Seven years later

It’s been seven years now since the 9/11 attacks, seven years during which billions of dollars and rivers of blood have gone into the “international war on terrorism.” How’s it going?

We’re not going to discuss how well the surge worked, or whether the Iraqi government is stepping up (in any case, Iraq did not even become a front in the war on terrorism until after we invaded it). We’re not even going to examine the much more pertinent situation in Afghanistan; we’ll leave those subjects to the foreign policy experts. Let’s look instead inside our own borders and ask: how well would the terrorists who attacked us feel that their goals have been fulfilled?

They would surely be disappointed that there have been no more attacks within the United States. So far, so good. But, we think they would be absolutely thrilled with the changes that have occurred in our society and government in the name of national security.

One frequently hears it said that terrorists attack us because they “hate us for our freedoms.” We think it’s actually a lot more complicated than that, but accepting that premise for the sake of argument, one would have to conclude that the 9/11 attacks have been wildly successful. And the Democratic and Republican national conventions, which should epitomize our democracy at its finest, have provided some of the most chilling recent examples.

Freedom of assembly? Tolerance of dissent?

Forget about it.

Before the Republican convention, assault-rifle-wielding swat teams broke into homes and offices, confiscating computers and journals, and handcuffing and arresting people that had committed the crime, not even of protesting, but of planning to protest. One group targeted bears the name of “Food Not Bombs” (see www.foodnotbombs.net to judge for yourself the threat they pose). Apparently, the doctrine of pre-emptive attack that debuted with the Iraq War is now focused on our own citizens.

For those fortunate enough to avoid pre-emptive arrest, protesters are now herded into “free speech zones” where nobody can see or hear what they have to say. Once upon a time, not so very long ago, this whole country was a free-speech zone. One wonders whether Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered to hundreds of thousands who marched on Washington, DC 40 years ago, could have occurred in today’s climate.

And heaven help those members of the press who try to give the few protesters that make it through the cracks a public voice; they are subjected to police intimidation. Perhaps the most egregious example of this was the arrest of journalist Amy Goodman and her producers, who were merely trying to cover the protests at the Republican convention. We have video evidence that Goodman was acting peaceably (see act.credoaction.com/campaign/dont_arrest_journalists/?r=1376&id=796-1676961-.zHcMzx ), and had press credentials clearly in evidence. In Goodman’s words, “They pushed me to the ground. I said, ‘You can clearly see I have all the proper credentials.’ I have my security clearance for the floor, for example, of the convention. So Secret Service came over, and they pulled it off. ‘Now you don’t,’ they said.”

Goodman was only one of a number of journalists arrested at the Republican convention. Nor was the Democratic convention free of incident: there, an ABC producer who attempted to talk to Democrats leaving a private meeting as part of a news piece on corporate lobbyists and donors was arrested.

The prohibition of assembly, suppression of dissent and censorship of the press join with the appalling FISA bill (see our editorial in the March 20 issue), which removes our right to a fair trial, and the Presidential assumption of absolute power, as ways in which America has forfeited the freedoms that at one time defined our soul. To whatever extent terrorists truly do hate our freedoms, we have handed them one victory after another over the past seven years. It’s time to stop.

A free press, the right to assemble, the right to dissent, the right to trial, a government of checks and balances—without these, there’s not much of democracy left to preserve. We, the people, need to step up and let candidates at all levels know that we will not stand for the continued destruction of our freedoms. Otherwise, it’s a sorry memorial we will be making for those who died in a field in Pennsylvania and in the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon seven years ago.

Dr. Punnybone

Mich America