20 Things We've Learned Nearly A Year After 9/11

As we approach the first anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, it might be useful to see how far anordinary citizen's knowledge has progressed one year on. So here, in the way of a summing-up, based onjournalistic documentation, is a list of things we Americans have learned since last September -- some ofwhich might prove useful in the run-up to the November elections.

1. We've learned that Bush&Co.'s "war on terrorism" has morphed from finding and destroyingthose responsible for the 9/11 mass-murders to a worldwide campaign to install a Pax Americana, by force ifnecessary. In other words, neo-imperialism, reminiscent in many ways of the old Roman Empire or, closer to ourown time, the British Empire.

2. We've learned that Bush&Co. has no desire to rethink any of its policies abroad, the same policiesthat isolate it and that generate hatred, suspicion and terrorism in so many regions of the globe. Rather thanreconsider its pol icies, or try to accomplish its ends through diplomacy and alliances and cultural/economicinitiatives, in its arrogance it continues to bully and threaten others, insult its European and other allies,disregard international treaties and courts, engage in unilateral actions without regard to the nationalinterests of others, and, in general, simply throw its massive weight around. The prevailing attitude seems tobe: We are the one Superpower, get used to bending to our will.

3. We've learned that Bush's national-security leadership was alerted months ahead of 9/11 (and, it hasadmitted, no later than August 6) that a major air attack from al-Qaida was in the works, along with thelikely targets, but did nothing to try to prevent those attacks or warn anyone about them. Caught in their ownlies, they blame "the system," especially elements in the FBI, for "not connecting thedots." More than 3000 Americans died as a result of this malfeasance.

4. We've learned that plans already were in the works prior to 9/11 for the evisceration of Constitutionalguarantees of due process of law. The White House hustled the so-called USA PATRIOT Act through a frightenedCongress in a patriotic blur, just a few days after the attacks, with few, if any, of the legislators havinghad time to read the final version.

5. We've learned that prior to September 11, the Bush Administration was negotiating with the Taliban abouta pipeline desired by a U.S.-led energy consortium that would cross through Afghanistan. When the Talibanbalked, the U.S. negotiators told them they either could accept a "carpet of gold" or face a"carpet of bombs." The Taliban backed away from the deal and refused to hand over Osama bin Laden;shortly after the terror attacks of 9/11, the U.S. began bombing in Afghanistan.

6. We've learned that now with the Taliban having been overthrown, and a U.S.-friendly regime installed inKabul, the pipeline project is back on track, designed to carry energy supplies across Afghanistan from theCaspian Sea area to near India. Hamid Karzai, the new leader of Afghanistan, formerly was a consultant on thepayroll of the pipeline folks; likewise, the new U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan.

7. We've learned that Bush&Co.'s Homeland Security Act includes programs that bear an amazingresemblance to totalitarian programs from the fascis/communist end of the spectrum: getting the military(restricted heretofore to activity outside the U. S.) involved in domestic policing, signing up neighborhoodand block snoops to work for the central government, investigating what books citizens are checking out andbuying, denouncing those deemed insufficiently patriotic or suspicious because of their views, etc. Remind youof Stalin's Russia, Castro's Cuba, Hitler's Third Reich, the Stasi of East Germany? (There also are prototypesof patriotic youth leagues being tried out in cities, which could become a national program.) A kind ofmartial-law coming to a neighborhood near you.

8. We've learned that Ashcroft/Bush are shredding Constitutional due-process guarantees in their movetoward total control: already they have compromised attorney-client privilege, removed habeus corpusprotections, locked up folks with no charges, secreted citizens at military installations which puts them outof reach of the judicial system, violated privacy in rifling through personal telephone and emailcommunications, etc. etc. When the ambiguously-worded PATRIOT Act was first brought up, Ashcroft and Bush toldus not to worry, promising that these rules would affect only non-citizens. Since that time, American citizenshave been handled in similar fashion. Coming to a neighborhood near you.

9. We've learned much about the dangers of religious fundamentalism in Islam, but we've also learned aboutdangers posed by our own religious fundamentalists -- eager for a Christian theocratic society, symbolizedmost recently by a Secret Service agent scrawling on a Muslim suspect's refrigerator "Islam Is Evil,Christ Is King" -- and the extraordinary power they wield within the Bush Administration, representedmost openly by John Ashcroft, who in frame-of-mind resembles a Taliban mullah.

10. We've learned that the FBI, focusing now on foreign terrorists, doesn't seem energized with the samezeal to catch domestic terrorists, such as abortion-clinic arsonists -- and especially the anthrax-dispenser.Though the FBI seems to know that the anthrax villain probably worked at a government bio-lab, nobody has beenarrested, or even targeted as a prime suspect. It may not be likely, but the unsaid is finally being asked:Could this dangerous terrorist actually be working for the government?

11. We've learned that the HardRight of the Republican Party has taken control -- of the House leadership,of the Supreme Court, of the White House, of much of the conglomerate-owned media -- and has demonstrated itswillingness to do nearly anything to maintain that power. (Only the courageous defection of Sen. Jim Jeffordsfrom GOP ranks is standing in the way of HardRight total control of all three branches of government.) Moreand more truly objectionable HardRight judges are being nominated by Bush in an e ffort to stack the judiciaryfor decades to come. This by a man who lost the election by more than half-a-million votes, coming into hisWhite House residency, with no popular mandate, only because his supporters on the Supreme Court installed himthere.

12. We've learned that to break the momentum of the HardRight, all energy for the upcoming Novemberelections (less than 90 days away, let us not forget) must be expended in electing Democrat candidates anddefeating Republican ones. The objective conditions are just not ripe yet for anything more than trying tomove the country back toward the middle of the political spectrum. We progressives more in tune with theGreens (Green candidates are being supported secretly in many states by the Republicans, to try to defeatDemocrats) will have to wait. The difference between Democrats and Republicans may seem small to Greens andothers, but, as we've learned in a painful way under Bush&Co., that difference is immense when it comes toforeign and domestic policy and its actual effects on real people, here and abroad.

13. We've learned that Cheney is up to his ears in Halliburton irregularities, and may well be liable forindictment for participating in financial fraud. In addition, we've learned that Cheney, who was the head ofthe task force that came up with a corporate-friendly rather than a consumer-friendly energy policy, hasrefused to turn over to Congress the requested documents that will reveal how that policy was arrived at andwhich industry leaders (other than Enron's Kenny Boy) helped shape it.

14. We've learned that Bush knew in advance, as a member of the Harken Audit Committee, that Harken Oil wasgoing to release negative financial news, and sold his shares before that, reaping a fortune. He may be liablefor indictment for insider-trading and other Harken irregularities. (Even if Bush and Cheney are not indicted,they are the last people on earth who should be speaking about corruption in the corporate financial world, asthese hypocrites benefitted from that very corrupt system. As did most of Bush's corporate-derived cabinet.)

15. We've learned that Bush&Co. were mightily opposed to any reform of corporate financial reporting,but when more and more companies were caught in such corrupt practices and the mood of the country shifted --mainly because so many folks, especially seniors, lost huge chunks of their pensions and portfolio holdingswhen the Stock Market tanked as a result of investors' losing confidence in the numbers provided bycorporations -- they jumped on the bandwagon and pretended they were reformers all along. In the background,they are trying to help their corporate supporters water down, and otherwise get around, the new rules. Tothat end, Bush&Co. have appointed Harvey Pitt and Larry Thompson, two tainted corporate types, to head upthe "investigations" of corporate wrongdoing. Break out the whitewash.

16. We've learned that Bush&Co., having placed its chips on Ariel Sharon, continues to have no realdesire for a just peace in the Middle East. All it wants is for the area to be quiet and controlled (thusgiving carte blanche to the Israeli Army's police-state occupation and oppression), so that it can continueits plans for overthrowing Saddam Hussein in Iraq. And, of course, there has been no declaration of a State ofWar by the Congress, neither against Afghanistan nor against Iraq, and no real debate about the wisdom of awar against Saddam -- even when the top brass at the Pentagon and in Great Britain have expressed theiropposition to such military adventurism.

17. We've learned that there will be no peace now in the Middle East because the U.S. is not fully engagedin the peace process, also because neither extreme in the area wants peace: Sharon thrives on war andbrutality, Hamas needs Sharon's bloody policies to justify its campaign of terror. There are signs thatmoderate Palestinians finally are starting to speak out in favor of a peaceful solution, and there are plentyof land-for-peace Israelis (supported by many liberal Jews in the U.S.), so the outlines of a peace are outthere. But until the U.S. and U.N. make the commitment to separate the warring extremists and arrange anequitable treaty both Israel and the Palestinians can live with -- secure borders for Israel (and an end tosuicide bombing), a viable state for the Palestinians, abandoning of the settlements by Israel, reparationsfor Palestinians who lost their homes and property -- there will be only more bloodshed. And more fertileground for new generations of terrorists, in the Middle East and elsewhere in the Islamic world.

18. We've learned that Bush&Co. has been a total disaster for the environment, in every way: fromreneging on its campaign promise to cut carbon-dioxide and other greenhouse emissions, to backing away fromhigher fuel-efficiency in cars (we could cut our dependence on foreign oil 20% just by increasing fuelefficiency by 5%), to giving breaks to corporate polluters all across the country, to permitting increasedarsenic levels in the water, etc. etc.

19. We've learned that Secretary of State Colin Powell -- who sees the world in something other thansimplistic black-and-white, us-versus-them dichotomies -- is a man imprisoned in the Bush Cabinet, forced toalter his principled opinions in the service of Bush&Co.'s stupidly aggressive and ultimatelyself-defeating foreign policies. Powell, a moderate conservative, looks like a raving progressive whenmeasured against his masters. He should resign but probably won't.

20. We've learned that the tax-cuts provided to the most wealthy are not only payoffs to the corporatesector that provides support for Bush&Co. By locking in those tax cuts for ten years (and with humongouschunks of the budget spent on the "war on terrorism"), Bush&Co. have ensured that innumerablesocial programs that aid the less well-off will be cut or eliminated. In short, a rollback of New Deal/GreatSociety programs, so hated by the HardRight. (The HardRight movement to detach prescription drugs for seniorsfrom the Medicare program, and, especially, to privatize Social Security -- even in the face of recentstock-market disasters -- is part of this same desire.)

Even after all the above shorthand summaries, no doubt I'm leaving out lots of Bush&Co. dirt, but thislist can provide a starting point, and a handy compilation of enough low and high crimes and misdemeanors towarrant their removal from power, either through the ballot box or by resignation or impeachment.

Finally, as we enter August, we know that one of two things will happen in the summer-doldrums, with theCongress on vacation: Either Bush&Co. will start its Iraq war and carry out more under-the-radar attackson important American programs, or the media, bereft of their usual Beltway stories, will use the down time toengage in hard-hitting investigative reporting that will reveal in even more stark relief the machinations ofBush&Co. illegalities and other scandalous behavior. But, given the corporate nature of ourcorporate-owned media, don't count on it. Instead, we'll probably be flooded with this summer's Condit-likesex scandal.

Bernard Weiner, Ph.D., has taught American politics and international relations at Western WashingtonUniversity and San Diego State University; he was with the San Francisco Chronicle for nearly 20 years.