Aftermath and Remembrance

So today marks the 8 year anniversary of 9/11. But what few are speaking about, and is far too important not to acknowledge, is how “we” are dealing with the sordid aftermath and its productive remembrance.

Granted, nearly 3000 people died — not solely American citizens either, a statistic I heard this morning is, the tragedy involved individuals from a little more than 90 countries (92?) — that day, but what about the millions of people who have been, and continue to be, slaughtered, maimed, judged, and oppressed ever since? All in the name of mistakes — err, I mean “democracy” (read: revenge)?

That said, Rebecca Solnit wrote an oddly inspiring and an extremely profound piece, featured today (but originally appearing at TomDispatch.com), over at ZNet. Entitled “How 9/11 Should Be Remembered;

“The dead must be remembered, but the living are the monument, the living who coexist in peace in ordinary times and who save one another in extraordinary times. Civil society triumphed that morning in full glory. Look at it: remember that this is who we were and can be…”

Might I suggest you all wander over and take a peek?

Quite the Piece’s of Work

Yesterday Jeremy Scahill had his latest article, Blackwater Founder Implicated in Murder, published over at The Nation. Might I suggest you wander over and take a peek. Both, the article itself and Erik Prince, are quite the piece’s of work, each in their own right.

Appearing in one of the “sworn statements” Jeremy’s article is concerning;

“Mr. Prince intentionally deployed to Iraq certain men who shared his vision of Christian supremacy, knowing and wanting these men to take every available opportunity to murder Iraqis. Many of these men used call signs based on the Knights of the Templar, the warriors who fought the Crusades.”

“Mr. Prince operated his companies in a manner that encouraged and rewarded the destruction of Iraqi life. For example, Mr. Prince’s executives would openly speak about going over to Iraq to ‘lay Hajiis out on cardboard.’ Going to Iraq to shoot and kill Iraqis was viewed as a sport or game. Mr. Prince’s employees openly and consistently used racist and derogatory terms for Iraqis and other Arabs, such as ‘ragheads’ or ‘hajiis’.”

Subsequently Jeremy has made appearances, discussing what he wrote, on Countdown with Keith Olbermann and Democracy Now. While you’re at it, check them out, too…

Much More Fulfilled

Emotions surrounding today are compounded, two fold. The first, and rather obvious, is the attack on The World Trade Center, September 11th, 2001. Which, I’m sure, will receive it’s fair share of misguided coverage in the media today.

And of course events of that morning had a lot to do with the emotions I currently feel. What with America still as arrogant, if not more, than September 10th, 2001. The harder they fight, what they deem as threats to their homeland and their “sovereignty,” the less relevant its government becomes. And the less “safe” our global community grows. In fact it’s much too ironic for even me to appreciate. So I’ll leave it there.

But ever more applicable to me, at least, is the second and more personal reason. It started a little bit before that day, on the July 1st weekend… Continue reading Much More Fulfilled