Vengeance, Not Justice

Vengeance, Not Justice
Brasildefato, Brazil
By Leonardo Boff
Translated By Gabriel Floud
11 May 2011
Edited by Derek Ha

Someone would have to be their own enemy and against any and all humanitarian values if he approved of al-Qaida’s disastrous terrorist crime on September 11, 2001 in New York. However, it is unacceptable for a state, militarily the most powerful in the world, to transform itself into a terrorist state in response to terrorism. That was what Bush did, limiting democracy and suspending the unconditional validity of some rights. He did more too; he conducted two wars, one against Afghanistan and one against Iran. There, he devastated one of the most ancient cultures of mankind, and more than 100,000 people were killed and more than 1,000,000 were displaced.

It is fitting to bring up the question again that no one is interested in asking: why did such terrorist acts take place? Bishop Robert Bowman of Melbourne Beach in Florida, a fighter pilot in the Vietnam War, responded clearly in the National Catholic Reporter with an open letter to the President: “We are the target of terrorists because we stand for dictatorship, bondage, and human exploitation in the world. We are the target of terrorists because we are hated. And we are hated because our government has done hateful things.”

Richard Clarke, who spoke out against White House terrorism in an interview with Jorge Pontual aired by Globonews on February 28, 2011 and once again on May 3, 2011, said the same thing. He warned the CIA and President Bush that an al-Qaida attack was imminent in New York. They didn’t listen to him. Shortly thereafter, it happened, and it enraged him.

That rage towards the government grew when he saw that Bush, with dishonesty and hypocrisy and through sheer imperial will to maintain world hegemony, declared war on Iraq, which didn’t have any connection whatsoever with 9/11. His rage got to a point where, for his own health and decency, he resigned from office.

Chalmers Johnson, one of the principal CIA analysts, was more scathing in an interview with the same journalist on May 2 of this year on Globonews. He saw from the inside the nasty results that more than 800 North American military bases, spread throughout the entire world, produce; they evoke rage and revolt in populations, creating a stewpot for terrorism. He quoted Eduardo Galeano’s book, Open Veins of Latin America, to illustrate the barbarities that North American intelligence agencies committed here. He denounces the imperial character of governments with intelligence agencies that recommend coups d’état, organize assassinations of leaders and teach torture. In protest, he resigned and went to be a history professor at the University of California. He wrote the Blowback trilogy, in which he foresees, a few months ahead of time, the retaliations against North American arrogance in the world. He was considered the prophet of 9/11. This is the background for understanding the actual situation which culminated with the criminal execution of Osama bin Laden.

its more a matter of at least understanding what evokes the rage to commit such an attack.

The day it happened I was mid Atlantic on my way to SF and I genuinely believed that Chile must've done it 11th September being the anniversary date of the US inspired military coup which removed Chile's democratically elected government.

Bravo! It doesn't just seem like Americans have been blinded. They are blind. It should be the very first, and most important question.

I can say with certainty that the reason why Americans aren't engaged in asking why. Corporate interests. Whether it's the company that sponsors the news AND the war, or many others, asking why diminishes their power.