Jamala Rogers
A CNN poll reported that 84 percent of us believe the U.S. government covered up the real events of September 11, 2001. My personal poll hikes that number up to 99 percent. How can we believe we are safer when we don’t believe our own government?
On the eve of the 5th anniversary of September 11 tragedy, domestic fears are multiplied and international terrorism abounds. What do we know about the event and what lessons have we learned are subjects of debates and books.
Conspiracy theories have fertile grounds to grow. That’s because there are conflicting, unexplainable and illogical accounts contained in the 9/11 Commission Report, a commission forced into being by families and survivors of the 9/11 events and other concerned citizens. The commission lacked full cooperation from the Bush administration in terms of access to documents and relevant individuals.
The commission was under-funded (the Challenger space tragedy was given $50 million by Bush for its investigation, compared to the measly $3 million for the so-called terrorists attacks on U.S. soil). Its members were connected to all kinds of interests that had the potential to comprise a full and thorough probing of the facts. Thomas Dean, one of the Commission’s co-chairs, was linked to Saudi investments.
What we do know today is that 9/11 was used as a pretext for attacking Iraq and maintaining a war at a cost of nearly $2 billion a week (I was corrected on the $1 billion stated in a previous column). We do know that our civil liberties, such as domestic wire-tapping, have been decimated in the name of national security. We do know that most of our ports, chemical plants and airports still are unprotected. We do know that the intelligence agencies still aren’t working in a coordinated way. We do know that our military actions have emboldened, not discouraged, terrorists around the world. We do know that the international credibility of the U.S. is on shaky ground.
Here we are today – scared of our own shadows and with our pockets turned inside out while the government of the people spins and spends out of control.
Let’s solemnly honor the tragic loss of life on that day and the days after, especially those first responders who are now dying because they believed the Environmental Protection Agency that the air was safe.
Let us turn to the November elections and pay attention to the character and platform of those running for offices. No more warmongers, no more slick economic predators and no more human rights saboteurs. We must rein these incorrigibles back into accountability for the sake of the country and the world.
We should pay closer attention to where our tax dollars are going and force our elected officials to prioritize our domestic needs as public education is cut and millions of Americans remain without adequate health insurance. And don’t let me get started with the Gulf Coast still a disaster area a year after Katrina.
On the anniversary of September 11, let us remember that democracy, like charity, begins at home. And that security, both personal and national, is based on building trust, not flaming fears.