-5- The consequences of 9/11
5.1 “It was bin Laden”
Just eight hours after the WTC attacks, US officials claimed it was bin Laden. (see 4.1, 4.p.m.)
The first “hard” evidence was a video released in December after the WTC attacks. It shows Osama Bin Laden who claims to be responsible for 9/11. He is talking about the damage done to the WTC and names nine pilots who were verified to have been on those planes.
“”I was thinking that the fire from the gas in the plane would melt the iron structure of the building and collapse the area where the plane hit and all the floors above it only,” he said, according to a U.S. government translation.” – CNN. The video which is available to the public shows him smiling and generally happy about what had happened.32
As Ari Fleischer says, that the video is nothing new to the president, because Bush already knew that bin Laden was responsible for the attacks.
“Another discovered videotape is “one more piece of evidence” that Osama bin Laden was behind the attacks on Washington and New York, Vice President Dick Cheney said Sunday (9th December 2001, CNN). Hence bin Laden has his origin in Afghanistan, it was clear that war with the Taliban regime, that gives asylum to bin Laden, was imminent. Bin Laden was condemned too fast, and then had been setup as a scapegoat. Based on those two videotapes, Bush launched a war against Afghanistan, which already was his first step in the “war on terrorism”.33
5.2 War in Afghanistan
On September 12th, 2001 President George W. Bush announced “he will make no distinction between the perpetrators of the terrorist attacks and those who harbour them.”
Roughly a month later, after the Taliban regime had refused to turn over Osama bin Laden to the US, the British and American military started the bombing of several targets in Afghanistan.
The fighting continued until the end of November and Taliban forces are pushed back. It wasthen decided that an interim administration should govern Afghanistan for six months.
On December the 22nd, the Pashtun leader, Hamid Karzai, became the head of Afghanistan’s new “broad-based government”.
Until the date of writing, the coursework there were continuous small fights around several cities showing that the Taliban forces have not yet been 100%ly eliminated. Also, just in time for the US election in 2004, the hunt for the world’s most wanted criminal34 mastermind continues. Yet he has not been seized, which shows that the Bush administration has either lost interest in bin Laden or is not capable of capturing him and fully destroying his network – Al-Qaida.
5.3 Patriot Act
Patriot Act is the short title for “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001″.
The senate welcomed this law by 98 to 1 votes. I am not going to talk about the Patriot Act here in details, as it is written on 342 pages cross-referring to other laws, bills and acts released over the past 200 years in America.35 The Patriot Act allows the law enforcement to use any surveillance methods they wish (may that be bugging the telephone, questioning other people, intercepting mail, reading email, planting Trojan virus devices in pc, etc.), also no permission from court is needed anymore.
If law enforcement decides it is necessary to either use surveillance or do a raid, they can use their new “instant special Patriot Act permissions”.
Due to the Patriot Act, any data accessible to the law enforcement can and may be used to check your background. For example, the law enforcement now has information about what books you read, how frequently you visit the doctor, what medicine you buy, what goods you buy in the supermarket (via your credit card) and so on. Most of the libraries and doctors offices have those special new notes (saying that under the Patriot Act law enforcement is allowed to look at your data) printed in small letters under their usual information. This newly invented Patriot Act is a violation to the independent way of life36, which America once was famous for. With this act being active, the rights of every citizen are restricted to a minimum, as you have to watch out what you do and when you do it.So many experts consider it a joke to call the website informing about the Patriot Act “www.lifeandliberty.gov”.
5.4 Homeland security (Act of 2002)
The Homeland security Act is similar to the Patriot Act, but enhances more the military the law as mentioned in 5.3.
The act, which is accessible at http://thomas.loc.gov describes the procedure and acts that will take place after a certain event, e.g. a nuclear / biological war.
The Homeland security act was also released to justify the big increase in military and border control spending in the years 2002. The website www.dhs.gov (made by the homeland security task force, which was created after the release of the bill) informs about this act and show a “thread advisory”, a newly developed mark by the homeland security task force on their website. This mark shows the current level of “danger and possible terrorist activity” in the US. Another creation of the newly created task force is the site www.ready.gov , which gives information on possible dangerous and hazardous situation in the US. For example, it tells the citizens what to do in the case of a nuclear blast, etc.
5.5 “Osama bin Forgotten”
At some point the Bush administration stopped chasing the most wanted criminal of the world and decided to target another person to blame. This person became Saddam Hussein, former leader of the Iraq. (Based on “The Administration’s attention shifted to building support for the war in Iraq, and Saddam Hussein seemed to replace bin Laden in the role of the world’s most notorious “evildoer.” Indeed, Bush’s reticence on the subject of bin Laden grew so conspicuous that critics, such as the Democratic Presidential candidate Bob Graham, began referring to the terrorist as “Osama bin Forgotten.”")37
5.6 “Weapons of Mass distraction (WMD)”
To justify a war against Iraq, the Bush administration came up with a great story: At first they used the argument that Saddam Hussein was affiliated to the 9/11 attacks, then they kept on saying that the Iraq would maintain Weapons of Mass destruction. Due to the fact that most of the news companies, such as CNN, CBS, Fox and others are depended on the White House and their information (it’s simple as this: if you don’t publish what they want you to, you are no longer invited to the White House press briefings), they kept on repeating the fake story about WMD. Head inspector Blix said in his report released to the UN and accessible to the White House, that there were no WMD at all.38
Just to name some more cases where fake evidence was used to justify an action wanted to be undone today: Guatemala, Cuba, El Salvador and Gulf War I / Kuwait. The U.S. has a long history of fabricating evidence to justify foreign adventures.
Thus, you can say that the Bush administration used the Weapons of Mass destruction as Weapons of Mass distraction. To quote the LA times:
“Yet the crucial point is that, so far, none of Miller’s big WMD exclusives has proved to be true — nobody’s found nuthin’ — and she increasingly looks like a Pentagon flack who helped sell the war. By comparison, Blair’s inaccurate description of a suburban driveway and Bragg’s sub-Faulknerian maundering about Gulf Coast oystermen feel positively benign. Where these guys were simply promoting themselves, Miller’s work looks suspiciously like Bush administration propaganda.”39
It’s funny to see how the Bush administration contradicts themselves; in January 2001 and June 2001, Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, said on TV, that the Iraq has no WMD, and is not a thread at all.40 Then in late 2002 and early 2003 they say the complete opposite, despite Blix’s report. Seeing as until today no one has found any WMD in or near Iraq, someone must have lied.
Closing commentary
-6- Closing commentary
When summarizing the facts given in this coursework I come to the conclusion, that George W. Bush, president of the United States of America, used the horrible attacks on the World Trade Center to not only justify the upcoming attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq, but also to establish new laws that reduce the citizens freedom. (Patriot Act / Homeland security)
His administration created and distributed false facts, blatant lies and fairy tales, to persuade the people of America of their opinion. Several incidents have shown, that Bush bent reality far too much: All the lies about 9/11, the war in Afghanistan which was started without any real evidence and the war in Iraq, where everyday 1,98 US soldiers are killed.(based on the casualties until today, 30th march, 2004. Watch the Flash animations for further information). The whole story about the Weapons of Mass destruction was a lie. He, Bush, even jokes about the non-existing WMD. “Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be somewhere … nope, no weapons over there … maybe under here?” Bush joked at the occasion of a dinner.” 41
I personally do not find this too funny. There were no WMD. That’s what Blix’ s detailed report said. Other sources verified this.42 I am really wondering if Mr. Bush thinks that killing people without any reason (that’s what the US did in the Iraq war in 2003), is funny to joke about. The whole idea sickens me.
Slowly, but maybe just in time for the US election 2004, criticism towards the Bush administration increases. Reports that had been withheld are now made public. Former White House employees and other government officials release secret information that were not accessible up to now, and that really puts pressure on Bush. It looks like that Bush tried to use the events of 9/11 to justify wars against other nations, but he did not say “We are declaring war on Iraq”, but “I declare war on terrorism”. This phrase marks history, as for the first time a war is not fought against a single country, but against a great number of countries that allegedly grant a safe haven for them. This vague term allows Bush to target any country he wants. Who will be next? So far, we have learnt, that no reason is a reason, which means, that the country accused of dealing with terrorists (Afghanistan e.g.) can be attacked on base of facts created by the Bush administration’s PR machine.
-7- Eigenständigkeitserklärung
Ich erkläre, dass ich die Facharbeit ohne fremde Hilfe angefertigt und nur die im Literaturverzeichnis angeführten Quellen und Hilfsmittel benutzt habe.
Ich bin der Autor dieser Facharbeit und beanspruche ein komplettes Copyright auf diese.
Read MoreI am the author of this coursework. The author copyrights this coursework.