The Real Lessons of 9/11

As we mark the six anniversary of the 9/11 attack, it is time for Americans to face the real lessons of that horrible morning. Until we dispel the myths which the Bush administration and a compliant media have been feeding us, we are doomed to repeat the same mistakes and suffer similar consequences.

Lesson 1: They Do Not Hate Us Because 'We are Free.'

For decades the U.S Government has committed horrible acts around the world, often in secret but always in the name of the American people. In every region on earth, our government has overthrown or undermined democracies, aided brutal dictatorships, and funded guerrilla wars under the guise of fighting for freedom. Until the American people grapple with this fact, our government will continue to engage in activities that destabilize the world community and bring pain and suffering to millions, including our own citizens.

Lesson 2: Anyone Could Have Imagined the 9/11 Attack

Our government failed to protect us on 9/11 not because such an attack was unimaginable but because bureaucratic turf wars and incompetence at the highest levels impeded our counter-terrorist efforts. The CIA tracked one of the hijackers into the United States but refused to pass that fact along to the FBI. FBI field agents repeatedly warned their bosses about suspected terrorists taking flight lessons but no investigation followed. The president was explicitly warned about an impending attack with airplanes but did nothing. Why not? We still don't know. The 9/11 Commission was a whitewash designed to protect the reputations of incompetent, bloated bureaucracies and a distracted White House.

Lesson 3: Our Leaders Displayed Cowardice in the Face of Terror

After the attacks, our local and national leaders refused to question the administration's contention that the air at ground zero was safe. Why was no alarm sounded by all the politicians who visited ground zero and smelled the foul, poisonous fumes? Leaders in both parties also surrendered our constitutional liberties and protections because they feared being called unpatriotic. They allowed Bush to ignore the Geneva Accords and engage in torture and extraordinary rendition. They allotted Homeland Security funds based on politics, not genuine threat assessments. And some politicians now seem unbothered by our failure to kill Bin Laden. Let's be clear, Bin Laden is not just a symbol -- his hands drip with the blood of thousands of Americans who must be avenged. When our leaders abandoned their responsibility to protect our lives and our ideals, they gave a great victory to the terrorists. Nothing could be more cowardly.

Lesson 4: The World is Not Divided between Good vs. Evil.

We should never negotiate with terrorists and we must hunt down Bin Laden and anyone else who attacks us. But we should not arbitrarily label governments 'evil' or 'terrorist regimes' and then wage covert or overt war against them. Look at the effects of Bush's belligerence toward the so-called Axis of Evil. In Iraq, we could have avoided 3700 American dead and the deaths of tens of thousands of innocents if we respected international law and allowed the UN weapons inspections to continue. By spurning direct talks with North Korea and threatening them, Bush forced Kim Jong-ill to create and test a plutonium bomb. Fortunately South Korea took a conciliatory diplomatic approach that now promises a peaceful resolution. We need to once again work with Iran on issues of mutual concern (Iraq, arms proliferation, and regional peace). Opening diplomatic negotiation with Iran is not naïve, shameful or irresponsible. In fact the tough talk we hear from Bush, Cheney and many presidential candidates simply feeds influence of Iranian extremists. The United States must stop all covert activities against Iran and begin good faith negotiations that will secure a lasting peace.

Long before 9/11, Iran fought a war against the Taliban and Wahabi terrorist networks like Al-Qaeda. The Iranians funded the Northern Alliance and in the fall of 2001 they provided the U.S. with key intelligence about Afghanistan. However, Bush and the neocons ignored the advice of the State Dept. and the CIA and spurned further cooperation. Once Bush dropped the 'Axis of Evil' line in January 2002, there was no turning back. We missed a great opportunity to learn from the Iranians and to build ties between our intelligence communities that might have helped us find Bin Laden.

Lesson 5: We Must Fight Them Over There Before They Attack Us Over Here.

Invading Iraq was a terrible mistake and now we are trying the fix the mistake with more violence. The surge is not working despite what General Petraeus says. In the last year the civilian death toll has risen along with the number of refugees. Our occupation of Iraq has fed anti-American resentment worldwide. We need to admit we made a terrible mistake, begin a troop withdrawal immediately and work with regional powers, including Iran, to stabilize the country and the region. Once we stabilize Iraq, we need to settle the Palestinian issue once and for all. The cycle of violence will not be broken with more violence. We will live in peace only after fair-handed, good-faith negotiation.

Lesson 6: We Need a Real 9/11 Investigation

This September 11th I am going to give a speech at the UN calling for a new, truly independent 9//11 Commission. This commission would investigate unanswered questions including the historical causes of the attack and the manifold failures of our government before and after the event. Unlike the first investigation, this commission should be granted subpoena power and full access to all governmental files and personnel. George Bush should be forced to testify ALONE.

I do not believe 9/11 was a governmental conspiracy. But I know that our government was partly at fault by engaging in polices that inspired it, failing to take aggressive steps to stop it, and sacrificing the liberty and safety of our citizens after it. It's time we find out why and do something about it.

Comments

[tinalouise]

Remarkable to read blunt opinions in plain, clear context - from a politician. I felt like I was reading a genuine person with believable views.

I agreed with the majority written and felt I had found a 'like mind' (sadly you are not 'my' politician as I am in England). I only veered from your thoughts on the point of justice regarding Bin Laden. I don't believe we can bandish his name or what he deserves until we have the truth of the crime. Once a new, independent and thorough 9/11 report is allowed - then and only then can we hope to find the criminals, name them and apply justice.

I cannot offer a theory on 9/11 - conspiracy or otherwise - as I don't know what to believe and have no access to truth...but I can say with absolute certainty that I have questions that have not been satisfactorily answered by the official report. I can also say with certainty, as a mother (because mothers recognise these things!) that I can tell when lies are involved - and I feel lied to.

I just want clarity and I don't see any good reason why I can't have it, nor can I see why the President is not obliged to testify alone (like a big boy). It is all wrong - if someone has truth on their side, there would be nothing to hide, no sticky situations to avoid.

As to Iraq - when a sane person realises they have made a big mistake, the first thing they do - is stop making it! More troops, a little less troops, a dash of suffering, a smattering of death, just a few more corpses, just a few less limbs - stop NOW, get out NOW, the invasion was illegal and everything that followed is too.

Thanks for a taste of sanity from a politician - wish you were mine.

Namaste,
Tina Louise
www.armsagainstwar.info

[bayperson]

Truth to power gets short shrift as usual. Sen. Mike Gravel's "Lessons of 9/11" are quite correct and on the money. No wonder the DLC dunderheads, the MSM, and the powers that be seek to keep him marginalized. Only Gravel and Kuchinich display any real courage. Courage that we as a nation hunger for.

The Dems should be forcefully wiping the floor with this inept, criminally corrupt, morally bankrupt regime.

[jmangan]

Mike Gravel has written what many in Washington know to be true, but are afraid to say.

[Marlyn]

Thank you for speaking out at the UN about 9/11.

And while you are there, please ask them to monitor our elections?

[randomq]

I agree totally. A very small number of zealots may hate us because we are free or decadent. But the majority of those that hate America hate it because it manipulates and exploits the rest of the world to get ahead.

Putting a puppet government in power in Iran, giving chemical weapons to Saddam, exploiting South American and African countries for their oil, funding various insurgencies to "fight Communism"... The list goes on.

The only people who benefit from this perpetual cycle of violence are the rich, who can sell the weapons, skim off the top of the currency markets, and buy into the hedge funds. And guess which candidates those fat cats are donating to.

1. Don't vote for anyone who voted for this war. They do not have the moral judgment to rule the greatest country on earth.

2. Don't vote for anyone taking big corporate money. Our president should be beholden only to the American people.

3. Don't vote for anyone not willing to empower the American people with the national initiative. Anything less will result in our ultimate slip back into corruption.

Who does that leave? I think you know.

[thatvisionthing]

Senator Gravel, I only have a problem with this: "I do not believe 9/11 was a governmental conspiracy." To me that's like Nancy Pelosi taking impeachment off the table -- it's pre-judging without the facts. Have the investigation, THEN say what you believe is likely to be true. I believe questions should be openly investigated with an open mind. And that's it.

And Senator Gravel, I second the commenter above who said it's as important that you are heard as it is that you are elected. A Democrat with a spine, a compass and a voice, good God this country needs you!

[winningticket]

I like Mike!

[Tantivy]

I appreciate Mr. Gravel's call for a new and independent investigation of the events of 9/11. After all, if it is true that we live in a "post 9/11 world" then nothing is more important than knowing exactly what occurred on that date.

However, I urge Mr. Gravel and my fellow supporters of his here, to begin to do the research required to answer so many "unanswered" questions.

The 3 sites below are comprised of hundreds of architects, engineers, military personnel, scholars, physicists, pilots and others who have looked at the evidence of 9/11 and concluded that the "official" conspiracy theory of the 9/11 Commission Report (which Gravel himself calls a "whitewash") is actually more seriously a report of omissions and distortions.

The Americans you will meet at the sites below cannot be easily dismissed, and their informed conclusions are several orders of magnitude more serious and disturbing than Gravel's premise about the truth of 9/11, which is frankly based upon a false premise. The true "lessons of 9/11" can be found if you will but look for them.

I urge Mr. Gravel and every American to spend a few hours, a few days, reading what these extremely credible, impartial and non-partisan investigators and experts in their fields have discovered.

In order to believe the "official" conspiracy story of 9/11, one must not only suspend a belief in the laws of men, but in the laws of physics. Newton's laws of physics cannot be brushed aside. They can't be wrong just on that particular horrible day...

http://www.patriotsquestion911.com/

http://www.ae911truth.org/

http://www.pilotsfor911truth.org/

[sunshinegirl7]

I think it's a shame that the people who get nominated and elected to office are so rarely the ones who speak the truth, no matter how painful. Mike Gravel is a fearless American, and a great one at that.

[MetalCanuck]

I hope people wake up soon, things are not getting better. Mike, Dennis and Ron are the only hope here. Choose anyone of these guys but just choose one of them. The rest of them are hopeless.

[notyouneek]

Senator, I am in full agreement with you on almost everything you stand for and have to say, but I disagree with your last statement. I believe that there was a conspiracy involving goverment officials. I don't believe everyone is in on it, but look at tower 7 and look at the evidence and how it was handled and it is obvious that someone in a position of power had a hand in the events that unfolded. I do however respect that you are not jumping to conclusions but asking for an independent investigation. I know that you are open to fair and impartial evidence and that when the culprits are found you will call for justice. PEACE!!!

[GMoney]

Mike -

Thank you so much for speaking truth to power for all of us. Clinton, Edwards, Obama and the other "corporate candidates" on the Democratic side need to listen to your message instead of just rehashing the scripts of Bush, Cheney and, sadly, now Petraeus. Keep up the fight and stay strong!

[backward]

"Does anyone really believe that dumbya could have played some role in the tragedies? First of all, he isn't capable of the critical thought necessary to carry out ANY part of it. Secondly, he isn't an actor - hell, he can barely read the speeches they shove in front of him."

Not so. This is an irrelant issue. 'W' was not a player. And if any think the neocon cabal was inefficient simply consider where we are now. There is every chance they will succeed at the endgame. And martial law. The end of the Republic (on its deathbed anyway).

[robert596]

Mike - good for you but I think it's going to take a lot more work to undo the brainwashing this country has gone through. The administration and media has repeated this propaganda thousands of times. I praise your truth - but you need to say it a few more thousand times to get it through the people. Keep going sir! ROBERT

[k1mgy]

"This is a good set of lessons. But Lesson 5 (Lesson 5: We Must Fight Them Over There Before They Attack Us Over Here. ) is nonsense."

Mike Gravel should have explained this point. The subsequent paragraph is a bit out of sync with the heading.

He's frequently said that the "war on terror" should be a "police action", not arbitrary invasions and bombings. The sensible move is to work in collaboration with all the other governments to seek out and destroy the underground organizations that plan and carry out destruction.

Bush would claim, perhaps if congress had its hand around his throat, that the idea of IRAQ is to provide a battleground where US forces can engage in warfare with "the terrorists", with the added benefit of the oil and a staging area for wider control.

Instead, IRAQ is a sinkhole for us, and for the "terrorists" who are attracted to the bait.

The gamble is not paying off. We need to get out, re-group, and address the problem sensibly.

We cannot win the "war on terror". Gravel says that terrorism has been with us since the beginning of time and it will be here until the end of time. Instead we can deal with these threats sensibly and do all we can to head off further bloodshed at home and around the world.