Showing posts with label 9/11. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 9/11. Show all posts

Friday, September 14, 2012

Obama proves he is qualified; Romney flails

Let's get some statements, then sort out the timeline ;)

Romney:  "When our grounds are being attacked, and being breached, that the first response of the United States must be outrage at the breach of the sovereignty of our nation. And apology for America's values is never the right course," he said, slamming the Obama administration for "sympathiz[ing] with those who waged the attacks."

Obama:  Romney "seems to have a tendency to shoot first and aim later."  and here are his remarks that embody true leadership and strength rather than threats and accusations based on bungled facts.


Clinton:  “Violence like this is no way to honor religion or faith, and as long as there are those who would take innocent life in the name of God, the world will never know a true and lasting peace” and “a free and stable Libya is still in America’s interest and security.”


Politicians on social media...(monumentally bad idea):


Reince Priebus:   “Obama sympathizes with attackers in Egypt. Sad and pathetic."


Allen West (R-FL, Tea Party):  Repeats weakness, apology, Jimmy Carter talking points, accuses media of protecting President when Romney should be cross examined because he made incorrect statements and is running for president, advocates bringing diplomats home, and unbelievably repeats the incorrect timeline of the Embassy condemnation of the video (confused with White House statement) as a response to the Libya attack.


Jim DeMint (R-SC):  “Governor Romney is absolutely right, there is no justification for these deadly attacks and we should never apologize for American freedom,”


Sarah Palin- Classic Palin: crude, factually incorrect and includes debunked Republican talking points. On Facebook...


Donald Rumsfeld:  The attacks on our embassies & diplomats are a result of perceived American weakness. Mitt Romney is right to point that out.


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On September 11 of this year, our ambassador to Libya died, along with 3 employees. The timeline generally starts at one showing of an anti-Islam movie which barely anyone attended and the trailer for it which, rather, may have been the thing that circulated widely. The film details are sketchy, the funding and producer's details are not known, but an Egyptian Christian ex-con could be involved and the Florida Quran burning pastor had much praise for it. When picked up by Arabic news, this inflamed tensions in the Middle East because wild rumor had it that it was supported by our government (as films must be there) and viewed widely in America, neither of which is true. 

It is widely thought to be an event that extremists used to their advantage and not necessarily the cause of the Cairo protest that turned angry and the tragic Libya embassy attack. It appears to be a well planned attack in the case of Libya. I'll be watching to see if the timing video is coincidence, if the ex-con suspected to be involved with the video was giving info to extremists, or if by chance both the video makers and the extremists wanted to use 9/11 to broadcast their hateful messages.

This is usually a time for putting politics aside and for expressing sympathy for victims' families together as Americans (or humans). Instead, Romney got his facts out of order and used that mistake to try and prop up the long debunked "apology tour" talking point to say Obama is not a leader and we need Romney to provide that leadership in Washington. Misguided is an understatement.

There are several things wrong, here. All pretty much lead one to conclude Romney shouldn't be anywhere close to an office that informs American foreign policy. He would be a disaster. GWB certainly made bad choices in foreign policy and advisers, but Romney is gunning for war and alienating allies well before we vote on who will make the best decisions in cases like these! 

1. He got the facts wrong.
*Obama did not apologize;
*the Twitter statement of tolerance was not an apology and came one guy from the embassy, not the White House;
*and the embassy statement was made BEFORE the attack to cool tensions ignited by an anti-Islam video.

2. He shamefully used the deaths of 4 Americans for political gain, along with Ryan and RNC chair Preibus.

3. It appears that he wasn't moved to make a statement condemning violence or expressing condolences or urging Americans to come together in crisis- his aides urged him to make a political statement separating him from Obama and dividing the nation.

4. Romney, Ryan also tried to tie in the "no leadership" talking point, and in the process proved Obama is the one you want in a crisis, without a doubt.

One of the tired Republican talking points seems to be that Obama lacks leadership, but ironically, this is the very thing in which Romney keeps displaying his profound lack of understanding and leadership. Just as McCain jumped the gun and made a spectacle of himself when the bottom dropped out of the economy (wanting to stop the campaign and debates to appear to be doing something), Romney with his gaffe ridden European tour, irresponsible Libya comments and criticism of Obama's careful diplomacy in favor of Romeny and Ryan's guns blazing, sabre rattling "American strength" does not inspire confidence the way a leader should in times of trouble. In fact, it goes beyond not inspiring confidence, though-  his way is bellicose and coarse, his approach is belligerent, undiplomatic and he is unqualified for the presidency.



Wednesday, September 14, 2011

I didn't feel like posting this on the day (wasn't up to the hate mail I was bound to receive), so here it is...


9/11/2011

Ten years.

You can't forget the day even if you want to.

I will remember the victims. They deserve respect. And there's the other side of remembrance. I don't think I want to see any "specials" or "go" to a Facebook memorial service, though. It's complicated; it brings back so many feelings and emotions. I have feelings shared by most, but also ones probably not felt or understood by many, which is why I'm posting a day late. I couldn't even decide if I wanted to post this. Everyone's doing/posting the never forget, America is awesome stuff and that just wasn't my experience.

I feel like the day of remembrance was stolen- by the disappointment I felt in the then president and the country in general in the events that followed; by the massive tragedy we caused in Iraq; and by replacing and renewing the Cold War hatred for all things Russian with hatred and or suspicion of Arabs and Muslims (and those who happen to look (anything) like them). It cannot and will not ever be just about the victims because of the way we reacted.


Like everyone in moments like these, I remember first where I was on that day at that time- about a year into my first real job, pretty green still, an hour into the workday. A crowd gathered by the radio, trying to see what's happening and if it's for real. It was and we were in shock. There was the fear there'd be more attacks in NY and maybe even the country. How big was this thing? Coinciding with this and after this, (for me) was the fear for Muslims' and Arabs' (and as it turns out people with brown skin since no one knows anything about the Middle East...) safety if it was determined that Muslims or Arabs are actually responsible. This time, the knee-jerk report was right. Saudis. What will this mean for me, my future husband's family, their friends and family, and our (future) kids? I didn't know then that we'd be conned into a war with Iraq, so while Japanese internment camps were in the far reaches of my mind, I had hope that we were better than that and learned something from the past. This is America, after all. We don't do that. If I knew then what I know now about Bush's intent, methods and determination to be The Decider rather than right, I would have been terrified for them rather than just concerned about the unknown.

Thankfully, there were no internment camps for Arabs and Muslims. Unfortunately, similar things did happen- extraordinary rendition and Guantanamo, torture and prison scandals. Nothing (except the occasional off hand comment or unfortunate email) happened to anyone I know, but things definitely happened and attitudes shifted: "Patriot Act," NSEERS, wiretapping, FBI mosque crawling, people removed from planes for "talking foreign" or wearing a turban (or "Muslim garb" or having a certain shade of hair and skin), violence, graffiti, and then the general discomfort with Arabs and Muslims and language one hears in the news and in general conversation that was shocking ten years ago and today we think is normal, given the times (Juan Williams, response to Juan Williams, "Ground Zero Mosque").

9/11 is also ironically inextricably linked to Iraq. We (or at least a handful of Bush cronies, anyway) started our march to Iraq on this day as it turns out, which is kind of interesting and equally tragic in that Iraqis had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11. I remember Americans hungry for revenge, not justice, saying unbelievably hateful things about Muslims and Arabs on all the radio programs. People wanted not just to catch the mastermind, but wanted an equal or greater number of people to suffer or die because of what happened to us. Where did the America I knew and respected go? I had expected us to take the high road and not just lash out. I was disappointed. I remember American flags waving in support of the unnecessary war on Iraq. Afghanistan I thought was inevitable, even if it wasn't the best choice- carpet bombing a country whose population and government didn't even want the group associated with the 9/11 hijackers to be there. I thought Iraq was all posturing and wasn't really going to happen. This is America and we don't do that. And then it happened with no questions asked. Since when did we not question authority? The silence was deafening; it cost us credibility and soldiers lives and many, many innocent Iraqi lives. I hope people take some time to remember those victims as well. We could have taken all the support and sympathy of all nations to be a leader in any way possible- getting off oil, as a Time author puts forward- but instead we chose reckless, senseless all out war on something no one can possibly eradicate. We were like a pack of rabid dogs, opportunistic and deadly. 9/11 was bad enough and then we repaid senseless violence with more senseless violence on innocent people.

I guess this is not really your traditional moving, inspirational tribute. Nor is it a slogan like "never forget" that to my mind leaves to the imagination what is not to be forgotten- the victims, hatred for Arabs, hatred for Islam, the fury you felt that day so that you can go in and lay waste to other countries, the patriotism you felt that was based in vengeance? It's my reflection on my own experience and what I saw. It is my own form of tribute to see how far we've come- or not- and how we can do better.

On a positive note, I suppose it has made me more aware of issues around peace and justice (or injustice as the case may be). I do like the push to make it a day of service and hope that continues.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Ron Suskind's The Way of the World: A Story of Truth and Hope in an Age of Extremism

The Way of the World: A Story of Truth and Hope in an Age of Extremism
by
Ron Suskind

Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Way-World-Story-Truth-Extremism/dp/0061430625
Two shows/interviews:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93319762
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/8/13/the_way_of_the_world_ron

My thoughts:

Wow. Bush should have been impeached. He and his admin did in fact break the law. It was bad that they lied in the run up to Iraq (not illegal necessarily, unfortunately), but forging a letter from an Iraqi official "confirming" their list of lies in a covert action to alter public opinion tipped the scale. Ironically, the guy they wanted to copy the info in his own handwriting and sign it was the Iraqi intel guy who confirmed other reports from British intel and our own agencies that Iraq had no WMD (months before the invasion). He and those who reported this were ignored by Bush and only "used" when they wanted him to copy down this fabricated (by the White House) letter and have it planted in Baghdad by CIA. Of course their outing of him ( with a total lie only to save them some shame and from having to come clean) would put him and his family in danger, being collaborators and all, but hey, when has that ever mattered with Bush admin officials? Plame, anyone?

The book starts out with personal stories of a handful or people and how they experienced America or its decline in those 8 years. I was really enjoying that, then the second part really dove into 9/11, the run up to Iraq, Guantanamo, Bhutto's death and the admin's mishandling (to put it mildly) of it all (every last bit). We had the sympathy of the world after 9/11 and blew it. The British opened back channels in Iraq and then Iran to get solid intel and future negotiations started and we slammed the door because they wouldn't fall in line with our assumptions of WMD, etc.

When the story abruptly changed from personal stories to Bush admin stuff (I've about had enough) I was tempted to stop reading, but it actually was tied together quite nicely in the end. I think it was a bad decision to not fully investigate everything to find out who knew what and when and put it out for all eyes. Only then can apologies and amends be made and perhaps our reputation restored. We can and I hope we do repair our image by doing the right thing, but apologies and admissions of guilt (taking responsibility) are always a solid, healthy way to go.

I fully agree with the sentiment in the book that America needs to get back its moral authority -honesty, compassion, respect for others- and stop imposing our will on others. Giving without leaving the recipient in our debt. Bush was not a leader that helped us build on these principles. He destroyed them. Obama has had to start from scratch- or a negative position.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Don't say bomb on a plane...

...or "safe" while "looking Muslim", apparently! Or was it "engine" or "wing" or " the" that scared the woman so much?

Here are a few incidents I read about recently that were pretty ridiculous.

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This family was extra suspicious because the guys had beards and the women wore headscarves…not only that but wait til you hear what they were talking about!

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/01/01/family.grounded/
"We were (discussing whether it was safest to sit near) the wing, or the engine or the back or the front, but that's it. We didn't say anything else that would raise any suspicion."


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7809193.stm
"Mr Irfan said when he boarded Thursday's flight, he mentioned something to his wife and sister-in-law about having to sit in the back."

After the FBI questioned and cleared them and spoke to AirTran for them, the airline still wouldn't book them a later flight.

No one else would ever discuss safety on a plane unless they were going to blow it up, right? Keep your eye on those flight attendants who do the safety demo next time you fly.


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“…an Arabic-inscribed T-shirt in an airport was like "wearing a T-shirt at a bank stating, I am a robber…”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090106/ts_alt_afp/ustransportairsecuritymuslimsrights_090106002219

??? No. Sorry. That's not an analogy at all. They are absolutely nothing alike. Had the T-shirt said in any language "I have a bomb" or "I'm a hijacker", that would be like going into a bank wearing a "I'm a robber" shirt.

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