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(A German view
on America in the aftermath of the WTC attacks)
by Jo
Conrad
In America, from a
Constitutional point, everybody is innocent until proven guilty and one doesn't
lock up unpopular persons or groups who have a different point of view. America
has a wonderful Constitution. Everyone has the right, to pursue happiness in his
or her way. America prides itself to be the Land of the Free and the Brave.
However in the aftermath of the Sept. 11th 2001 attacks things seem to change.
Rights are limited, a war is on. But on what basis?
The FBI wants us to believe
that one of the assassins checked in several suitcases, from which one got lost
in transfer to the second flight. Flight-uniforms supposedly were also found and
a video about commercial airplanes and a goodbye letter. But where did Terrorist
Atta want to watch that video, if it was in the cargo area? Of what use were the
uniforms in the suitcase when he checked it in? Why doesn't one leave a
goodbye-letter at home or mail it to his family? In the suicide attack on the
World Trade Center everything would have been lost, goodbye letter and Video
would have been useless. One does not check in suitcases with important things
in it. Everyone knows that all too often they get lost and arrive someplace
else. Also the suitcase could have might have been ripped open - flight-uniforms
and parting-letter could have been examined, which would have endangered the
whole project. Why didn’t the persons use false names in such a well planned
terrorist attack? Atta was already under surveillance by the FBI. The simplest
precaution not to endanger the operation would have been the use of fake names.
Even grandpa if he wanted to buy a porno movie would not use a credit card,
because he doesn't want to leave a trail of his purchase. The terrorists however
rented cars with their credit cards and left a Koran behind. Why didn’t they
take the Koran with them, if it was a religiously motivated attack already? Why
did they have a rental car at the Boston Airport, although they flew in with
another airplane (that was not abducted) from Portland to Boston?
Are these the best “proofs”
the FBI can come up with? They claim to have secret information, but these
unbelievable stupid story is what was given to the media.
Later they published a
guideline that was supposed to be hand written by the leader of the commando,
Atta. It says: the work of the group has priority, because this is “Sunna”.
Osama bin Laden’s spiritual background is “Wahabism.” The Wahabits have seen the
supporters of the Sunna as arch enemies for over 300 years. A follower of
Wahabism would never call the Sunna for support, since he would regard them as
supporters of idolatry; to have strayed from the right way of the Islam and
should be killed. According to the guidelines the terrorists ought to be clean
shaven for the attack. Have you ever seen Talibans well-shaved? Doesn't the
luxuriant beard express exactly their ideology?
The father of Atta claims
to have had a phone call from his son two days after the attack. He is
completely convinced of his son’s innocence and claims, it is all a political
conspiracy.
Not, that I consider the
Taliban as harmless. Not too long ago they destroyed old Buddha-Statue’s,
irretrievable cultural Monuments. People are executed publicly, women
suppressed. And Osama bin Laden has also spread a video, in which he announces
further attacks. But, strange enough, he did not claim responsibility. He would
proudly do so if he was behind it.
Why does the FBI submit
information that is as questionable, as the “proof” of Lee Harvey Oswald’s guilt
of the assassination of John F. Kennedy?
I don’t want to belittle
the attack on the WTC. It is a dreadful catastrophe. It has been said, it is an
attack on the civilised world, which implies there must be an uncivilised world.
This differentiation is a questionable simplification. Criticising America is
uncivilised from now on? How convenient! But there are still questions about who
knew about the attacks beforehand.
Before the attack people
were not allowed to sight-see the WTC. Many people, who worked in the WTC,
didn't report for work on that day either. “CNN,” who has an office in the WTC,
laments no single co-worker as lost. And other companies as well, who had
offices in the Word Trade Center, don´t miss a single co-worker.
Strangely enough, a
cameraman, who filmed in South Manhattan, directed his camera directly on the
WTC, precisely a second before the first Airplane crashed into the North-Tower.
[What a coincidence!] The footage has the copyright-remark of Gamma-Press, the
same press agency that was first in the tunnel at Lady Di´s deadly accident.
Coincidence? Why is Gamma Press always at the right place, if a world-shattering
catastrophe occurs?
Let´s have a look on the
timeline of events:
About 8:45 AM, the first
airplane (flight-number AA 011) crashed into the WTC. About 9:03 AM (UA 175)
hit the second building. About 9:17 AM New York airports are closed. Bush speaks
of national tragedy about 9:30AM. Nevertheless the flight-prohibition-zone is
still open over Washington DC, as flight 077 UA rages into the Pentagon wing,
which is being newly renovated at 9:43 AM! A half hour after the first attack it
would have been possible to prevent further attacks with ground to air-rockets
in a high-security-area. Also, how could the abductors overpower all aircrews,
without a single pilot managing to tap four digits into the transponder or
transmit a message? If the assassins may have succeeded in one or two cases, it
is extremely improbably, that they succeeded in all four cases. As soon as a
transponder-signal would fail, usually the ground-crew would be at highest
alert, because of the rules of the aeronautics-authority, after a shortly
discontinuation of a transponder signal, a take-over would be
assumed.
From a mobile phone
somebody called from one of the abducted airplanes. However not a word about the
perpetrators looking Arab.
As well as apparently many
people stayed away from the WTC building that day, all abducted airplanes had a
very low occupancy that day also. Most Airline like to overbook their planes,
but these four flights were occupied only to to a quarter of their capacity:
Flight AA 077 (the Boeing 757, that raged into the Pentagon,) had a capacity for
289 passengers, but only 64 seats were occupied. AA 011 had 351 Seats, only 92
taken. UA 175: 351 seats, 65 passengers were on board. UA 093: 289 seats, 45
occupied. With such a low occupancy rate the two airlines would already have
been bankrupt long before the attacks. But interestingly: at the Stock exchange,
Put-Options were in place, BEFORE the Attack, on both United and American
Airlines. And why were only these two airlines involved? What about the dozen
other airlines? Did the terrorists have bonus-miles with AA and UA?
One could ponder on much
more strange things, but much more important seems to me, what happened AFTER
the attack. After even the simplest security-measures have apparently not been
applied BEFORE the attacks, although there were clear warnings previously, the
finger pointing on Atta, the Islam and Osama Bin Laden started shortly AFTER the
attacks.
Bush held a flaming speech;
bottom line: “Whoever is not for us - is for terrorism.” Standing Ovations in
the Senate. No critical misgiving, as we would have in the “German Bundestag”
but unanimous enthusiasm for nothing else but a chauvinistic
speech.
America is “the” civilised
world, right? Now we see who wants to be part of this world. Tony Blair travels
across the ocean and assures Bush of his full support. Yes even more so; if you
listened to his speech you would assume, the World Trade Center had been placed
in England. So very much blaired Tony over the necessity, that the British must
hit back. Also Schroeder travels over to Washington and offers full support from
the German government. (Never asked us by the way.) Thanks to God the Americans
don’t want our military support [they want to do it their way] although
Schroeder didn´t get tired to offer it. Just fork over the money that’s the only
thing we are allowed to do. But Schroeder talks every day from our military
contribution. Why is he so eager?
After an unqualified proof
for Attas guilt and the threads, leading to Osama bin Laden (and Germany also)
the bombardment of Afghanistan begins, although there is no proof, that bin
Laden even is in Afghanistan… They hit very “precise”: For example they hit a
building, in which four UN-specialists die, who worked as mine-evacuators. They
cannot find a shelter of terrorists within the vicinity of 25 km.
The Taliban-beard’s are
burning. America is showing-off its muscles. One sees Aircraft carriers, from
which raids start in minutes. Very impressive, these gigantic swimming cities,
that cost billions. Therefore alone the Talibans should bow down in pure
reverence, however the white flags are not flying. Even as they offer to
surrender Bin Laden it becomes obvious, that that is not what the Americans
want.
By the way, there is proof
of a possible connection between the Bush and the bin Laden family: The father
of Osama bin Laden got involved in the Texas Oil business in 1960. He got killed
in a somewhat strange plane crash in Texas after which Osamas brother Salim bin
Laden took over the enterprise. He also established the airline
“Bin-Laden-Aviation” in Austin, Texas. Also he did come in contact with the
economic elite of the federal state, also with George Bush Senior, who was from
1976 CIA chief and later president of the USA. If “Bush Junior” wants to dry up
the financial sources of the terrorist, why doesn´t he look around in his own
neighbourhood for oil connections?
Oil seems to be a feasible
objective in the Afghan region. There is a gigantic still unopened oilfield
under the Caspic Sea. One can approach it from Chechenya, but also from other
countries. (Maybe that was the reason the Russians fought against the Chechenya
terrorists?) If one wants to bring out the oil to the west one can build a
pipeline through Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is nothing new that many wars are
fought about oil and not for pure kind-heartedness, is it? Also other
geopolitical interests can play a role.
Anyway, much which wouldn’t
have been feasible previously, can be pushed through after the disastrous
attacks in New York and Washington DC. Now the people call for more security. If
one wants more security, one must give up freedom for more control, in the long
run a net LOSS. Just a few hours after the attacks FBI-Agents paid a visit to
Internet providers and demanded, to install the “Carnivore” software that
enables a supervision of all Internet transmission. Also mobile-phone-companies
now experience difficulties, if they don´t allow the government to install
devices to intercept conversations.
On the Internet circulates
information – bypassing the mass media, usually praising America’s action
uncritical. In times, before the invention of the internet, people depended on
the mass media, but now they have access to information opposing the mass
media´s public (or better publicised) opinion.
Now it is a danger to
question Bush’s prime directive: “Whoever is not for us, is for the terror”, and
that doesn't exclude journalist, like Ulrich Wickert, (German Anchorman) who
experienced the raft of G. W. Bush when he made the wrong remark about Bush´s
frame of mind.
Does “Anti-Americanism” now
become the new fashion-word for everyone who dares to criticise?
The expression “New World
Order” is now used by politicians without hesitation. Well, if it would be a
World-Order, in which all people could live in peace and freedom with a common
government, it would be acceptable if it would be BENEVOLENT. However in reality
it seems to become a World Order, in which the “good” (namely the Americans, and
those who succumb to them) fight the “evil”. They are mostly the poor, but may
happen to sit on valuable land with mineral resources. “What we say, goes.”
That’s Bush´s explanation of the New World order. Poor civilised
world.
But of course Americans are
humanitarian, right? Therefore they not only drop bombs on Afghanistan but also
food.
Though they were never
attacked on their home turf, Americans showed their might in foreign regions by
unloading their bombs and missiles: bombs in Hamburg and Dresden, nuclear bombs
in Hiroshima, Agent Orange and Napalm in Vietnam, Uranium depleted ammunition in
Belgrade, Serbia. But of course they are the HERO’S, right? For the inhabitants
of these areas, the bombardment of their cities and high-rises is definitely as
traumatic, as for Americans the attack on the WTC. But how people in Nagasaki,
Baghdad or Belgrade felt after being bombarded is not in the conscious mind of
Americans. We know the Americans from thousands of Hollywood movies, television
series and reports. They are always good looking; stand up for their rights, for
justice, truth and humanity, albeit often with a gun in their hand.
Then they say: On Sept.
11th people we don't know have killed people we do know. Yes, but are these
people whom they don't know (who may not be as heroic and good-looking)
automatically worse than Americans?
Americans will have to
think about how their reaction is perceived elsewhere. Whoever is bad, we
decide? No durably satisfaction can come out of pointing fingers. Everything has
cause and effect. Self reflection should be part of being civilised.
Although everything may
look rather negatively at the time, there is always a positive side to
everything! Every person on the planet goes through a lot of inner processes
since these attacks. Everyone must deal with his or her fear; must decide for
vengeance or forgiveness, for security or FREEDOM.
In the Internet, many call
for meditations for world peace. But peace cannot be made with bombs.
The game of might and power
will go on. Each person must decide whether fear and guilt will dominate or love
and trust, whether more government control or freedom is more important. One can
easily decide and fall back into archaic concepts of vengeance or learn to
forgive. But lies cannot be the basis for ones progress. America has to
overcome the concept of shooting first and asking questions later. But no matter
what the choice it will be, it will be a lesson for everyone on the
planet.
Americans in the Land of
the Free and the Brave must now decide how civilised they are going to be, if
they succumb to the skillful rhetoricians who strew sand in their eyes and don't
recognise, that they are standing at a threshold of “The Land of the Free” or a
police state. Americans are rightfully proud of their country, especially of
their freedom. Everyone should see to it, that one can still be proud of the
country when the echoes of the bombs have faded!
www.joconrad.de
Public Letter to president
Bush
@ President of the United
States of America
Mr. George W.
Bush
The White House
16000 Pennsylvania Avenue
NW
Washington, DC
20500
president@whitehouse.gov
Dear Mr.
President,
You are leader of a
country that is rightfully proud of its freedom and justice. But what are you
doing in the aftermath of the Sept. 11th attacks? You are dropping bombs on
people you don´t know. You don´t know whether the people who get killed are
guilty of the terrorist attacks. This is not justice.
American movies show
us what you are proud of; the heroes who uncover crimes, those who stand up for
freedom and truth, who fight for justice, even if their enemy is within their
own rows.
You have not only
American leadership but also the biggest military power to enforce justice – or
injustice – everywhere on the planet.
But being civilised
also includes to use the power responsibly.
You are worried that
there are people who hate America and its achievements. But then you should
reflect on whether they hate the qualities of freedom and justice or only the
questionable side effects of American domination. You have been bombarding Iraq
for ten years now. You have a questionable fraternisation with occupying forces
in Israel. You have used uranium depleted ammunition in Yugoslavia, not to speak
of the weapons of mass destruction you have used in Vietnam or
Japan.
American movies also
show self reflection on the dark sides of your history. Movies like “JFK”,
“Enemy of the state” or “conspiracy theory” show that you are well aware of the
dangers of a new world order which is not based on freedom and
justice.
American heroes have
always fought for the underprivileged, for those who are in unjustified
calamities. You could be a hero not only for America but for the entire
“civilised world”, if you would place freedom higher than state-control, justice
higher than vengeance.
Be aware that you
will stand one day before a higher court, before the throne of God. Imagine how
the steps you take will be judged.
We are watching from
everywhere in the “civilised world” the actions that are taken by you. Please
make sure that the qualities Americans are rightfully proud are not lost in the
fight against terrorism.
With sincere regards
and respect
I am Jo Conrad,
author, Germany
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