Prayers for 9/11

Before I start, I'd like to offer prayers for all civilians and military personnel killed at 9/11, and in the subsequent invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. And I do mean civilians and soldiers on all sides of the conflict.

And now, I'd like to remind us all of Augusto Pinochet, the now-senile ex-dictator of Chile. He siezed power from Salvadore Allende, the democratically elected, leftist President of Chile, on September 11, 1973. Being irrationally afraid of Communism, the CIA planned to have Allende overthrown. Plan A would have persuaded the Chilean Congress to confirm Allende's opponent as President. Plan B would have found generals willing to overthrow Allende and provide them with the resources to do so. Now, it is important to acknowledge that the CIA did not assist Pinochet in his coup. However, there is evidence that the CIA actively supported the military junta after the takeover, and that they did support Allende's opponents in the elections.

"I don't see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist due to the irresponsibility of its own people. The issues are much too important for the Chilean voters to be left to decide for themselves." - Henry Kissinger

In the pilot episode of the sci-fi TV series Battlestar Galactica, Cmrd William Adama, one of the main characters, remarks at his ship's decommisioning ceremony that there comes a time when you can't hide from the things you've done. He was (probably) speaking about how humankind had created the robotic Cylons to assist in life on the Twelve Colonies. The Cylons later revolted and tried to destroy the human race. They were fought to a standstill and an armistice was declared. Later, at the time of the pilot episode, the Cylons launch a surprise attack. 23 billion people die. There are under 50,000 survivors.

The same can apply to America, and her longstanding tradition of interfering in the affairs of other countries. We helped Pinochet. We also provided assistance to Saddam's new regime. We also deposed the democratically elected president of Iran and installed the Shah ... who was later overthrown by the Iranians. If you wonder why the Iranians hate us so much, if you wonder why Ahmedinejad is so virulent, think of this. It's an aspect of history that the mainstream media, despite their proclamations of independence and objectivity, fail to mention.

George Bush claims to be a Christian. To their credit, Cheney and Rumsfeld have made no such claims (that I know of), so they at least cannot be accused of religious hypocrisy. But as for George, he doesn't seem to understand the part where Jesus says, "Love your enemies," and, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." It's no great cognitive leap to see that if we are to love our enemies, we should treat them as we would ourselves be treated. Almost all humans believe that if they are attacked, they have the right to defend themselves. However, if we were subjected to a pre-emptive strike based on faulty information, we would not like that one bit. If we were occupied by forces who inflicted heavy civilian casualties, we would not like that either, particularly not if some of those casualties were deliberately inflicted (e.g. Abu Ghraib). If another country did this to us, we would be furious. But when we do this to the Iraqis, we justify it and come up with all sorts of excuses to make ourselves feel better, even righteous.

What if the Iraqis are just us in disguise? What does that do to us? We act as if we have God's blessing as a nation in killing Iraqis and supporting Israel's illegal occupation. Madeline Albright said, of the civilian casualties inflicted as a result of the embargo after the Gulf War, that it was "worth it." There really is no easy way to say it. Americans must face up to the things we've done. If we do not answer to them in this life, then in this life, our children or grandchildren will answer for them. And in the next life, we all will surely answer to the Supreme Judge.