CounterPunch
Special Report:
9/11 One Year After
September
7 / 8, 2002
Bush and War
One American's Open Letter to the World on Remembering 9/11
by Mike Leon
Fitchburg, Wisconsin. In a few days this nation will begin to mark
9/11, an attack known by the date on which it occurred, requiring
no elaboration of its human toll.
Like most Americans I will always remember
where I was on 9/11 even though I personally knew no one who
was murdered on that day.
9/11. As an American I acknowledge right
now that this atrocity pales in comparison to the violence much
of the world has suffered, though perhaps in less spectacular
fashion. To take just one example, I note the 10,000s of innocent
Iraqis who have perished, suffering under the regime of Saddam
Hussein, the most intense bombing in world history (1991), and
the harsh American-supported UN sanctions.
Hence the writing of this letter, the
voice of one American to the world through the internet -- quixotic
perhaps, but words on the net do travel far and reach many.
As an American who will pause on 9/11
and as one person among the millions who reject the vicious
imbecilities that my political leaders inflict upon much of
the world, I write to you that American violence is done Not
In My Name.
The American-dominated mass media will
soon deluge the world population with pious words on the National
Days of Prayer and Remembrance (September 6-8, 2002). We have
been urged to "(pray) for God's continued protection and
for the strength to overcome great evil with even greater good."
This National Days of Prayer and Remembrance idea was officially
proclaimed by President Bush on August 31, 2002. We can expect
as with many things that are American that this national effort
of remembrance will reach the point of overkill and generate
much that is grotesque.
You see, by beginning the Remembrance
Days on September 6, the media will give Bush a week's worth
of good press on the events, and he can further cash in on the
good will that Americans bestow on their leaders during such
times of remembrance of crises. And, my president cannot resist
imposing his religiosity on the rest of the nation, proclaiming
in all Americans' names the proper manner of recognizing a national
tragedy. Official American symbolism on marking 9/11 -- in our
secular, pluralistic society -- must reflect the palliatives
to the political force of an authoritarian Christian fundamentalism
and Bush's personal convictions on the meaning of life, or so
Bush believes. And while sopping to the American right-wing
and espousing his own half-baked ruminations, Bush and his political
advisors just love irritating the secular, tolerant Americans
who believe that such considerations are best left to the individual
conscience and intellect. This is Bush as a "uniter, not
a divider" in Bushian Newspeak.
Our president, you may have noticed,
is not the brightest light on the planet, and he believes that
his speechwriters can persuasively articulate his views on our
living his version of the moral life. But more to the point
he also believes that the product of his not-very-curious mind
should determine how we live, per the force of law (for example,
this is a president who dictates to women the world-over whether
they should bear children, among other such nonsense). So his
trying to impose his dogma is expected here. Most Americans
expect Bush to act like the butt of the oft-repeated joke: "he
was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple." But
Bush takes his sense of entitlement into the philosophical realm,
even as his spinners have long since given up on the silly effort
of portraying the man as a brilliant philosopher-president.
Although I, like most Americans, regard
Bush personally with low expectations, this religious-political
pomposity does get to me. I care about political matters in
my country -- liberty, rationality, pluralism, respect for the
individual. And I would like to see something decent, respectful,
and enduring come out of our collective national remembrance
of 9/11.
Yet, consider this last year since 9/11.
Domestically, Bush is the biggest presidential threat to civil
liberties we have had in 80-some years, arguably in American
history. If he deems you (including Americans citizens) an enemy
combatant, he can lock you up and throw away the key, with
no judicial recourse and no rights for the accused. Personally,
I regard the man and his minions as true enemies of the state
and the Bill of Rights that he has sworn to uphold and defend.
"History abundantly documents the
tendency of Government--however benevolent and benign its motives--to
view with suspicion those who most fervently dispute its policies..."
-- (United States v. United States District Court for the Eastern
District of Michigan et al, 407 U.S. 297, 1972) <http://laws.findlaw.com/us/407/297.html>.
Those words were written by the Republican Supreme Court Justice
Lewis Powell for a unanimous Supreme Court 30 years ago in a
stinging rebuke to the Nixon White House and its power grab
for the executive branch at the expense of our constitutional
rights. How about today's Supreme Court that selected Bush as
president? Can we anticipate the same institutional brakes to
be put on his power grab? We will have to wait to see. If we
stop Bush domestically, it will be easier to stop him internationally.
One hopes our law schools are studying these issues closely.
As for leadership, presidential rhetoric
(can be quite important) that reaches out and calls forth the
best from people, we are treated to Bush's religious bromides
that "(w)e trust God always to be our refuge and our strength,
an ever-present help in time of trouble." I mean, if Bush
wants to consider the nature of the universe, the human condition,
human morality and political inspiration and wrap it up in a
non-threatening God concept, that's fine for Attorney General
Ashcroft and him. But Bush does not reflect my views. As for
his foreign policy, you know him only too well.
What do I want as an American? I would
like to hear a presidential speech during the National Days
of Prayer and Remembrance acclaiming that most Americans do
not like to see innocent people -- including Afghanis, Palestinians
and Iraqis -- get killed, a true culture of life. I would like
to see recognition that this killing of innocents is happening,
and a call for Americans to reach out to the world and, most
importantly, halt the consequences of American foreign policy
-- the killing and starving that continues as an injury to the
global civilization.
Our violent world image aside, the truth
is that most Americans never have been in favor of war, terrorism,
murder, and violence. These are things to be avoided, it is
widely believed here. You, the citizens of the world, likely
do not know that.
You don't get that from CNN reporting
on the latest network polling data generated from questions
asking -- Do you approve of the job President Bush in doing
on the War on Terrorism? You will not read or view reporting
of polling data from such questions asking: "Should we
kill and maim 1,000s of innocent civilians in the pursuit of
the al Qaeda network?" "Should U.S. foreign policy
advance social justice in the countries it affects?" That
is not the product that the corporate news organs generate in
this society.
It bears repeating: a fundamental truism
is that Americans do not like murdering or harming innocents.
Please understand that this truism is
the reason that the United States government will not allow
the innocent victims of war to be shown on television (even
as the mass media would filter them). If the consequences of
war were shown, American political leaders would be forced to
follow the will of a mostly non-violent people in a society
where the formal democratic structures remain. Some folks call
this dynamic the "Vietnam Syndrome." But this has
been a feature of the population throughout American history,
a decent, democratic impulse.
Of course contradictions abound here
among the populace. Consider this e-mail circulated widely at
a Fortune 500 company reflecting a not-uncommon strain of popular
sentiment. Sent right after we starting bombing Afghanistan
last October, it is intended to be humorous; the e-mail (parenthetic
translations added) reads:
"It seems that some Afghan leaders
have decided to rename various cities in the wake of the US
bombing raids. See if you can locate these new towns:
Wherz-myroof (Where's my roof?) Mykamel-izded
(My camel is dead.) Oshit-Disisabad (Oh shit, this is bad.)
Waddi-El-Izgowinon (What the hell is going on?) Kizz-Yerass-Goodbi
(Kiss your ass good-bye.) Ikantstan-Disnomore (I can't stand
this no more.) Wha-Tafuk-Wazosamma-Tinkin (What the fuck was
I thinking?) Myturbin-Izburnin (My turban is burning.) Imma-Dedshmuck
(I'm a dead smuck.)"
Funny stuff, right? Xenophobic banter
mixed in with laughter at a family's house being destroyed and
people being terrorized by American bombs. Hilarious. I can
just imagine Osama Bin Laden and his crew smirking and yucking
it up on September 12, 2001 as well.
A "smirking chimp," as one
wit has dubbed him. That's Bush. This is the mindset President
Bush offers the world, and this chimp is on the loose -- hoping
that the political fallout from invading Iraq will not hurt
him. Hurt him, forget about the Iraqi civilians. The problem
is: this chimp can do one hell of a lot of damage to our republic
and of course to the world.
So, what do we do? For you non-Americans,
I beg you to contact his office. Contact the American President
George W. Bush, and let the smirking chimp know what you think.
Seem ridiculous? A few thousand phone calls will absolutely
result in notice. I guarantee it.
White House contact information:
Phone: 00 [1] (202) 456-1414
Fax: 00 [1] (202) 456-2462
Or check dialing instruction to the United States at: http://www.intelemart.com/intelemart/intlcode.htm
Mailing address:
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
America has the guns (as no nation ever
has before) and the baleful policies, but you -- the world along
with many Americans -- have the overwhelming numbers.
On 9/11 I will pause and remember the
victims and the heroes. But close to my thoughts will be the
victims of the violence that continues today. Iraqis, Palestinians,
Afghanis and other members of the world community -- you do
matter here.
Peace to you, and to those of you who
have suffered at the hands of American foreign policy -- don't
let the chimp get you down. When you see the reports of Bush
marking 9/11 with his hypocritical, pious words of remembrance,
remember that real Americans do care, and they will object.
Mike Leon
is a writer living in Fitchburg, Wisconsin. His writing has
appeared nationally in The Progressive, In These Times, and
CounterPunch. He can be reached at: maleon@terracom.net
CounterPunch Special Report:
9/11 One Year After
Bill Christison
A
Year Later: It's Happening Here
Alexander Cockburn
The
Tenth Crusade
Susan Davis
Mr. Ashcroft's
Neighborhood
Bruce Jackson
When
War Came Home
David Krieger
Looking
Back on September 11
Peter Linebaugh
Levellers and 9/11
Jeffrey St. Clair
The Trouble
with Normal
Tom Stephens
Rise Up...Dump Bush
New
Print Edition of CounterPunch Available Exclusively
to Subscribers:
- War Talk As White Noise:
Anything to Get Harken and Halliburton
Out of the Headlines;
- First Hilliard, Then
McKinney: Jewish
Groups Target Blacks Brave Enough to Talk About Justice in the
Middle East; Intimidation
is the Name of the Game; Smearing
"Insane" McKinney As Muslims' Pawn;
- The Missing Terrorist?
Calling Scotland
Yard: "Where's Atif?"
- They Never Booed Dylan!:
Tape Transcript Shows
Famed Newport Folkfest Dissing of Electric Dylan Not True. The Catcalls were for Peter
Yarrow!
- New Shame from the Liffey
Shrike
Remember, the CounterPunch website is
supported exclusively by subscribers to our newsletter. Our worldwide
web audience is soaring , with about seven million hits a month
now. This is inspiring, but the work involved also compels us
to remind you more urgently than ever to subscribe and/or make
a (tax deductible) donation if you can afford it. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe
Now!
Or Call Toll Free 1-800-840-3683
home / subscribe
/ about us
/ books
/ archives
/ search
/ links
/
|
September
6, 2002
Jeffrey St.
Clair
Stolen
Trust
Gale Norton, Indians and the Case of the Missing $10 Billion
September
5, 2002
Ben Tripp
Jesus vs.
George the Second
William Hughes
McKinney's
Defeat:
Undue Meddling
Gavin Keeney
Beaux
Reves, Citoyens!
Wayne Saunders
War
Begins; Nobody Notices
Irit Katriel
Drunk
with Power:
Israeli Chief of Staff Calls Palestinians a "Cancerous Demographic
Threat"
Gary Leupp
Who's Afraid
of Iraq?
September
3, 2002
Nabil Amro
Leadership
& Legitimacy:
An Open Letter to Arafat
Robert Fisk
A Forgotten
Holocaust:
The British in Palestine
Uri Avnery
The Return
of the Dinosaurs
September
2, 2002
Francis Boyle
Flashback:
US War Crimes During the Gulf War
Lou Cohan
Confessions
of a Downloader
Philip Farruggio
Labor
Day Antidote to Apathy
William Blum
Cuban Political
Prisoners
in the US
September
1, 2002
Dave Marsh
No Surrender:
Springsteen's The Rising
August 31,
2002
Gavin Keeney
Return to the
Charterhouse of Parma
David Vest
Porkland:
Confronting Republicans & Police in Portland
Ralph Nader
The Highway
Lobby
M. Shahid
Alam
CNN Reporting
(poem)
Neve Gordon
Sharon's
Subjugation Strategy
Dr. Susan
Block
The Gangbang
Asthete
The Sexual Life
of Catherine M.
Kurt Nimmo
Clueless
at the State Dept.
August 30,
2002
Alexander
Cockburn
American
Journal:
Hitchens, Kissinger, Springsteen, Haggard & Elvis
August 29,
2002
Chris Floyd
The Secret
Sharers:
The CIA and the Murder of Frank Olson
Resources:
100s of Links
About 9/11
CounterPunch:
Complete
Coverage of 9/11 and Its Aftermath
Five
Days That
Shook The World:
Seattle and Beyond
By
Alexander Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
Photos by Allan Sekula
(Click Here to Order from CounterPunch
Online at 20% Off Amazon.com's price!)
Read
Whiteout and Find Out
How the CIA's Backing of the Mujahideen Created the World's Most
Robust Heroin Market and Helped to Finance the Rise of the Taliban
and Osama bin Laden
Whiteout:
CIA, Drugs & the
Press
by Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
|