NOTE: From June 2001 until September 11, 2001, I had dreamtime visions of a hellish scenario: crowds running down a large city's streets, airplane propellers flying overhead the crowds, slicing into people. I was filled with dread in those months, a dread that I've been feeling again lately, although this dread is more universal - like, globally - as opposed to US-centered. I honestly thought a nuclear war was going to happen back then, and as the day of 9/11 wore on, I kept waiting for the nukes to go off. Thank the universe that never happened. Now with Putin telling the US to back off, Israel announcing their new nuke-capable submarine, and other countries going ballastic, my dread is like a lead curtain draped on my back. But I still refuse to live in fear, y'all: if our leaders don't start growing up and thinking as adults, we are, quite simply, doomed to repeat what has gone before - but we can gather our communities together to weather the coming storm(s).
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Been watching MSNBC's re-airing of their 9/11 coverage. At that time we lived in Bluemont, on the side of Mt. Weather, which is where FEMA's main facility was located and which has underground bunkers for the high and mighty in times of national emergencies. The road leading to those facilities was directly above ours, and after I was told to go home from work and was climbing the mountain toward home, I saw that the road to FEMA was barricaded and blocked and numerous helicopters were flying all over the place. Our road was fine, but the cacophony of all that emergency traffic plus the ongoing news footage was pure hell - I can't even imagine how people felt working at or near the Pentagon or the Twin Towers that day.
Anyway, pure hell, and my heart grieved for those who were killed, as well as for our country. As I was watching the re-airing today, one thing struck me: the call for retaliation. "Retaliate" was spoken over and over in 2001. So we subsequently found out the terrorists were from Saudi Arabia mostly, with a few from Pakistan, and we "retaliate" two years later by invading Iraq and Afghanistan and lord only knows where else. We spent billions of dollars on "retaliation," bringing our country to its knees financially and thousands of dead soldiers and civilians, and the wounded soldiers came home to little resources, almost zero healthcare, no jobs, no hope, no skills except the art of "retaliation."
Now our country is calling for more "retaliation." This time it's against ISIL for beheading two journalists. The most outspoken advocate - besides Dick Cheney - is John McCain, who was photographed just last year shaking hands and smiling with those same ISIL members, and who said yesterday that the US is not safer now after 9/11. Really? We have spent billions of dollars (again) on homeland security and have given up many precious civil rights because of that security. So what the hell was that money spent on, and why did y'all insist on funding these safeguards (we sure could have used that money to help our own and repair infrastructure)? Of course he and his cohorts are just drumming up the fear factor among the common folk, and they're doing a really, really good job. Here's the truth, y'all: no country is ever 100% safe from terrorists - if someone is determined and lucky enough, the job will get done, so I'd suggest just stop being afraid; if it happens, we'll deal with it as a community because our politicians sure ain't gonna give a rat's ass about the common people - they'll want to "retaliate."
Our policy is to throw money and weapons at anyone who we think will topple a dictator who won't do business with Big Energy, et al - meanwhile, those overthrowers once in power in turn refuse to do business with the US, so we send in Big Money's henchmen - the US military - to "retaliate." When the President and Congress and the talking heads like Cheney talk about "protecting US Interests," they're actually talking about private business, not US citizens. When they talk about the "need for retaliation," they're talking about private business being pissed because all of the sudden their oil or minerals or factory using slave labor or whatever is being taken away by a citizenry who's sick and tired of being shafted, raped & pillaged by US private business OR US private business has discovered there's a shitload of oil, minerals, slave labor in that country, and they want it. All of it. They want it, demand it, feel entitled to it, and US sends in the henchmen. And forget the talking points that the US needs those resources; on the contrary, we don't. We export more oil than we use. We haven't been able to export liquid gas yet so we have a glut of it. As to the minerals, I would bet we probably have more than enough of those, as well, although I really haven't seen stats on that. Stop putting our military at harm, stop killing civilians, stop big business from taking over a country's assets, just stop. I weep and shudder thinking about that day 13 years ago here at home; can you imagine how all those people in the Middle East feel seeing their own versions of 9/11 play out every single day just because US private businesses want to own their countries?
What's one of our first lessons that we're taught as children? Seeking revenge/retaliation is morally wrong and psyche-crushing. Our country is formed to seek justice, not revenge, and our court system is set up to ensure (yeah, I know, it's fallible) that justice is served. So I'm not sure when the dialogue changed - all of the 9/11 reporters used the word "retaliate" - but it's been with us for far, far too long, and our politicians remind me of children having a snit fit. The worst? Dick Cheney. He made over $4 billion on Iraq, no telling how much on Afghanistan, and no telling how much he stands to gain monetarily on the current "crisis." To me, he is the epitome of what Hannah Arendt called "The Banality of Evil' - a pathetic old entitled power-mad, greed-filled thug who, when all the myths are stripped away, is a nobody. A nothing. Not even human (he lacks what it means to be human - he's lost his humanity).
As for me? I refuse to live a fear-filled life. I refuse to support war or fighting or whatever it's called by the power brokers, no matter what their argument is because I know it's bullshit. I'll stick with justice: if someone attacks us, do your forensic jobs, do your detective and intelligence work, and demand through international diplomacy that whatever country is holding the terrorist(s) extradite him(them) to stand trial. If they refuse, cut 'em off financially, ideologically, internationally. I live for justice, not retaliation.
