, 4:54 pm ET In this rare interview, John Rizzo, described as “the most influential career lawyer in CIA history” describes his role in many of the “unprecedented” actions the CIA undertook after 9/11, including the “enhanced interrogation program” that critics described as torture and the CIA’s secret prison system. Fran Townsend: “In a Post-9/11 World We Weren’t Going to Be So Prissy” September 6, 2011, 4:54 pm ET “We were going to do what we needed to do to get the information we needed to protect the American people,” says former homeland security adviser Fran Townsend. But now she questions what kind of return we’re getting on the investment we’ve made in homeland security over the last 10 years. Dig Deeper: FRONTINE’s Archive on Top Secret America September 6, 2011, 4:53 pm ET · by Sarah Moughty In the 10 years since 9/11, FRONTLINE has produced more than 45 hours of award-winning films documenting the attacks and … Continue reading → Reporting the Story September 6, 2011, 4:50 pm ET How do you investigate a world the government doesn’t want you to see? We spoke to Dana Priest back in January about her investigation. “It’s Just Too Big and It’s Just Too Secret” September 6, 2011, 2:42 pm ET · by Gretchen Gavett This from FRONTLINE producer Michael Kirk, who appeared on “The Takeaway” this morning with Washington Post reporter Dana Priest to … Continue reading → “The Force That Orders The Universe But Can’t Be Seen” September 2, 2011, 5:38 pm ET · by Sarah Moughty The Washington Post has an excerpt today from Dana Priest and William Arkin’s upcoming book Top Secret America: The Rise … Continue reading → Documents Reveal Secrets of CIA Rendition Program September 1, 2011, 4:00 pm ET · by Azmat Khan A billing dispute between contractors in an upstate New York courthouse has revealed documents detailing sensitive information about the CIA’s … Continue reading →

“Under Obama Administration, Renditions and Secrecy Continue”

Marian Wang, News Analysis, NationOfChange Sept. 7, 2011: “New documents in recent days have surfaced several new details about the shadowy practice of snatching terrorism suspects from one country and rendering them into the custody of another. As we noted last week, several documents on rendition emerged as part of an obscure court case in the state of New York. Others were discovered by Human Rights Watch in Libya. Of course, it's been known for years that the Bush administration practiced (and on several occasions, botched) rendition. What's less appreciated: While the Obama administration has tried to distance itself from the some of the harshest counterterrorism techniques, it has also said that at least some forms of renditions will continue.” READ  |  DISCUSS  |  SHARE   http://www.nationofchange.org/under-obama-administration-renditions-and-secrecy-around-them-continue-1315411956

9/11 Blind 

By Tom Hayden, Peace and Justice Resource Center,  Peace Exchange Bulletin, for The Sacramento News & Review  September 7, 2011

Has the specter of 9/11 somehow blinded America?

 We're 10 years past the twin towers attack and still fighting wars in its name. When will we open our eyes?

After witnessing the first jetliner crash into the twin towers on that September 11 morning, a friend of mine's wife and 7-year-old daughter fled to their nearby Manhattan loft and ran to the roof to look around. From there, they saw the second plane explode in a rolling ball of flaming fuel across the rooftops. It felt like the heat of a fiery furnace.

Not long after, the girl was struck with blindness. She rarely left her room. Her parents worked with therapists for months, trying various techniques including touch and visualization, before the young girl finally recovered her sight.

"The interesting new development," my friend reports, "is that she no longer remembers very much, which she told me when I asked her if she would be willing to speak with you."

That's what happened to America itself 10 years ago this Sunday on 9/11, though it might be charged that many of us were blinded by privilege and hubris long before.

Continue reading...    http://tomhayden.com/home/911-blind.html

Casualties and Costs, 2001-2011  

 

Total U.S. dead Afghanistan/Iraq: 6,227 (Sept. 8)

Total U.S. wounded Afghanistan/Iraq: 45,899 (Sept. 8)

Additional U.S. non-combat injuries and illness: 56,462 (Aug. 1)

Iraq dead and wounded: Hundreds of Thousands

Afghanistan dead and wounded: Tens of Thousands

Taxpayer direct cost, Afghanistan/Iraq: $1.246 trillion

Total long-term taxpayer costs: +$4-6 trillion (Stiglitz-Bilmes)

Total U.S. active-duty military suicides, 2001-11: 2,276 (DoD)

The Strategy of Osama bin Laden 

 

"...the struggle is both financial and physical... it is possible to strike the economic base that is the foundation of the military base, so when the economy is depleted they will be too busy with each other to be able to enslave poor peoples. So I say it is very important to focus on attacking the American economy by any means available...(Dec. 26, 2001)...We are continuing to make America bleed to the point of bankruptcy, by God's will. (Oct. 29, 2004) 

~Osama bin Laden, Messages to the World

FAIR, Extra!  September 2011

Whistling Past the Wreckage of Civil Liberties
Watchdogs slept through a decade of rollback
by Janine Jackson
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=4385

FAIR, Extra!   September 2011
The ‘Worst of the Worst’?
9/11, Guantánamo and the failures of U.S. corporate media
by Andy Worthington

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=4386

Richard A. Clarke, “The Lessons of 9/11”

The Daily Beast , Sept. 8, 2011, RSN

Richard A. Clarke writes: "We invaded a country, Iraq, that had nothing to do with the attack on us, but had everything to do with the preconceived plans of a cabal in and out of our government. In the process, we killed 100,000, wounded many times more, and threw millions out of their homes. More Americans suffered violent deaths in Iraq than did on 9/11, and multiples more were scarred for life. Americans, including our troops, were lied to about Iraq's role in 9/11 and some marched to their death motivated by those lies."

READ MORE   http://www.readersupportednews.org/off-site-opinion-section/56-56/7349-the-lessons-of-911

The Nation, “9/11 at 10,” Six Essays

Schell and Editors: Lessons of a Lost Decade

Shipler: Our Vanished Civil Liberties

Cole: Torture and Accountability

Kundnani: Who Represents American Muslims?

Dorman: Another September 11

McCarthy: the Quest for Peace Studies

FORGIVENESS AND RECONCILIATION, NOT REVENGE AND RETALIATION

SEPTEMBER 11^TH FAMILIES FOR PEACEFUL TOMORROWS

Peaceful Tomorrows Reflects on 10th Anniversary of AttacksThe members of September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows are grateful for the expressions of remembrance and concern being offered on the 10th anniversary of the events which took the lives of our loved ones. On this day we ask those who feel compassion for our loss to expand their compassion to include others who continue to experience loss ten years later...Read More »

Humility, Compassion and Wisdom on September 11thWith the approach of every anniversary of September 11th, those of us who lost family members benefit from expressions of remembrance and concern from those affected less directly... On some level, there is no moving on. There is no closure. There is only the reality that our lives changed on that day and the acceptance that they will be forever different...Read More »

www.911stories.org Read More »

Amy Goodman, “9/11 Victim 0001: Father Mychal’s Message”

NationOfChange Sept. 7, 2011.    Amy Goodman, Op-Ed: “The body bag marked ‘Victim 0001’ on Sept. 11, 2001, contained the corpse of Father Mychal Judge, a Catholic chaplain with the Fire Department of New York. When he heard about the disaster at the World Trade Center, he donned his Catholic collar and firefighter garb and raced downtown. He saw people jump to their deaths to avoid the inferno more than 1,000 feet above. At 9:59 a.m., the South Tower collapsed, and the force and debris from that mass of steel, concrete, glass and humanity as it hit the ground is likely what killed Father Mychal. His was the first recorded death from the attacks that morning. His life’s work should be central to the 10th anniversary commemorations of the Sept. 11 attacks: peace, tolerance and reconciliation.” READ  |  DISCUSS  |  SHARE   http://www.nationofchange.org/911-victim-0001-father-mychals-message-1315409472

9/11 - Ten Years Later

|Sojourners SojoMail@sojo.net to jbennet

Dear Dick,

This Sunday marks the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. We will all take time to remember the day and the lives we lost, but 10 years later, we must go deeper.

There were two paths forward from the ashes and rubble of 9/11: One path led to war, torture, and fear, but another path -- led by people of faith across our land -- was marked by soul-searching, genuine mourning for the lost, and standing up for peace-building and caring for our neighbors.

Although our government and too many of its citizens, regrettably, have chosen the first path, Sojourners invites you to celebrate the alternative journey -- to stand shoulder to shoulder with our brothers and sisters of all faiths, and no faith, who are helping to build a nation that reflects our best values.

On the 10th anniversary of 9/11, affirm your commitment to peace-building and reconciliation by signing this commemoration pledge: “As a Christian and an American, on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks

I commit myself to work for building peace in my community and the world,

and to love my neighbors by standing against hate and fear.”

Sojourners will bring copies of the pledge and its signatures to two important events that will bring together religious leaders from around the world this week:

a New York City press conference with the World Evangelical Alliance on Friday, September 9 

a Washington, D.C. commemoration of 9/11 by the interfaith Shoulder to Shoulder Coalition, which exists to combat anti-Muslim bigotry in the United States.

Sharing your voice, along with the voices of Christians across the country, at these events will be a powerful symbol of solidarity and support.

To thank you for joining with us, Sojourners will send you a free collection of our top articles and blogs on 9/11 and Christian-Muslim relationships.

 In peace,

Elizabeth, Duane, Lisa, Tim, and the rest of the Sojourners team

ACLU: RESTORING AND PROTECTING US CONSTITUTION

Dear Dick,

In the days ahead, we will all be reflecting on the decade that has passed since the attacks of September 11, 2001. Foremost in our minds, of course, are the people who died and were injured on that horrendous day. At ACLU headquarters here in New York, just blocks from Ground Zero, they are never far from our thoughts.

Ten years ago, people across the country came together and a newfound sense of patriotism emerged. But, in the days that followed, too many of our leaders took advantage of that sense of patriotism to push through policies that directly defied American values, broke our laws, and undermined our Constitution.

Not a day has gone by over the last 10 years when the ACLU has not insisted that America can — indeed, must — be both safe and free. While others said that we had to sacrifice civil liberties in the name of security, you and the ACLU led the fight against a myriad of "war on terror" abuses, from torture and indefinite detention, to warrantless eavesdropping, extraordinary rendition, and racial profiling.

Join us in commemorating this solemn anniversary by recommitting to stand up for freedom and by also sharing your thoughts about the importance of defending the Constitution in times of crisis.

In America, protecting our fundamental freedoms is every individual’s task. I want to thank you for standing with the ACLU as hundreds of thousands of people across America reconfirm their commitment to an America we can believe in.

Thank you for all your support and for coming together in this critical moment.

Sincerely,

Anthony D. Romero

Executive Director, ACLU

© ACLU,

125 Broad Street

, 18th Floor, New York, NY 1

END OF 9-11 NEWSLETTER #2