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9-11 NEWSLETTER, SEPTEMBER 11 FAMILIES FOR PEACEFUL TOMORROWS DAY #5,

September 9, 2012 (replacing Patriot Day). COMPILED BY Dick Bennett for a Culture of Peace.

See Interdependence Day Newsletter.

PEACEFUL TOMorrows Day is part of OMNI’s National Days Project.

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

Contents of #4 2011

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 for #5 2012

Peaceful Tomorrows 9-11-2012 Statement

Peaceful Tomorrows Actions

Nonviolence National Dialog

Dick,Consequences of War on Terror

Chomsky, The Alternatives

Democratic Senators vs. Patriot Act

Susan Herman, Taking Liberties

Nader, US Empire Devouring Itself

9/11 the Whole Story

Turkeys Not Eagles for Patriot Bird

PT Statement on 9-11-2012

Posted by Office on September 11, 2012

A reporter called and asked to interview members to see if we mind that this year’s commemoration will not get the same attention as last year’s. Here is our response:

We greatly appreciate the tremendous support over the years to our families. Our actual concern is not that such support will wane, but that there does not seem to be adequate attention to those who are continuing to be harmed as a repercussion of both the 9/11 attacks and of responses to the attacks. Recent tragic hate crimes in Wisconsin, Missouri, and Colorado reflect irrational cycles of violence and division, which dishonor our loved ones’ memories. More U.S. soldiers have died than our loved ones on 9/11 while hundreds of thousands of Iraqi and Afghani civilians perish due to the wars. The trials of Guantanamo detainees will begin again in a few weeks, yet despite having languished for over a decade without a guilty verdict and some subject to torture, there is little coverage to ensure the trials proceed protecting not only Americans but most importantly our system of justice. And the world is poised for more violence – still believing that it could possibly solve problems that will only be solved through unity and actions as a common humanity.

Yet there is also hope. A growing movement of those who simply see that forging bonds among one another is possible. We hope that this year’s commemoration will see such connections grow one by one, people joining the world over to attain peaceful tomorrows.

SEPTEMBER 11 FAMILIES FOR PEACEFUL TOMORROWS ACTIONS

Peaceful Tomorrows Statement on Activities of the Military Commission at Guantanamo

May 5, 2012 The United States owes the victims of September 11th and indeed the entire world a legal response to the outrageous criminal acts of 9/11 that is unassailable… Read more »

Peaceful Tomorrows Joins Call for Accountability for Torture

PT Endorses Appeal to Spanish Public Encouraging Support For Spanish Courts in Prosecuting U.S. Officials who Authorized Torture

9/11 Mother Demands Obama Try Terrorist Plotters In Civilian Court

March 31st, 2010 From the Huffington Post: In anticipation of a final announcement as to the trial venue for the 9/11 plotters, September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows is warning… Read more »

Letter to President Obama Urging Trials in Civilian Courts for 9/11 Defendants

February 18th, 2010 On February 18, September 11th Families For Peaceful Tomorrows sent a letter to President Obama urging him to try the 9/11 defendants in civilian courts. The full… Read more »

On Abandoning NYC as the Venue for the Trial of KSM and the Four Other 9/11 Defendants

February 2nd, 2010 Statement from September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows On June 16th, 2009, members of September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows went to the Department of Justice and… Read more »

Rights Groups Mark Beginning of a Decade of Wrongful Detentions at Guantánamo and Demand Obama Close Island Prison with Justice

January 11th, 2011 January 11, 2011, Washington, DC — As the prison at Guantánamo enters its 10th year, Amnesty International USA, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Witness Against Torture, September… Read more »

Coalition of groups rallies outside White House for closure of Guantanamo Bay

By Peter Finn Washington Post Staff Writer http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/11/AR2011011104335.html A group of 173 human rights activists, each wearing an orange jumpsuit and a black hood and representing the remaining 173 prisoners… Read more »

Open Letter to A.G. Holder on 9/11 Trials

November 11th, 2010 Attorney General Holder: We, family members of those who died in the attacks of 9/11, entreat you to try Khalid Sheik Mohammed and his Guantanamo cohorts in… Read more »

Where to Try a Terrorist Suspect

April 17th, 2010 On Sept. 11, 2001, Terry Greene’s older brother Donald was on United Flight 93 that crashed into a Pennsylvania pasture after terrorists hijacked the cockpit. Terry Rockefeller’s… Read more »

Statement on the 8th Anniversary of the Establishment of Guantanamo Bay

January 11th, 2010 Eight years ago today, as many of us were still memorializing and putting to rest our family members lost on 9/11, our government was adding another wound… Read more »

Building the Nonviolent Community: A National Dialogue

a free teleconference dialogue * advanced registration required

September 11, 2012 8:00 - 9:30pm ET / 5:00 - 6:30pm PT

Please join the Metta Center for Nonviolence, the National Peace Academy, September 11th Families for a Peaceful Tomorrows, and individuals from around the globe for an inspiring evening of connection, conversation and relationship building as we engage with the paradigm shift "from aloneness to all-oneness" through the power of nonviolence. We will hear stories from participants of how the new paradigm thinking deepens the commitment to peace building, and work together to build strategy to take all of the various good projects in the "movement toward peace" to the next level.

The interactive discussion will invite everyone to contribute. The dialogue will be structured to move from the largest frame - what is the "New Story" - to best practices for public participation, low-risk options for people to find solutions to some of the tough challenges facing us ("constructive program" work) and not-so-low-risk options ("Satyagraha"). Please bring your voice, your ideas, your passion, idealism and enthusiasm to what will be a very satisfying virtual gathering.

We invite you to review the following documents from the co-hosting organizations before the teleconference:

Pamphlet: Hope or Terror: Gandhi and the Other 9/11 (introduces basics of nonviolence)

Brochure: Roadmap, the pledge of nonviolence, and the new story

Webinar: Roadmap (on Metta Center homepage)

National Peace Academy Program Framework (exploring 5 interdependent spheres of peace and "right relationships")

September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows: Missions and Goals

Registration

Click here for more information and to register today. http://nationalpeaceacademy.us/911dialogue/

Dick’s LTE

9-11 No Time for Tin Drums and Patriotic Torpedoes: The Consequences of the War on Terror Here and Abroad

Frida Ghitis’ column, “Our Strength of Ideas” (ADG 4-26-12, she writes for the Miami Herald) argues that US influence will be felt in its living standards and military might, but most by its ideas, “the force of its ideals.” If only this were true. She writes: “The ideologies of freedom of the press, freedom of thought, freedom of religion, rule of law, entrepreneurial spirit and creativity, are the most magnetic on earth, with all others far behind.” But the question is not the magnetism of this cluster of First Amendment freedom ideals (constrained by rule of law?), at least to millions of people of European origin: She claims US preeminence in projecting the ideals today, and that, sadly, is not true.

. The attack on NYC’s Twin Towers should be a time for reflection, of asking questions instead of repeating reassurances. So let us divide her claim into two parts: domestic and foreign. Since 9-11, have our Constitutional freedoms increased, or even remained the same? Rather, was not the so-called “Patriot Act” :thoughtless, panic-inspired, and security-obsessed, and did it not send torpedoes into all of the Bill of Rights (except the 2^nd Amendment)? These are questions Ghitis doesn’t ask; she seems unable to inquire about reality past and present In contrast, Susan Herman in her book Taking Liberties recounts case after case of unconstitutional repression resulting from the excesses of the “Patriot Act.”

And abroad, are people freer as the result of US invasions, bombings, killings, armed searches, destruction of water and sewage systems, and prolonged occupation? Do the people of Iraq and Afghanistan and Pakistan welcome us? Is not the US not only the most powerful but the most destructive War Lord? What do their daily retaliations tell us? For example, in book after book, Chalmers Johnson reports the “blowback” from our imperial violence Instead of international law, diplomacy, and aid for their needs, the US has turned to the horrendous violence of which only our military force is capable (Falluja!). And in response the people have fought back through guerrilla warfare. But Ghitis does not think of these questions, does not think of questioning.

Perhaps it is not because she is lazy but because she is like former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who defended the use of cruise missiles and embargo against the people of Iraq with these words: “If we have to use force, it is because we are America. We are the indispensable nation. We see farther into the future.” 424 words.

Review of Chomsky’s 9/11: Was There an Alternative?

By Christopher Bartlo, October 7, 2011

9/11 “The book you are holding was conceived, produced, and published as an act of protest.” This is the first line of the editor’s introduction to Noam Chomsky’s revised book about the causes and effects of the September 11 attacks. Originally titled simply 9-11, the book was published in November 2001. The 2011 edition features a new introduction -- “Was There an Alternative?” -- in which Chomsky comments on the assassination of Osama bin Laden and other developments since the book was first published.

Chomsky’s initial comments 10 years ago provide a sobering perspective today, warning about events that have since unfolded. Chomsky argues that the U.S. government has done exactly what Osama bin Laden wanted it to do: Dig into a series of expensive and bloody wars in Muslim countries, draining the American economy and causing many civilian casualties. As a result, “the security situation in Afghanistan has worsened to its lowest point since the toppling of the Taliban a decade ago and attacks on aid workers are at unprecedented levels.” The people of Afghanistan, teetering on the edge of starvation in September 2001, were deprived of much of the food and medical assistance from international aid that was keeping them alive because Coalition airstrikes destroyed infrastructure and made travel unsafe for aid trucks.

Chomsky laments that the U.S. government largely dismissed these human rights problems in its quest to “secure our interests.” The invasion of Afghanistan was far from the first time NATO overran unstable civilian populations in the search for terrorists (Chomsky offers several examples in the book) and, as we now know, it was not the last.

9-11 is a crash course in America’s terrorism against inconvenient regimes, and a primer in the ways that those in power have misled the American public by suggesting that September 11 happened in a vacuum. Readers interested in foreign policy and terrorism would find it very interesting, although they might be slightly frustrated by the way the book is organized into dialogues. Many of the questions that interviewers asked Chomsky in this book were very common at that time, but the type of answers that Chomsky gave were very rare in the mainstream Western media. For that reason, some of the topics (such as bombing “soft targets” in Nicaragua) are explained several times. This could be seen as a weakness in organization, but it helps to explain how the various topics are connected. This format also made it possible to publish the book only two months after the attacks, when the public needed a voice of reason.

Chomsky was one of the few people in the United States at that time to publicly talk about how deeply the CIA was involved in arming and training the mujahideen in Afghanistan during the 1980s. He explains the hypocrisy of the U.S. government’s definition of terrorism –the use of violence for political or psychological goals rather than monetary gain – in light of the fact that U.S. government agencies have been using exactly those methods for decades, directly and indirectly. When the U.S. government uses these tactics, they are not called terrorism but, rather, “low-intensity warfare.” For example, the United States recently risked a major international conflict with a nuclear-armed nation, Pakistan, by assassinating an influential figure in one of its major cities. That man, of course, was Osama bin Laden. The United States even had the poor judgment to name this adventure “Operation Geronimo.” As Chomsky says, “The imperial mentality is so profound, throughout western society, that no one can perceive that they are glorifying bin Laden by identifying him with courageous resistance against genocidal invaders.”

Democratic Senators Issue Strong Warning About Use of the Patriot Act Charlie Savage, The New York Times, March 17, 2012 , RSN

Charlie Savage reports: "For more than two years, a handful of Democrats on the Senate intelligence committee have warned that the government is secretly interpreting its surveillance powers under the Patriot Act in a way that would be alarming if the public - or even others in Congress - knew about it."

Justice Dept. Accused of Misleading Public on the Patriot Act

Charlie Savage, The New York Times , Sept. 22, 2011, RSN

Intro: "Two United States senators on Wednesday accused the Justice Department of making misleading statements about the legal justification of secret domestic surveillance activities that the government is apparently carrying out under the Patriot Act."

Taking Liberties: The War on Terror and the Erosion of American Democracy by Susan N. Herman, 2011

In this eye-opening work, the president of the ACLU takes a hard look at the human and social costs of the War on Terror. A decade after 9/11, it is far from clear that the government's hastily adopted antiterrorist tactics--such as the Patriot Act--are keeping us safe, but it is increasingly clear that these emergency measures in fact have the potential to ravage our lives--and have already done just that to countless Americans.

From the Oregon lawyer falsely suspected of involvement with terrorism in Spain to the former University of Idaho football player arrested on the pretext that he was needed as a "material witness" (though he was never called to testify), this book is filled with unsettling stories of ordinary people caught in the government's dragnet. These are not just isolated mistakes in an otherwise sound program, but demonstrations of what can happen when our constitutional protections against government abuse are abandoned. Whether it's running a chat room, contributing to a charity, or even urging a terrorist group to forego its violent tactics, activities that should be protected by the First Amendment can now lead to prosecution. Blacklists and watchlists keep people grounded at airports and strand American citizens abroad, although these lists are rife with errors--errors that cannot be challenged. National Security Letters allow the FBI to demand records about innocent people from libraries, financial institutions, and internet service providers without ever going to court. Government databanks now brim with information about every aspect of our private lives, while efforts to mount legal challenges to these measures have been stymied.

Barack Obama, like George W. Bush, relies on secrecy and exaggerated claims of presidential prerogative to keep the courts and Congress from fully examining whether these laws and policies are constitutional, effective, or even counterproductive. Democracy itself is undermined. This book is a wake-up call for all Americans, who remain largely unaware of the post-9/11 surveillance regime's insidious and continuing growth.

Features

Powerful account of how civil liberties have rapidly eroded in post-9/11 America

Authored by the President of the ACLU, the book features numerous stories of ordinary people caught in the government's surveillance dragnet

Explains that the state of emergency has continued into the Obama administration, and shows why we must remain vigilant if we are to hold on to our age-old freedoms

Reviews

"Taking Liberties offers a compelling case that the basic constitutional protections most Americans take for granted, including the rights to free speech, a fair trial and due process, as well as freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures, were seriously compromised after 9/11 as a result of the government's well-meaning but ill-conceived efforts to safeguard the country against another attack. . . [P]ersuasively fair and reasonable . . . A valuable contribution to the growing body of literature regarding the War on Terror's impact on our constitutional rights." --Kirkus Reviews

"This smart and passionate book shows how we as Americans - and not our faceless enemies - have the most to lose from the erosion of our civil liberties since 9/11. By showing what has happened to real people, Susan Herman offers the wake-up call we need to regain our perspective and reclaim our values." - Linda Greenhouse

"Taking Liberties is an engrossing read full of heartbreaking stories about how the War on Terror more than made up in zeal what it utterly lacked in logic. In the immediate aftermath, the errors documented here were understandable; ten years out, they are unforgivable. Anyone who cares about civil liberties, believes the War on Terror is making us safer, or even believes the War on Terror is about the War on Terror should read this book." -Barry Friedman, author of The Will of the People

"'If you don't do anything wrong, you don't have anything to worry about.' This phrase is destined to be with us for all time, kept alive by the same people who cheerfully volunteer that they are willing to trade some 'liberty for security.' Susan N. Herman's new book, Taking Liberties: The War on Terror and the Erosion of Democracy, provides a sharp rebuttal to this compliant mind-set that gave the government more power over the rest of us . . . [A] great catalog of personal injustice anecdotes, with story after story of people who don't do anything wrong yet have plenty to worry about-they get deported, imprisoned without charge, tortured . . . In addition to compiling all these outrages in one handy place, Taking Liberties does quite a good job of detailing the mechanics of the laws, policies, and procedures that created this havoc and in most cases made legal redress unattainable."
--Reason

About the Author(s)

Ssan N. Herman became president of the American Civil Liberties Union in 2008 after serving on its national board for twenty years. A constitutional scholar and chaired professor at Brooklyn Law School, she is the co-editor (with Paul Finkelman) of Terrorism, Government, and Law and the author of The Right to a Speedy and Public Trial.

Ralph Nader, “The Empire Is Eating Itself ,” CounterPunch, September 3, 2011, Reader Supported News

Excerpt: "Here are some suggestions: 1. Do not exaggerate our adversaries' strength in order to produce a climate of hysteria that results in repression of civil liberties, embodied in the overwrought USA Patriot Act, and immense long-term damage to our economy ..."

Did Saudi Arabia Attack Us on 9/11?

Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan, Vanity Fair, (August 2011) Reader Supported News

Introduction: "Was there a foreign government behind the 9/11 attacks? A decade later, Americans still haven't been given the whole story, while a key 28-page section of Congress's Joint Inquiry report remains censored. Gathering years of leaks and leads, in an adaptation from their new book, Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan examine the connections between Saudi Arabia and the hijackers (15 of whom were Saudi), the Bush White House's decision to ignore or bury evidence, and the frustration of lead investigators - including 9/11-commission staffers, counterterrorism officials, and senators on both sides of the aisle."

TURKEYS NOT EAGLES FOR NATIONAL BIRD

Gobble Gobble by Cathryn Falwell. 2011

A child observes turkeys throughout the seasons, and we learn about this ancient bird. For young children.

My Life as a Turkey. PBS/AETN Nov. 16, 2011. Also available on DVD. A nature writer and filmographer mothers over a dozen wild turkeys for a year, learning their individual personalities and language over a wide range of experiences. A powerful assertion of animal sentience and a strong case for protection of all species.

END PEACEFUL TOMORROWS (PATRIOT DAY) NEWSLETTER #5 2012

EXTRA NOTE ON PEACEFUL TOMORROWS DAY TO BE MAILED 9-11-11

Four Newsletters:

#1 September 2008

#2 September 12, 2009

#3 July 11, 2011

#4 September 3, 2011 (also on Blog)

NOTE: THIS NEWSLETTER SHOULD HAVE BEEN SENT FOR PATRIOT DAY AS PEACEFUL TOMORROWS # 4, SO I CORRECTED THE TITLE HERE AND ON BLOG

OMNI's War and Warming Anthologies

Sunday, September 9, 2012