10
Sep
2002
I sit in my quiet house alone, writing this letter. It is one year since the 9/11 tragedy, and our nation is reflecting on the event. My story is slightly different than most.
Other than the unfortunate victims and those directly in the area around the attacks, most Americans were never in physical danger because of 9/11. I was. My life was directly threatened, multiple times. Terrorists of a different nature were calling my home, screaming at my now ex-wife, and sending hate mail and strange packages to my doorstep. I easily admit that I was very afraid.
Everyone, including myself, knew right away that the perpetrators of 9/11 had to be punished. But being an avid history buff, I knew that there was a danger that our government would not fully investigate before taking action. I knew that thousands of Afghanistan civilians were now in danger of becoming "collateral damage." At the time, I was writing for several Internet magazines, mainly OnlineJournal.com, following the potential conflicts of interest surrounding the Bush administration's policies and personal business interests. I was extremely suspicious from the word "go."
I flew to Washington, D.C., and participated in a two-day march for peace on September 29 and 30. There were 7,000 of us marching, the fastest and largest peace-movement mobilization in our nation's history. The march was peaceful except for a handful of overzealous teens, yet CNN reported the demonstration as "hundreds march ... pepper spray used."
I was interviewed for at least 15 minutes by the Associated Press (AP), and I explained that we were marching to ensure that the U.S. investigate the tragedy and act judiciously. I said that we should work with the U.N. and our allies to ensure that justice is served, not a vengeance that would harm thousands of civilians, making us no better than the terrorists. We needed a full and open investigation. Then the AP reporter asked the bombshell question: "Some say now is not the time to question the president." The question was not reproduced in the article, but I responded with the only quote that made it into the story. I said, "Now is the time we should question the president, because decisions that we make now will have repercussions 10 and 20 years down the road." Although the answer without the question is slightly out-of-context, to this day I do not see what was so terrible about my statement. I still stand by it. We investigated Pearl Harbor. We investigated the Kennedy assassination. It is beyond belief that something as monumental as 9/11 was quickly becoming off-limits to an investigation.
But I am not writing this to express my socio-political views. Rather, I am writing to mention that in the United States of America, I not only have a right to believe what I believe, I have the right to say what I believe. After the Associated Press article, my phone rang off the hook with death threats from around the country. People screamed at my wife that I was a traitor. I was told to watch my back because "we are coming for you" and "we're going to shoot all traitors like you." I showed the first few threatening letters to my wife, but she was so panicked that I quickly stopped. She never saw the ticking package. I was so angry I opened it on my front porch so that if it were a bomb, at least all the neighbors would see what was going on. (It was just a plastic clock.)
American citizens were becoming terrorists. Here in the Quad Cities, several people wrote letters to the editor, not attacking my views but rather attacking me personally. One woman mentioned my name five times in a 250-word letter to the Quad-City Times. I believe she was making sure that my name was ingrained in the reader's mind so that if anyone wanted to lash out, they'd know whom to attack.
My life fell apart. We were afraid to stand in front of the windows of our home. After my wife moved out, I was left alone to be afraid. The incidents provided what I consider to be the large final nails in the coffin of my marriage.
I live alone now with plenty of time late in the evening to reflect on what happened. The views that I expressed that so outraged my fellow countrymen are now printed in mainstream newspapers and magazines every day.
You have to be in complete denial not to realize that 9/11 has been used for political gain by the Bush administration. It has been revealed that the president did indeed have warning of a major terrorist plot and yes, the scenario had been discussed that planes could be used as weapons, and yes, the U.S. had been badgering the Taliban for oil rights to a pipeline through Afghanistan that it did not want to grant us. Just last week, CBS revealed that even before any evidence had been gathered, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was ordering plans for an invasion of Iraq. (Although Saddam is a terrible leader, there has still been no evidence revealed linking Iraq to 9/11.)
Directly after 9/11 I didn't know exactly what was going on, but I was extremely suspicious. The conflicts of interest are staggering. I knew that this was much more than a battle between absolute good and absolute evil. That's a child's view of foreign policy, and I resented the president treating American citizens with such disrespect. I called upon American citizens to demand the facts before we bloodied our hands, becoming no better than the terrorist murderers who committed this terrible act. I guess I was just a little ahead of the pack.
So as you reflect on your own views of 9/11, think of your fellow Americans who did not march to the rabid war drums. Think of those who stood up for what they believe in only to find that the freedoms that this country was supposed to be protecting were in danger ... not from terrorists, but from fellow Americans. Think of those who have been locked away for a year now without due process in a scenario similar to that described by Kafka in The Trial. No charges. No lawyers. No recourse. Their lives are ruined.
Let's have no more victims of 9/11.
Everyone, including myself, knew right away that the perpetrators of 9/11 had to be punished. But being an avid history buff, I knew that there was a danger that our government would not fully investigate before taking action. I knew that thousands of Afghanistan civilians were now in danger of becoming "collateral damage." At the time, I was writing for several Internet magazines, mainly OnlineJournal.com, following the potential conflicts of interest surrounding the Bush administration's policies and personal business interests. I was extremely suspicious from the word "go."
I flew to Washington, D.C., and participated in a two-day march for peace on September 29 and 30. There were 7,000 of us marching, the fastest and largest peace-movement mobilization in our nation's history. The march was peaceful except for a handful of overzealous teens, yet CNN reported the demonstration as "hundreds march ... pepper spray used."
I was interviewed for at least 15 minutes by the Associated Press (AP), and I explained that we were marching to ensure that the U.S. investigate the tragedy and act judiciously. I said that we should work with the U.N. and our allies to ensure that justice is served, not a vengeance that would harm thousands of civilians, making us no better than the terrorists. We needed a full and open investigation. Then the AP reporter asked the bombshell question: "Some say now is not the time to question the president." The question was not reproduced in the article, but I responded with the only quote that made it into the story. I said, "Now is the time we should question the president, because decisions that we make now will have repercussions 10 and 20 years down the road." Although the answer without the question is slightly out-of-context, to this day I do not see what was so terrible about my statement. I still stand by it. We investigated Pearl Harbor. We investigated the Kennedy assassination. It is beyond belief that something as monumental as 9/11 was quickly becoming off-limits to an investigation.
But I am not writing this to express my socio-political views. Rather, I am writing to mention that in the United States of America, I not only have a right to believe what I believe, I have the right to say what I believe. After the Associated Press article, my phone rang off the hook with death threats from around the country. People screamed at my wife that I was a traitor. I was told to watch my back because "we are coming for you" and "we're going to shoot all traitors like you." I showed the first few threatening letters to my wife, but she was so panicked that I quickly stopped. She never saw the ticking package. I was so angry I opened it on my front porch so that if it were a bomb, at least all the neighbors would see what was going on. (It was just a plastic clock.)
American citizens were becoming terrorists. Here in the Quad Cities, several people wrote letters to the editor, not attacking my views but rather attacking me personally. One woman mentioned my name five times in a 250-word letter to the Quad-City Times. I believe she was making sure that my name was ingrained in the reader's mind so that if anyone wanted to lash out, they'd know whom to attack.
My life fell apart. We were afraid to stand in front of the windows of our home. After my wife moved out, I was left alone to be afraid. The incidents provided what I consider to be the large final nails in the coffin of my marriage.
I live alone now with plenty of time late in the evening to reflect on what happened. The views that I expressed that so outraged my fellow countrymen are now printed in mainstream newspapers and magazines every day.
You have to be in complete denial not to realize that 9/11 has been used for political gain by the Bush administration. It has been revealed that the president did indeed have warning of a major terrorist plot and yes, the scenario had been discussed that planes could be used as weapons, and yes, the U.S. had been badgering the Taliban for oil rights to a pipeline through Afghanistan that it did not want to grant us. Just last week, CBS revealed that even before any evidence had been gathered, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was ordering plans for an invasion of Iraq. (Although Saddam is a terrible leader, there has still been no evidence revealed linking Iraq to 9/11.)
Directly after 9/11 I didn't know exactly what was going on, but I was extremely suspicious. The conflicts of interest are staggering. I knew that this was much more than a battle between absolute good and absolute evil. That's a child's view of foreign policy, and I resented the president treating American citizens with such disrespect. I called upon American citizens to demand the facts before we bloodied our hands, becoming no better than the terrorist murderers who committed this terrible act. I guess I was just a little ahead of the pack.
So as you reflect on your own views of 9/11, think of your fellow Americans who did not march to the rabid war drums. Think of those who stood up for what they believe in only to find that the freedoms that this country was supposed to be protecting were in danger ... not from terrorists, but from fellow Americans. Think of those who have been locked away for a year now without due process in a scenario similar to that described by Kafka in The Trial. No charges. No lawyers. No recourse. Their lives are ruined.
Let's have no more victims of 9/11.
