[Marxism] Direct Action Newsletter - October

[Midhurst14 at aol.com]

Getting 9/11 in perspective
George Anthony takes a positive view
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security-Dwight  
David Eisenhower.
The US president insists that unless Congress creates  kangaroo courts for 
terrorism detainees, authorises him to spy on anyone he  designates an enemy, 
and rewrites a key section of the Geneva conventions to  legalise secret prisons 
and what he coyly calls "alternative" interrogation  procedures, he will not 
have the tools he needs to win the war on  terror-Financial Times Editorial 
18/09/2006.
The fifth anniversary of the  attacks on the Twin Towers on September 11 five 
years ago has led to a spate of  claims and counterclaims on the events of 
that day. The latest effort to  disparage the official version comes from a 
group of 75 top professors and  leading scientists who believe the attacks were 
puppeteered by war mongers in  the White House to justify the invasion and the 
occupation of oil-rich Arab  countries.
Professor Steven Jones, who lectures in physics at the Brigham  Young 
University in Utah, says the official version of events is the biggest and  most evil 
cover up in history. He has joined the 9/11 Scholars for Truth whose  
membership includes up to 75 leading scientists and experts from universities  across 
the US. Prof Jones said: “We don't believe that 19 hijackers and a few  
others in a cave in Afghanistan pulled this off acting alone. We challenge this  
official conspiracy theory and, by God, we're going to get to the bottom of  this
”.
In essays and journals, the scientists are giving credence to many of  the 
conspiracy theories that have circulated on the internet in the past five  
years. They believe a group of US neoconservatives called the Project for a New  
American Century, set on US world dominance, orchestrated the 9/11 attacks as 
an  excuse to hit Iraq, Afghanistan and later Iran. The group says scientific  
evidence over the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon is  
conclusive proof. 
Professor Jones said it was impossible for the twin towers  to have collapsed 
in the way they did from the collision of two aero planes. He  maintains jet 
fuel does not burn at temperatures high enough to melt steel beams  and claims 
horizontal puffs of smoke seen during the collapse of the towers are  
indicative of controlled explosions used to bring down the towers. 
The group  also maintains World Trade Centre 7 - a neighbouring building 
which caught fire  and collapsed later in the day - was only partially damaged but 
had to be  destroyed because it housed a clandestine CIA station. 
Professor James  Fetzer, 65, a retired philosopher of science at the 
University of Minnesota,  said: “The evidence is so overwhelming, but most Americans 
don't have time to  take a look at this.” 
University of Wisconsin assistant professor, Kevin  Barrett, said experts are 
unwilling to believe theories which don't fit into  their belief systems. He 
said: “People will disregard evidence it if causes  their faith to be 
shattered. I think we were all shocked. And then, when the  voice of authority told us 
what happened, we just believed it.”
As the fifth  anniversary approached, the 9/11 Scholars for Truth was urging 
Congress to  reopen the investigation claiming they have amassed a wealth of 
scientific  evidence to prove their version of the terror attacks.
Islip readers were  treated early on to this dissident view by the statement 
of General Hameed Gul,  retired head of Pakistan Inter Services Intelligence 
featured in the Political  News Letter of November 2001. He questioned then the 
possibility of organizing  such an event, “from a cave in a mountain or a 
peasant hovel”. He further said  that Mossad was responsible; that Air Force jets 
were not scrambled until an  hour and 15 minutes later; and going on to say 
that within 10 minutes of the  second tower being hit that the Bush 
administration accused Osama bin  Laden.
But with the international media going at full tilt behind the  official 
version, the well laid plans to invade Afghanistan, then Iraq and the  
introduction of the Patriot Act were all carried out.
Five years on and  thousands of deaths later however, the conspiracy to 
deceive has started to fall  apart. The justification for Guantanamo, plus 14,000 
detainees in overseas  prisons, first questioned by the US Supreme Court no 
less, has begun a flood of  opposition led by John McCain, Republican 
presidential aspirant, backed by  former Secretary of State Colin Powell, and then Lord 
Goldsmith UK Attorney  General, all of whom invoke Article Three of the Geneva 
Convention Article 3  which “sets standards for the treatment of people such 
as those detained in  combat and prohibits among other things outrages upon 
personal dignity, in  particular humiliating and degrading treatment”.
Tardy or not, these eminent  opinions display a division in both ruling 
classes that go deep into their  strategy for capitalism in the 21st century. In 
other words there is a  considerable worry amongst our rulers that the policy of 
the neo-cons led by  Cheney and Rumsfield, has not only alienated the billion 
and half Muslim  community worldwide but risks the intended hegemony of 
American Capitalism.  
And thus far costing an inclusive total of nearly a trillion dollars to  
implement. Not counting 2,684 dead US troops in Iraq so far plus a mere quarter  
of a million Iraqi deaths alone.
Secondly of seven more examples, their front  runner in the UK, prime 
minister Blair is a busted flush and is certain to go,  sooner rather that later. 
Followed by Pope Benedict, playing the holy fool  to excavate the opinions of 
a 14th century politician on the worthiness of the  Muslim religion, and in 
completely different circumstances.
In spite of  several disastrous historical precedents, pouring more troops 
into the losing  war in Afghanistan. 
The failing Iraq intervention, described in Fiasco-The  American Adventure in 
Iraq by Thomas E.Ricks.
The bloody nose inflicted on  Israel by the lightly armed Hezbollah. 
The massive and expensive homeland  security apparatus erected since 9/11 
persecuting some, spying on many,  inconveniencing most, and taxing all to defend 
the United States against an  enemy that scarcely exists.
The November mid term elections threatening the  Republican grip on both 
houses of Congress. 
All indicating that the gamble  of 9/11 failed to sustain the neo cons drive 
for world domination.
When we  get to the economics, things get even worse. With China, Asia and 
South America,  beginning to throw off the almighty dollar as the worlds 
dominant currency. And  in order to retain its dominance, the US borrowing $2 billion 
a day extracted by  the threat that “if we go down the rest of the world goes 
with us”.
Finally,  alarming climate change, revealed by A1 Gore in his campaign of 
exposure on  environmental destruction that, for example, “Within a year, an area 
of sea ice,  the size of Texas, has been lost from the Arctic” etc. 
Fortunately in spite of  Federal inaction, states like California are implementing 
legislation imposing  carbon emission limits.
All in all, 9/11 five years on, crocodile tears  notwithstanding, these 
subsequent events give cause for optimism in the future  of the 21st century. 
Whether it’s sooner or later, depends on the forces for  peace becoming a critical 
and decisive force.
>From Islip Political Newsletter of October 2006