Not the only 9/11

By Ben Cohen

Americans will wake up today to 24 hours of 9/11 remembrance programming on their television sets. There will be tributes paid to the dead, music videos of the awful attacks, and speeches by politicians linking the event to the current war in Iraq.

There will be no mention of the terrible atrocities committed by the American Government, and no acknowledgment that many other countries have suffered their own 9/11s at the hands of the U.S military juggernaut.

This is not to discredit the appalling events of September 11th 2001, as many innocent people lost their lives. The victims deserve our respect, and we should pay tribute to their untimely deaths. However, every year after the attacks, the American media whips itself up into a frenzy and wallows in an inordinate amount of self pity, much of which is used to justify its continued wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and a possible one in Iran.

MSNBC, Fox, CNN etc, will show in depth focus pieces into the lives of some of the victims, tapes played of people trapped in the world trade center calling their loved ones, and absolutely no questions as to why the attacks happened in the first place.

November of this year will mark the 3rd anniversary of the U.S/U.K destruction of the Iraqi city Fallujah. In the second major attack on the city, the coalition forces cut off water and food supplies, bombed hospitals, and used toxic weapons against its population (white phosphorous for example, as pictured right). All of which are illegal under the Geneva Conventions.

There will be no music videos in our press remembering the dead Iraqis and the destruction of their ancient city.

Fallujah is a small example of the international havoc the U.S has created, but it exemplifies a hypocritical stance on terrorism. It's awful when they do it to us, but not when we do it to them.

If we want to remember the victims of 9/11, perhaps we should start by not behaving like their killers. END

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