{"id":14150,"date":"2011-09-05T12:00:32","date_gmt":"2011-09-05T11:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=14150"},"modified":"2011-08-27T16:06:24","modified_gmt":"2011-08-27T15:06:24","slug":"let-the-sunshine-in-a-911-conflict-analysis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2011\/09\/let-the-sunshine-in-a-911-conflict-analysis\/","title":{"rendered":"Let the Sunshine In: A 9\/11 Conflict Analysis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ten years ago, on September 11, 2001, shortly before 6:00am the bedside telephone rang.\u00a0 It was my daughter, a New York University student living close to the World Trade Center.\u00a0 \u201cThere\u2019s a fire in one of the twin towers, we can see it from our window.\u00a0 We don\u2019t know if it was a bomb or a small plane hit it.\u201d\u00a0 That was the last I heard from her until late afternoon.\u00a0 On TV I watched each tower descend at free fall speed amid mushrooming clouds of pulverized concrete, gripped with anxiety about her safety. \u00a0She later said she heard boom! boom! boom!<\/em> like a series of explosions when the towers came down. Her building shook, the power went out and she joined others fleeing uptown through the dust and smoke.\u00a0 I\u2019m grateful she survived, yet I remain troubled that after ten years the true perpetrators of this unspeakable crime have not yet been prosecuted and we are still far from recognizing and solving the underlying conflict.<\/p>\n

Beyond my personal interest as a mother whose daughter\u2019s life was endangered on that day, as a member of the TRANSCEND network of peaceful conflict transformation[i]<\/a> I approach the tenth anniversary of 9\/11 with a conflict analysis that seeks a deeper understanding and sustainable solutions.[ii]<\/a> Johan Galtung, founder of the TRANSCEND network, has defined violence as \u201can avoidable insult to basic human needs\u201d, and asserts that behind every act of violence there is an unresolved conflict.\u00a0 Violence can take the shape of murder and destruction, and also the less sensational but pervasive forms of grinding poverty and despair.\u00a0 It can be prevented by correctly identifying the underlying conflict and transforming it in a way that meets everyone\u2019s basic needs.<\/p>\n

In order to begin analyzing the conflict, we need to first recognize who actually perpetrated the crimes.\u00a0\u00a0 George W. Bush and much of the corporate media have claimed that the conflict behind 9\/11 is between freedom-loving Americans and radical Muslims who hate Americans because they have freedom.\u00a0\u00a0 Still others see it as part of a clash of civilizations between the Muslim world and the West, viewing 9\/11 as a public execution by radical Muslims of three buildings symbolizing US military and economic domination.\u00a0 The problem with both of these analyses is that they assume radical Muslims were responsible for the crimes of 9\/11, when there is little if any solid evidence to support this assertion.<\/p>\n

Although there has not yet been a complete and thorough investigation of the events surrounding 9\/11, there is sufficient evidence to indicate that 9\/11 was an act of state-sponsored terrorism facilitated by elites within the US military-industrial complex.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 US Air defense failures before and during the airplane strikes; the President\u2019s and Secret Service members\u2019 behavior upon learning of the attacks; the overwhelming evidence and testimony by experts of controlled demolition of the World Trade Center\u2019s twin towers and Building 7; violation of standard crime scene procedures at Ground Zero;\u00a0 anomalies regarding what happened at the Pentagon; and the reluctance to form the 9\/11 Commission followed by the Commission\u2019s failure to undertake a full and transparent investigation are some of well documented topics pointing to complicity at the highest levels of the US government and about which much has been written by highly credentialed independent 9\/11 researchers.[iii]<\/a><\/p>\n

For those who have not yet considered the likelihood that 9\/11 was an inside job, it may be difficult to grasp the possibility that agents of the US government, which carefully cultivates an image of being a model democracy and force for the good, could betray the American people so brazenly and then try to cover up their involvement by blaming others.\u00a0 A closer look at the underlying conflict will provide a perspective consistent with the assertion of US government complicity.<\/p>\n

The pervasive conflict at the root of 9\/11 is, I suggest, between the superrich and the rest of humanity.\u00a0 The former are relatively few in number and live in opulent luxury, while the latter who constitute the bulk of the world\u2019s population, are struggling to survive.\u00a0 It is an inherently abusive and imbalanced relationship. The superrich use military force and often extremely violent and repressive means to maintain control over the earth\u2019s resources, while the rest of humanity mostly acquiesces, with a few pockets of either nonviolent or armed resistance.<\/p>\n

This conflict is largely unacknowledged and often concealed under cultural, religious or ideological conflicts. While a significant cultural and religious conflict clearly exists between the Muslim world and the predominantly Christian West, the official 9\/11 narrative\u2019s focus on that conflict deflects attention from the bigger conflict that permeates both the pre- and post-9\/11 world.<\/p>\n

In fact, the superrich do their utmost to make sure the rest of humanity is either distracted from or unaware of this conflict.\u00a0 A joke circulating on the internet portrays three men sitting at a table:\u00a0 a Wall St. billionaire, a unionized public employee and a Tea Party Republican.\u00a0 The billionaire has a huge tray piled high and overflowing with thousands of cookies in front of him while there is one cookie on the table between the other two.\u00a0 The billionaire says to the Tea Partier, \u201cWatch out for that union guy\u2014he wants to steal your cookie!\u201d<\/p>\n

The meta-conflict between the superrich and the rest of humanity can be contextualized through the lens of deep culture and deep structure, two concepts central to the TRANSCEND method of conflict analysis.<\/p>\n

At the level of deep culture, much of the US population holds a pervasive belief in US exceptionalism, viewing themselves as God\u2019s chosen people.\u00a0 Those who enjoy the spoils of US policies and actions–with God on their side–are seen as having earned the blessings of wealth and stature.<\/p>\n

These deep cultural assumptions imply that because of US exceptionalism, its leaders deserve to have control over the distribution of resources in the world, which can also mean partnering with wealthy elites from other nations who worship at the same altar.\u00a0 The poor and downtrodden deserve their miserable fate and only those who pay sufficient homage to the high priests of US exceptionalism–obedient law enforcers, compliant workers, subservient technocrats and deferential professionals, for example–may be rewarded with a modicum of material comfort.\u00a0 Thus the conflict between the superrich and the rest of humanity is disguised as a moral imperative to justify the inequities of the status quo.<\/p>\n

Because the official narrative of 9\/11 has taken its place within US consciousness as a sacred story or myth of the chosen people, it not only reinforces this chosenness but, like many religious myths, is permitted to contain miracles, as well as violations of the laws of physics.[iv]<\/a> By the same token, its special religious status makes it unquestionable. Those who challenge it are deemed blasphemers.<\/p>\n

Scholar and theology professor David Ray Griffin, in his 2006 lecture entitled \u201c9\/11:\u00a0 The Myth and the Reality\u201d, has stated:<\/p>\n

One way the Bush administration prevented public questioning of the official account of 9\/11 was by presenting it as a sacred story, so that any questioning of it would be regarded as not only unpatriotic but also sacrilegious. On the only mainstream television show in the United States on which I have appeared, the host, Tucker Carlson, said:\u00a0 \u201cFor you to suggest\u2026that the US government killed 3,000 of its citizens\u201d is \u201cwrong, blasphemous and sinful.\u201d[v]<\/a><\/p>\n

The deep structure of the conflict behind 9\/11 lies within a global economic system that distributes the earth\u2019s resources in vastly inequitable ways.\u00a0 There are about 800 billionaires in the world.[vi]<\/a> Bill Gates alone has a net worth of $40,000,000,000,[vii]<\/a> and to illustrate the magnitude of this figure, if he spent one dollar per minute 24\/7, it would take nearly 80,000 years to spend it all.\u00a0 In the US, the top 0.01% earn an average of $27,000,000 per year, while the bottom 90% of the population average $31,244.[viii]<\/a>\u00a0 Worldwide, half of the human population\u2014over 3,000,000,000 people–live on less than $2.50 per day. The system is rarely challenged by those in a position to change it, including the US electorate, despite evidence that this structural violence of growing inequality in wealth and income is damaging to the entire social fabric.<\/p>\n

Structural violence can be just as lethal if not more so than violence from weapons and explosives.\u00a0 David DeGraw calls it \u201cfinancial terrorism\u201d being perpetrated by the economic elite and has estimated that in the last ten years over a million people per year in the US alone have died prematurely from causes related to poverty. [ix]<\/a><\/p>\n

Epidemiologists Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson have demonstrated the close correlation between income inequality and a range of social ills that result in great human suffering.[x]<\/a>\u00a0 Countries that distribute their income the most equally have the highest quality of life.\u00a0 The more equal countries have greater life expectancy, lower infant mortality, better child well-being, less obesity, lower homicide rates, fewer school drop-outs, lower teen pregnancy, higher civic trust, less drug abuse, lower rates of imprisonment, and lower rates of mental illness.\u00a0 Among the so-called \u201crich\u201d industrialized countries, the US is the least equal, with the worst outcomes in all of the above social indicators.\u00a0 Their research does not include regions like sub-Saharan Africa, where there are five billionaires[xi]<\/a> while the social outcomes for the vast majority of the impoverished populations are abysmal, as a result of sustained economic exploitation by Europe and the US.[xii]<\/a><\/p>\n

Within this context of deep culture and deep structure, it is apparent how much the events of 9\/11 directly benefitted the very wealthy.\u00a0 Michael Ruppert, a former Los Angeles policeman, has suggested the 9\/11 crimes be examined by posing standard investigative questions: who had means, motive and opportunity? Who profits? His investigation sketches the connections between Wall Street and the CIA, the global trade in illicit drugs, and the fight for energy dominance in the time of Peak Oil, concluding that US elites were the perpetrators.[xiii]<\/a><\/p>\n

The official 9\/11 Commission avoided asking who profited from the crimes.\u00a0 Informed traders, for example, with connections to both Wall Street and the US Intelligence community, made millions of dollars through short sales of United and American airlines stock, betting correctly just before 9\/11 that the values of these stocks would soon decline. [xiv]<\/a><\/p>\n

The \u201cwar on terror\u201d precipitated by 9\/11 has been a gold mine\u00a0 for weapons manufacturers as well as military suppliers, logistics providers, oil companies, private mercenary services, a whole range of security-related enterprises and the Wall Street financiers who manipulate people\u2019s fear of terrorism to keep their coffers overflowing. At the same time, millions of Afghans and Iraqis have faced death and destruction, numerous US (and allied) soldiers have been killed and wounded, personal bankruptcies and home foreclosures in the US are soaring and a huge pool of destitute people throughout the world ensures a steady stream of cheap labor for the profiteers.\u00a0 It is not unreasonable to conclude that elements within the US military-industrial complex deliberately initiated this \u201ccatastrophic and catalyzing event \u2013 like a new Pearl Harbor\u201d–an expression coined by the Project for a New American Century one year before 9\/11 [xv]<\/a> \u2014in order to achieve their goals of fast-tracking the upgrade, redesign and deployment of sophisticated weapons systems, with resulting increased domination of the world\u2019s energy-producing regions by US elites.<\/p>\n

9\/11 should serve as a wake-up call, exposing the lengths to which some will go to preserve their wealth if left unchallenged.\u00a0 Such outcomes will continue until people in the US and beyond open their eyes to what is really happening, collectively proclaim that no one is above the law and assert that it is not acceptable for anyone to have excessive wealth at the expense of those who suffer destitution and misery.<\/p>\n

Movements that have called for more equitable and racially just resource distribution\u2014including the Haitian revolution 200 years ago, the Lavalas movement in Haiti today; the Cuban revolution; and the Poor People\u2019s Campaign Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was organizing shortly before his as yet to be fully investigated assassination\u2014have been vilified or marginalized by the US elite power structure.\u00a0 In Haiti, under the leadership of overwhelmingly popular and democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide between 1994 and 2004, Haitians saw a rise in the minimum wage, expanded public education, beginnings of quality public housing construction, the establishment of a medical school for the poor, disbanding of the repressive Haitian Army and efforts to make the rich pay their fair share of taxes,[xvi]<\/a>\u00a0 resulting in a coup d\u2019etat carried out by the US, France and Canada[xvii]<\/a> that has undermined social and democratic institutions to this day.\u00a0 After being kidnapped by US Marines,[xviii]<\/a> Aristide remained in forced exile for seven years, returned in Haiti in March, 2011, in spite of US efforts to prevent him from traveling to his home country.[xix]<\/a>\u00a0 Aristide told tens of thousands welcoming Haitians at the airport: \u201cThe problem is exclusion. The solution is inclusion.\u201d and voiced the simple but profound Haitian proverb, tout moun se moun.<\/em> (\u201cEvery person is a human being.\u201d)[xx]<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Widespread recognition that the official story of 9\/11 is false may precipitate profound changes in the United State and possibly hasten the fall of the US empire. The resulting psychic upheaval could sweep the US in one of two directions.[xxi]<\/a>\u00a0 One, US fascism, would be based on fear of change, fear of the unknown, fear of ordinary people taking hold of their own power to better their lives. The other, US blossoming, could be based on moral health, love of life, love of humanity and of the earth.<\/p>\n

If we want to make sure we move in the second direction, we must waste no time in recognizing and addressing the underlying conflict between the superrich and the rest of humanity.\u00a0 We must support, grow and consolidate all of the existing movements that are inclusive and nonviolent in their struggles to hold the superrich accountable and ensure a good life for everyone.\u00a0 Policies that lessen income inequality– implementing progressive tax reform, reducing military spending, raising the minimum wage, improving worker pensions, strengthening labor unions, fully funding education and health care for all, and guaranteeing a minimum standard of living for everyone– will lead us on a path to greater social well-being.<\/p>\n

In order for humanity as a whole to reclaim the inordinate power and wealth currently held by those who constitute the superrich, we can learn from the devastating, and devastatingly fraudulent crimes of 9\/11 and shift global priorities from arming and harming to healing, while creating new realities based on equality, inclusion and solidarity.\u00a0 By moving the global economy away from ruthless hierarchies and towards a network of mutually supportive communities, centers of innovation and cooperative enterprises, we can achieve true security that is sustainable rather than the false security of weapons and warfare.\u00a0\u00a0 Poverty would disappear, as would inordinate wealth, and everyone, including the formerly wealthy, would be taken care of and able to live well.\u00a0 By opening our eyes and letting the sunshine in, we can achieve Dr. King\u2019s vision of The Beloved Community:<\/p>\n

Dr. King’s Beloved Community is a global vision, in which all people can share in the wealth of the earth.\u00a0 In the Beloved Community, poverty, hunger and homelessness will not be tolerated because international standards of human decency will not allow it. Racism and all forms of discrimination, bigotry and prejudice will be replaced by an all-inclusive spirit of sisterhood and brotherhood.\u00a0 In the Beloved Community, international disputes will be resolved by peaceful conflict-resolution and reconciliation of adversaries, instead of military power. Love and trust will triumph over fear and hatred. Peace and justice will prevail over war and military conflict.[xxii]<\/a><\/p>\n

ENDNOTES:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

[i]<\/a> www.transcend.org<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

[ii]<\/a> This commentary is adapted from unpublished chapters by this author in the proceedings of a TRANSCEND-USA conference in Greensboro, NC in March 2011, with input from Graeme MacQueen, co-organizer of the Toronto Hearings, www.torontohearings.org<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[iii]<\/a> The writings of David Ray Griffin, the Toronto Hearings sponsored by the International Center for 9\/11 Studies, organizations such as Architects and Engineers for 9\/11 Truth and Firefighters for 9-11 Truth are among the many credible resources easily searchable on the internet.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[iv]<\/a> www.ae911truth.org<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[v]<\/a> The New Pearl Harbor Revisited<\/em>, by David Ray Griffin. Olive Branch Press, 2008, pp. xvii, xviii<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[vi]<\/a> \u201cThe Richest People in the World\u201d, Forbes Magazine, March 30, 2009<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[vii]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[viii]<\/a> \u201cIt\u2019s the Inequality, Stupid\u201d, <\/em>by Dave Gilson and Carolyn Perot, http:\/\/motherjones.com\/print\/99036<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[ix]<\/a> \u201cExclusive:\u00a0 Analysis of Financial Terrorism in America: Over I Million Deaths Annually, 62 Million People with Zero Net Worth, As the Economic Elite Make Off with $46 Trillion\u201d, on www.ampedstatus.org<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[x]<\/a> The Spirit Level:\u00a0 Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger<\/em>, by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett. Bloomsbury Press, 2009.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[xi]<\/a> \u201cThe Richest People in the World\u201d, Forbes Magazine, March 30, 2009<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[xii]<\/a> King Leopold\u2019s Ghost, <\/em>by Adam Hochschild. Houghton Mifflin, 1998.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[xiii]<\/a> Crossing the Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil, <\/em>by Michael Ruppert. New Society Publishers, 2004<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[xiv]<\/a> The Terror Timeline, <\/em>by Paul Thompson. HarperCollins, 2004, p.62<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[xv]<\/a> http:\/\/www.newamericancentury.org\/RebuildingAmericasDefenses.pdf<\/a>, p. 51<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[xvi]<\/a> We Will Not Forget: The Achievements of Lavalas in Haiti<\/em>\u00a0 http:\/\/www.haitisolidarity.net\/article.php?id=399<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[xvii]<\/a> An Unbroken Agony: Haiti, From Revolution to the Kidnapping of a President, <\/em>by Randall Robinson. Basic Civitas Books, 2007<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[xviii]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[xix]<\/a> http:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/162598\/WikiLeaks-haiti-aristide-files<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[xx]<\/a> http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=FsQ6OvI-E88&feature=related<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[xxi]<\/a> The Fall of the US Empire\u2014And Then What? Successors, Regionalization or Globalization? US Fascism<\/em><\/p>\n

or US Blossoming?\u201d, <\/em>by Johan Galtung. Kolofon Press, 2009<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[xxii]<\/a> http:\/\/www.thekingcenter.org\/history\/the-king-philosophy\/<\/a><\/p>\n

__________________________<\/p>\n

Marilyn Langlois has been a community mediator and TRANSCEND member since 2004.\u00a0 She currently works as a community advocate in the office of Mayor Gayle McLaughlin of Richmond, California, and sits on the Board of the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Beyond my personal interest as a mother whose daughter\u2019s life was endangered on that day, as a member of the TRANSCEND network of peaceful conflict transformation I approach the tenth anniversary of 9\/11 with a conflict analysis that seeks a deeper understanding and sustainable solutions. Johan Galtung, founder of the TRANSCEND network, has defined violence as \u201can avoidable insult to basic human needs\u201d, and asserts that behind every act of violence there is an unresolved conflict.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-transcend-members"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14150\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}