Keith Olbermann Special Comment: 9/11

We suffer in our remembrance of 9/11, because of the terrible loss of innocent lives on that grim day. We also suffer because 9/11 was seized as an opportunity to run a political agenda, which has set America on a course of the destruction of another nation and the destruction of our own Constitution. And we have become less secure as a result of the warped practice of pursing peace through the exercise of pre-emptive military strength.

It is not simply 9/11 that needs to be remembered. We also need to remember the politicization of 9/11 and the polarizing narrative which followed, locking us into endless conflict, a war on terror which has wrought further terror worldwide and which has severely damaged our standing worldwide as an honorable, compassionate nation. As we were all victims of 9/11, so we have become victims of the interpretation of 9/11.

Our government's external response to 9/11 was to attack a nation which did not attack us. Indeed on the first anniversary of 9/11, the Bush administration issued a well-publicized stern warning to Iraq which was part of a campaign to induce people to believe Iraq had something to do with 9/11.

The deliberate, systematic connection of Iraq with 9/11 has led America into a philosophical and moral cul-de-sac as over one million Iraqis and over 4155 US soldiers have died in a war which will cost over $3 trillion. Additionally, soldiers from 23 other countries have died in the Iraq war.

The heartbreaking loss of the lives and injuries to America troops further binds us to the Administration's illogic of the Iraq war: We remember our troops' sacrifice by demanding more sacrifice; we support our troops by continuing the war.

The dominant color of our new national security since 911 is neither red, white nor blue. Everyday is orange. Everyday reminders of fear of 9/11 become banal.. Yet we no longer hear the airport announcements nor see the orange colored warnings because they have commonplace standards in our new national security state, as is the Patriot Act, wiretapping, and a host of invasions of privacy and diminution of civil liberties. The Constitution has been roundly attacked by the very people who took an oath to defend it.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-dennis-kucinich/remembering-911-and-movin_b...
The threat from al-Qaeda, its franchises, and its wannabes, is more real than ever. Seven years have passed since 9-11, but there is still no real effective way to combat terrorism. Al-Qaeda, which appeared to be in disarray four years ago and its capabilities dramatically diminished, has grown stronger once again in Afghanistan and the tribal areas of Pakistan. It has also successfully expanded its reach throughout the Middle East and North Africa. It exists in places it never has been in before like Iraq, Algeria and Somalia. Bush's War on Terror has failed. It has failed not because of the lack of resources or effort but rather because of the method and approach. Seven years after 9-11, al-Qaeda is stronger, more spread out, and more elusive. Why has it taken the Bush Administration so long to finally consider shifting some of the U.S. troops from Iraq into Afghanistan?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jamal-dajani/seven-years-post-9-11-are_b_125622...
In a column about underfinanced municipal pension systems published on 9/11, George Will uses the anniversary of the horrific attacks to express deep anger that veteran police, firefighters and municipal workers - the people who Republicans rhetorically heroize when trying to exploit 9/11 - eventually get paid well for their services. In one California town on San Francisco Bay, Will tells us that - gasp! - "after just five years, all police and firefighters are guaranteed lifetime health benefits." The horror of giving lifetime health benefits to people who have to inhale toxic fumes in burning buildings, or who often sustain serious lifetime wounds on the job. Such salaries and benefits, of course, are part of a bargain: Enticing people to turn down the high-paying private-sector job and instead run into burning buildings (firefighters), do the dangerous work of apprehending criminals (police), disposing of sewage (garbage collectors) and administrating all the other services that conservatives pretend aren't necessary (municipal workers) requires, well, an enticement - namely, the promise that making such a public-minded choice will result in decent and stable pay and benefits.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-sirota/the-aristocrats-ii-starri_b_125768...

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[DixieDale]

Keith is his own man. Every word he said is true and the reason I will never vote for a Republican again.

[davethecaveman]

well done,he is right about McCain,if he is so confident he can catch Bin Laden he better get to it and quit scaring people.A vote for McCain is a vote for a cold and hateful world.

[rockinandout]

Oh Keith Bush at least followed procedure when it came to making war he got congress to allow it. Your guy, obummer, did the impeachable thing of sending our men and women to fight a war without congressional approval.

[gaptoofgranny]

@darcyskip I wouldn't call him a hack per se, but he is very left. He does bring up a good point, though.

It would have been much more beneficial if there was a more immediate response. We can't do anything that has happened, but we can learn from this and better prepare if there is a next time.

[joetheshoebro]

@weedhopperps51 YEAH, let's get those Afghani and Iraqi hijackers! Oh wait, there weren't any.. 15/19 were Saudi, our ally. Fantastic. Try not to forget who it was.

[Mostdef]

"you never want a serious crisis to go to waste" rahm emanuel

seems the demoncrats are just as fucked up

keith olbermann is a joke

[s1m30n]

@s1m30n freinds lol

[s1m30n]

@darcyskip which wat, makes him wrong? and ultra lib, relly?

[o1o1s1]

@DixieDale well said

[weedhopperps51]

Leave it to this asshole to use 9/11 as a platform to spew out his backward political ideology. Take it from someone who lost many close friends on 911. We'll never forget those who perished but we must also never forget who did it to us and they've been trying like hell to do it again. Like it or not there is a very valid reason why our troops are still over there exterminating those motherfuckers.

[BellyButtonQuiz]

@snakestang100

I agree with you snakestang. I try not to dislike anyone, but I certainly dislike 95% of what comes out of his mouth, and can identify a lot of it as lies.

It makes me sick that he now represents journalism. !!! This is not journalism, it's simply democrat propaganda.

It's weird that people get off on hearing it.