Closure? - by Groff Schroeder: Freethought Views September 2011
Submitted by ftcsadmin2 on Thu, 09/15/2011 - 15:13.
Closure?
by Groff Schroeder
While some suggest we “look forward not back1," it appears some events, both before and after September 11, 2001, are important not to forget, but to remember.
In early September 2001, a new President of the United States faced increasing public discomfort over his bizarre electoral victory2, controversial initial act3, “saber rattling,” planned unilateral withdrawal from a ratified nuclear weapons treaty4, and redirection of an inherited national surplus56 from continuing debt reduction to massive tax cuts7. The attacks gave the president immediate legitimacy89 and “gravitas,” and intense secrecy, government expansion, and invasive new - and often unchecked - executive powers followed. Four days later, the secretary of defense advocated attacking Iraq1011 in a cabinet meeting12. Meanwhile, America's legislative branch was apparently abandoning all checks and balances13 on the executive, including the responsibility to declare war.
The result was the oxymoronic global “war on terror1415,” America's longest (declared or) undeclared war. The commander in chief attacked16 Afghanistan, “graveyard of empires,” and later Iraq, even though 17 of the 19 hijackers came from Saudi Arabia17 - many on incomplete US State Department passports18. While disputing the legitimacy of the International Criminal Court, the president appeared to violate the United Nations Charter19 (“preemptive” war), the Geneva Conventions202122 (torture2324252627), and numerous civil and human rights. More than 7,000 coalition troops have given their lives, and more than 200,000 people, including innocent civilians, have died overseas.
Aggressive cleanup2829 of “the site” began on September 22, 2001, initiating a long series of actions (eventually annoying even Walter Cronkite30) appearing to obstruct investigations31323334353637. Although the senate majority leader received an anthrax38 mailing39 in October, in January 2002, the president personally asked him not to investigate the attacks. By May 2002, virtually all evidence40 from the site had been disposed of or “recycled.” In March 2003, “National Commission on Terrorist Attacks on the United States” launched hearings4142. Accused of withholding documents, the president and vice president refused to testify unless they were: together, in secret, not recorded, and not “under oath.”
The absence of traditional due process, forensic, investigative, and legal procedures limits public access to verifiable factual information, and many aspects of the attacks remain unexplained, uninvestigated, or “redacted.” Time Magazine apparently focused upon “whistleblower” Coleen Rowley43 as “Person of the Year44,” instead of her allegations that repeated FBI abrogation of standard police procedures prevented timely searches of hijacker property after Zacharais Moussaoui's August 16, 200145 arrest. Translator Siebel Edmonds4647 remains48 muzzled4950, and the “Project for a New American Century5152,” WTC building seven, and hijacker flight school(s?) appear as “third rails” to the 9-11 Commission and the press. Even the National Transportation Safety Board appeared to discard standard procedures53 used on every plane crash since 1967, apparently failing to thoroughly investigate not only four airliner crashes killing 2,996 people, but also the apparent complete destruction of 7 of the airliner's 8 flight data recorders545556.
Until new information explains puzzling facts, they present an attractive nuisance to skeptical minds, and missing information can both inhibit and unleash imaginations. The publication of a complete, objective, official, and verifiable compendium of all evidence possibly related to the mass murders of September 11, 2001 is essential, especially in light of the Initial Complaint57 and related proceedings585960 against American political leaders in the International War Crimes Tribunal.*
Published September 15-22, 2011 with the following quotation.
We cannot explicitly link the recent terrorist attacks to the September 11 hijackers.
John Ashcroft
*Note: The Initial Complaint61 and Final Judgment62 in the International War Crimes Tribunal concern the execution of the war on Iraq waged by a previous President of the United States whose name is almost identical to the name of the President of the United States involved in the actions above. Similar actions against the president involved in the actions above might also someday exist, but will require complainants meet challenging technical issues under Swiss Law.
1Bloomberg, Michael, September 11, 2011, 2011 September 11 Memorial Ceremony.
2Erikson, Robert s., Department of Political Science, Columbia University, November 5, 2000, http://www.columbia.edu/~ks20/Erik-sig-web-battleground.pdf , accessed September 15, 2011.
3January 20, 2001, President Bush Delays Release of Reagan Papers, History Commons.org, http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=civilliberties_75 , accessed September 15, 2011.
4Pushkov, Alexei, Washington's unilateral moves threaten new Russinan-US relationship, Russia Weekly, December 21, 2001, http://www.cdi.org/russia/186-9.cfm , accessed September 15, 2011.
5Congressional Budget Office, http://web.archive.org/web/20070628035709/http://www.cbo.gov/budget/historical.pdf , accessed September 15, 2011.
6http://articles.cnn.com/2000-09-27/politics/clinton.surplus_1_budget-surplus-national-debt-fiscal-discipline?_s=PM:ALLPOLITICS
7Wallace, Kelly, $1.35 trillion tax cut becomes law, CNN Politics, June 7, 2001, http://articles.cnn.com/2001-06-07/politics/bush.taxes_1_child-tax-credit-trillion-tax-tax-relief?_s=PM:ALLPOLITICS ,
8George, W. Bush, BBC History, http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/bush_george_w.shtml ,
9Bush a Big Winner in 2001, CBS News, 2001,http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/12/28/politics/main322647.shtml ,
11Pringle, Evelyn, Bush Gang Swore Sadaam http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/print_friendly.php?p=opedne_evelyn_p_051115_bush_gang_swore_sadd.htm,
13Checks and Balances, Bill of Rights Defense Committee, 2002-2011, http://www.bordc.org/threats/checks.php ,
14Shorrock, Tim, Former high-ranking Bush officials enjoy war profits, Salon, May 28, 2008, http://www.salon.com/news/excerpt/2008/05/29/spies_for_hire,
15McDonell, Steven, Bush admits war on terror cannot be won, Lateline, ABC News, http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2004/s1189344.htm ,
17Former Senator Bob Graham Urges Obama to Reopen Investigation into Saudi Role in 9-11 Attacks, Democracy Now, September 15, 2011, http://www.democracynow.org/2011/9/15/former_senator_bob_graham_urges_obama ,
19United Nations, United Nations Charter, http://www.un.org/en/documents/charter/ ,
20International Committee of the Red Cross, The Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols, http://www.icrc.org/eng/war-and-law/treaties-customary-law/geneva-conventions/index.jsp ,
21US Code Section 2441: War Crimes
22Col. Januis Karpinski, The Former Head of Abu Ghraib, Admits She Broke Geneva Conventions But Says the Blame “Goes All the Way to the Top,” Democracy Now, October 26, 2005, http://www.democracynow.org/2005/10/26/col_janis_karpinski_the_former_head ,
23US Code, Title 18, Section 2340: torture
24Gallagher, Katherine, George Bush: no escaping torture charges, The Guardian, February 7, 2011, http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/feb/08/torture-george-bush ,
25McNamara, Melissa, Bush: We Don't Torture, CBS Evening News, 2006, http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/09/06/eveningnews/main1979106.shtml ,
26Hersch, Seymour M. The Gray Zone, The New Yorker, May 24, 2004, http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2004/05/24/040524fa_fact ,
27Torture, Inhumane and Degrading Treatment, and Rendition, Checks and Balances, Bill of Rights Defense Committee, 2002-201, http://www.bordc.org/threats/torture.php ,
29Glanz, jame, Lipton, Eric, Experts Urging Broader Inquiry in Tower's Fall, New York Times, December 25, 2001, http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/25/nyregion/25TOWE.html,
30Cronkite, Walter, White House Hindering 9/11 Probe, April 11, 2004, http://www.commondreams.org/cgi-bin/print.cgi?file=/views04/0411-01.htm
31Greenwald, Glenn, 9/11 Comission: our investigation was “obstructed, Salon, January 2, 2008,http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2008/01/02/obstruction ,
34Eggen, Dan, 9/11 Panel Suspected Deceptions by the Pentagon, Washington Post, August 2, 2006, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/01/AR2006080101300.html?sub=new,
35Quintere, James, We must try to find out why the towers fell, Baltimore Sun, January 3, 2002, http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2002-01-03/news/0201030039_1_atf-buildings-investigation
369/11 Commision's Lee Hamilton '52 Reacts to CIA Destruction of Torture Tapes, http://www.depauw.edu/news/index.asp?id=20521,
37Mazetti, Mark, CIA Destroyed Tapes of Interrogations, New York Times, December 6, 2007, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/06/washington/06cnd-intel.html?_r=3&hp=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1196993135-HmfZyvV1r92x3FPDmp6hyg&oref=slogin&oref=login
38Judicial Watch, The Government is Lying About the Full Extent and Source of Anthrax Attacks, October 24, 2001, http://www.judicialwatch.org/archive/2001/printer_1060.shtml,
39York, Anthony, Why Daschle and Lehey?, Salon, November 21, 2001, http://www.salon.com/news/politics/feature/2001/11/21/anthrax/index.html,
40Tower Blueprints: Surviving Evidence of the World Trade Center Attack, 9-11research.com, http://911research.wtc7.net/wtc/evidence/blueprints.html,
41Kean, Thomas, Hamilton, Lee, Stonewalled by the CIA, New York Times, January 2, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/02/opinion/02kean.html?ref=opinion ,
42Lichtblau, Eric, Congress Looks into Obstruction as Calls for Justice Inquiry Rise, new York Times, December 8, 2007, http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9500E2DA1031F93BA35751C1A9619C8B63&scp=3&sq=obstruction+hamilton+kean&st=nyt ,
43Rowley, Cooleen, FBI Whistleblower Coleen Rowley Warns Zacharias Moussaoui Trial may be the Last Time Bush Administration Use Courts to Try Terror Suspects, Democracy Now, April 4, 2006, http://www.democracynow.org/2006/4/4/fbi_whistleblower_colleen_rowley_warns_zacarias
45United States of America vs. Zacharias Moussaoui , Statement of Agreed Facts, 2006, http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/moussaoui/zmstatementoffacts.html ,
46Edmonds, Siebel, http://www.justacitizen.com/ ,
47Hogue, Jim, Sibel Edmonds: Still Silenced, But Why?, Baltimore Chronicle, December 17, 2004, http://baltimorechronicle.com/121704Hogue.shtml ,
48Edmonds, Sibel, Our Broken System, July 9, 2004, Antiwar.com, http://antiwar.com/edmonds/?articleid=2960
50Gourlay, Chris, Calvert, Jonathan, Lauria, Joe, FBI denies file exposing nuclear secrets theft, , The Sunday Times, January 20, 2008, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article3216737.ece
51Meacher, Michael, This war on terrorism is bogus, The Guardian, September 6, 2003, http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2003/sep/06/september11.iraq
53The Investigative Process at NTSB, National Transportation Safety Board, http://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/process.html ,
54National Transportation Safety Board , January 31, 2002, Specialist's Factual Report of Investigation, Digital Flight Data Recorder, https://www.ntsb.gov/doclib/foia/9_11/AAL77_fdr.pdf ,
55National Transportation Safety Board , February 15, 2002, Specialist's Factual Report of Investigation, Digital Flight Data Recorder,http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB196/doc04.pdf ,
56Lindorff, Dave, 9/11: Missing Black Boxes in World Trade Center Attacks Found by Firefighters, Analyzed by NTSB, Concealed by FBI, Counterpunch, December 19, 2005, http://www.counterpunch.org/2005/12/19/9-11-missing-black-boxes-in-world-trade-center-attacks-found-by-firefighters-analyzed-by-ntsb-concealed-by-fbi/
57International War Crimes Tribunal, United States War Crimes Against Iraq, http://deoxy.org/wc/warcrim2.htm
58Preliminary Indictment for Torture, February 7, 2011, Center for Constitutional Rights, http://ccrjustice.org/files/FINAL%207%20Feb%20BUSH%20INDICTMENT.pdf ,
60Simons, Marlise, Spanish Court Weighs Inquiry on Torture for 6 Bush -Era Officials, New York Times, March 28, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/world/europe/29spain.html ,
61International War Crimes Tribunal, United States War Crimes Against Iraq, http://deoxy.org/wc/warcrim2.htm
62International War Crimes Tribunal, United States War Crimes Against Iraq, http://deoxy.org/wc/warcrim3.htm