This weekend, as we remember what happened ten years ago, our first thoughts should -- of course -- be for those who died at the World Trade Center. Many met horrible deaths. Those whose careful planning caused those deaths illustrate humanity at its most depraved.
But what followed -- the demonization of Islam and the trumped up invasion of Iraq -- illustrate the shameless cupidity of our present elites. And it is surely no accident that the man who personifies that cupidity -- Dick Cheney -- is now profiting from that cataclysm.
Over at truth-out.org, William Rivers Pitt writes that Mr. Cheney is "the ultimate American terrorist:"
If there were any justice to be found in this deranged country, Dick Cheney would have penned his pestiferous, self-serving little memoir by the light of a bare bulb inside the cell of a federal prison. If there were any justice to be found, Mr. Cheney would be forced to contend with the "Son of Sam Law," which, according to World Law Direct, "refers to a type of law designed to keep criminals from profiting from their crimes, often by selling their stories to publishers. Such laws often authorize the state to seize money earned from such a deal and use it to compensate the criminal's victims."
Rivers reminds his readers that this is not the first time that Cheney has profited from a human catastrophe:
He'll make a few bucks off the [book], which he can bank next to the obscene millions he gained through his nefarious Halliburton war profiteering. He was still getting paid by Halliburton while in office. Remember that? They called it a "deferred retirement benefit," an annual check with six zeroes to the left of the decimal, and all the while Cheney was steering your tax dollars into Halliburton's coffers with a blizzard of bald-faced lies about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
Cheney has no regrets. He still thinks the invasion of Iraq was a noble mission. And he makes no apologies for the "enhanced interrogation techniques" he advocated so vociferously. And remember, too, that this arm chair warrior succeeded in avoiding military service in Vietnam because, at the time he had "other priorities."
What happened on September 11th, was a tragedy of horrific proportions. But what followed was folly -- of even more horrific proportions.
4 comments:
Cheney is among the lowest of the low.
A truly disgusting man.
And, finally, one who "wins" by ignoring the rules that everyone else is supposed to play by.
A gutless, hypocritical, walking, talking cancer.
Anyone who looks up to him is to be pitied for their shrivelled souls.
That just about covers all the bases. I couldn't have put it better myself.
It is all horrific indeed. It is almost perverse the degree to which the West looks upon this event with eyes of tragedy all the while they have been slaughtering and murdering people all over the world for generations in their colonial efforts.
And ten years on the neo-colonial machine is still in full operation and we are, of course, no closer to an international peace than we were then. In fact, as leaders like Harper fail completely to treat the people of Palestine in a properly humane and proactive way, we inch further away from peace.
Given the way that men like Harper promote oppression and war in the Middle East, it is the height of hypocrisy for them to mourn this date.
Ten years ago, Lewis Lapham warned that reactions -- particularly in the United States -- were over the top. He and his magazine, Harper's, paid the price for their dissenting opinion.
Our own Harper isn't as perceptive as Lapham, Kirby. What happened ten years ago was indefensible. But the reactions of people like Cheney and Harper are also indefensible.
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