Thread: 9/11/11 The hatred never stops

Ladies and gentlemen, I present you Mr Paul Krugman:

The Years of Shame

It's a short opinion piece so I'll post the whole thing -

Paul Krugman - New York Times Blog
September 11, 2011, 8:41 am
The Years of Shame

Is it just me, or are the 9/11 commemorations oddly subdued?

Actually, I don’t think it’s me, and it’s not really that odd.

What happened after 9/11 — and I think even people on the right know this, whether they admit it or not — was deeply shameful. Te atrocity should have been a unifying event, but instead it became a wedge issue. Fake heroes like Bernie Kerik, Rudy Giuliani, and, yes, George W. Bush raced to cash in on the horror. And then the attack was used to justify an unrelated war the neocons wanted to fight, for all the wrong reasons.

A lot of other people behaved badly. How many of our professional pundits — people who should have understood very well what was happening — took the easy way out, turning a blind eye to the corruption and lending their support to the hijacking of the atrocity?

The memory of 9/11 has been irrevocably poisoned; it has become an occasion for shame. And in its heart, the nation knows it.

I’m not going to allow comments on this post, for obvious reasons.

Congratulations Mr. Krugman. It seems that in you the perpetrators of 9/11 got exactly what they wanted.

Originally Posted by John Drake

Krugman is right.

Bush was warned of 9/11, he chose to ignore it and then used it as a Reichstag fire. He should have been impeached for gross incompetence instead of being able to use it to start his own private and completely unrelated war

The Republicans are yet again showing us the spectacle of crying the loudest over a terrible hurt to us all they were largely responsible for.

Originally Posted by Jen

Of course Krugman is totally right.

Follow the money trail.

Se who got extremely wealthy by exploiting 9/11.

Se who made lifelong carreers out of 9/11.

Se how your politicians and presidents have used 9/11 to build a fortress around themselves and their secrets, in what should have been a free and transparent society.

9/11 have evolved into a multi TRILLION dollar business, and I don`t think anyone who profitted by this, the perhaps biggest fraud in American history, would like to see that brought to an end.

And if you ask any of the above mentioned, if they would return all of their literally enourmous benefits, they got out of 9/11, if the 3000 dead people in the towers could be called back to life, I think you would get a pretty disgusting answer.

And then of course the small side effect, that your actually quite fine constitution, has been reduced to, and used as, toilet paper, by all of the above mentioned fine gentlemen ( and women ).

And perhaps it would be appropriate to mention, that maybe as much as a million people have lost their lifes, and many more have lost their habitats, and are now living as refugees, as a direct result of the American overreaction to 9/11.
People who had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11.

Soeren. DK

Originally Posted by Hoplite

I think you're assigning far more competence to the former president than he is due.

I would like to remind you folks that Osama bin Laden actually issued his Fatwa against the United States back in 1996.
Bin Laden's Fatwa

Here is a excerpt from that Fatwa:

Few days ago the news agencies had reported that the Defence Secretary of the Crusading Americans had said that "the explosion at Riyadh and Al-Khobar had taught him one lesson: that is not to withdraw when attacked by coward terrorists".

We say to the Defence Secretary that his talk can induce a grieving mother to laughter! and shows the fears that had enshrined you all. Where was this false courage of yours when the explosion in Beirut took place on 1983 AD (1403 A.H). You were turned into scattered pits and pieces at that time; 241 mainly marines solders were killed. And where was this courage of yours when two explosions made you to leave Aden in lees than twenty four hours!

But your most disgraceful case was in Somalia; where- after vigorous propaganda about the power of the USA and its post cold war leadership of the new world order- you moved tens of thousands of international force, including twenty eight thousands American solders into Somalia. However, when tens of your solders were killed in minor battles and one American Pilot was dragged in the streets of Mogadishu you left the area carrying disappointment, humiliation, defeat and your dead with you. Clinton appeared in front of the whole world threatening and promising revenge , but these threats were merely a preparation for withdrawal. You have been disgraced by Allah and you withdrew; the extent of your impotence and weaknesses became very clear. It was a pleasure for the "heart" of every Muslim and a remedy to the "chests" of believing nations to see you defeated in the three Islamic cities of Beirut , Aden and Mogadishu.

I say to Secretary of Defence: The sons of the land of the two Holy Places had come out to fight against the Russian in Afghanistan, the Serb in Bosnia-Herzegovina and today they are fighting in Chechenia and -by the Permission of Allah- they have been made victorious over your partner, the Russians. By the command of Allah, they are also fighting in Tajakistan.

I say: Since the sons of the land of the two Holy Places feel and strongly believe that fighting (Jihad) against the Kuffar in every part of the world, is absolutely essential; then they would be even more enthusiastic, more powerful and larger in number upon fighting on their own land- the place of their births- defending the greatest of their sanctities, the noble Ka'ba (the Qiblah of all Muslims). They know that the Muslims of the world will assist and help them to victory. To liberate their sanctities is the greatest of issues concerning all Muslims; It is the duty of every Muslims in this world.

I say to you William (Defence Secretary) that: These youths love death as you loves life. They inherit dignity, pride, courage, generosity, truthfulness and sacrifice from father to father. They are most delivering and steadfast at war. They inherit these values from their ancestors (even from the time of the Jaheliyyah, before Islam). These values were approved and completed by the arriving Islam as stated by the messenger of Allah (Allah's Blessings and Salutations may be on him): "I have been send to perfecting the good values". (Saheeh Al-Jame' As-Sagheer).

Prior to this Fatwa al Qaeda had struck the WTC in 1993. After this Fatwa they hit the USS Cole and bombed embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam.

It would have been quite reasonable for someone who was concerned about terrorism to have taken these attacks as precursors to a more violent attack. But, since terrorism was still considered a crime rather than an act of war and, in all probability, because these events happened on foreign soil, nobody took things too seriously. Our political leaders were content to chalk these events up to "crazed fanatics". They didn't ignore the problem but they seriously underestimated the problem.

Then came 9/11.

It was no longer prudent for rational people to believe that terrorism was merely the act ideological fanatics. These terrorists were organized. They were well financed. They were trained. They had support networks set up. They were, except for the uniform of a common state, an army.

It was time to go after them and Bush did just that.

Unfortunately, the likes of "Duke" Cunningham, Jack Abramoff and many, many others chose to use the necessity of defense spending to filter taxpayer monies to favored friends, special interest groups and even campaign coffers.

The decision to treat terrorism as a war was not wrong. It wasn't even misguided. It was the corruption of public officials who fed off the fear of terrorism to divide this nation along ideological lines while robbing both sides blind.

And, as evidenced by some of the statements I'm reading, some folks still haven't been able to differentiate between military objectives and political ones.