Excepting a few marginalized journalists and thought leaders, most Americans have learned less than nothing about the causes of the September 11, 2001 attacks. In the wake of that dreadful day, and for years afterward, then-President Bush claimed, almost comically, that they attacked us because they hate our freedoms. President Obama has also remained silent about the truth.
Osama Bin Laden (lately known as ‘Geronimo’) enunciated the true motivations:
“Why are we fighting and opposing you? The answer is very simple:
(1) Because you attacked us and continue to attack us.
a) You attacked us in Palestine:
…The British handed over Palestine, with your help and your support, to the Jews, who have occupied it for more than 50 years; years overflowing with oppression, tyranny, crimes, killing, expulsion, destruction and devastation… There is no need to explain and prove the degree of American support for Israel…. Each and every person whose hands have become polluted in the contribution towards this crime must pay its price, and pay for it heavily…The Palestinians do not cry alone; their women are not widowed alone; their sons are not orphaned alone…”
In noticeable parts, and as one might expect, Bin Laden’s letter is both anti-Jewish (a.k.a anti-Semitic) and fanatical. Still, don’t the American people, whose taxes pay for Israel’s war crimes, deserve to know that blowback of this support resulted in the loss of U.S. lives?
Bin Laden observes that the mainstream media has blinded Americans to the truth:
“The American Government and press still refuses to answer the question:
Why did they attack us in New York and Washington?
If Sharon is a man of peace in the eyes of Bush, then we are also men of peace!!!”
Bin Laden’s letter identifies numerous other grievances against U.S. foreign policy. But its fixation on Palestine above all others shows the primacy of this issue.
As the media blathers on about the anniversary, devoid of any mention of U.S. support for Israel, I don’t know whether to laugh, cry, or throw a shoe at the television. I remember Larry Derfner’s infamous column about the motivations for Palestinian attacks against Israeli civilians. Although some of his word choices, as he later admitted, were quite poor (I don’t think any grievance, no matter how legitimate, gives oppressed people a right to attack civilians), his intent to send a wake up call was brave and necessary. Where are the courageous mainstream U.S. journalists who will do the same on today’s dreadful anniversary? Prediction: no New York Times or other major outlet oped writer will mention U.S. support for Israel in explaining the attacks –– nor address the fact that so long as U.S. foreign policy enables oppression of Palestinians and other peoples, the U.S. will not be safe from further attacks.
Do not these journalists, who lie, elide, and distort, have stains on their souls as ever more Palestinian, Israeli, and U.S. civilians are consumed in the gaping maw of the Zionist military colonization project?
Today, I will celebrate a very different kind of anniversary: the birth of Gandhi’s nonviolent Satyagraha, 105 years ago. I believe that remembering the lessons of Gandhi, and putting them into practice, is just about our only hope for real change. Perhaps you might want to participate in Metta Center’s webinar at 4pm PST/7pm EST.
