The Next September 11

Watching the C-SPAN coverage of the Sept. 10 hearing on Homeland Security assessment, I couldn’t help thinking how lame the US government is at accomplishing important goals like fighting the sons of bitches terrorists. Six years later, we’re still talking about things we need to do, like “securing general aviation.” These are the corporate-type planes that fly outside the usual security channels, or the ‘light aircraft’ that fly from small airports. A terrorist could take over a corporate jet with international range (say, a Gulfstream G5), load it with a nuke, and as they say in England, “Bob’s your uncle.” It would be a challenging task, but if Michael Moore’s film “9/11” is correct in the statement that the Bin Laden family, which is one of the wealthiest Arab families, has been in the oil business with the Bush family, it might be easier than we imagine that one of Osama’s friends could have inside information about accessing such a jet. Hopefully, getting a hold on a nuke would be much more difficult.

Does our government seem incompetent to you? My personal experiences with it have actually been more positive than negative, such getting a visa for my wife’s mom (she’s from Colombia), or getting a passport at the last minute so we could make our vacation flight. But six years later, there are still issues with intelligence databases and inter-departmental cooperation. And what if the truth was that 9/11 was a type of “Operation Northwoods”? Google it - is there anything more heinous than “False Flag” operations to create a reason for American imperialism? Personally, I find such conspiracy theories a bit over-the-top, but then, human greed and megalomania know no bounds. If there are indeed such people in our government that can rationalize and execute such a plan, then they must be found and prosecuted.

Fighting terrorists has always been a difficult task, and in our free society, unless we let Big Brother rule us with an iron glove, the terrorist will always have the upper hand. I want to know why we are not looking at the causes of terrorism, to better understand how to stop this desire for fear and government disruption. Who are the prospects to become terrorists, and what is the sales pitch that can make someone sacrifice their life for such a cause? Most people - even if poor or depressed, can’t imagine giving up one’s life in a cause of evil, and yet, the numbers of terrorists are rising. Why? These people have nothing to lose, and they have a hatred for those who do. Instead of fighting these people with guns, what if we fought them with money instead? What if we took the $500 billion and gave it to 50 Million Muslims? That’s $1000 each, and I would imagine that would go a long way in the Middle East. Then, they wouldn’t hate us, they would look at us as the kind friend who tried to help. But no, we have to use the fist, and beat these poor folks into submission.

As we continue the War in Iraq - a clusterf*@K if ever there was - we continue the same old bullying tactic of hegemony, and the perception of America from abroad will continue toward the negative. Everyone hates the boss - especially when the boss is a dick. And the powers that be want to continue the fear, so they can take more of our money. Why catch Osama bin Laden when the Bogeyman funds your second house and Mercedes? The sad reality is that, unless we have a social revolution with our citizens in ideological synchronization, changing our unhealthy behavior, as well as ridding ourselves of this materialistic corruption, we will see no decline of terrorism. The next 9/11 is going to happen, because either the power-mongers want it that way, or because the mission of Islamic fanaticism has a point to it. Unless we understand such causes of terrorism, changing ourselves and our tactics in the process, continue to be vigilant. Continue to ask yourself, “Who am I afraid of?” Between the Muslim and the corrupt oil lobbyist, I’m more afraid of the guy who wants to take my money. He has something to lose.