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> Thur., Sept. 11, 2003
Pacifica's PeaceWatch
Today's Stories:
Was The Bush Administration Complicit
in The September 11th Attacks?
September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows
Nobel Peace Price Nominee Thich Nhat Hanh Suggests Ways to
End Terror
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Two years after the most horrific attack on U.S. soil in
contemporary times the shock has dissipated, the memory is
more distant, but the fear remains…
Poll after poll released on the eve of today's second anniversary
of the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington find Americans
more fearful and fatalistic than they were a year ago.
Carroll Doherty of the Pew Research Center says "The
prevalent view in this country is that they can strike again,
anywhere, anytime, and the government can't stop it. She says,"The
apocalyptic fear is definitely here to stay, at least in the
foreseeable future."
That fear returned yesterday when the Arabic television
channel Al-Jazeera aired a video of Al Qaeda leader Osama
bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri, who vows to "bury"
American troops in Iraq.
But Harper's magazine editor Lewis Lapham says if Americans
are fearful it's because they are being sold fear by the government
of George W. Bush.
"Pretty well all the Bush administration has got going
for it now is this foreign war," Lapham said. "Fear
is something this administration has been selling for two
years.
"You sedate the populace with the drug of fear and maybe
the electorate won't notice what a mess you have made, not
only of domestic politics, but also our international relations
says Lapham.
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Was The Bush Administration Complicit in September
11th Attacks?
Part of what may be feeding into the fear for many Americans
are the number of unanswered questions lingering around the
events of that fateful day. According to CNN efforts to fully
investigate the matter may have been influenced by the White
House as the President personally asked then-Senate Majority
leader Tom Daschle to limit the congressional investigation
into 911 in January of 2002.
One of the most obvious, yet critical questions being asked
is why the attacks were not prevented. A congressional report
released this summer blames CIA and FBI lapses. William Davis,
an Associate Professor at Kent State University has compiled
the body of investigative journalism around September 11th
2001 and concludes that the entire U.S. intelligence community
knew of the 9/11 attacks before hand, including the fact that
commercial jets were to be used as bombs. Davis questions
why planes were permitted to fly long after the first plane
hit the World Trade Center…and wonders why NORAD didn’t
intercept the plane that hit the Pentagon.
Tape: Walter E. Davis is an Associate professor at Kent
State University. His paper is titled: September 11th and
the Bush Administration: Compelling Evidence For Complicity.
The entire report can be found at www.informationclearinghouse.info/article
4582.htm
Two by two they stepped forward at ground zero today, the
sons and daughters, nieces and nephews, grandsons and granddaughters
of the Sept. 11 victims, mournfully reciting the 2,792 names
of the World Trade Center dead. For a second straight year,
the nation paused on a bright September morning to recall
the day when hijacked jetliners slammed into the World Trade
Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania, killing
more than 3,000 people. Each mourning in a manner that suits
himself.
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September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows
As President Bush uses the anniversary of September 11th
to claim progress in fighting the war on terror and possibly
expand it beyond Iraq and Afghanistan, we’re going to
listen today on Peacewatch to the stories of people for whom
the terrorist attacks not only provided a life-altering experience
but determined their roles as lifelong peacemakers. They’re
the mothers, wives, sisters and brothers of people who were
killed in the World Trade Center and the Pentagon two years
ago, and they’ve formed themselves into a group called
September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows.
In the months following the attacks, Peacewatch Producer
Scott Gurian followed several members of this group as they
took part in a walk for peace between Washington, DC and New
York City. He also had the opportunity to sit down with Amber
Amundson, Colleen Kelly, Phyllis Rodriguez and David Potorti
to listen to their stories. We present now the first part
of an hour-long audio documentary he produced.
Tape: Amber Amundson’s husband Craig Scott Amundson
worked in the Pentagon, Phyllis Rodriguez’s son Greg
and David Potorti’s brother Jim worked in the World
Trade Center and Colleen Kelly’s brother Billy was attending
a morning business meeting in the World Trade Center’s
“Windows on the World” restaurant on September
11th, 2001. Amber, Phyllis, David and Colleen are members
of the group September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows.
They spoke with Peacewatch Producer Scott Gurian. We’ll
have the second part of this documentary tomorrow.
[top]
Nobel Peace Price Nominee Thich Nhat Hanh Suggests
Ways to End Terror
On this day of remembrance, as Americans seek ways to heal
from the grief and find ways to protect ourselves from future
violence, PeaceWatch spent time with a Nobel Peace Prize nominee
in hope of finding some answers. Vietnamese, Monk, Thich Nhat
Hanh is in Washington to host a Peace retreat with congressional
leaders and their families this weekend. Peacewatch sat with
the Buddhist monk this morning surrounded by his students
in a Capitol Hill setting. We sought his wisdom in interpreting
the tragic events and in coping with the violence that gripped
this nation two years ago and continues to manifest throughout
the world.
Tape: Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Thich Nhat Hanh, Vietnamese
Buddhist Monk and peace activist.
Credits
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For a copy of today's show, please contact Pacifica
Radio Archives at 800 735 0230.
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