Remembering 9/11- A Call for Peace

"The lesson of 9/11 is that we live in a connected world. We rise or fall together. As Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” On this 10^th anniversary, let us honor those we lost by recognizing our kinship with people all over the world, and affirming the values and principles that will guarantee peaceful tomorrows for everyone." 

September 11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows

The tenth anniversary of 9/11 should be a time of remembrance and mourning for all who were lost on that tragic day and I agree with the 9/11 families who are also calling for it to be a time of reflection for the terrible price we have paid for the "War on Terror". After the tragedy of 9/11, we had the world on our side. Al Qaeda was beatable using the resources and policing efforts of a world united against such horrific violence, but we squandered that opportunity by engaging in wars that have created untold suffering that continue to this day.


I hope that as we remember the dead of 9/11, we also think of the hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians who have been killed in Afghanistan and Iraq and the millions wounded, displaced, sickened, widowed and orphaned by these wars. I hope more make the connection between militarism and the dire condition of our present economy. I hope more reach out to help returning veterans, get the health care, jobs and services they need. I hope people will talk about the true costs of war and realize that hatred, death and destruction have never and will never make us safer. I hope they will ponder these statistics and be less gullible the next time the military/industrial/media complex tries to beat the drums for another war of aggression.

• As of today, September 9-  6,552 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan and Iraq. 45,170 have been wounded, many grievously. 

• In addition, the Pentagon estimates that 360,000 US veterans have suffered brain injuries.

• 340,000 suffer PTSD or major depression.

• For the second year, more active duty troops have killed themselves than died in combat.

• We have spent $7.6 trillion on defense and homeland security since 9/11 ($1.36 trillion for the 2 wars and counting, Pentagon up 43%, Homeland Security up 301%, nuclear weapons up 21%)

•  Just 1% of the Pentagon's $685 billion budget would allow states to pay for 100,000 K-12 teachers' salaries with benefits.

• The PATRIOT Act and the Military Commissions Act are still on the books. The later says the President can declare anyone an enemy combatant and he or she can be locked up for life with no ability to challenge the detention in the courts.  
• 70% of our brave first responders have chronic lung ailments and many are coming down with cancer.

• Muslim Americans have faced growing hatred and bias in our country

Our wars of aggression have been used as recruiting tools by terrorist organizations. Our economy is in shambles and campaigns of violence and torture have seriously undermined our moral standing in the world. It is time for people to wake up to the disastrous impact of war and militarism on our nation  and how corporate media sells us war with fear and hatred of "the other".


"War is a Racket" by General Smedley Butler is as relevant today as when it was written in 1935!


"War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small 'inside' group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes."


He goes on to say he was a "gangster for capitalism" waging wars in Mexico to make it safe for oil interests, in the Dominican Republic for the sugar industry, in Honduras for United Fruit and that he "helped in the raping of a half dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street".


Wars destroy the very fabric of life, with women and children suffering the most, while a very few get very rich. For the sake of future generations, we have to rise up to say No More War, because as John Kennedy once said,"Either we end war, or war will end us."


Join us any Saturday from 12:30 to 1:30PM in front of the Elting Library in New Paltz to make a stand for peace with New Paltz Women in Black. We have been there every week for 10 years.


post script
We also may be nearing a tipping point in discovering the truth of 9/11 itself.

Remember in 2000, the Project for a New American Century (many signatories were high level Bush administration officials) put out a report, "Rebuilding America's Defenses" that called for American hegemony, "full spectrum" dominance and "the ability to fight and decisively win multiple, simultaneous major theater wars". It also stated that a "catastrophic and cataclysmic event- like a new Pear Harbor" would speed their goals. 


We should not forget "Operation Northwoods" which was a plan put to Kennedy by his military chiefs that called for bombings, hijackings, plane crashes and dead Americans- to justify invading Cuba. Kennedy said no and was assassinated a few months later.


To commemorate the tenth anniversary a new documentary, 9/11: Explosive Evidence – Experts Speak Out, features the testimonies of controlled demolition contractors, high rise architects, structural engineers and world-renowned scientists, all of whom are taking a courageous stand for the truth." The film is by Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth. It is playing Friday, 9/9 at the Elting Library in New Paltz at 8:15PM.