The world dramatically changed on 9/11, though, not for the reasons that were given by the Bush administration less than twenty four hours after the attacks, but for reasons that are deeply disturbing, and revealing; reasons that are either unknown, or have been repressed by activists in the peace movement.
As we enter the ninth anniversary of the War on Terror, the war in Afghanistan is intensifying, tensions in Iraq are resurfacing, and the possibility of a U.S. led attack on Iran is growing daily. Reflection upon the central premises and objectives in America's vast military enterprise in the Middle East has never been more urgent. The stakes have been raised. Questioning the official story of 9/11 is now a matter of human survival. We can not ignore the calling of history any longer. We live in a state of perpetual emergency; every moment is vital, every second counts, every day that passes is a missed opportunity to right a horrible wrong.
Correcting our flawed judgment of the 9/11 events nine years later is not an easy task; raising doubt about the official story challenges assumptions and beliefs that have taken hold in our innermost core. But once we see with new eyes, constructing a new peaceful world becomes possible. Professor David Ray Griffin has made it less hard to see through the lies and propaganda by painstakingly excavating all the facts that are recoverable about 9/11, and then juxtaposing them with details of the official story in his article, "Did 9/11 Justify the War in Afghanistan?" Professor Griffin calls the war in Afghanistan "an abomination," and unjustifiable.
Thanks to his efforts, and the efforts of others, two narratives have clearly emerged - the first starts from a blatant falsehood that was told to the world on 9/11, and forces people to view the present and the future through the narrow lens of fear, and endless violence; and the second begins with a clear truth about the evil that was done on 9/11, and asks of us to collectively challenge the authority of the U.S. government if we are serious about world peace.
As of now, many activists are trying to build peace on the ground that was laid by the hands of war. It is a hopeless way to build peace. Sisyphus had a better chance of rolling his rock up the hill. For peace to be achieved, we must all call for a new independent investigation into the 9/11 attacks.
The truth about 9/11 is so explosive that if fully admitted, any lingering public support for America's wars in the Middle East would totally collapse, and the ground on which the masters and dogs of war are wreaking destruction will breakdown overnight.
Opposing a war of perceptions without a firm grasp of the truth is like fighting with a pointless spear. Why oppose the war on terrorism at all if you are not determined to attack the basic claims, and justifications made by its extreme proponents? Creating peace in our time can't be done unless we separate perception from reality, propaganda from news, lies from the truth, and speak our minds accordingly.
As the savage in war that aims for, and seizes the heart of his foe, fighters for peace have to challenge a war at its roots, and destroy its reason for being. In other words, fight fire with water. It is better to take the moral high ground, and strike a blow against the devil from heaven than in hell.
What's the point of asking those in power to give peace a chance? They will never give it. Instead, let's make them tremble if they refuse our demands for an immediate end to the war on terrorism. Let's be disturbers of the war. And to disturb means to tell it like it is; the war on terrorism is mythology, the official 9/11 story is a fairy tale, and Al Qaeda is a fictitious villain. We must control the narrative, and let the truth shine.
The "long war" is not a reaction to the 9/11 attacks, but a diabolical enterprise that was hatched by the U.S. military machine after the fall of Communism. And it is not a war against Muslim extremism, as President Obama wants us to think, but a war against Muslim self-determination. The Islamic enemy in Afghanistan, and elsewhere is not a threat to the United States of America, the Western world, or even the Middle East. They have survived this long because they are protected and funded by the CIA. Without covert funding of Islamic fighters by the CIA, and U.S. military support of puppet regimes, the Middle East would be free and democratic by now.
But freedom and democracy can not emerge in the shadows of the "long war", in which "the battlefield is society itself," because the long war is, above all, a state of historical consciousness. It is a primitive reaction by tyrants and elites to the rising surge of freedom across the world, but especially in the Middle East.
Gen. John Abizaid, the former U.S. Commander of CENTCOM, told the Washington Post's David Ignatius in December, 2004 that; "Victory will be hard to measure," and that; "Success will instead be an incremental process of modernization of the Islamic world, which will gradually find its own accommodation with the global economy and open political systems." Such close-minded and reactionary thinking in America is what angers the people of the Middle East. American soldiers are bound to leave the entire Middle East in flames as long as they believe in the flawed historical analysis of high-up military commanders like Gen. Abizaid, and Pentagon bureaucrats like Robert Gates.
If you are serious about world peace, then you must take an honest look at the evidence about the nature of the collapse of the twin towers, and World Trade Center Building 7 that has been gathered by Professor David Ray Griffin, Richard Gage, AIA, Dr. Steven E. Jones, Dr. Niels Harrit, and others, and treat it seriously. The implications are undoubtedly grave, but we must face the facts. This is not the time to keep silent, to look away, and to pretend a controversy doesn't exist. We must tread these waters, or else we will all drown in them. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said in his speech, "Beyond Vietnam - A Time to Break Silence", that was delivered on April 4, 1967 at Riverside Church in New York City:
"We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked, and dejected with a lost opportunity. The tide in the affairs of men does not remain at flood - it ebbs. We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is adamant to every plea and rushes on. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words, "Too late." There is an invisible book of life that faithfully records our vigilance or our neglect."Also, read the wise words of John F. Kennedy in his Commencement Address at American University in Washington D.C., on June 10, 1963. Here is a brief excerpt:
"What kind of peace do I mean? What kind of peace do we seek? Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war. Not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave. I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, the kind that enables men and nations to grow and to hope and to build a better life for their children -- not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women -- not merely peace in our time but peace for all time."Let's abandon the nightmarish road that we are on, and work to bring the dream of world peace that both men shared to life. If we do not raise our voices now, while we still can, then shame on us.
