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carol brouillet
Facing the Shadow of 9-11
After a second stolen election and another murderous assault upon Iraq, the dark
side of the U.S. government should be obvious. Yet, when confronted with news
of a terminal illness, or disaster, individuals experience a range of emotions, the
first being denial. Behind denial lies fear. Fear destroys rational thought; “war”
itself is recognized as “collective insanity.” Wars, however, are not spontaneous,
they are planned. They serve powerful interests. Aggressors are generally trained
mercenaries, following orders. Historically, wars are engineered, benefiting the
merchants of death and financiers. In Yugoslavia, the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) and the World Bank prepared the way for the dismemberment of the
country. Victors claim the spoils, while victims pay the price. The most lucrative
business on earth is war.
The World Wars were marked by the rise of national fascism. This millennium
is witnessing the rise of transnational fascism, where imperial powers share in
the looting of conquered nations. In the era of “globalization,” new alliances pit
corporate interests against the vast majority.
Aung Sung Suu Kyi wrote: “It is not power that corrupts, but fear—fear of losing
power and fear of the scourge of those who wield it” (see Abrams 1997).1
Behind the trappings of wealth, in limousines and mansions, are a frightened
group of people who fear losing power and control in an increasingly “unmanage-
able” world. Protesters converge on significant gatherings where global policies
are “decided.” The shutting down of the World Trade Organization in Seattle
in 1999 was one of a series of global protests. A major protest was scheduled for
Washington, DC in September 2001, but was cancelled in the wake of 9/11.
The surreal attacks upon World Trade Centre and the Pentagon on September
11, 2001, were desperate acts by a frightened few, trying to cling to power, using
their traditional methods of war and terrorism to frighten people into silence and
submission. The Patriot Act, passed into law after the 9/11 attacks, mirrors the
Enabling Act that Adolf Hitler passed after the Reichstag Fire; both were designed
to dismantle democracy. Similar legislation has been passed in other countries to
re-label dissenters “domestic terrorists.” Recently, in India, people rescinded their
anti-terrorist legislation. In the U.S., four states and 357 cities and counties have
passed resolutions against the Patriot Act.
The War on Terrorism benefits the arms, security, surveillance, and oil industries.
Bogus terror alerts, war, have terrorized people, but no one can remain in “panic
mode.” When people “come back to their senses,” and think critically about the
War on Terrorism, they should be able to see that it really is a War of Terrorism
against Americans and the world. The Big Lie cannot stand.
Vice President Dick Cheney believes (as did Napoleon) “You don’t have to
suppress the truth forever, just until it doesn’t matter anymore.” The truth does
matter now; the sooner people recognize it, the greater our chances of getting
humanity off the war path.
Rachel Corrie’s father told a story about Rachel after she died. She was the young
American peace activist crushed by a bulldozer as she stood in its path to prevent
the demolition of a Palestinian home. As a very young child, just two-years-old,
Rachel had posed a question to her father: “Is being brave part of growing up?”2
Many Americans have no idea of how much violence the U.S. government has
sponsored, and do not know how to stand up against it. Rachel understood this.
She stood in solidarity with the people of the world and stood for the values that
America is supposed to stand for, inspiring a new generation of activists.
At the International Citizens’ Inquiries into 9/11, we3 showed that the gov-
ernment lied about 9/11, destroyed evidence, engaged in a major cover-up, and
was complicit in the attacks. Our largest obstacle in getting out the facts to the
press and the public has been fear and denial. However, each day more people
are coming to the conclusion that “9/11 was an inside job” (see Hargrove and
Stempel III 2006).
In brief, Al Qaeda was created by Saudi Arabia and the Central Intelligence
Agency (CIA) through Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), and remains a
CIA asset. The Money Man behind 9/11, the head of the ISI, General Mahmoujd
Ahmad (who ordered $100,000 be sent to Mohammad Atta, the alleged lead pilot
of the attack) was meeting with top U.S. officials during September 2001, includ-
ing Congressman Porter Goss and Senator Bob Graham, Chairmen of the Joint
Inquiry on 9/11, on the morning of the attacks (Chossudovsky 2003). Those in
charge of the official inquiry were people who should have been investigated. The
so-called “Independent Commission” was worse than the Warren Commission,
and the Commissioners had major conflicts of interest, particularly oil; they failed
to address most of the key questions (Lynn 2004).
The failure of the military to intercept the hijacked planes was explained by
the multiple war games being conducted that morning. One deployed fighter
resources to Northern Canada and Alaska, another placed false blips on radar
screens; the CIA was conducting a drill to respond to the simulation of a plane
crashing into the National Reconnaissance Office, and a “live fly hijack drill” was
underway.4 The multiple exercises combined to make it impossible for fighter jets
to interfere with the attacks. Cheney was in command that morning. The book,
Crossing the Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of
Oil, by Michael C. Ruppert (2004), and the documentary, The Great Conspiracy:
The 9/11 News Special You Never Saw, by Barrie Zwicker (2005), detail Cheney’s
role in 9/11 and key facts that should have been headline news years ago.
Individually and collectively, Americans need to “be brave, to grow up,” to
overcome fear, to think, to face the harsh realities that the rest of the world has
witnessed. There is a disparity between American ideals and American policy.
People are rising up in the United States, and around the world, against war and
the dominant institutions, the IMF, the World Bank, the World Trade Organiza-
tion, transnational corporations, that clearly benefit a global elite, at tremendous
human cost, and threaten the planet.
The Project for a New American Century,5 the neo-conservative cabal occupying
the White House, wrote in detail of their imperial desires and the likelihood of
resistance from the public, “The process of [military] transformation is likely to
be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event—like a New Pearl
Harbor” (Rebuilding America’s Defenses 2000).
To pursue the militarization of the country and world conquest, 9/11 was the
event they needed. It was also a gamble, and depended upon an acquiescent me-
dia to pull it off. John Galtung, peace activist, when asked about the differences
between the Americans and the Russians, said, “In Russia when people hear the
Party Line; they know it’s the Party Line. In America, they don’t.”6 In war, the
first casualty is truth.
The quick passage of the Patriot Act, the rush to war against Afghanistan, Iraq,
counter-terrorist wars against other countries, the construction of Homeland
Security, the revamping of the intelligence agencies, the construction of a “Global
Security State,” are being hurried through Congress as quickly as possible. The
speed of the changes, the psychological war directed against the public has formed
a crucible that is forging a vast resistance movement.
The craziest conspiracy theory of all was linking Iraq to 9/11, which Cheney
used to sell his war. 9/11 is the Achilles’ heel of a failing paradigm, already suf-
fering from loss of credibility and legitimacy.
Children can see “the Emperor has no clothes.” It was logistically impossible for
a lone gunman to assassinate John F. Kennedy in 1963; 19 guys with box-cutters
couldn’t possibly have outwitted the multi-trillion dollar U.S. defense department
and brought down all those buildings.
What has happened is that people have raised questions that officials cannot
answer. Through a vast cooperative effort, researchers from all over the world,
activists in a multitude of cities, filmmakers, writers, artists, musicians have chal-
lenged the Big Lie. The spotlight on the darkness has exposed the secrets, the
crimes, the treason committed at the highest level of government.
The 9/11 Truth Movement was nurtured by a free flow of information, analy-
sis, thousands and thousands of people helping one another to put together the
pieces of a vastly complex puzzle (see Aftermath; The Great Conspiracy 2005;
Griffin 2004, 2005; LappÈ and Marshall 2004; Thompson and the Center for
Cooperative Research 2004). Truth and courage are needed to overcome fear and
recognize the deeper problems we face, which are beyond left and right, beyond
rich or poor, beyond gender or race.
Our current debt-based monetary system concentrates wealth and power, while
destroying the planet; it is only supported by belief in the current system. When
faith in the U.S. government collapses; dollars are likely to collapse, as well, with
far reaching effect. Fear paralyzes people who cannot imagine a better alternative
to the dysfunctional, criminal, financial system that surrounds us.
Money, next to brute military force, has been the most powerful tool of empire,
but money is little understood, how it is created, how it works. The antithesis
of the gift, debt-based money relies on fear and scarcity to maintain its value
and power. The war economy fails to recognize the value of life. The failure of
the financial system, the totalitarian corporations, the institutionalized violence,
however, is giving new life to a more powerful force. Mahatma Gandhi, Martin
Luther King, Cesar Chavez, Rachel Corrie, and others, are beginning to awaken
to the power of truth, non-violent resistance, solidarity with others; recognition
that respect and cooperation are essential survival skills, and bring joy, meaning
and hope to our lives.
We are grappling with the Big Lie versus truth, fear versus courage, war versus
peace. We must stand up to the frightened necrophiliacs7 that believe that if they
cannot own or control something; they have the right to kill it. There is a rising
consciousness that the hope of the world is to acknowledge and respect all people;
that real security means healthy relationships between people, between people and
planet, not the military domination of the many by a dysfunctional few. Americans
should rein in their own government and call for compassionate impeachment, the
lifting of the American boot off the throat of the world. Imagine redirecting the
world’s resources away from killing and controlling the planet, to healing.
The time for a Global Truth, Peace and Justice Movement is now. To help oth-
ers overcome fear, we must help light the path, and encourage the emergence of
genuine community that comes from the free exchange of gifts.
Carol Brouillet is a longtime activist. She has organized three gatherings on “Strategies
to Transform the Global Economy,” with an emphasis on money. She also organized
(the first) marches on her Senators and Congresswoman in January 2002 to “demand
a congressional investigation of 9/11.” She has published Deception Dollars (over
6,000,000 in print), and co-founded the 9/11 Truth Alliance, and the Northern
California 9/11 Truth Alliance. She also produced the musical comedy/benefit and
film, Behind Every Terrorist There is a Bush and organized the San Franciso Inter-
national Inquiry into 9/11. She is the mother of three boys, and ran for Congress in
2006 on the Green Party ticket on a 9/11 Truth, Peace and Impeachment platform.
www.communitycurrency.org.
Notes
1
The title essay in her collection, Freedom from Fear (edited and published by her
husband, Michael Aris) begins, “It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing
power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those
who are subject to it.” In conclusion she writes that “truth, justice and compassion
... are often the only bulwarks against ruthless power” (see Aris 1991).
2
Craig Corrie told this story at the Herbst Theater in San Francisco at the Annual
Veterans for Peace National Convention in 2003 when Rachel was honoured post-
humously as a member of Veterans for Peace.
3
I organized the San Francisco International Inquiry into 9/11 in cooperation with
Canadians who organized the Toronto International Inquiry into 9/11. We worked
with activists, organizers, researchers, and victims’ family members who were filing
suit against the government for their role in the attacks. The Inquiry in San Francisco
brought together the major authors, researchers, filmmakers, and activists—those
active in alerting the public to the facts about 9/11 and the disparity between the
official narrative and reality—together physically for the first time. 9/11truth.org, an
international network to nurture the 9/11 Truth Movement, was basically born out
of the Inquiry, and the Truth Movement continues to grow since then. “We” here
means the 9/11 Truth Movement which became the 9/11 Truth Alliance. Physical
meetings organized by the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
(WILPF) members—Premilla Dixit and myself—launched the local New York and
San Francisco groups that continue to spearhead visibility actions, events, marches,
rallies, and produce films.
4
See Michael Ruppert’s address at the Toronto International Inquiry, and at the
Commonwealth Club, August 31, 2004. Online: http://www.fromthewilderness.
com/PDF/Commonwealth.pdf.
5
“The Project for the New American Century, is a non-profit educational organization
dedicated to a few fundamental propositions: that American leadership is good both
for America and for the world; and that such leadership requires military strength,
diplomatic energy and commitment to moral principle.” Online: http://www.
newamericancentury.org/.
6
As told to me by my mentor Bill Moyer, author of Doing Democracy (Gabriola Island,
BC: New Society Publishers, 2001).
7
Psychologist/philosopher Erich Fromm (1964, 1970) believed that the lack of love
in the western society and the attraction to mechanistic control leads to necrophilia.
Expressions of necrophilia are modern weapon systems, idolotry of technology, and
the treatment of people as things in bureaucracy.
References
Abrams, Irwin. 1997. “Heroines of Peace: The Nine Nobel Women.” Antioch University,
September 22. Online: http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/articles/heroines/index.
html.
Aftermath: Unanswered Questions from 9/11. Guerrilla News Network.
Aris, Michael, ed. 1991. Freedom From Fear and Other Writings by Aung San Suu Kyl. New
York: Viking.
Cheney, Dick. Online: http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=788.
Chossudovsky, Michel. 2003. “Mysterious September 11 Breakfast Meeting on Capitol
Hill.” Online: http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO308C.html/.
Fromm Erich. 1964. The Heart of Man. New York: Harper and Row.
Fromm Erich. 1970. The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness. Austin, TX: Holt, Rinehart
and Winston.
The Great Conspiracy: The 9/11 News Special You Never Saw. 2005. Prod: Barrie Zwicker.
Griffin, David Ray. 2004. The New Pearl Harbor: Disturbing Questions About the Bush
Administration and 9/11. Northampton, MA: Olive Branch Press.
Griffin, David Ray. 2005. The 9/11 Commission Report: Omissions and Distortions.
Northampton, MA: Olive Branch Press.
Hargrove, Thomas and Guido H. Stempel III. 2006. “Was 9/11 an ‘inside job’?” Scripps
News Service, August 3. Online: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/279827_con-
spiracy02ww.html.
LappÈ, Anthony and Stephen Marshall. 2004. True Lies. New York: Plume.
Lynn, Jocelyn. 2004. “The 9/11 Cover-Up Commission: How the Foxes are Guarding
the Chicken Coop.” March 27. Online: http://www.communitycurrency.org/joycelynn.
html.
Patriot Act. Online: http://www.aclu.org/safefree/resources/17343res20031114.html.
Rebuilding America’s Defenses: Strategy, Forces and Resources for a New Century. 2000, Septem-
ber. A Project for the New American Century. Online: http://www.newamericancentury.
org/RebuildingAmericasDefenses.pdf.
Ruppert, Michael C. 2004. Crossing the Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the
End of the Age of Oil. Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers.
Thompson, Paul and the Centre for Cooperative Research. 2004. The Terror Timeline:
Year by Year, Minute by Minute: A Comprehensive Chronicle of the Road to 9/11—and
America’s Response. New York: ReganBooks.
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