Families’ of 9/11 victims in Philadelphia wrote an open letter to Joe Biden recently telling him not to visit events to honor the dead at 9/11, unless he first releases all classified information on the event, to reveal the real reason(s) for the deaths of so many Americans that day. Many may be too young or unaware of the contested nature of the collapse of three World Trade Center towers on September 11, 2001, or its continued importance in all of our lives.
On ‘Crime and Justice’ the LP Platform says, “Government force must be limited to the protection of the rights of individuals to life, liberty, and property, and governments must never be permitted to violate these rights.” Platform 3.2 states, “The Constitution and Bill of Rights shall not be suspended even during time of war.” A government found violating the rights of its own citizens, is certainly the kind of tyranny that America’s founding fathers warned of happening to those who did not carefully mind the midnight oil. Never forget the harm that can be caused by a government with too much power.
Never forget September 11th, 2001, when a great crime occurred to America, for which no real justice has been served, and many important questions remain unanswered. Emotions overwhelmed reason that day and many went into shock and panic by news clips of a man jumping to his death from a high window, for example. Terrorism was blamed immediately, and while conflicting information surfaced as well, the pieces that appeared convenient to justify war were shown in mass quantity all over the world. Then-President G. W. Bush went on TV to speak for the nation the next day. With tears in his eyes, he held the badge of a fallen firefighter in his hands, and swore “revenge,” for what was claimed to be several thousand deaths. Although we went to war in two countries almost immediately, it took seven years for the National Institute of Standards and Technology to conclude that WTC building 7 was the first steel-framed high-rise ever to have collapsed solely as a result of normal office fires. A request for a reversal of this claim is pending.
In March of 2020 a final report by the University of Alaska in Fairbanks concluded that fire could not scientifically have caused tower seven to have collapsed, and that the collapse at near free-fall speeds into its own footprint was directly caused by the “near-simultaneous failure of every column in the building.” Much information about that day almost 20 years ago has been hotly contested. However, some details are very clear. What happened afterwards was without question, illegal, immoral, deplorable, and completely failed to achieve any objective promised. In the end various people in many countries of the world were greatly harmed, include our own.
In all the confusion of that day in 2001, Americans bought into the fear and the notion that angry Arabs were around every corner and under every bed. Their opinion of war was manipulated, and they allowed their country to unilaterally imposed a sort of neo-Imperialism across the earth, training and equipping other nations to fight this thing called “terrorism,” while changing the leadership of those that refuse our new form of order. They overlooked the Patriot Act 1 & 2, and many other bills which were not reported on in the news, or appeared in the end half of a National Defense Authorization Act.
After 20 years Iraq split in two along the Sykes Picot Line. The weakened Baghdad government has made deals with Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Egypt. The Kurdish leader and his family have made millions from transfers of wealth and oil rights to his administration. After 20 years, ISIS-K has remained a convenient excuse to stay in Afghanistan to continue drone assassinations, and the Taliban have been given control of the country. Billions of dollars have been transferred from the US taxpayer to Para-Military Corporations.
Revenge is not justice. Attacking people resembling the people who hurt you is the basis of racism and other forms of discrimination, but is not justice. Killing people that may or may not be guilty of a crime that is not well understood or investigated, is not justice.
After 20 years, the victims and the families of 9/11 victims deserve not just the truth, but also justice. Justice should take the form of holding current and past leaders responsible for hiding the truth and if true, for actively taking part in those tragic events 20 years ago. Americans should refuse to die as mercenaries for special and foreign interests. Morality is subjective, but we should oppose new war authorizations, invasions of privacy, and violations of constitutions, laws and human rights.
Joshua Ray Jongema 