Fuck the clinically insane! GREAT article Taibbi. I have asked myself that exact question since reading that Newsweek article. Trying to make heads or tails of all the talking heads out there. Opinions come and go, the truth always seems to change. But, just like “Stay the Course” isn’t a plan, “We’re good, they’re evil” isn’t an answer. I’m as guilty as the next idiot out here in LaLa land, blaming Bush, or Clinton, or whatever pseudo-politician is talking out of their ass at the time. No alcoholic or addict can get back on track and live a productive life without looking “within”. And, neither can America.

tiabbi – I don’t want your head to explode, but you are a truth freak of epic dimensions. I can’t get enough of your rants. We do live in a hollow, shallow fairy tale land of lies and candy corn. When are politicians going to start speaking truth to power instead of just hot heads like you? The whole country is full of serial masturbators refusing to smell this country’s stink. Religion, high frutose corn syrup and SSRIs. Comedy, yet tragedy. Keep it up…Your star shines bright. thanks.

We have no idea why 9/11 happened? What a crock of shit. We know exactly why it happened. Islamic extremist think they will go to heaven a get rewarded with virgins if they kill the infidel. This is just more of the left’s blame America first philosophy.

taibbi is one of the more prolific and in-your-face journalist working these days.
Attempts at understanding that dense roughage of ugly now tuggin’ at our social condition. it’s about as comfortable as sleeping in leather pajamas.
years ago, my mother’s mantra was “don’t discuss politics or religion at parties, in bars, or at the dinner table.” now there seems to be little else to do…other than dumb-down and support the mistakes of a renegade administration.
shortly after the events of 9/11/01, i felt the need to revisit cleaver’s “soul on ice”. kant had just run out of breath. something both political and religious, something confounding had happened. “illin’” had erupted, and i craved familiarity, pathos, the false sense of security of an earlier time.
the dangerous badasses had arrived, and colliding and smashing their way into our national psyche with box cutters, blew wide that false sense of security and the collective mundane…and we just can’t get over it. we now sleep with the lights on.
to call yourself “clinically insane” reflects a dificulty you have with yourself. to attack taibbi as a “pussy” highlights a deeper and more tragic issue…your inability to read, or even moreso, to digest what you see.
-easy

“No Idea”? Really? Well, according to those to did it, it had something to do with Islam, and the fact that they don’t agree with us.

“Well, according to those to did it, it had something to do with Islam, and the fact that they don’t agree with us.”

Yes. Everything else is navel gazing and mental masturbation.

To Capitalist Pig and those that agree with you. Radical Islamic jihadists are immediately to blame, true. But why do you turn a blind eye to the decades of damaging US involvement in the Middle East? Do you believe America is flawless? That we can’t and haven’t make mistakes? There is a vast history behind the hijackings. Are you uninterested in learning that history? Perhaps that might provide you with a more nuanced understanding of our current struggle. (That goes for me and I think Matt Taibbi as well). We need dialogue in this country – a lost art.

when in history have people hijacked planes and purposely flown them into buildings? in previous hijackings there were demands made, and at least you could could reach a semblence of dialogue

but now its “convert or die”

besides, the roots of the conflict in the middle east go back way farther than when the us got involved

im not saying america is totally blameless, but the fact that we even exist is enough for islamic radicals to want us wiped off the face of the earth

Virginian Sasquatch – Japanese Kamikaze planes flying into docked ships is only different from what happened on 9/11 because they didn’t highjack commercial airlines. Terrorism is a tactic just Kamikaze airstrikes. There was a reason we went to war against Japan and Germany in WWII and not Kamikaze-ism. They were actual nations involved and not tactics.

All that said, I’d really like to see where they have said “Convert or die”. Because all I’ve seen is “Die!” We are seen as occupiers of their lands and ocean waters. Personally I don’t give a shit what they think. I’d prefer we take our military wherever evil dictators are and wipe out oppression, but not JUST WHERE OIL IS!

To Andy, Capitalist Pig and “clinically insane”:

I’m not sure why you’re so worked up about this article. Taibbi’s analysis is actually a sophisticated, apolitical look at asymmetrical warfare and why people employ it.

I’m on the right myself (well, libertarian anyway), and I found nothing objectionable here. Your knee-jerk, left-baiting attacks say more about you than they do about him — that is, that you’d rather evade his points through name-calling and reject them entirely out of hand rather than really evaluate any of what he’s saying.

Should you want to find out more about the asymmetrical warfare he talks about in this article via truly conservative sources, check out d-n-i.net.

By the way, clinically insane, 9/11 was “the biggest crime ever committed”? Bigger than our bombing of Tokyo, Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Bigger than the Holocaust? Bigger than Stalin’s gulags? 9/11 was awful, but let’s not overstate the case. Have some historical perspective, please.

I’m really sick of seeing everyone state a question and then answer it on a bunch of irelevant, open ended bullshit answers. Stop rambling about dumb shit and open your eyes, it dosnt matter if we messed up in the past with them, we never killed thousands of their kind at a time. yeah maybe we did something to piss them off, but thats only human, people need to realize that this was an attack on completely innocent people, if we ever messed with the mid east we messed with their mindless officials that think they know everything, so what do they do? kill the innocent. Next time you get into an argument whether your right or wrong, just think what it would be like if the other person just killed your kids over it, and then think what you would do about it, ignorant bastards

Lots of innocent kids have been killed in Iraq, but I doubt you can perceive that angry man. To you, Iraqi kids aren’t human.

thanks for the post. its about time someone said it. i have asked myself the same question many times. how its impossible to stop or destroy terrorism if you fail to examine why these people want to be terrorists in the first place? isn’t it necessary to find the root of the problem before you decide on a course of action to eradicate it? we’re to caught up in our blah, blah, blah, cookie-cutter, braindead america to comtemplate the ifs unless it can be explained in under 30 secs. and regardless of the conspiracy theories, the offical story and numerous reasons for america’s “war on terror” the fact is that most of this war is actually perpetrated on the premise of opening up new markets for american corporations and combating china rapid growth.
its about time for some honesty.
too bad both political party worship at the same corporate alter.

Neither the attitude, or the actions of “just kill them all” is neither going to stop the attacks or repair the problem at hand. To understand WHERE the hate comes from and WHY they feel this way is the only way to stop this idiocy. Those of you, and the politicians you support, who don’t care to search for the deeper causes are only setting us up for more of the same in the distant future.

Here is RI Republican senator Lincoln Chafee explaining to John Bolton “why they hate us so much.” Because he is a brave and pricipled man, he then delayed Boltons nomination hearings, (BEFORE chafee came up agaisnt his republican rival in the recent primary), which will probably result in Bolton losing the UN position! That chafee then went on to win a resounding victory over his ultra right wing neo con opponent is proof positive that the people of this country (yes, even the republicans) want change in our policies towards israel, see Israels behavior as a threat to US security, and also see Bolton as the Inept dolt that he actually is.

And yes, I am saying that we suffered 9/11 in large part due to our failed policies concerning Israel’s settlement movement and the occupation it necessitates. Take the settlements and our tacit and not so tacit support of them for the last 40 plus years out of the picture, and you would have had only a fraction of the terrorist activity that we have seen since Israel began to illegally expand its borders and practice ethnic cleansing.

Here it is:

“OK — Something interesting is going on with Lincoln Chafee. He just shoved John Bolton all over the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Hearing Room floor.

Must have had spinach and Wheaties this morning. Chafee was dogged in questioning John Bolton on his views about Israel-Palestine, about the root causes of the crisis in the Middle East, about Bolton’s simple-minded use of the term “terrorism”, and about Bolton’s views of “shaping the Middle East” as one of the greatest challenges America faces.

Senator Chafee started off reading a Bolton statement that he made in the past where Bolton essentially blamed terrorism as the fundamental problem in the Middle East. Chafee said to Bolton: “You are a brilliant man. Terrorism is a device. Your statement makes no sense. Explain it.”

Bolton gave a long and convoluted response but also stated: “There is no basis for peace in the Middle East now.” He suggested that one of the reasons why the U.S. has resisted calls for immediate cease fire in the region is that it wants to generate a “comprehensive solution”. He said “we need to use current circumstances as a fulcrum to move towards a more stable, longer term solution.”

Chafee jumped back: “Can’t you go any deeper? This isn’t just terrorism. What about the history of terrorism in the region? What are the root causes?”

Bolton continued to duck the question. And jumped back to focus his answer on Hezbollah — which he said has one foot in as political party, one foot in as military movement and that it would have to abandon its military part for peace to move forward.

Bolton sounded reasonable but still ducked Chafee’s question.

So Chafee charged AGAIN.

Chafee said, “We have serious problems now. This is a conflagration. You are not answering my question. What are the root problems? What do we have to get to — to get to a permanent peace? Is there anything deeper than just terrorism that you can identify as the root cause of the conflagration?

Bolton finally began to yield to Chafee’s impressive pressure and focus.

Bolton said that the problem in the region is mostly that some nations continue to question “the right of israel to exist.” Bolton stated that “the peace process is incomplete.” He continued, “Israel is not able to complete full peace agreeements with its neighbors,” and the leadership of Iran has threatened to wipe Israel off the map.

Chafee then told Bolton that the American Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad had recently testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and made the statement: “Shaping the Middle East is the defining challenge of our time.”

Chafee asked Bolton if he agreed with Ambassador Khalilzad.

Bolton stated that he thought “shaping the Middle East” was ‘one’ of the significant challenges of our time, but intimated that WMD proliferation was another definining challenge that he worried about as much. He then turned his response into more criticism of Iran.

Then Chafee came out with a whopper on Palestine/Israel.

He asked Bolton if “he believed in a viable, contiguous Palestinian state existing side-by-side Israel.”

Bolton repied that he does believe in a Palestinian state, but then obscured his answer with more about Hezbollah and its destabilization of the current situation.

Chafee then came back, again: “What has the US done about a contiguous Palestinian state?”

Chafee asked John Bolton if he thought that one of the root causes of our problems in the Middle East is our failure to make progress on a viable, contiguous Palestinian state existing peacefully, side-by-side next to Israel.

This is a remarkable and brave statement and query for Chafee to offer in these times.

Bolton responded somewhat constructively suggesting that “This is the time to look at “broader solutions” that could very well make progress on the Palestinian front as well.” Bolton stated that discussions at the UN regarding Lebanon often include as well the Occupied Territories (Bolton’s term).

While I happen to think that these issues ought not to be lumped together — the fact that Chafee compelled Bolton to agree that a comprehensive solution was needed that resulted in a viable, contiguous Palestinian state was a very important exchange.

I would have been thrilled with Chafee’s performance just as it was — but THEN HE WENT ONE BETTER.

Lincoln Chafee said to Bolton that “he disagrees” with Bolton and does not see the administration putting “the effort put behind the rhetoric” that Bolton provided today.

Lincoln Chafee seems back in play to me. It may not be enough for him to reverse his vote — but Chafee has certainly done more to open new territory in this battle than anyone else this morning.”

Here he is bringing Condoleeza rice and the entire republican administration to task for droping the ball on teh most important issue we face regarding the genesis of Middle Eastern terrorism:

“CHAFEE: . . . you said that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and confronting it is a pillar to our success in the region. Those are your words. Now, I was at a dinner — I think it was Gridiron or something like that — and humor was encouraged. And the president ran a video of looking for weapons of mass destruction, looking under chairs, looking under the table, where are they, where are the WMD?And, obviously, it was a joke. There were no WMD. It was all a joke. And the laugh was on us. Now the president is talking about the road map. And he’s saying, in his words, in May, “Israel must remove unauthorized outposts and stop settlement expansion. “Are we going to someday see the same movie, where’s the road map? It must be under here somewhere. It’s under this table. It’s under this chair. Or are we really working to do what the president’s saying? And that is: Remove unauthorized outposts and stop settlement expansion?

RICE: Well, interestingly, Senator, we’ve had the only return of territory to the Palestinians in the entire history of the conflict. The Israelis are out of the Gaza. And that. . .

CHAFEE: I’m asking about settlement expansion. I’m asking that question.

RICE: Senator, I understand, and I will answer that question. But we can’t lose sight of the historic change that has taken place and that the Palestinians are actually now in control of the Gaza. We’re working with them on issues of international egress and ingress and matters of that kind. But let’s remember that the Israelis took an historic decision to actually leave the territory.

CHAFEE: While 8,000 settlers moved out of Gaza, while 30,000 moved into the West Bank in opposition to the president’s stated objective; that’s why I’m asking the question.

RICE: Actually, Senator, I don’t think 30,000 have moved into disputed territories. . .

CHAFEE: Probably more.”

I hope that helps clear up any questions you may have regarding “why they hate us so much”. Kudos to senator Chafee, and the Brave people of Rhode Island, who obviously support him and his views completely.

J

Mr. Taibbi,

You have some very interesting things to say here, but what good does it do to bemoan the state of our indolent and decadent American culture, however accurate your obsevations may be (and they are accurate)? Journalists stating the obvious, that Americans today lack the work-ethic and self-possession to achieve anything outside of producing clever fake-newsmen and musicians who think they’re brave for voicing their dissent, is like standing by a fire and saying, “Hey, it’s burning?” At least propose in your blog a slight movement to cure our ills, or follow your own advice and get out there and do something about it.

Wow, some friends you got here Matt. Hey, I got tickets on the 50 yard line for the Green Bay game….

greetings

Man… there’s some seriously dark, angry people on this board. I found myself feeling the same way for a long time. Then I discovered that smokin’ a little weed and kicking back listening to Tool is more fun and a lot less draining than being pissed off. Try it sometime. And maybe listen to something happy… like Hootie and the Blowfish.

The first steps that need to be taken to understand this subject better is gaining a religious perspective and not a political one.The Fundamentalists hate us because we support Israel and will not let them control the Middle East. These events are all biblical prophecies and have been set up before the foundation of the earth. These events were suppose to happen, they are going to happen and their is nothing we can do about it. In this country we keep trying to figure out what went wrong. Unforntunately we are to self-possessed to look right under our noses. Any nation that says, “Under God,” in its title is going to be attacked. We support Israel because they are Gods chosen people. The fanatics are mad and jealous because God didn’t choose them. So they made alot of the ideaology up and are fighting over Jerusalem which is to be their holy place. The Jews due to the fact that they didn’t convert after Pentecost, believe it will be theirs to. That is why they won’t leave either. Therein lies the problem. Two ideologies fighting over the same Holy ground. The Lord basically has turned them over to a reprobate mind and they will not stop until somebody,”wins.” Everyone else is just in the middle.
Christians on the other hand know that the earth will be destroyed and a New Jerusalem will be made.Again,unfortunately before this can come about alot of evil things will happen. The Jews are the precatalyst for all of these. He chose them to be his people. Not because they were many but because they were few. He chose to come back and die for our sins through these people and will still use them in the end times to see his word come true.
If something happens to them we are all in trouble.That is alot of the reason why America hasn’t felt Gods wrath as of yet. We are still siding with the Jews and believe me we are way past due for judgement.
I know some people will say “Ohh If we didn’t have religion this wouldn’t be a problem.” Religion is not the problem, we are. Personally, I don’t trust people. We inherited our knowledge of good and evil from God and he keeps us from doing bad things alot of the time. Now just imagine if he wasn’t there what people would do. I wouldn’t want to live in a world where “me” is the biggest thing around. Imagine a world with complete narcissim and nation and ideological pride. Just imagine all the worst people in the world having power and no one to check them. Little Jim Jones run amuk.Eventually this will happen its already been said. Now you should try and save yourselves. But no one will probably listen to this even though I know in your heart you know its true. We are just humans and can only work in one dimension but God works in four. So we have alot to learn, no wonder we are in such bad shape. Politics can only go so far.

Matt, you just made my day, buddy!

Today’s Low Post was a tasty, soothing, multi-page endorphin rush. You nailed us: an eloquent dissection of what’s wrong with this freakin’ country and we who inhabit it. I can probably get through my day now without feeling the overpowering need to go to the public square and start screaming “Wake the f**k up!” at passersby. That still might make for an entertaining lunch hour, but my editor would likely disapprove…

Thanks for another great piece. Keep ‘em coming.

The very late afternoon I saw a Ford pickup truck with a message soaped on the windows.
“LEVEL THE MIDDLE EAST FOR THIS!”

Hey nuff said.

Down with the Middle East, yep. I know what I would do. As an ignorant bastard I would be stupid enough to go to the police since I obviously know where the is. I wouldn’t go shoot up his neighborhood and kill people who had noting to do with it. And I especially wouldn’t go take out the home owners association in his neighborhood just because he was friends with them. But what do I know? I’m just an ignorant bastard because I’m civil enough to not take justice into my own hands and actually, I dunno, follow the fucking rules.

Why ask why? Since 9/11 more than 80,000 Americans have been murdered. By other Americans.

We love murder. Religion and politics have simply been the most consistent ways to numb the guilt.

Good to see Taibbi addressing the issues. Sad to say, however, that he and the rest of you only have 3 choices: be a murderer, a victim, or a witness.

What is Matt Taibbi’s definition of they/us?

Wow. The Gobb.

I’ve got to add another comment.

On Sept. 11th 2006 I was watching MSNBC. Tom Brokaw was speaking with Joe Scarborough, and others, at the World Trade Center whole. The subject of their discussion was of course the War on Terror.

Brokaw brought up the point that this war is more complicated than staying the course, or cutting and running. And that there are many other issues that have not been mentioned in the national debate that are important.

The two examples he pointed out were:

1. American’s wouldn’t need to be in the Middle East if we had alternative energy sources.
2. America’s close relationship to Israel makes us the enemy of Islam.

I’m sure there are many other issues as well. For example, Muslims don’t drink alcohol, they smoke hash, so if America legalized hemp maybe we could all think on the same terms.

The basic gist of this piece is spot-on. But the writing is weak and set my bullshit detector buzzing. Taibbi seems to feel that he needs to affect an angry, “punk” tone, but anyone with a BS detector can sense that there’s no genuine anger in Taibbi’s heart, at least not in this piece. And there’s little substance here beyond a pastiche of late-90s cliches about transnational corporations, “dumbing down” culture and consumerism, all revved up with the sort of fake anger (also very late-90s) that alternative-mainstream types like Alanis Morrisette used to employ. If Taibbi is out to tap that Alanis Morrisette demographic, then more power to him. If he wants to do something worthy, he should write what he honestly feels. Or go back to writing journalism. Then again, after that awful Iraq article he wrote, maybe this sort of harmless whingeing is a safer bet.

Senator Sexton Hardcastle

“I’m on the right myself (well, libertarian anyway), and I found nothing objectionable here. Your knee-jerk, left-baiting attacks say more about you than they do about him — that is, that you’d rather evade his points through name-calling and reject them entirely out of hand rather than really evaluate any of what he’s saying.”

“By the way, clinically insane, 9/11 was “the biggest crime ever committed”? Bigger than our bombing of Tokyo, Hiroshima and Nagasaki?”

I don’t recall calling anyone a name. As for Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Tokyo those were not crimes, they were acts of war against a nation we were in a declared war against, a nation that attacked us first. I guess you will find some moral equivilency to justify thier attack on Pearl Harbor, just as with the 9/11 attacks.

You guess wrong. Pearl Harbor was a crime too, and I won’t justify it.

So, haven’t you just written a lot of words that essentially say, “Gee, things are different now.”?

What are you offering us here? Yes, national boundaries are blurring. What do we do with that information?

I’m a bit tired of everybody bashing everybody else over the head about how stupid, or insane, or…. (whatever epithet you’ve seen bantied about.) How about some suggestions? Isn’t it possible that our leaders don’t have a goddam idea how to address this entirely new paradigm? (Not that I’m making excuses. I don’t think this justifies their choices and methodologies.) So, when do we start coming up with methodologies for addressing anarchist criminal actions? How do we create a vision of a more accountable and responsibile people? (I’m talking about us here.)

Please stop talking about how everyone else doesn’t get it and start a dialogue about what we can do differently. We are desperately in need of visionary leadership and criticizing others does not represent that.

None of the wingnuts actually read the article, so don’t bother quizzing them on it.

Osama Bin Laden Said that the inspiration for the 9/11 came to him when he saw Israeli Jets (provided by the US) bomb the towers in Lebanon (remember the first time Israel destroyed Lebanon for nothing?)killing hundreds of innocent people as those towers were layed to waste.

Israel was attacking Lebanon because the PLO leadership was in Lebabnon, and they were trying to assasinate them.

Long ago, we could have forced Israel to quit the occupation, stop the settlement movement (before they grew from a few thousand people to now about half a million)and allow the palestinians to form a stable nation. Instead, we essentially have paid for this by giving the Israelis about 3 to 6 billion dollars every year for the past 40 years. This is more money than we give to any other country in the world in foreign aid. Without this money and our diplomatic cover in the UN (we have vetoed more resolutions that are critical of Israel than we have any for any other subject that ever comes up in the UN) Israel would have never been able to deal with the crushing expenses that accompany the occupation and the settlement movement.

Ironically, while the settlememt movement has always been offically condemned by the US Government, we have in essence paid for it.

If you prefer not to believe Osama Bin Laden that Our policies regarding Israel led to 9/11, (and he seems like a pretty good source to me) perhaps you might beleive Bill Clinton, when he said (after he was out of office and 9/11 had occured) that a fair and equitable solution to the Israeli settlement problem would “remove the philosophical underpinning for terrorist recruitment in the Middle East.

I.E. if we stop giving the Israeli’s 6 billion dollars a year (and put that money into alternative fuel research or to help fix public education in this country) and save trillions of dollars by saving all the money we would have had to spend defending ourselves agaisnt the terrorists that the 6 billion helps to Inspire, not to mention reducing dramatically the occurance of another 9/11.

We should be acting end the settlements on principle alone. They are organized and populated by the most radical and bigoted poeple in Israel, people who make the KKK look like the NAACP in comparison. They will fight (both in Israel and here in the US) to maintain the settlements regardless of how many Israelis, Americans or Palestinians die as a result of their actions.
until 9/11, it was Israeli teenagers who had to stand as human sheilds around these whackjobs in order to prevent the Palestinians (whose land they are in the act of stealing) from attacking them. This has not played well with the Israeli public, and that is why the kadima party was formed, in order to attempt to remove the settlements. Unfortunatley, left to their own devices (and with US funding still pouring in) it may take them quite a long time to finish the job.

Post 9/11, , to paraphrase the head of the Republican National Party, we are all (Israelis)human sheilds for the settlements now.

J

First of all, I thought most of the kind of people who read Rolling Stone believe the 9-11 attack happened because it was George W Bush’s fault.
Second, if you want to understand why so many people all over the World hate the US just take a look at all the scumbags who have been on the cover of Rolling Stone over the years – American Culture is SHIT.

Oh yeah Capitalist Pig, Hiroshima and Nagasaki weren’t morally reprehensible in any way. I guess we didn’t apologize for them then either. I’m glad you condone massive attacks on innocent civilians. Kind of like 9/11, but we did it huh?

Steve – Nagasaki and Hiroshima were both military targets, both cities had military production facilities. And we were at war, a war Japan started. An invasion of Japan would have cost many more Japaneese lives and alot American lives. I am sick of the left wing monday morning quarterbacking on this issue. It is easy to sit back 60 years later and say what you would have done. Of course being a liberal you would have surrendered after Pearl Harbor.

C.Pig
Japan Perpetrated worse atrocities upon Asia then the Nazis did in the Holocaust. This is not widely known, but it’s true. Dropping the bomb was probably justified. But you come off as such a biased war monger with your language. Anyone who opposses war – in your apparent world view – is a liberal pussy who want nothing less than the destruction of america, and a UN take over. Your stance is frighteningly angry. Scary because so many seem to agree with your view. Ironically, many of them also claim to be Christian. What ever happened to “love your enemies”?

Ted Ward – I come off as a bias warmonger? Because I don’t buy into the “we don’t know why they attacked us” theory? Or because I don’t buy the “we were horrible in WWII” theory? Oh, well.

“Ironically, many of them also claim to be Christian. What ever happened to “love your enemies”?”

Since when did I claim to be a Christian? Anyone who has followed what I post on this site will know that I have stated many times I am an agnostic.

What ever happened to informed journalists? Millions of Americans have responded to 9/11 by demanding the truth behind that day, articles like this serve to insult a shrinking majority of the population for buying into the memory of 9/11- and..well that’s it. Instead of leftist patronization, why not tell these same middle Americans to look up guys like Paul Craig Roberts or David Ray Griffin. These guys are making real efforts to cross the rubicon of partisan denial and work for some real (not loose) change…

Shame on the Rolling Stone for publishing this fake attempt at non-partisan criticism. This article asks none of the questions that really matter-
instead of ‘why it happened’ Mr. Taibbi, why don’t we all take a nice big gulp of testicular fortitude and ask ‘how’ and perhaps most importantly, ‘who’..once you have these figured out, the question of ‘why’ will already be answered.

Your, “Why Ask Why?” essay was as powerful as any work of yours I’ve read thus far. All the more because of its quiet. No choking back a snicker or gaffaw this read. No, Matt, you meant business and demanded the same from your reader. I only wish I had the means to meet your challenge. Thanks, though, Chas.

“a can of kerosene overturned above its head, like the old lady sitting next to Robert Hays in Airplane!”
Didn’t the old lady hang herself? It was a man who doused himself in flamable liquid.

Why do they hate you? Or rather, why do WE hate you? Forgive me for presuming to talk for billions without their knowledge or permission but for brevity’s sake, here we go.
First of all, we don’t … hate you, that is. We clearly covet the fruits of your culture, however you came by it. We watch your movies and listen to your music and we buy Rolling Stone too. We are cluey enough to be able to differentiate between the Government and the people, even while we know that theoretically speaking, in a strictly Democractic system, the true Government is the people … well, in theory. We get it. We know that the elected are supposed to be representative of the population but are in fact accepted, treated, feted and obeyed as leaders. We know the ways in which Democracy sticks to the script and the ways in which it never has and never will. We don’t hate you or your culture. We hate your Government, which is to say we hate the Administration of your Government.
We hate the murderous meddling of successive Administrations and the glib references to “American interests” even when you’re talking about a sovereign foreign country. You can’t depose a foreign Government and impose one of your preference without raising some ire. You can’t supply arms to both sides of a war (Iraq v Iran) without tipping your hand. You can’t train and arm despots and terrorists in the name of creating a bullwark against Communism then feign surprise when the scum turn on you. 9/11 did not come out of the blue, it was simply the latest tragic salvo in an ongoing, undeclared war. And even though you (i.e. us) don’t know there’s been a war since the middle of last century, we (i.e. them) do.
To know this for yourself rather than taking my or anybody else’s word for it, you could do worse than to start with Iran circa 1953. Here’s a teaser, Iran used to be a secular Democracy. Now go, learn. Then put yourself in their shoes. And before you retreat behind the familiar, “how can they do it, kill innocent people, they must be insane, inhuman, different from us”, try the more honest, “what drove them to it and what would it take to make me go that way?”. I know, I know. You never would. And yet women are raped in your country and children molested. Face it, as a people you’re no more above the worst of humanity than any other.
Please don’t misunderstand the motives of this missive. I am an admirer of the vibrancy of your culture. I am as thankful as anybody for the influence of your Bill of Rights and Constitution on the Democracy’s of the modern world. Consider this a clumsy, self-interested though well meaning plea for a return to the best of what the USA has been.

If your confused about why 9/11 occured, it’s because like most people in America, you know nothing about the impact that the settlements in Israel have had in setting the tone for the hatred of American in the Middle East. Why? because although we say we condemn them, we have paid for them and defended them in the UN when the rest of the world demands they be immediately dismantled. Remember, this has gone on and gotten increasingly worse over the last 40 years and has enraged whole generations of Arabs and Muslims across the Middle East. Our lack of interest in the issue as a nation does not change the fact that it is the single largest contributor to Middle eastern terrorist recruitment. This is the opinion of Jimmy Carter, ( who will soon release a book comparing Israeli Palestinian policy to Apartheid South Africa) Colin Powell, Bill Clinton, Pat Buchanan, Michael Scheuer (the head of the CIA Bin Laden unit) senators Linclon Chafee and Chuck Hegel, Tony Blair, not to mention just about every other country in the entire world.

Well, lets stop worrying about why 9/11 happened for a moment and consider that the very people who helped bring about the debacle we call the war in iraq with lies about nuclear weapons and threats to Israel are pulling the same stunt again. They are literally lying about the IAEA report regarding Iran, in an even more egregious way than they did the ones concerning Iraq. This time, the IAEA is not being shy about calling them lies and intentional distortions.

Furthermore, the Bush administration is trying to legalize kangaroo courts in which secret witnesses may testify against defendants and those defendants will never know what evidence was brought agaisnt them nor by whom and they will then be found gulty if the judge thinks it appropriate. IE, a total breakdown of the rule of law.
To top it all off, they want to rewrite the geneva convention (which serves to protect our soldiers as well) and legalize torture. They are already in the act of keeping illeagal phone records on just about every one in the US.

So they will ensure that our enemies and allies alike will come to see us as the exact opposite of the nation that most Americans aspire to be. They will see us as a torture state that is utterly untrustworthy, has no reliabe rule of law and attacks other countries preempetivly for purely imperialist reasons based on trumped up charges that virtually the rest of the world condemns.

If they are allowed to get away with it, over the next ten years after we are are attacked several more times, you can be sure that it is this administrations fault.

But when they start applying the torture and kangaroo courts to American citizens who happen to disagree with thier policies and create legitimate road blocks towards the goals they want so badly to acheive (US hegemony with Israeli dominance in the Middle East) you can only blame yourself for remaining ignorant and not acting to vote these whackjobs out of office before they dismantle the entire constitution over “security concerns”.

Regardless of party affiliation, any politician who is in the good graces of AIPAC and /or makes indications that our middle eastern policies must make Israels security the over arching priority is going to help drag us into WWIII, will ultimately work to degrade the protections of the constitutions, and make this country a target of terrorism from now till kingdom come.

Politicians who make the end of the Israeli settlements a priority and seek a two state solution and are not afraid to talk about it openly are going to protect the interests of the US, keep us out of any extended wars in the middle east, and will reduce terrorism substantially.
Please research this for yourself and come to your own conclusions. It’s never been more important.

J

News Flash,

The National Intelligence Estimate
(the collective findings of the leading US spy agencies) says that the war in Iraq has caused extremism and terrorism to grow substantially world wide.

So instead of forcing the Israelis to comply with the wishes of the entire world (as demonstrated many times at the UN) and quit the occupation, remove the settlers and allow a stable Palestinian state to emerge, we started a war in Iraq which actually has caused Extremism and the threat of terror to grow world wide.

Make no mistake about it; if there was no Israeli settler movment, ME terror would be a fraction of what it is and there would be no 9/11. This administrations actions in reaction to this avoidable event constitutes clear evidence of why AIPAC must be dismantled and our policies with Israel changed dramatically. We need to cut off all funding, diplomatic support in the UN and all military support (except in the face of a direct threat to Israel itself, which border skirmishes with Hezbollah do not count as) Until they relenquish the Apartheid policies in the West Bank and East Jerusalem that virtually the entire world condemns.

We were fed bad intel on Iraq by people who actively promote Isreals most heinous policies in order to inflame problems in the region to cause pretext for WWIII (ie, the war to make Israel the leading ME power for many decades to come)

The same people are working with AIPAC and israeli intelligence right now to try to feed us bad intel in Iran so that there is no turning back on WWIII. Currently,
one US Governemt offical has been sent to prison for 14 years for espionage and the two AIPAC officials that he was feeding information to are under indictment for espionage agaisnt the US.

Below is a 1994 CNN story that outlines the case, and subsequently, Larry Franklin, who worked for Feith, is serving time and the two AIPAC officials are being tried for espionage.

Keep in mind, these are only the people who have been CAUGHT. many others are surely hard at work misdirecting this country to make mistakes that will make the mistake in Iraq look like childs play. I urge you to take a fair and balanced look at Feith, Perle and Wolfowitz’s agenda concerning the US relationship with Israel and what they want to see happen in the ME.

9/11 is done and can’t be undone, no matter what conspiricy theory you are deluded into believing. it’s much more important now to keep your eye on the ball and help to prevent further disasterous mistakes like the Iraq war and the run up to the Iranian war. We should be impeaching these clowns on Iraq and Lebanon alone and never allow them to get close to Iran or any other such fiascos.

Remember the ball is in front of you, and is something you can act upon now. The 9/11 conspiracies are all off to side of the ball, and serve to direct you away from real world action that can be taken now to prevent imminent Disaster.

Don’t be sitting around years from now, drafted, in a foxhole somewhere in the ME, talking about conspiriacy theories about how the Iranian War sparked the WWIII you will still be fighting for years to come. Act now to stop it before is starts. That does not just mean voting the republicans out. It means scrutinizing every politician reagrding their feelings and actions concerning Israel, Iraq, Iran, and the Middle east in general and voting approriately. keep in mind, while the entire current administration must go, as well as much of congress, Hillary Clinton and many other democratic candidates are just as committed to putting us into WWIII (starting with a war with Iran)as the current administration. She is utterly beholden tp AIPAC and currently would act in lock step with them on these issues, for fear of her political future.

below is the CNN story on the AIPAC spy case.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The FBI has evidence that a person who has been working at high levels in the Pentagon may be a spy for Israel, senior U.S. officials confirmed to CNN on Friday.

The suspect could have been in a position to influence Bush administration policy toward Iran and Iraq, the senior official said.

However, another government official said the suspect is “not in a level to influence policy.”

“He is an analyst in an undersecretary’s office,” this official said.

A senior Pentagon official confirmed to CNN that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld “had been made generally aware that the Justice Department had an investigation going on.”

CBS News, which first reported the story, said the FBI had developed evidence against the suspect, including photographs and conversations recorded through wiretaps.

The network said the suspect has ties to two senior Pentagon officials: Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith.

Multiple sources have told CNN that the investigation is well along, and one government official described the evidence against the suspect as a “slam dunk case” and said “there has been no decision to prosecute the individual.”

Officials said the suspect passed classified documents to Israel through the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobbying group.

But AIPAC released a statement late Friday calling the news reports “false and baseless.”

The statement said AIPAC learned Friday that “the government is investigating an employee of the Department of Defense for possible violations in handling confidential information.”

A designation of the material as confidential would indicate a much lower level of secrecy than if it had been designated as classified.

AIPAC said it “is cooperating fully” with government authorities, including providing documents and information and making staff members available for interviews. Sources told CNN that two AIPAC employees have been interviewed in the case by the FBI.

J

view,
Thanks for your post.

oh my GOD ii fell so bad about the TWIN TOWERS ii never even got to see them because ii was only 7 to 8 in First Grade when ii heard of it ii never UNDERSTOOD till ii Grew UP….now since the 4th grade ii underSTOOD more and now every since ii haer about IT ii cry and CRY …I just don’t know how the people felt? WHEN THE twins towers were destroyed….i wonder how this could of HAPPENED and now wonder and wonder how it couuuld of happend if these TOWER were like HEAVEN 2nd home….Many people felt Comforatble…and NOw in my heart FOREVER the Twin Towers will be….

I totally agree with jessica I mean the twin towers were high,and strong the terriust made everything worst adn every year new DRAMA in reality is occuring! V I love you Jessica =)

I totally agree with jessica I mean the twin towers were high,and strong the terriust made everything worst adn every year new DRAMA in reality is occuring! V I love you Jessica =)

Hi, there!..e9f2279a957058a6e5428c5065ff5255

The fact is 2 towers were hit by one jet airliner each (even thought their architect clearly said they are designed so well they can easily take multiple jumbo-jet hit directly and not suffer any significant damage to their structural integrity)and fell to the groud in 10 seconds flat. The fact is one other tower was hit by nothing and had minor fires and fell to the ground in 7 seconds flat. The fact is it is physically in possible for this to have happened without a very sophisticated operation to set up the towers with timed demolition explosives. The fact is physicist and engineers have determined these building could have been loaded with the explosives in the cieling tiles during a period of about 2 weeks and sometime before 9/11 actually happened while one of Bush’s brothers was running the security of the twin towers they had a outtage of all security systems and cameras etc in the buildings for a period of several weeks. It is absolutely fact that this created a new pearl harbor impact psychologically and was run by the Bush-neocon cabal as an excuse to do everything it ever dreamed and more. That’s the reason. There are many other facts like several of the FBI’s list of hijackers were found alive and well by the BBC. All covered up in the US press.

And continuing to ignore these facts gives Bush and his neocon freaks the power they have. 9/11 is the only ground they have to stand upon. And all you idiots do is continue to repeat it as if it has any validity whatsoever. Tabbi just ridicules things twists positions in his articles for effect. Not to show the truth but to mold things to his conclusions. Anyone that doesn’t expose 9/11 as the great theatrical act the new pearl harbor which was used very clearly by bush to steal literally trillions of dollars from the US treasury take over countries like Columbia. How is it that Bush bought 100,000 acres of Columbia?? I mean he is a president making a good salary but he didn’t have that much money going in.

Bush went along with this neocon/PNAC(Israeli-Americans how in 95 expressed their desire to remove saddam from power for the sake of Israeli might in the region and also on their website clearly state we need a new pearl harbor to do all of this. They also had promised those in the defense industrial complex that they’d boost defense spending by at least 100 billion a year before Bush even took office)

What you are doing by closing your eyes to 9/11 is supporting George Bush and company.

9/11 WAS AN INSIDE JOB.