Thirteenth
in blog series chronicling the lead-up to the
September
2001: The attacks of 9/11 occur and are
promptly seized upon. Bush: “We’re at war.” Neocons: “a second
September 11,
2001 – The worst terrorist strikes on American soil in
history occur on this date, as four jumbo jets are hijacked almost
simultaneously from three U.S. airports and are crashed into the World Trade
Center towers in New York, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania. Bush will
subsequently use “September 11, 2001” as his mantra in justifying war with Iraq
although no evidence ever surfaces of Iraqi involvement in the attacks. Of the
19 skyjackers who use the planes in their kamikaze attack, 15 are Saudi; none
Iraqi.
Sept. 12, 2001 –
“To War, Not to Court,” an article by syndicated columnist and PNAC signer
Charles Krauthammer, appears in the Washington
Post:
“This is not crime. This is
war . . . Secretary of State Colin Powell’s first reaction to the day of infamy
was to pledge to “bring those responsible to justice.” This is exactly wrong.
Franklin Roosevelt did not respond to Pearl Harbor by pledging to bring the
commander of Japanese naval aviation to justice . . .”
As many observers have pointed out, there were also no
Afghanis among the 9/11 skyjackers. This column is only the first of scores of
columns and television appearances in which Krauthammer will pursue the
objective of attacking the Middle East, see below.
One line
of thought for which PNAC has been most widely criticized is its published
statement that only a ‘second Pearl Harbor’ would do the trick, that is, would
induce Americans to support going to war in the Middle East. Neoconservatives
supporting regime change in Iraq -- by force if necessary -- throughout the
1990s seem to have been well aware of the unpopularity of their position.
Same day – 9:00 a.m.
EST: PR Newswire sends out a
21-page press release titled “ProfNet Round-Up: America Under Attack,” listing
over 180 experts credentialed in several fields: “Following is a list of
experts available to comment on Tuesday morning’s terrorist attacks.”
The list
includes specialists in aviation and aviation security, disaster response,
firefighting, etc., with their credentials and contact information. Professors
John Norton Moore and Robert F. Turner from the Center for National Security
Law at the University of Virginia, a conservative think tank, compare 9/11 to
Pearl Harbor:
“Those responsible for the terrorist attacks against the
United States have hugely underestimated the American people and the strength
of our democracy. As with Pearl Harbor, these attacks have awakened a sleeping
giant. America will respond with effect measures to win this war against terrorism.
But, like December 7, 1941, September 11, 2001, is a day that will live in
infamy.” (Moore)
“If we want to reward those
responsible for this morning’s attacks, and to encourage a growth industry of
terrorist attacks against the United States, the best approach would be to
divide along partisan lines, denounce our leaders, and call for an end to
policies that might offend terrorists. On the other hand, if we treat this
issue as a Pearl Harbor, and unite behind our leaders with a determinaton to
respond decisively to this and all such attacks, and to remain true to our
principles, the terrorists may realize to their sorrow that they have but
awakened a sleeping giant.” (Turner)
Actually, as historians point out, the real Pearl Harbor
was followed by intense demands for accountability, with several high-level
investigations continuing for years afterward. The rationale for creating the
CIA was so that a Pearl Harbor could never happen again.
These
‘second Pearl Harbor’ comments suggest that 9/11 could not have happened had Al
Gore been in the White House, or at least could not have happened on American
soil. There might well have been strikes on U.S. interests elsewhere in the
world, but anyone supporting the 9/11 plotters would have to know that the same
political forbearance – let’s not play the blame game, let’s attack instead of
investigating, etc. – would hardly have been extended by the ‘noise machine’ to
a Democrat in the White House. Had the 9/11 attacks happened under a Democratic
administration, ferreting out all conceivable details even hypothetically
pertinent to the lead-up to the attacks, within the administration, would have
commenced immediately. Fox News would have televised the heroic narrative of
some mid-level government functionary who bravely spirited classified materials
out of the office to prevent their being lost or tampered with by liberals,
etc. . .
Sept. 12, 2001 –
President Bush grabs counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke by the arm and tells
him, “I want you, as soon as you can, to go back over everything, everything.
See if Saddam did this. See if he’s linked in any way.” (Clarke, Against All Enemies, 32)
Same day – Secretary
of Defense Donald Rumsfeld complains about a lack of good targets in
Afghanistan and argues that there are better targets in Iraq; Rumsfeld also
talks about widening the war and “getting Iraq.” (Clarke, 30-31)
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