121Contact

May 22 2010 A Ground Zero Mosque? An interfaith cultural center? Some facts:

I really don't know how I got into this turmoil. I am still angry at having to share a podium, on Fox News earlier in the day, with an Islamophobe who spouted what seemed to me to be obvious lies and exaggerations about Islam, Muslims, and Imam Feisal. The Imam and his wife Daisy Kahn are spearheading the drive to build an interfaith cultural center a few blocks from Ground Zero, the site of the September 11, 2001  attacks on the World Financial Center.

Interloping opponents to the community approved project are wrapping their opposition in the shrouds of the people who died on 9/11, saying things like, "This is a slap to those that lost a loved one in 9/11/01 attacks", and "...stand up and tell the Muslims , no you can not build here." [NYPOST] (I detest this exploitation of victims and their families in support of extremist, anti-Muslim agendas. I detest the branding of 'Muslims' as unwanted, dangerous people to be excluded from our culture.) 

On the other hand, Ro Sheffe, chairman of local, elected Community Board said, "I like everything I've heard about this." [NYPOST]

I have to get the lies washed out of my brain so I Skype Daisy Kahn, to save a few minutes on my cell bill, and tell her I want to interview her and the Imam so I can better answer questions I have about the project directly, from the two of them. The Imam is on his way out of town, but Daisy is willing and says, 'Come on up to the office.' Maybe she's already heard from the two or three people I previously called to see if they could help me get a face-to-face.

Train or car? It's late, on a Friday, and Bay Ridge is a long way from the Riverside Church, a block  north of Daisy's office. I've had some molasses trips on the N train lately so I take the car and pray to the god As Phalta that there will be easy parking. The trip is quick with little Friday exodus trafiic because everybody is saving their gas budget for next weekend's Memorial Day Road Madness. I zip into a spot about 4 blocks away thinking, "I'd better grab this one. "

It's hot, and I'm uncharacteristically wearing a linen jacket, 'dressed up' to meet Daisy. I quick walk to the office, yogaizing my body not to sweat too much, and pass the church, and into the wonderfully cool lobby where I am directed to the American society for Muslim Advancement (ASMA) offices. The nice lady at the desk gives me the wrong room number and I stroll about the second floor poking my head into a couple of offices with promising sounding names. Ah, here it is.

I had already read that AMSA, founded in 1997, is dedicated to  "strengthening an authentic expression of Islam based on cultural and religious harmony." They are partnered, in the downtown center effort, with the Cordoba Institute who believe the way to world peace lies through "understanding and putting into practice every human right for all mankind, irrespective of race, gender, faith, nationality or social status." [Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech]. Not too shabby, I think as I enter the office.

I'm waiting for Daisy Kahn to get off the phone and the receptionist, noting my overheated state, brings me a glass of cold water. I down it in long sips. The office is spare; some literature on the shelves, some comfortable chairs around a large space ringed with smaller offices. Ford Foundation? Not. Smallish NGO? Yeah. I've been here before. My ever-restless mind slowly forms a picture of as-yet-unmet Daisy. I picture a wiry, hijab-covered, bundle of energy, piercing eyes, nervous hands, tight mouth...and of course I am way off base. The Daisy Kahn that comes to meet me is uncovered, unwiry, and quite a placid person. Her mouth is soft and smiling. Her visage welcoming, and not at all uptight that a relatively pushy guy from 121Contact, which she probably never heard of, is coming to interview her. So much for anxious fantasizing.

She is patient as I explain how I got to sit before her, the death of my nephew Mitch Wallace on 9/11, the work of 121Contact. I re-iterate the reason for the interview, and she agrees to answer my questions fully, and honestly. We talk for about an hour.

I had been shying away from calling the project 'The Mosque' because it has become such a loaded term. I've been writing about it as 'the cultural center.' Daisy had no such reservations. She is proud of the project, and feels strongly that the project is a correct expression for her and the Imam, for Islam, for Muslims, and for New York City.

[b-The Questions and Answers that follow were not taped. These are transcriptions of my notes. These 5 questions seem to me to be most relevant to the issue at hand. There were more personal exchanges, but they are not reported here.]

Q-I heard yesterday that the center was funded by Saudi Arabia and that along with this funding come restrictions on what is to be taught. Is this true?

A-The project for the Mosque has not received any funds from Saudi Arabia. In fact, it hasn't received any funds at all. It a local, grass-roots project that will apply for funding only after the scope is defined. Cordoba has, in the past, received funding from Saudi Arabia but only for a few youth conferences outside of the United States. We have never received any funding from Saudi Arabia for work here in America.

Q- I was told that the Imam preaches that Muslims must follow Shariah law and that your intent is to bring Shariah to the United States. It is, in fact, the hidden reason that you are building the center.

A- America's Muslims are already following Sharia law. This is part of what it means to be a Muslim. It is a basic tenet of Islam, although it varies quite a bit from culture to culture. At its heart are the guiding principles of protection of life, family, wealth, religion, dignity, and intellect. Prayer, fasting, giving to charity, visiting Mecca-these are part of the core also. Each culture into which Islam was injected had its own practices of law, etc., and many of these persisted as layers on top of the core Islamic teachings. Shariah varies from country to country because of custom, not because of Koran. The fearful brand of Shariah is an abomination, with chopping of hands and things like this. Our U.S. brand of Shariah has been existing and forming over many years. This is how American religions evolve.

Q-I was told that the Mosque is planned as expression of Muslim supremacy, victory on 9/11, a symbol of the Islamist conquering of America. What does the Mosque and Cultural Center symbolize to you?

A-The YMCA, 92nd Street Y, the JCC-these are the expressions of past emigrations. Islam is now beginning this process of assimilation. We now see our role of serving the community while serving Muslims. It is part of the expression of Islam in America, through American cultural manifestations of religion. The center will be another symbol of Islam's assimilation into American culture. We are restating the core values of Islam in the American framework.

Q-Why did you locate the Mosque in downtown New York, so close to Ground Zero?

A-This project is a local project. It has its roots in the community. The Warren Street Mosque has existed in the neighborhood for over 10 years. Imam Faisal has been a part of the community for many years. Our local Mosques are overcrowded and the need existed before the project got under way. There is a lack of cultural, community, and venue space in the area. The downtown Alliance is very much in support of our work because of the need for cultural and residential amenities.

Q-How did you assess community attitudes?

A-By actually asking those who live there. We took many ideas from residents and have incorporated them into the plans for the center. Many of these ideas we had before, but the community also said they wanted them.ideas like space for Senior Citizens and recreation.

The last things Daisy said: I believe most people downtown will welcome us. We will have an open door policy and we will enrich NY with a robust engagement of people all around us.

Before I leave Daisy remembers I said I was beginning to learn Arabic. She hands me a book written by her father-in-law, and gifts me with 'Arabic for English speaking Students' by Muhammad Abdul-Rauf. It is a symbol, a bridge, and a welcome addition to my course work. I am touched by her thoughtfulness.

So I head back to the street, to my oven of a car, happy to have met Daisy Kahn. I was also happy to have put to rest the lies of yesterday, promulgated by an Islamophic interloper into the affairs of downtown New York. We didn't close the churches when Timothy McVeigh slaughtered hundreds in Oklahoma City. We didn't paint all Christians as terrorists then.

We shouldn't paint all Muslims as terrorists. Muslims have been part of our lives since at least 1731. They've been living an American brand of Shariah all this time. We shouldn't resist Mosques in our midst. They are merely expressions of part of our changing culture, and America is strong enough to respect, absorb, assimilate, and integrate without loosing our basic values of freedom of religion, the rule of law, and equality and justice for all.

Apr 25 2010 Iraq Afghanistan: We bomb. They Suffer.

I never did acknowledge the anniversary of America's invasion of Iraq. There was too much emotion in the house and among our Iraqi friends there was a seething  anger that disabled my writing. So I'm, once again, regurgitating the thoughts of others.

Raed Jarrar no longer lives in Iraq, but his memory is sharp, and his blogging often insightful. I didn't write about this anniversary of the invasion. I was a bit overwhelmed. Here's a memory of day one to chew on.

I still remember the day of the fall of Baghdad very clearly, as if it happened yesterday. My family and I had fled to my uncle's home in southern Baghdad because our neighborhood, located near Baghdad's airport, was bombarded by US airplanes in the days before. I remember the first US tank rolling down the street with a US soldier, wearing black gloves, waving his hand and some people waving back. That was one of the sadist day of my life, not only because Baghdad fell under a foreign occupation, but also because I knew it would be the beginning of another disastrous chapter in Iraq's history. Now, when I look back at all that happened under the occupation, I find that I was, unfortunately, right. [full article at Raed in the Middle]

Robert Fisk reported from Baghdad hospital on March 23, 2003, in the online edition of The Independent:

                                      "This is the reality of war. We bomb. They suffer." photo: www.robertfisk.com

And I remember Haider Hamza saying that when he was in Baghdad, photographing the carnage every day, becoming tougher and more immune to the horror, there was something that escaped this encapsulation. He told me there is never a lessening of the pain of seeing the children.

So in these days of escalation in Afghanistan we should think back, only a small step into the past, and remember that we are once more creating the killing fields. What price are the Iraqis paying for American ambitions? What price will the innocent civilians of  Afghanistan pay for American fears?

 

March 6 2010 White House Postpones Picking Site of 9/11 Trial

The New York Times article about Obama's cowardly hesitation carried a quote from 'Peaceful Tomorrows', that brave group of 9/11 family members who have unstintingly called for the rule of law in the face of terrorist disruption.

[NYTimes] ...September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, a group of more than 200 relatives of victims of the attacks, issued a statement saying it was “deeply troubled” by reports that Mr. Mohammed, accused of being the mastermind of the attacks, and four accused of conspiring with him, might not receive a civilian trial after all.

“Civilian trials in federal courts have resulted in hundreds of successful terrorism prosecutions,” said Donna O’Connor, a spokeswoman for the group, “whereas military commissions are an illegitimate system that undermines the rule of law.”

We are proud to be members,
Bruce and Noor

Feb 23 2010 Martin Kramer Goes Blind advocating Palestinian Genocide

In another example of racist spin the uneminent Martin Kramer evidently has gone blind. He is a senior fellow at the Shalem Center in Jerusalem and at the Olin Institute, Harvard University who worked most of his life at Tel Aviv University.

He sees population growth among Muslims as a threat to peace, but this idea is not his to claim. Population control of Palestinians has been part of Israeli policy for a long time. Yitzhak Rabin set the percentage goals and public support of increasing orthodox birth rates has followed. Rabin: "“The red line for Arabs is 20% of the population, that must not be gone over…I want to preserve the Jewish character of the State of Israel not by name only, but also in action, values, language and culture…” This was despite creation of the the Demographic Center, tasked with implementing the Committee’s natality proposals in 1968. These policies continue. In March 1983, the Law for Families Blessed with Children, rewarded large families. To those families with at least four children, the government endowed multiple subsidies and grants.

Kramer's blindness toward Israeli policy is typical of racist propaganda. He begins with some facts and cleverly hides the evidence that the truth is the exact opposite of what he portrays.

Kramer's fear-mongering is admirable. The specter of an overwhelming growth of Palestinians falls quite flat since Arab Israelis continue to make up approximately 20% of the population as they did in 1948. 

Kramer's support of curbing Palestinian birth rates is a public call for genocide. Shalem and Harvard ought to do the right thing by immediately dismissing him and separating themselves from words that have now gone beyond the rights of free speech.

Some sources of this loosely researched rant:

http://www.focusanthro.org/archive/2005-2006/katz0506.pdf 

http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC10.php?CID=37

http://www.stimson.org/rv/pdf/Transnational_Trends/Stimson_ch4.pdf

Jan 15 2010 Iraq’s security, economy, and stability require Maliki’s government to aid democracy

Iraq’s Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi warned on Friday of the deterioration of security conditions in Iraq even as arrests of terrorists and suspected terrorists are on the rise in Iraq. Planned attacks are foiled more often these days, and successful attacks are, in general, less frequent and less deadly than those of the last few years. Then why is al-Hashemi  giving such dire warnings? Perhaps it is the nature the attacks and how this feeds into political instability in the future.

Recent attacks have been focused in three main areas: 1) leaders of the Iraqi security forces, especially the anti-terrorist squads,  2) politicians, especially members of the Iraqi Islamic Party and other Sunni leaders, and  3) ex-Baathist military personnel, especially of Sadaam’s air force.

The first two target areas make for general unease within the population at large. Anbar is especially affected. It’s broad resistance to, and active attacks on, al Qaeda have made security forces there an enticing target and they are paying a heavy price for it.

Attacks on Sunni leaders disturb both Sunni and Shi’a moderates. Sunnis are directly affected and see such attacks as government instigated, calling out the recent disqualification of 60 of their political candidates as proof of Maliki’s systematic oppression of Sunnis. This will lead to a decidedly undemocratic election. Shi’a are distressed because of the inherent danger of sectarian reprisals for these attacks.

The third set of targets, the ex-Baathist military personnel, provides a rich ground for fearful rumors of Iranian involvement in Iraq’s affairs. As a prominent Iraqi doctor put it, “It is revenge for the war. Of course we know this war was unjust. But it is over and this killing does nothing. It is only my opinion. It is just how I think, although there are others who think this way, too. The Iranians do not do these killings themselves. They can pay for this to young Iraqis who do it for the money.”  We have heard this suspicion of Iran’s involvement from many Iraqis, young and old. It is a widespread belief.

Add to this a sluggish economy at the workingman level and you have ample fuel for instability.

According to the Brookings Institution: The standard of living in Iraq today is half what it was during the Saddam era. General unemployment is over 20 percent and youth unemployment is over 30 percent. Iraqi officials and businessmen struggle to lure foreign investment which still shies away from Iraq; the little investment that has flowed in has gone mainly to the oil sector and to the cement. While violence is dramatically down since its peak in 2005, foreign direct investment has also fallen.  

Increasing oil production is critical to Iraq’s economy and there is progress in the recent foreign contracts being signed and more being negotiated, but this will take years to actualize. The poor infrastructure and weak monetary systems do not make for an environment that encourages investment. The near-term prospects for young people who are looking for jobs are still bleak.  

Maliki could help the situation greatly by making the upcoming election truly democratic. The resultant increase in stability will help in all areas of Iraqi life.

Jan 5 2010 War and the Human Condition

We met at a local restaurant in New York City. There were only about 2 dozen of us, but we were strong. We met to serve ourselves. We met to re-affirm our commitment to peace and justice, and we met to let each other know that the struggle continues, the effort goes on, and the hope does not die.

At some point, when we had tired of singing songs of freedom and justice, many born in the peace struggles at the time of the Vietnam war, Ron read this poem to us, for us, and for all who continue to carry the candle that lights the way to more peaceful tomorrows.

Thanks Ron.

War and the Human Condition

by Ron Galluccio

 

The ugliest stain upon the human condition is without fear of contradiction, war. It incorporates the absolute basest of motivations; it inspires the exaltation of assassination and the demand of tolerant acceptance as those we love or might have loved are destroyed.

War is comprised of failure. The guns and the bombs, the rockets and the warships, the sticks and the stones are all symbols of human failure which becomes more and more evident as the casualties roll in.

Casualties!

Shhhh!

 Don’t mention that word, not even in a whisper, because the first casualty of war is The Truth.

Why do we fight these wars, where do they rise up from? Who was it that created the madness that we now not only accept, but have collectively agreed to take for granted!

Old men dream up wars, damn-it!

Where then are the philosophers? Where are the humane spirits who are gifted enough to assume the responsibility of caring for and nurturing the fragile gift of life.

Old men dream up wars, damn-it! They dream them up for young men to fight, and they are so terribly old that they have become trenchant and resolute in their conviction that young men must die.  They are Old from the time of Moses and the Pharaoh Ramesses, old from the days of the Peloponnesian War, old from the decay of the first great civilizations as they expanded and enslaved and forced their will and their philosophy erringly upon as much of humanity as they could conquer.

 

And as they reached out with their horrible tentacles of de-construction, imposing their culture and all its parameters because, their way was better, they became vulnerable and suddenly less altruistic, as if they ever were altruistic. Resultantly, their employed methods became more vicious. But hey! It wasn’t really their fault, but whose fault was it?

 

Old men dream up wars, damn-it!

 

Where are the poets? Where are the souls who can actually distill the essence of the human experience?  If they appear, shall they be incited to take up arms? 

Well why not? It’s just another laughable and in-excusable contradiction to the nature of things and these things happen all the time making mortal conflict all so bloody acceptable.

 

War is much too grave a matter to entrust to Military Men. It’s horrible finality too dubious to receive approval from clerics. Well, used to be, not any more. Now these clerics mark it indelibly with their seal of approval because they were told by God, who of course speaks to them directly, that giving their approval was the thing to do; that genocide was the new enlightenment, and Fanatical Imams the new avatars.

They who endorse murder of any kind would undermine the mysticism and sanctity of birth, holding life cheap and resultantly no longer dear and precious. That process then makes it easier to kill; making justifiable the act of ending a life. Yet when we hear this some of us are shocked. Which begs the question, why?

We have a story about a time when there were only four people on the entire planet, and it teaches us that people were already in the practice of telling lies, and of betrayal, of deceit and even murder, so why are we surprised now, when we the people number in the billions?

Deciding upon war is a delicate matter. It is ruthless and at the same time demanding of artful finesse. After all, we are assured that we have not gone to war for conquest, or for exploitation!!  We go to war with the expressed effort of providing relief for an oppressed people. It is only because of our “pure and good intentions” that Providence provides us with an overruling of our original, selfless intensions. Providence you see provides us with the spoils. Can I get an Alleluia!

Religious fervor like Patriotism deliberately and with folly aforethought subordinates the interests of a whole civilization to the interests of a very small part of that society. Usually, the forces behind these kinds of actions are fierce, pitiless, and blind as a stone. They are, however, like the road to hell, paved with good intentions. I ask you, “Can anything be more stupid than a man who believes he has the right, even the duty to kill me because I live on the other side of some river?

Where then are the Philosophers?

Where are the poets?

When will they rise up and take charge?

When will they define the nature of the problem of war?

War breeds Chaos, but its essence is not chaotic!

Our problem isn’t that people run amuck and are in general disobedient, but rather that people are obedient

Obedient all over the world

Obedient in the face of poverty and starvation,

Obedient in the face of stupidity, and cruelty,

Obedient in the face of war.

 Our problem is that people are obedient while the jails are full of petty thieves, and all the while the great, grand thieves are running the countries and declaring the wars!

These are the old men, damn-it! These are the annihilators, the destroyers of young men who should, who must face accountability.

Call out now, all of you. Call up the poets and the philosophers and as you call them, can I please, please, can I get an amen!  

 

Dec 29 2009 Have you heard about the 'Gaza Freedom March'? Probably not.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who notices that our American news media fail to help us understand our position in the world, and fail to help us understand why so many people in the world despise us.

Harvard's Stephen M. Walt wrote this piece for Foreign Policy

 

 

Did you know that the Gaza Freedom March -- a group of over 1300 peace

activists from 43 countries -- is protesting the continued siege of Gaza, on the anniversary of the brutal Israeli assault that killed over a thousand people last year? (There is also a separate effort to bring a convoy of relief aid to the Gazans, under the auspices of the group Viva Palestina).

 

Did you know that the Freedom March is now stuck in Cairo, because the Egyptian government has denied them permission to travel to Gaza? The Mubarak regime has its own issues with Hamas, and it is also dependent on U.S. economic and military aid. Israel and the United States don't want the adverse publicity that the Freedom March might generate and are perfectly content to let the Gazans suffer, so needless to say Washington isn't putting any pressure on Egypt to let the  convoy through.

 

Did you know that this event is being extensively covered in the Arab world,[2] and may be causing problems for Mubarak & Co., as the Egyptians are once again being exposed as complicit in the collective punishment that Israel is inflicting on the population of Gaza?  

Did you know that one of the participants in the convoy is an 85-year-old Holocaust survivor (Hedy Epstein), and that she recently began a hunger strike to protest the refusal to let the convoy go to Gaza?

 

You probably didn't know about any of this, but it's not really your fault. You probably get your news from mainstream outlets like the New York Times or Washington Post, and neither of these illustrious newspapers has bothered to cover this story. What do they consider important? Well, in the case of the Times, their idea of a big Mideast story right now is the heart-warming saga of a little shwarma shop in Amman. 

If you do want to learn a bit more about this worthy effort to help the

Gazans, you can go to the group's website, here.[3] Or you can follow it on

Mondoweiss, here.[4] Or even read about it in Ha'aretz, here.[5] And then you

might have a better idea why the Mubarak government isn't very popular,

why Israel faces growing censure for its conduct, why the United States

continues to be despised in much of the Arab and Islamic world, and why

the blogosphere is so important.

 

 

Links

1. http://www.vivapalestina.org/

2. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/12/20091229135120588522.html

3. http://www.gazafreedommarch.org/article.php?list=type&type=416

4. http://tinyurl.com/yh3ua67

5. http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1138477.html

 

 

Stephen M. Walt is the Robert and Renée Belfer Professor of International

Relations at Harvard University and co-author with John J. Mearsheimer of

The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy.

 

 

http://walt.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/12/29/have_you_heard_about_the_gaza_freedom_march_probably_not

©2009 Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive, LLC.

Nov 17 2009 Fight Taliban or care for thousands who hunger in the U.S.?

We weren't going to post Wright Salisbury''s latest article because it doesn't talk about Iraq. We deplore the American penchant for denial, and each new debacle seems to enable the U.S. public to ignore the disasters we have caused in the past. In some ways our incursion into Afghanistan serves to take our minds off the devastation we brought to the Iraqi people. 

Our use of violence in Afghanistan as well as Iraq helps us ignore the growing number of American families who simply do not have enough to eat. We are talking about some 49 million Americans, according to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

However, Wright's impassioned piece deserves to be read. We agree with him. We think  you should take the time to see if you do also. And if so, then take at least the minimal action of letting your elected representatives know how you feel. It will only take you a few minutes, and the lives you save and the pain you help avoid will be worth it.

Boots on the ground or food on the table?

 ... and a house to live in, and clothes to wear, and affordable health care?  Which is it going to be, President Obama?

 

At $1,000,000 per year to put a soldier in Afghanistan and unemployment topping 10%, which do we value more — fighting a war almost certainly doomed to failure or feeding, clothing, housing and providing health care to our own people?

 

Seems like a no-brainer, doesn’t it?

 

Think outside the box, Mr. President

 

Just because you inherited two wars from your mentally- and morally-challenged predecessor, you are not obliged to continue them.  Back in the 60’s, people used to ask, “What if they gave a war and nobody came?”  That was in the Vietnam era, when young people were being drafted.  Lyndon Johnson sat in the White House suffering severe depression as people marched out front, chanting, “Hey, hey, LBJ. How many kids did you kill today?”

 

He was so depressed, he declined to run for another term, and Richard Nixon became the next president. Hardly an improvement.

 

But that did put an end to the Selective Service System.  From then on, if we fought a war, we would not draft college kids.  We would use our National Guard, which was peopled by middle class folks who wanted to earn a little extra money.

 

Do something unprecedented: Use your head.

 

I’m serious.  No one has ever declared a war over before his country was definitively defeated.  No one.  Not Germany, not England or Spain or Portugal of France.  Be the first to admit that your country can’t win a war and, more than that, recognize your error and end the war in Afghanistan and our continued presence in Iraq.

 

You have every excuse in the world, and except for a few right wing nuts, you would be applauded for saving the country from disaster.  If you need a reason to give the American people for the decision, here are six reasons, any one of which alone provides sufficient grounds for ending the war.

 

1) Our allies don’t want to send more than token forces, if that.  What do they know that we don’t?  Well, for one thing, they know the war is very unpopular with their people.  A majority of Americans also think we should get out of Afghanistan.

 

2) Our country is not at peril from the Taliban, and Al Queda is a stateless organization that can find sanctuary elsewhere and is doing so.

 

3) What is so special about Afghanistan?  If we are freeing people from oppression, why did we not intervene in Rwanda, where a million people were killed in a war between the Tutsis and the Hutus?

 

4) The government of Harmid Karzai is deeply unpopular and untrusted by the people of Afghanistan, because it is corrupt and shows no tendency whatever to change its ways.

 

5) We can’t allow more of our young people to be killed or wounded in wars of questionable necessity.

 

6) And finally, we can’t afford this war.  Our economy is in tatters.

 

Don’t be fooled by reassurances from our military commanders.  Generals fight.  That’s what they do for a living.  But tell them to stop fighting and they will stop, because you are the Commander in Chief.

 

You decide, Mr. President.

 

Wright Salisbury lost his son-in-law, Edward Hennessy, Jr. in the 9/11 attack.  He is also the founder of The Alliance for Jewish-Christian-Muslim Understanding, Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to building bridges of understanding between people of different faiths.

 

Nov 3 2009 USS New York: Commemorating US Crimes in Iraq

Just as we burrow deeper into the maelstrom of Afghanistan we are gifted with one of the ugliest warships ever built by any nation.

It is hard to think of a less fitting way to send "a message of America becoming stronger as a result" of 9/11 [Naval Cmdr. Quentin King]. Secretary of the Navy Gordon England announced the naming as to "honor the victims of Sept. 11."                                          

Tragically neither the U.S. Navy nor President Obama evidently understand the enormity of the insult this warship delivers to those innocent civilians lost on September 11, 2001.

America weakened significantly after 9/11. The response to invade and occupy Iraq was a criminal act based on deliberate deceit. The punitive crushing of the Iraqi populace was nothing to be proud of. Our moral standing in the world was greatly diminished. Our civil liberties at home suffered setbacks that may never be recovered.

President Obama will come to New York to commission the USS New York on Saturday. We wish he would stay in Washington and decommission our failed effort in Iraq, and put an end to the inevitable failure of our mission in Afghanistan. We can no more force cultures to adopt the mythical Democratic model than we can forge peaceful tomorrows from weapons of destruction.

We also wish President Obama would stop the lies. We already have more mercenaries in Afghanistan that we have troops, but that fact is never added to official tallies of troop numbers.

Let us honor the innocent civilians who died on 9/11 by stopping the slaughter of innocent civilians by our own hands. This would be a true tribute to the fallen.

Oct 29 2009 Iraq-Afghanistan: U.S. Troops dying in a wasted effort

Whether in Iraq or Afghanistan, American troops are dying and suffering for a false assumption. Social revolution cannot be imposed by external force. When the will of the people rises to the challenge then, and only then, will great change occur. To assume otherwise is to ignore the facts on the ground.

What we actually accomplish is this: we continue to inspire more and more young people to become our enemies, join violent radical groups, and plan revenge against us.

It is time for Americans to wake from the dream of an all mighty USA whose bullets and bombs can transform the world into a unified Eden of Democracy. Our violent efforts push the world away from more peaceful tomorrows.

Obama recently decided to reduce humanitarian/social/infrastructure aid to Iraq while increasing our military presence, and costs, in Afghanistan. He's got a bit of waking up to do himself. And the price we pay for his sleepwalking is the blood of our soldiers, of innocent Iraqis, of innocent Afghanis, and a growing army of people who hate us enough to use violence against us. 

Call your representatives in government today. Let them know you support rapid and complete withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq and Afghanistan.

--

The Afghan activist and author Malalai Joya said it plainly:

"Democracy will never come to Afghanistan through the barrel of a gun,
or from the cluster bombs dropped by foreign forces. The struggle will be
long and difficult, but the values of real democracy, human rights and
women's rights will only be won by the Afghan people themselves. So do not
be fooled by this façade of democracy."

--

September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows member Terry Greene was also clear as quoted in  Brian MacQuarrie's Boston Globe piece of October 29, 2009:

Terry Greene of Cambridge had just dropped her son at school when she heard on the radio that a second tower at the World Trade Center had been hit by an airliner. At that moment, on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Greene knew that the tragedy in New York was no accident.

(Suzanne Kreiter for the Boston Globe)

TERRY GREENE, whose brother died in the Pennsylvania crash of United Flight 93 on Sept. 11, 2001

A short time later, Greene heard that United Flight 93 had crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pa. “My first reaction was, ‘Good, it didn’t hit another target,’ ’’ Greene recalled.

But Greene’s world soon began to dissolve when a brother called with the news that another sibling, Donald Freeman Greene, was on that plane. “I can’t really describe how dark and horrible that was,’’ Greene said.

Eight years later, as a roiling debate unfolds about US strategy in Afghanistan, Greene said she feels no need to sacrifice more American troops in a country where the 9/11 attacks were hatched.

“There has to be a way to build more bridges rather than destroy them,’’ Greene said. “I think the media assume that the families want revenge, like that’s respecting the family and the family member’s memory.’’

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