The attacks on our country from terrorists on 9/11 raised many anxieties throughout our population in the United States. How can anyone be surprised? It was a horrific event and the instant images flashed out to our homes in living scariness have warped our minds forever.
Oddly there was an earlier 9/11 that happened in 1973 that was never reported as widely here in the United States. That one occurred in Chile. The people of Chile had gone to the polls and elected Allende. The rich and powerful people with ties to the United States were absolutely unhappy. Henry Kissinger made a point of bombing Chile, killing Allende, and after the dust had settled Pinochet was installed as President. I may have a few things out of order here but suffice it to say we interfered with the process of a nation’s legal system to fuck it up and make it the way we like it. Rather, our leaders made it the way they wanted it to be.
In the coup in Chile 30,000 people were murdered by our bombs and planes and guns provided to the unhappy rich of Chile to rid themselves of Marxist progressive men and women. Artists, musicians, writers, journalists, progressives of all sort were rounded up, tortured, murdered, left to die in shackles. Some were flown over the ocean or the outskirts of the cities and dropped alive from helicopters. This is just a thumbnail sketch I realize but you get the idea and the picture. To learn some of the specifics read these two links.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvador_Allende
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augusto_Pinochet
So this has happened more times than we know. The United States has entered into agreements with governments both legitimate and not to interfere with the one that most mimics our capitalist way of life. You see, there are no borders when moneyed people go into action. All that matters is what will be that day’s financial quotes on the pages of the Wall Street Journal. It is a world that is not for the weak of heart. Cruel and ruthless folks thrive in this climate. As I said, there are many, many instances such as this around the globe that have come to life because of the rich and powerful and the rich and powerful live in this country mostly. For your edification here is a link to U. S. Military interventions (interference) from 1890 to the present.
http://academic.evergreen.edu/g/grossmaz/interventions.html
None of these are well known but they are all known well by a certain population; the moneyed and connected.
We, the United States of America is not well liked by the victims and citizens of countries where the U.S. of A. has “intervened”. I would say that we are not welcome unless we are tourists ready to spend a lot of the money we made from our interventions and interference.
So when our 9/11 happened in 2001 I was disturbed by many things that day.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks
Well do I remember the response of Malcolm X the day JFK was assassinated. He said in response to the assassination in 1963, (I need to paraphrase) “this is a case of the chickens coming home to roost”. See it here:
I need to say at this point that when the events of our 9/11 unfolded those words passed my lips. Our country is so hated for reasons very, very few of us comprehend that many people of the world were glad when we lost 6,000 lives that day with the attack on the twin towers of wealth and the pentagon and when the news flashed around the world there was sympathy only from the wealthy nations that held interests in countries and territories such as we do.
With this in mind and with so much happening in the world today having to do with hate and violence toward common people I feel the need to express a different point of view than my past shipmates and fellow military friends. I needed to respond to a posting on Facebook that asked the general population to “Remember 9/11”. So I did but I needed specifics as to what in the world did the poster want me to remember; the horror, the lies, the failure of our security systems. Was I supposed to remember the links of our presidents fortunes to the Saudis? How about the attack by us in response on a country having absolutely nothing to do with the attacks? Here is my reply to that posting:
” I remember being horrified that airplanes were flying into the tallest of our buildings in NYC and that there was chaos everywhere. It was unimaginable that this could be happening here on our soil. I was quick to call my ex-wife to ask her to not let my son watch what was happening because how graphic it was and then the other reports of additional flights began pouring in. In the first few hours I became aware that the U.S. was not as safe a place as I hoped it would be. We got hit in our largest city, in our Capitol, and it was possible that we would have endured worse if not for a few courageous civilians on the flight over Pennsylvania.
I was so angry to find out that we had intel but refused to believe it and then I was angry that we attacked a country for reasons other than true.
I am still angry that we have engaged in events that took us places that were a smokescreen to cover up our inadequate security system.
I am angry that I spent many years at sea to protect us from attacks and to find that we got hit anyway. We got hit and then we warriors got lied to. We didn’t admit our complicit dealings with the Saudis nor did we go after the attackers. We warriors were made to go after the treasures of the middle east by the people who sit on boards of major corporations that recognize no national borders and who invest mightily in commodities other than their own citizens.
I remember well what happened for me and every time I am required to feel all Hallmark I get a major resentment toward our leaders for using our can-do attitude and love for country.
That is what I mean by specific.”
I am sure that not many will agree with me. There is so much emotion wrapped in patriotism and nationalism and fear of others outside our boundaries. The trouble is that these emotions are generated by our leaders to keep us uneasy and tuned into hating people who are not us. That is how I see it. We are tools and pawns of the rich and we will be kept that way for a long time.
I hope your day is good for you and that this posting does not pull you down far. Still, I hope it educates and inspires you to take part in whatever form of revolution to change this world.
Peace,
G. M. Goodwin 9/11/2015
Playing Fair and Being Kind 