UNPLUGGING THE WAR MACHINE’S
CENTRAL POWER SUPPLY WITH 9/11 TRUTH
AREA
Organizing approaches and movement building
INITIAL SPONSORING GROUPS
Peace Action – Delaware Valley (PA-DV), NH/ME Seacoast Peace Response, Maine Peace & Justice Coalition, Oregon Peace Works, Greeley Bill of Rights Defense Committee, 911truth.org, NY 9/11 Truth Alliance, with more to come.
II.
a) MOTIVATION
The need to immediately stop political support for the wars on Iraqis, Afghanis, our people here at home and the “War on Terror” as a whole. Specifically, our need for a thoughtful strategy to shut down the political power fueling the entire corporate war machine, a strategy which strikes at the root of that power, and doesn”t scatter our time and energy reacting to its countless symptoms in the field.
b) BACKGROUND
Given the momentum and added troop strength of the corporate forces now in power, we will face unending appeals this year to help combat firestorms on many different fronts.
Already we are struggling to prioritize our efforts to stop war atrocities, torture-apologist appointments, escalating Pentagon appropriations, horrific new weapons, the resurrection of Star Wars, and an apparently imminent draft, not to mention environmental assaults, our ballooning debt, attacks on our rights, the slashing of the social safety net, and a dozen other symptoms spinning out of the sickness at the top.
Alternatively we could step back a pace or two and see where all this carnage connects and focus on a strategy that might stop it all at once.
We need what analyst George Lakoff calls a “strategic initiative”–a plan in which a change in one critical area has automatic reverberating effects in many, many, many other realms.
Looking at the onslaughts we face, it”s obvious that this administration”s primary source of war-making, rights-taking, vote-raking power is still and always has been the “official 9/11 story.” The exquisitely timed “surprise attacks” it portrays instantly justified what we now know was a long planned agenda to take us into endless war, crippling debt and constitutional twilight.
Long before 9/11, the Project for a New American Century, the neocon”s premier think tank comprising many top Bush officials, was advocating the massive military buildup, preemptive warfare and Iraq occupation we now face. As early as September 2000, PNAC”s “Rebuilding America’s Defenses” report argued strenuously for these goals, but admitted that achieving them would take forever “absent a cataclysmic and catalyzing event like a new Pearl Harbor.” 9/11 was of course that event, and was instantly hailed as a “great opportunity” by both Rumsfeld and Condi Rice.
There is now an enormous amount of scholarly evidence and expert testimony that a) clearly demonstrates the official 9/11 story is a sham, and b) supports the millions of New Yorkers who, according to a recent Zogby poll, believe that top US officials “consciously allowed” the attacks to happen and that we must have a new investigation now.
This is no longer a fringe position. Identical calls have been made by over one hundred prominent Americans including four 2004 presidential candidates [Nader (Ind), Cobb (Green), Badnarik (Libertarian) Kennedy (Dem write-in)], respected rabbis and imams, historians and legislators, military officials and diplomats, as well as celebrated leaders from the environmental, alternative economics and “peace & justice” communities. (The latter group alone includes Ed Asner, Medea Benjamin, Dr. Robert Bowman, Kevin Danaher, Daniel Ellsberg, Jodie Evans, Stan Goff, Melvin Goodman, Dennis Kyne, Frances Moore Lapp, Ray McGovern, Henry Peck, Howard Zinn and many more.) Examining the eminent names on the 9/11 Truth Statement at 911truth.org will quickly prove that today”s so-called “9/11 conspiracy theorists” are not who they used to be.
As this extraordinary breadth of skepticism clearly shows, the demand for 9/11 truth is not about to go away. It is not simply a matter of belated justice for the tragedy”s immediate victims. The attacks have since been relentlessly exploited to justify the sacrifice of new victims for many years on many fronts both here at home and in places far away.
And it is only our enduring ignorance of the evidence for our leaders” complicity that allows their ongoing cruelty and success. (And do not think the Iraq havoc is not a win for them. Anything that outrages the Muslim world to such bitter hate and loathing ensures ongoing terror in the American heart and thus unchallenged growth in military funding and power. Replacing the “Evil Empire”s” nuclear nightmare with an even more vivid color-coded dread, all in less than a thousand days, is a truly stunning coup.)
III. MAIN PROPOSAL
PREMISES
This administration”s primary source of political strength is still the “official 9/11 story” (and all the fear and bigoted hostility that it continues to fuel).
This cynical fable has thus become the corporatists’ essential power supply upon which all their military crimes, legislative overreach, and electoral success depend. (See how incessantly they invoke it to justify every brutality, theft and assault upon our rights.)
It is, however, also their gravest vulnerability since it is only sustained by a tissue of lies, corrupt media and public ignorance.
One of Karl Rove”s most useful axioms is “attack your opponent”s greatest strengths.” He thus focused on Kerry”s war record and Gore”s intellect, and systematically savaged them with loud and clever lies. We can likewise devastate support for the current administration, but honestly and honorably, using 9/11 truth.
We can also use it to forge a wider, more diverse coalition with many others equally afflicted by this government”s abuse of its misbegotten power. In fact, there are few groups fighting for social justice, the environment, or basic human rights in the world today who would not instantly and immensely profit from a fearless indictment of our top officials for their 9/11 lies and crimes.
EDUCATION AND ACTION
We therefore urge the entire UFPJ coalition to organize around the call for criminal investigations and indictments endorsed by the leaders above. Initially, we propose that all member groups be encouraged to devote a third of their time and energy during the month of May to studying the clear evidence for 9/11 treachery in preparation for a regime-changing summer of truth.
This is now an easy task. There are currently enough carefully researched books and finely crafted films to make this mutual awakening a fast and gratifying adventure. Must reads are “The 9/11 Commission Report – Omissions and Distortions” by renowned theologian, Dr. David Ray Griffin who dissects the Kean/Zelikow Commission cover-up with precision and finesse; and “The Terror Timeline” by Paul Thompson which takes you minute by minute through the heart of 9/11 darkness. Must sees are “The Great Conspiracy: The 9/11 News Special You Never Saw” by Canadian TV legend Barry Zwicker, which outs the greatest lies, and “Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear & the Selling of American Empire” by the Media Education Foundation, which details their shrewd exploitation to launch an endless war. Other authoritative resources are accessible via the truth movement portal at 911truth.org. Many books and videos are available at steep discounts for activist groups.
Follow-up actions: loud support for current 9/11 Citizens’ Complaints to NY Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau, and other powerful officials demanding independent investigations of 9/11 crimes; public protests of the corporate media for the 9/11 cover-up; heavy injection of the issue into upcoming congressional campaigns; and other creative initiatives.
CONCLUSION
The official 9/11 myth”s emotional and political power will continue to drive the country in a dozen different destructive directions until we unite to confront and deconstruct it with 9/11 truth.
IV. ORGANIZATIONAL IMPLICATIONS
After member group self-education phase, would encourage coalition-wide communication/ collaboration efforts to coordinate subsequent actions and campaigns.
RESOURCES/STAFFING NEEDS
Member groups: minimal investment in educational materials; UFP&J: help in coordinating member group actions and communications, posting web news, and promoting use of key 9/11 resource materials.
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To sign your group on as a co-sponsor, contact:
Phyllis Gilbert – Peace Action DV:
peaceact(at)critpath.com