9/11 the Political tool

Tragically but not surprisingly, Dick Cheney in his speech today resorted to the old tactic of using 9/11 as much as possible to demonize his opponents and justify his agenda on torture and the war on terror as well as even the war in Iraq. David Wiegel of the Washington Independent writes this:

Weigel writes, “Cheney talks about the run-up to 9/11, the events of 9/11, where he was on 9/11 (’I’ll freely admit that watching a coordinated, devastating attack on our country from an underground bunker at the White House can affect how you view your responsibilities’), the aftermath of 9/11 (’We could count on almost universal support back then, because everyone understood the environment we were in’), the temporary patriotism of the media (’After 9/11, the Times had spent months publishing the pictures and the stories of everyone killed by al-Qaeda on 9/11′), the threat of a ‘9/11 with nuclear weapons,’ and how the administration prevented another 9/11. In all, he mentions ‘September 11′ or ‘9/11′ 25 times.”

Enough reminding us about 9/11! Seven years after it happened we remember it happened! We recall the carnage and horror of that day. As one of the so-called millennial generation I have to say it defined my generation the same way that the Kennedy assassination defined the ‘Baby Boomers’ and the attack on Pearl Harbor those who would later become known as “the greatest generation”. I and other Americans still thirst for the day with catch Bin Ladden.

Having said that enough with those politicians,(especially those of the Bush/Cheney administration, pundits, and Rudy Gulliani)and the RNC who invoke it every time they open their mouths. Most Americans view 9/11 as a solemn and tragic day fraught with horrors, but it seems that Cheney, Gulliani, and many others view it not as a day of devastation, but as a campaign tool or a scapegoat to justify the extreme acquisition of power. A warning to Conservative Republicans, we view it as the former so stop trying to exploit that. Imagine if past administrations and figures had used the tragedy of the Kennedy assassination or Pearl Harbor in such a matter. The American people would begin to grow vexed by that.

The “9/11” tactic isn’t working and if you have any doubts about that, Rudy Gulliani ran a campaign for the Republican Presidential nomination simply using the 9/11 fear card, and look how far that got him!

In other news if you want to see the differences between the speeches given by President Obama and Cheney take a look at these excerpts from their speeches:

President Obama:

We see that, above all, in the recent debate — how the recent debate has obscured the truth and sends people into opposite and absolutist ends. On the one side of the spectrum, there are those who make little allowance for the unique challenges posed by terrorism, and would almost never put national security over transparency. And on the other end of the spectrum, there are those who embrace a view that can be summarized in two words: “Anything goes.” Their arguments suggest that the ends of fighting terrorism can be used to justify any means, and that the President should have blanket authority to do whatever he wants — provided it is a President with whom they agree.

Both sides may be sincere in their views, but neither side is right. The American people are not absolutist, and they don’t elect us to impose a rigid ideology on our problems. They know that we need not sacrifice our security for our values, nor sacrifice our values for our security, so long as we approach difficult questions with honesty and care and a dose of common sense. That, after all, is the unique genius of America. That’s the challenge laid down by our Constitution. That has been the source of our strength through the ages. That’s what makes the United States of America different as a nation.

On the other hand here is Cheney:

The administration seems to pride itself on searching for some kind of middle ground in policies addressing terrorism. They may take comfort in hearing disagreement from opposite ends of the spectrum. If liberals are unhappy about some decisions, and conservatives are unhappy about other decisions, then it may seem to them that the President is on the path of sensible compromise. But in the fight against terrorism, there is no middle ground, and half-measures keep you half exposed.

Obama is in fact right on this. We are by and large not a country of two camps of citizens held prisoner by two extreme opposing ideologies. Obama took a more nuanced view saying that this matter is more complex then it appears, and though I have begun to be a little critical of Obama he comes off as the sensible adult. Rarely are things so morally clear cut after all if they were we would have resolved this whole issue already and Al-Queda and terrorism itself would cease. Besides, when the opposing view puts up a guy who carries a biological chemical survival suit with him everywhere he goes, appearing mature and rational isn’t that hard. But Cheney once again can’t help but inject politics into his argument as well as the childish black and white ideology that was a hallmark of the Bush/Cheney administration.

For some reason Cheney appears to be under the grand delusion that he is the lone figure that can keep America and the world safe and that without him it would degenerate into bedlam and bloodshed. A legend in his own Mind. Don’t flatter yourself Dick, your not that important and you don’t exactly have a stellar track record when it comes to the truth, the facts, or predicting the future.

UPDATE (8:35 PM/ ET)- Talking Points Memo states that a reporter commenting on the New York Times Story that 1 and 7 detainees returned to the proverbial battlefield may be completely accurate since some of the detainees were held on lesser charges. Which by the way if true, means that that 1 in 7 released were released during the Bush/Cheney administration. This says that either detainees were more radicalized by the whole Gitmo experience and thus unintentionally did Al-Queda’s recruiting work for them.

Update: (8:50pm/ET)- Neoconservative talk radio host and blogger Hugh Hewitt meanwhile evidently believes that when President Obama says Supermax Prisons he means only one in Colorado.

After a few brief sentences trying to make political hay, Hewitt writes in a post that:

BTW: Supermax holds 490, and there are already more than 400 inmates. So even if the whole Gitmo gang goes to Colorado, where do they put the Unabomber’s buddies who have to move on?

And what do the guards and staff of Supermax (and their families) think about being ground zero for Islamist fanatics in the U.S.?

First of all I strongly doubt that all detainees would be kept in one facility. That would just be supplanting Gitmo and not eliminating it and the bungled inefficent and damaging system it represents. The Supermax Prison in Colorado isn’t the only one in the country. There are numerous facilities across the scape of our nation that could hold them. There is even one vacant supermax prison in a Montana county where a town council is practically begging to house some detainees, and any remaining ones would be held in other supermaxes or millitary prisons. Nice try Hugh!

Uncle Sam Vs 9/11

Rudy Gulliani should take a look at this cartoon from current tv.
H/T: Crooksandliars.

Remebering 9/11

Over the course of the past seven years many including the Bush/Cheney administration and former ex- New York City Mayor Rudy “the 9/11 Guy” Gulliani have explioted 9/11 shamelessly for thier own political gain and to keep the American people frozen in fear. Over the past seven years the pain has seemed to lessen for the vast majority of American, but it remains one of the most horrific days in American history that began so serene and with beams of sunshine raining down, only to end in carnage,and torment with bodies, ash, and debris raining down in a morbid storm on America and solidifying the world in the wake of our grief, as 3,000 perished in those fires brought to America’s shores.

9/11 as it has come to be known in America and around the globe is the moment that catipulted America from the twentith century iand into the unchartted frontiers of the twenty-first century. Despite the cynical politicization, 9/11 should always be remembered for the national tragedy it was. The 3,000 who perished and those who heeded the call of humanity to pull thier fellow man who cried out in agony from beneath the embers and stone. It remains a day that gripped all the nation and all the world. In a fractured world, for a brief fleeting time our humanity transcended oceans and borders and we were one.

Anniversary of the U.S backed Chiliean Coup

Today is the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, but today is also the anniversary of the U.S backed 1973 coup of Chilean Socialist President Salvador Allende and the ascendancy to power of the tyrannical U.S backed Chilean military government of dictator General Augusto Pinochet.

Speaking of which, although they never mention the country of Chile by name in the film, was the subject of the 1982 film Missing, which is based on the incredible and outrageous true story of young American journalist Charles Horman, who disappears as the ouster of Allende and the barbarous U.S backed military coup unfolds in chaos and bloodshed all around the country. Horman (John Shea), soon disappears, leaving behind his young wife Beth (Sissy Spacek), who is distrustful of the U.S embassy officials who say they are trying to find her husband, but seem more concerned with suppressing perceived opponents of the newly installed military regime, who they accuse of having communist sympathies, then finding answers to the whereabouts and faith of her husband.

Soon Ed Horrman, (Jack Lemmon in a brilliant Academy Award nominated performance), a conservative businessman who has always had a bit of a strained relationship with his daughter-in-law arrives to find his son. Initially trustful of the U.S authorities, Ed Hormann soon learns that the U.S officials may know more than they are letting on and may even have something to do with his son’s fate.

Fascinating and shocking account of a story that shows the complexities of the cold war and an innocent man who got tangled in Cold War geopolitics. It will both cause you to become outraged and keep a tight grip on your attention. Nominated for Best picture Academy Award in 1982.

Bi-Partisan on 9/11?

After seven years, 9/11 has been invoked constant times by politicians (especially those disciples of Bush/Cheney) to justify appalling policies, attack opponents, and gain political traction. Now, Ben Smith over at the politico writes that for the first time since a few months after these attacks, on the seventh anniversary of that horrific day, the McCain/Palin campaign and the Obama/Biden campaigns pledge to put partisan politics aside to remember those who perished and how a nation came together that one day when we were catapulted into the changed world we now live.

Politico:

A joint statement from the campaigns:

“On September 11, 2008, we will join together to mark the seventh anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks at Ground Zero.

“All of us came together on 9/11 — not as Democrats or Republicans — but as Americans. In smoke-filled corridors and on the steps of the Capitol; at blood banks and at vigils — we were united as one American family. On Thursday, we will put aside politics and come together to renew that unity, to honor the memory of each and every American who died, and to grieve with the families and friends who lost loved ones. We will also give thanks for the firefighters, police and emergency responders who set a heroic example of selfless service, and for the men and women who serve today in defense of the freedom and security that came under attack in New York City, at the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pa.”

This is an optimistic sign, but I remain skeptical. I doubt that this will put a permanent halt towards the sickening politicization of 9/11 (i.e Rudy Giuliani). However this was a day when all Americans stood in solidarity, overcome by grief but resilient. Think what we could have done had we had better leadership.

This Day in History Calender- September 14

Courtesy: hippy.com & wikipedia

1886: Typewriter ribbon is pattoned.

1901: A nation mourns and is shaken to the core, as their leader fades from this world and the present and is carried out of this world by the tide of forces beyond our understanding and often beyond our control and into that vast sea of history, when then U.S President William McKinley perishes from wounds he received when an anarchist shot him eight days prior in New York.

1917: Following rebellion, revolution, and the overthrow of Czar Nicholas II as well as the monarchical structure of the country, Russia officially is deemed a republic.

1948: As the great powers of the world coalesce to form new institutions from the debris of World War II, the foundations for United Nations headquarters in New York City begins to be laid.

1960: The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is established.

2001: America mourns, as a Prayer Service is carried out at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington D.C for victim’s of the 9/11 Attacks.

This Day in History Calender- September 14

Courtesy: hippy.com & wikipedia

1886: Typewriter ribbon is pattoned.

1901: A nation mourns and is shaken to the core, as their leader fades from this world and the present and is carried out of this world by the tide of forces beyond our understanding and often beyond our control and into that vast sea of history, when then U.S President William McKinley perishes from wounds he received when an anarchist shot him eight days prior in New York.

1917: Following rebellion, revolution, and the overthrow of Czar Nicholas II as well as the monarchical structure of the country, Russia officially is deemed a republic.

1948: As the great powers of the world coalesce to form new institutions from the debris of World War II, the foundations for United Nations headquarters in New York City begins to be laid.

1960: The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is established.

2001: America mourns, as a Prayer Service is carried out at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington D.C for victim’s of the 9/11 Attacks.

9/11 Coverage as it Happened