One important element to the post 9/11 attack response that an alert few noticed and discussed was that the government did not seek to investigate how the tragedies occurred, treating them instead as old news and expressing a desire to move on from there.
The problem is that such a response is illogical and that the first thing one must do following any tragedy is to investigate, learn, and carry out policies benefiting from such investigation.
When George W. Bush stood side by side with New York City police and fire department personnel at Ground Zero he stated that he felt their outrage over the attacks and received a strong ovation when he promised to seek out the perpetrators and deliver fitting punishment in the names of the victims of 9/11.
While the mainstream media focused on the tragedies and the need for action Bush and Dick Cheney immediately responded. A series of bombings were carried out in Afghanistan forthwith to ostensibly destroy those who had killed innocent Americans at the World Trade Center.
Scarcely a word of caution was uttered within America concerning the need for specific targeting. An aerial bombardment was unleashed amid surging popularity figures for George W. Bush for carrying out "reprisal against America's enemies responsible for the deaths of almost 4,000 U.S. citizens.
While the mainstream media presented self-serving statements from administration figures asserting that the enemies of America were being destroyed and that al Qaeda and other terrorist influences were being demolished through the Afghanistan bombing, it remained for those outside America's shores, those interested in preserving international law and pursuing justice, to present a vastly different picture.
Who was actually being killed by the savage American aerial assault of Afghanistan? How many lives had been lost through the pattern of bombardment?
The total came to 9,000, which was between two and three times the number of fatalities suffered in the 9/11 tragedies. Just as we mourned our dead, did these people in Afghanistan miss their family members and loved ones who were among the peasant farmers killed in U.S. bombing attacks?
During the Gulf War period Colin Powell was asked how many Iraqi lives were lost during the conflict. He replied, "I'm not interested in that figure at all right now.
How often have you seen fatality figures in the U.S. non-stop cable driven media on the Gulf War? How about the aerial assaults following 9/11 in Afghanistan? How about the Iraq War?
How many times have such fatality figures been mentioned on Fox News? How many times have they been mentioned by Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Michelle Malkin, or Bill O'Reilly?
Do their lives count for something to their family members and loved ones? Considering the foregoing, can you understand why citizens of nations such as Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan do not want the United States as their controlling influence?
Does any resistance to U.S. occupation ipso facto embody terrorism? Could it be that to many of these individuals the issue is occupation and they do not wish to be occupied?
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