Light And Darkness:
America's Reaction To 9/11
By Remi Kanazi
15 September, 2005
Countercurrents.org
On
September 11th, 4:30 am, the commemoration of America's loss was just
hours away in Manhattan as I stared at the lot where the twin towers
had once been. Dozens of camera vans waited roadside for the morning
coverage. Just to the right I saw the "tribute in light,"
two blue shafts beaming stories high into the skythe representative
of the strength and magnificence of the twin towers. As I imagined the
old skyline of my city, I realized something. America hasn't learned
a thing in the last fours years.
How have we commemorated
those fallen heroes of four years ago? We have used their names and
awful tragedy to unleash a war on the world and ourselves. Our president
told us we were going to fight for the greater good, but what good has
come out of the fight we embarked on?
Today 138,000 US
troops illegally occupy Iraq. 1896 Americans have died in vain, for
a war against a dictator we once supported, in a fight to destroy weapons
of mass destruction he never had. No Al Qaeda connection was found,
and while it has infuriated the Middle East and ruined our standing
in the eyes of the world, we continue to "stay the course."
Tens of thousands of Iraqi men, women, and children have died due to
the blindness and the brutality of our "war on terror." According
to the Red Cross, an estimated 6,000 Iraqis were killed and 16,000 were
injured during a three week US led onslaught on Fallujah. Estimates
claim over 200,000 residents were displaced due to the siege, while
70 percent of the buildings were destroyed, and the remaining 30 percent
were at least damaged. The city was obliteratedor democratized.
This type of destruction doesn't exemplify our compassion, humanity,
and value for life above all.
I look back into
the sky and think of the squandered opportunities after 9/11. It was
a chance for a new start, to unify the world, to fundamentally change
our foreign policy, our treatment of the Middle East and the Muslim
community. It was our chance to realize that "interests" can't
overtake human life; the safety of our children and their future depended
on it.
On 9/11, a tape
supposedly released by a half Jewish, half catholic Adam Gadahn referenced
intended attacks on Los Angles and Melbourne Australia. Gadahn was a
white American citizen believed to be recruited by Al Qaeda in California.
Al Qaeda uses the atrocities of the "war on terror" as a reason
to fight. If the war in Iraq, the occupation of Afghanistan, Palestine,
and the support of corrupt regimes throughout the Middle East weren't
taking place, recruitment for new blood in Al Qaeda wouldn't be so easy.
Al Qaeda is using the injustices caused by America as a recruitment
tool.
In response to "defeat"
terrorism, America is causing more injustice. The war on terror cannot
be won by the destruction of land, it will only incense the violence
and further isolate of the 1.2 billion Muslims in the worldit's
a lesson we should have learned after 9/11. Those two beams of light
that shine so high in the sky don't represent the fallen towers; they
illuminate our incompetent leadership.