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Further
Adventures of a Rogue Journalist
An Open Letter
to the Democratic Party after September 11
Are you afraid of taking power from the Republicans--because of what happened to the Kennedys?
Or are you really part of the same secret party really running the show?
As a person who cares about freedom--freedom of speech, freedom of dissent, freedom of the press, and all the other human and civil rights enshrined in the Constitution--I sincerely hope that the problem is the first one.
My problem is that I can't even sign my own name to this document, because of something I suspect we have in common: fear.
But I'm not a politician. If you're in politics as a good guy and not a mobster, I would hope that you have already settled with the demon of fear in yourself, because being in politics means having the confidence and courage to speak out.
I can think of two other explanations for why the Democratic Party has so far confined its public criticism of Bush and Co. to safe issues. (The administration is only now being blamed for the recession, and for taking excessive liberties with civil liberties for the sake of its domestic "war on terrorism.")
Public opinion polls strongly support the government's effort, both at home and abroad--a carefully orchestrated program to show America's power and to act on the fears and frustrations of its people. For riding these waves of emotion and opinion you can be excused, unless you know better about what's really going on.
If you do know better but are not speaking out, you're probably (if not on the side of the assassins and other free agents and organized agencies of terror) afraid just like me. In which case you might as well leave politics to those who do have the requisite courage.
Let me test the hypothesis that you do know what's going on, and that you are committed to open political discussion and debate. Then surely you could see your way to engaging in dialogue with your constituency, and letting them in on some of the nagging questions still unanswered about the attacks of September 11 and the subsequent war in Afghanistan. This is uncomfortable territory. It's hard to break the sorry news to people desperate for something to believe in, like their own country's flag, its freedom and integrity.
As a public servant, you really owe it to them not just to listen to their fears; you can go a step further and level with them about the shaky ground of the government's integrity. Anybody who really cares about what America stands for (I'm still talking about basic human freedoms, here, not murderous wealth and power) will care enough to listen when you tell the story as you see it. We all need to get to the bottom of what's really going on in America and at the edges of the American empire right now.
What's going on overseas is old news, and news that the majority of Americans have never wanted to hear. The litany of terror sponsored by the US government, the CIA, and the American military goes back to the very conquest of this continent from its aboriginal people. But now the war has come to New York, and to people opening their morning mail in American towns; and this war, even if it stopped today, is unforgivable.
Who's responsible?
"No one knows." It might be Osama Bin Laden, the former darling of the CIA. Maybe he's still the darling of the CIA. If you don't know, have you got the courage to ask?
That's only the first of too many unanswered questions still lurking in the aftermath of 9-11. Questions and incomplete trails of evidence…like the big selloffs of American and United Airlines stock just days before the planes hit the WTC. Like the plans in place for war in Afghanistan at least as far back as July, and threats against the Taliban by U.S. diplomats in August. Like the wheels of American (and Bin Laden family) industry poised to roll in after "our" bombers and troops to build that long-delayed pipeline from the world's last great oil reserves waiting in the steppes north of Afghanistan.
Isn't it common knowledge yet, that FDR knew about Pearl Harbor in advance, or that John Kennedy was a target of rival American interests? Are we all too afraid to remember, and so to recognize what's happening today--this time, to ordinary, innocent Americans and Afghanis alike? Can it be acknowledged that New York office and rescue workers have not died in vain--rather, that they have joined the long list of soldiers and peasants burned and buried as "collateral damage," in the wake of the noble, if at times fiery, American thirst for oil, global markets, and "security"?
I guess what all these questions boil down to is this:
Are they your bombers and troops and national security police and secret service agents (and kamikaze pilots and "lone assassins"), too? Are you all (Democrats and Republicans), ultimately, working for Bush and Co.? Do both parties actually favor corporate economic freedom around the globe, above the sanctity of human lives and basic civil liberties everywhere?
Most of all, I'm afraid of what your answer will be.
The Democratic Party currently forms the "official opposition"--giving American voters the only viable policy alternative. But does your party represent any meaningful choice? After all, Democrat FDR invited a war to save us from the Depression (and to secure Asian resources for America), while Prescott Bush did business with Hitler. Democrat LBJ (the immediate beneficiary of Kennedy's death) arranged a fictitious Bay of Tonkin incident in 1964, leading the US into a war in Indochina that victimized both sides. Your party's history is suspect. What about the present, and the future?
Do you stand for empire at any cost--or will you take a stand for integrity, honesty, and government for the people?
Will you stand up for the victims of 9-11--even if becomes apparent that the US government played a knowledgable role in the WTC attacks?
I will try to muster the courage to look forward to your answer (I don't watch TV, but I do read the New York Times).
--A Person who Cares
P.S. If you don't trust the integrity of my insinuating questions,
I offer the attached summary of analysis
and available evidence for your consideration. Its author,
William Thomas, is a courageous journalist with outstanding credentials.
The attached document is excerpted from his latest book, We All
Fall Down: The Politics of Terror and Mass Persuasion. The following
press release describes the author and his book:
Mr. Thomas is no lightweight in the world of investigative journalism.
His writing and photography have appeared in more than 55 publications
with translations into French, Dutch and Japanese. He has won
"Best Feature Awards" in four publications, as well
as the "United States Environmental Film Festival Award"
for his Gulf war documentary, "Eco-War". His book "Scorched
Earth" is a searing account of the military's environmental
atrocities committed on this planet. After serving as Environmental
Emergency Response Worker in the aftermath of the Gulf War, he
wrote a book called "Bringing the War Home", in which
he chronicles the true horrors and cover-ups of that war, the
consequences of which affected not only the Persian Gulf, but
also the American troops who were stationed there. It was written
years before the true nature of what went on there began to come
to light. Once again he brings us the benefit of his extensive
experience in this, his latest book.
To order this book directly, write to:
William Thomas
Heron Rocks 1--9
Hornby Island
Canada V0R 1Z0
willthomas@telus.net
http://www.lifeboatnws.com
To view a free online excerpt from All Fall Down, with
a foreword by the author, click here.
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