Demand an Independent Investigation of 9-11
June 25, 2002
Dear People,
The following is an Email I just sent out to 30 or so of my closest friends. I'm sending it to you as well in the hopes that you can bring it to the attention of your readers as well. Thank you.
-Joe
This may be the most important Email I will ever write.
There has been much talk of the need for an independent, nonpartisan committee to investigate what happened on 9/11/01: why America was so unprepared for such a well-coordinated, devastating attack - why no one paid attention to any of the numerous warnings in the months beforehand, and why the FBI disregarded urgent memos from its field offices, etc. The congressional intelligence committee currently investigating the issue is too enmeshed in Washington politics and may be trying to avoid its own share of blame for what eventually happened.
Needless to say, the Bush administration is strenuously battling against an independent commission, claiming such a body would be a distraction from their ongoing 'war on terror.' One does not have to be a raving 'liberal' to suspect that their real interest is from having their culpability for the attacks examined. Such culpability could stem (at the very least) from sheer mind-boggling incompetence, to the far-fetched (but unfortunately still plausible) possibility of their wanting a rationale to squelch any and all domestic opposition to their agenda.
Whatever the cause and whoever is at fault, all the facts must be put on the record and all the responsible parties must be identified; only an independent, fully powered commission consisting of unimpeachable, nonpartisan members can accomplish this. Despite the Bush administration 'warnings,' such a commission will help prevent - not permit -- another 9/11 to take place; such a commission will establish the truth of its government's actions that the citizens of a democracy deserve as their birthright.
Up until recently Senator Daschle has been leading the fight for this commission against organized GOP opposition, and with the support of Republican senators like John McCain had a good chance of establishing such a commission. However, according to a very disturbing article on the salon.com website -
http://www.salon.com/news/col/cona/2002/06/22/commission/index.html
- several Democratic senators have now joined the Republicans in opposing an independent commission! The article specifically names Bob Graham of Florida, Evan Bayh of Indiana, Dianne Feinstein of California and John Edwards of North Carolina, and goes on to say that without all the Senate Democrats united behind him, Daschle has for the moment given up on pushing for the commission.
We cannot allow this to happen. This may be our last chance to hold this administration accountable -- an administration that has buried presidential papers required by law to be released, that has announced its intention to fight any Freedom of Information Act requests for documents and one that attacks any questioning of its motives or actions as 'partisan politics.'
We cannot allow the Democrats to continue their ineffectual 'opposition' to the ruthless GOP steamroller that installed Bush in the White House and Ashcroft in the Justice Department. The time is now for everyone - everyone - to contact their own representatives, the four senators mentioned above and Senator Daschle himself to demand that they serve their country by not resting until an independent, fully-powered 9/11 commission is in place. By the same token, we cannot rest until we force the Democrats to serve our nation, our Constitution and our freedom.
Office addresses, phone numbers and Email addresses for all the members of the US Senate can be found at
http://www.senate.gov/contacting/index.cfm
and for members of the House of Representatives at
http://www.house.gov/writerep/ [you must enter your zip code on this page to access your representative's information]
After you have contacted the above office holders, forward this Email to EVERYONE you know who shares your feelings or reservations about the direction our country has taken since both December 2000 and September 11, 2001 and urge them to do the same. One reason the US is in its current condition is that the forces of the ultra-right wing (that make the laughed-at John Birch Society of the 1960's look like Rockefeller Republicans), aided by corporate money and power, has taken over the GOP. These groups and individuals were and are still are disciplined and single-minded in seizing and holding onto political power.
If the democratic senators who (for whatever reason) are currently following the GOP line suddenly find themselves deluged by thousands of letters, phone calls and Emails demanding the creation of an independent 9/11 commission, it will be VERY hard for them to look the other way. Whether we are Democrats, liberals, progressives, Greens, independents or libertarians does not matter as long as we are willing to band together and fight with equal passion for what we believe. And I think it's fair to say that we believe deeply in our country and the freedom it stands for, while our opponents cynically exploit patriotic symbols (the flag, our armed forces, police and fire departments and since 9/11, a sneak attack on the US) to manipulate voting blocs into supporting actions and policies that will only benefit a tiny handful of powerful people at the expense of everyone else.
To quote Dickens, 'God bless us, every one' - and thanks to everyone and anyone who made it to the bottom of this Email.
-Joe
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