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Buffalo,
9/11 and the War at Home
Father of U.S. Soldier En Route to Iraq Speaks Out
Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear & the Selling of American
Empire
Buffalo, 9/11 and the War at Home
On the eve of the third anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks
we take a look at one of the cities in this country hardest
hit by the 9/11 aftermath - Buffalo, New York. We speak Bruce
Jackson, a professor of American Culture at SUNY Buffalo and
editor of the web journal BuffaloReport.com. [includes rush
transcript]
As the 3rd anniversary of the September 11 attacks nears,
people and groups across the country are planning vigils,
peace demonstrations and memorial services for the dead. The
anniversary comes as the number of US soldiers killed in Iraq
passes the 1,000 mark; the number of dead Iraqis goes largely
uncounted but some estimates put the number well above 10,000.
Afghanis continue to die, as do US soldiers deployed there.
Over the past three years, the lives of millions of Americans
have been irreversibly altered. Not just by the devastation
of September 11 and the deaths of US soldiers deployed in
Iraq and Afghanistan. Immigrants, particularly Muslim Americans,
Pakistani Americans and Arab Americans, have paid a heavy
price simply for being who they are.
The PATRIOT Act has had a devastating impact in these communities
and to the whole institution of civil liberties in the US.
One of the cities hardest hit by the 9-eleven aftermath is
the city we are broadcasting from today, Buffalo. At least
six Buffalo residents have died in the invasion or occupation
of Iraq. The city was also home to the "Lackawana Six,"
a group of Yemeni Americans convicted of providing material
support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization.
One of their lawyers said they pleaded guilty only after prosecutors
had dropped heavy hints that they would be declared "enemy
combatants" if they didn't. President Bush, Attorney
General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller all
hailed the convictions as a triumph for law enforcement. But
critics called it an example of the US jailing people for
"thought crimes" and "guilt by association."
None of the six were accused of planning or engaging in any
act of terrorism. Buffalo is also a key transit point for
visitors going to and from Canada, which, in this era of a
so-called tightening of the borders, has had a significant
impact on the city. Today, we look at Buffalo 3 years after
9-eleven.
- Bruce Jackson, Professor of American Culture at SUNY
Buffalo. He is also the editor of the web journal BuffaloReport.com
and a frequent contributor to counterpunch.org.
Father of U.S. Soldier En Route to Iraq Speaks Out
As the number of US soldier deaths in Iraq surpassed 1,000,
we speak with Gary Earl Ross, a university professor and playwright
whose son David was recently deployed to Iraq.
As the number of US soldier deaths in Iraq surpassed 1,000
this week, more soldiers are deployed to Iraq almost daily.
This past Sunday, a young US Army soldier named David Ross
became one of those soldiers. He is normally based in Korea
and already did one 3 week tour in Iraq. Before shipping off
last weekend, he was back in the US, spending time with his
mother in Pennsylvania and his father here in Buffalo.
- Gary Earl Ross, professor of English at the University
of Buffalo's Educational Opportunity Center. He is also
a playwright. His son David is in the US Army and shipped
out for Iraq on Sunday.
Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear & the Selling
of American Empire
We hear an excerpt of a new documentary by the Media Education
Foundation, "Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear &
the Selling of American Empire" which examines how the
Bush administration used Sept. 11 to transform American foreign
policy and enter a phase of so-called preemptive warfare while
rolling back civil liberties and social programs at home.
A new documentary "Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear
& the Selling of American Empire" examines how the
Bush administration used Sept. 11 to transform American foreign
policy and enter a phase of so-called preemptive warfare while
rolling back civil liberties and social programs at home.
The film is produced by the Media Education Foundation and
features former government officials combined with many of
the leading scholars and thinkers of our time including Noam
Chomsky, Norman Mailer, Chalmers Johnson, Daniel Ellsberg,
Tariq Ali and more. The film is narrated by Julian Bond.
- Sut Jhally, director of the new documentary "Hijacking
Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear and the Selling of American Empire."
He is a professor at the University of Massachusetts and
the founder and executive director of the Media
Education Foundation.
- Hijacking Catastrophe, excerpt of documentary.
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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