September 11 - An Infamous Day

Five years ago this morning I was watching the morning news when they jumped to the burning WTC tower 1. Within minutes, I watched another plane crash into tower 2. There seemed no doubt that this was deliberate. Like the rest of the nation -- except for President Bush and his security detail, and the children in the school for the photo opportunity -- I was horrified and transfixed. I was also very worried. My partner's daughter lived in NY at the time, and worked about a mile from the WTC.

First, I tried to reach her, but couldn't get through. Next, I became family contact central as I called the rest of the family to tell them what was up and that I was trying to get through to Cory. My partner was out of town at a conference, and calling her was the worst phone call of my life. Within a couple of hours, Cory called back and said she was fine. Then all the phone calls started again.

Once I was past the personal crisis of the attacks, I watched the news roll in. Within a day, it was clear that "Arab terrorists" were allegedly to blame. The channels trumpeted that President Bush would issue a statement. I remember thinking that this was a pivotal moment. It was a moment of choice and opportunity. It was a moment when we could take a new direction, or we could wear deeper an old path. I had hopes that we would turn away from revenge, and reach a more mature response. Those hopes were dashed with Bush's announcement that we were at war.

While the horror of the ongoing fires burned at the World Trade Center, in Pennsylvania, and at the Pentagon, I felt double losses. First, the pain for all of those sop tragically impacted and for their family and friends. Secondly, for the loss of hope that we could turn in a positive direction. I knew that revenge and war would take us on a path of destruction.

So many opportunities were lost in those early days. People were asking "why did they do this?" and "why didn't we know?" Truthful answers - however complex - would have gone a long way towards healing both the wounds of 9/11, and wounds of decades. Since the actual activities of the US government were not common knowledge - or had been buried and denied - most people thought we were America the Good and Righteous, defender of the weak, and supporter of the poor.

Part of the truth of "why" is exemplified by another September 11. That one is September 11, 1973, when the U.S. supported and enabled a coup in Chile. President Nixon had authorized the CIA to place Augusto Pinochet in power over the elected president of Chile - Salvador Allende. Thus started a reign of repression and terror for the people of Chile. Pinochet was brutal and ruthless in weeding out his "enemies." His "securing" of his position involved assassinations, torture, and "disappearing people" - many permanently.

And behind him, supporting him, was the United States.

In the United States, the Chilean coup was written off as just another junta in Latin America. Nothing was said about the U.S.' role in either Chile, nor any other nation. Even hints that the U.S. might be involved in such activities was carefully sanitized from the news. It is unknown how many people were actually tortured, imprisoned, or murdered by Pinochet. However, human rights investigators from the UN found over 28,000 credible victims.

Who weeps for them? Who memorializes them?

Was it an act of terrorism for the United States to sponsor and support a murderous Pinochet in Chile? It is not labeled as such.

So today, I mourn for those who were lost and left behind on 9/11/2001. I mourn for those hundreds of thousands who have died since in direct actions of the Bush "war on terror." I mourn for the tens of thousands who suffered under Pinochet. But, mostly I mourn that we could have taken a different path. We could have taken a path of justice and honesty. We could have grown up as a people and made a better world.

Sources of Interest
Augusto Pinochet. Wikipedia.

The Crimes of Augusto Pinochet

CIA Acknowledges Ties to Pinochet's Repression . National Security Archives.

Pinochet Case. Amnesty International.

Posted by rowan at September 11, 2006 8:28 AM | [eMail this article!] |