For what to remember 9/11?

On the upcoming 11 september it will be 12 years since the events in Manhattan and at the Pentagon, widely called ”9/11”, which gave a dramatic boost to what since has been called ”the war on terror”. And we do remember all those things for which 9/11 has been given as a justification – invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, drone strikes in a growing number of countries, secret and less secret prisons, torture, supervision and analysis of all types of electronic communication, bugging of European institutions by (it seems) NATO agents …

We also remember that around the events of 9/11 there has grown a 9/11 Truth Movement. The first German book which went public with serious doubts about the official version appeared in 2004, scientists who were doubting the official version went public in the USA at latest in 2006 (prof. Steven Jones, who took this step, was very soon forced into retirement, but it did not hinder him from doing further research, in which he was also supported by further scientists), Richard Gage initiated an organization which meanwhile consists of more than 1000 architects and engineers. And also in Finland people have been active in this direction, e.g. Janne Strang and Mikael Böök, and also others, also myself.

The media tend to brush such people aside (if they ever mention them at all) as ”believers in conspiracy theories” – as if there had never ever been conspiracies in human history -, and it is of course one question why the media do so: in the one case in which I was personally involved the journalist was very obviously afraid of not getting a visa to the USA (which would certainly be a very serious professional handicap for very many journalists). But anyway and without going into too much detail: my opinion is still that the official version of 9/11 is incompatible with the laws of physics (simple school physics, no need to go into relativity theory), and that, together with further evidence, it is obvious that there was foreknowledge on at least the side of Israel, whereas it is US authorities who consistently refuse the demand of the 9/11 Truth Movement for a new, expert, independent investigation of the matter. Well, meanwhile not much of a surprise there, but anyway this: If somebody should think me wrong, and also be sure of his/her opinion, then s/he is most warmly invited to meet me – no, not at dawn (duels are forbidden, nor are they helpful or convincing), but in front of a public audience of his/her choice and under condition that I can present my position in English (or German). And if an audience cannot easily be provided, there is always the possibility to reserve a time at Arkadia International Bookshop …

Now, what should be the use of such a public effort? After all, in the public discussion the issue is at present dead, and the media can be relied upon to do their best to keep it that way. And I certainly do not hope to bring anybody involved to justice – G. W. Bush (even IF he was now involved, which is not sure) will certainly go on enjoying a very comfortable retirement, as will all the other suspects (as far as not Arabic/Muslim). Nor do I think that what is called ”the war on terror” should be stopped completely and immediately (the up-to-now activities in this ”war” have in fact recruited large numbers of individuals who NOW are really on the warpath against at least the USA). But I do think that a discussion about 9/11 could be a valuable contribution to general political education (a ”Lehrstück” in the spirit of Brecht), at least among the Left.

What the events are bringing up is quite a list of points which all deserve to be discussed in quite some depth: (a) If it was really so that the disastrous events of 9/11 were only made possible because those Arabs had in fact the (unasked-for) help of the US and/or Israeli services, then all the huge expenses in money and human lives which have been resulting (plus most of the present investments into the ”war on terror”) are the consequence of a US/Israel policy which took huge risks without much consideration of possible outcomes – thus, should we say, a consequence of some type of mental pathology on the side of US/Israeli decision makers? This would mean that at least the US democratic system was able to put such a person/such persons into positions of very great power (such as the presidency, which is also identical with the position of commander of the US nuclear forces). And as there have not been any larger changes in the US system since, we still live with the situation that every 4 years there is the acute possibility that elections in the USA produce a president who is, by European standards, in fact a pathological case. And of course we should also have a look at our own system whether it contains similar dangers. (b) The huge support of the US’ irresponsible policy by at least the private-owned US media needs an explanation. That may be easy to find – nationalistic frenzy sells well, and to criticize a Republican president seriously might have brought a Democratic government to power, which might have raised the taxes which media owners had to pay. But (c) also the reactions of the European media need to be explained. Are they simply used to blindly follow a US-driven bandwagon (Mauno Koivisto did sometimes say something to that direction), are they simply so ignorant of science in general that hey do not dare to follow a scientific reasoning, are they afraid of not getting visas to the USA or Israel, are they afraid that NATO might not protect them any more? Questions to be discussed …

Anyway, IF my (and not so few others’) suspicions about 9/11 are correct – and as I said, I am prepared to defend them in public – then there is a number of things very seriously wrong with our whole so-called democratic system (mental cases in power positions, manipulating/lying/ignorant media with helpless voters as a consequence, a general culture – also among  politicians – of blindly following media-produced trends, …), which would give the Left VERY MANY things to think, discuss and formulate demands about.