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Fight Back News Service 
http://www.fightbacknews.org 
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This article is from the Fall 2001 edition of Fight
Back! newspaper.

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Bush and Big Corporations Use WTC Bombing 
To Push Robbery, Racism, War
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>From Editors of Fight Back!

Following the tragic loss of life at the World Trade Center,
we saw real acts of heroism by the working people of New
York, and an outpouring of concern and generosity on the
part of people across the country.  The emergency medical
technicians and fire fighters who rushed to ground zero and
made the ultimate sacrifice typify what is best in the
American working class. The same applies to others - such as
the Ironworkers who rushed to the scene to do all that they
could. All of us can and should learn from these heroes.

Unfortunately, there are some, who walk the corridors of
wealth and power, that have responded to this crisis by
trying to manipulate our sadness, fear, and
concern. Motivated by greed, they tell us to hate other
peoples - that war and racism will somehow make things
better.

While the smoke was still rising from the ruins of the Trade
Center, fast buck artists set up fake charities to line
their own pockets. Airline executives ran to government, and
got $15 billion. Money in hand, and their big salaries safe,
they announced the layoffs of nearly 100,000 airline
workers. Congress is now besieged by lobbyists from the
hotel, insurance and every industry you can think of,
looking for bailouts or a piece of the different "stimulus
packages" under debate.

There are those who want to use our grief to promote the
ugly twins of racism and national chauvinism.  Senators talk
about need to pull over people "with diapers on their
heads". Across the U.S., a wave of violence and harassment
has been unleashed against Arabs and Muslims. This includes
assaults on mosques, beatings, and even murder.

There is a new attempt to legitimize racial profiling.  No
one should be fooled. The TV networks' talking heads, who
advocate targeting the millions of Arab Americans who fly on
airlines, are borrowing from the book that makes it a crime
to drive while black.

At moments like this, it's critical that we keep our eyes
open. We need to take a hard look at what is being done to
us and what is being done in our name.  Behind the talk of
"bipartisan politics", an agenda that is both narrow and
reactionary is being pushed through at government's highest
levels.

The Social Security surplus is being gutted for corporate
handouts and the military. Rolling back environmental
protection measures is presented as a matter of national
security. An assault is underway on our civil
liberties. Politicians from both parties are leading us to
an unending war.

George Bush responded to September 11 by calling for a new
"crusade." After saying "we know that God is not neutral,"
Bush, the crusader, is setting fire to the cities of
Afghanistan and sending in troops. That puts us in a
position where we need to deal with some hard questions.

Near the top of the World Trade Center there was a
restaurant called "Windows to the World." The cooks,
waiters, and dishwashers who worked there were members of
the hotel and restaurant workers union, and were among the
victims on September 11. How could it possibly honor their
memory to unleash a humanitarian catastrophe in Afghanistan?
The answer is clear, it cannot. Yet, this is exactly what's
happening. The victims of the U.S. bombing campaign are
Afghani families in homemade air raid shelters and places of
worship.

Millions of people in Afghanistan are running out of
food. Starvation is walking a land haunted by hunger.
Having one plane drop 5000 pound bombs, and another drop a
few "ready to eat meals" into a mine field, is a propaganda
ploy - similar to the "food for peace" program used in Viet
Nam.

The logic of U.S. intervention in Afghanistan is this: Bomb
the cities. Turn the population into refugees.  Follow it up
with a war on the ground, or a war in the mountains to be
more precise. The result will be a mounting death toll -
mainly Afghani, but Americans as well - the tragedy of New
York compounded 100 times.

As serious as this is, there is every indication that the
Bush administration is planning a broader war; beyond Kabul
there is Baghdad and Lebanon. Since September 11, Washington
has threatened both Iraq and the brave men and women who
pushed Israel out of southern Lebanon.

It is vital that U.S. intervention is halted in
Afghanistan. If it is not beaten back there, a highway of
death and destruction will be opened across the Middle
East. Under the cover of a "war on terrorism", we will
witness more U.S. intervention in the Third World. "Either
you are with us or you are with the terrorists", says Bush.

U.S. foreign policy around the world created a climate that
caused the events of September 11. To say this is to make a
statement of fact. It is not an issue of "justifying" any
more than when a weather forecaster predicts a coming
storm. Latin America is a checkerboard of U.S.- supported
death squads, especially Colombia. Israel is carrying out
assassinations with U.S. backing and dollars, and one and a
half million people have been killed by sanctions in
Iraq. The shock and anger that people in the U.S. felt on
September 11 is the same emotion that is felt by the mothers
of Iraq, when their children die of U.S. enforced
starvation.

At the end of the day, corporate America does what's
profitable for corporate America. We are dealing with a
class of people where "justice" means "just us" rich
folks. The world is a worse place for it. They take the
land, labor, and natural resources of others. They are
hypocrites who are unfit to bring anyone to justice, and to
call on them to do so is like calling on an arsonist to put
out a fire.

Build the Anti-War Movement

It is vital that we seize the time and build a powerful
movement against the war on Afghanistan.  While doing so we
need to forcefully speak out against any attacks on Arab and
Muslim people here. We need to defend our rights.

The stakes are incredibly high for people in the Middle
East, south Asia, and for those of us who live here. The
events of September 11 have placed us, the American people,
at a crossroads. We can march with Bush on the road to war
and racism or we can begin a determined struggle for peace
through justice. The war is the leading edge of right-wing
reaction and is being used to roll back what we have won
through past struggle.

A just world is possible, but it cannot be built on empires
of oil and dollars. All us who favor peace and progress are
facing a test. If we are confident and bold, and willing to
take the truth to the American people, we will not fail.


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