|
"We still don't know by whom we were struck that infamous Tuesday, or for what true purpose. But it is fairly plain to many civil libertarians that 9/11 put paid not only to much of our fragile Bill of Rights but also to our once-envied system of government which had taken a mortal blow the previous year when the Supreme Court did a little dance in 5/4 time and replaced a popularly elected President with the oil and gas 'Bush-Cheney junta.' " A analysis of energy riches in Asia and Eurasia compiled by Zgibniew Brzezinski in 1997 is quoted by Vidal in support of his thesis. Brzezinski was former President Jimmy Carter's national security advisor. Vidal believes that both Democratic and Republican administrations knew Americans would reject the prospect of a commercially-inspired war for oil in Afghanistan and that thus, before approving of any such war, would need an external threat of great magnitude in order to be conscripted. 'Osama was chosen on aesthetic grounds to be the frightening logo for our long-contemplated invasion and conquest of Afghanistan ... [because] the administration is convinced that Americans are so simple-minded that they can deal with no scenario more complex than the venerable, lone, crazed killer (this time with zombie helpers) who does evil just for the fun of it 'cause he hates us because we're rich 'n free 'n he's not.' "Apparently, 'conspiracy stuff' is now shorthand for unspeakable truth," writes Vidal, criticizing America's mainstream media for refusing to further examine the implications behind Bush administration ineptitude. He says: "It is an article of faith that there are no conspiracies in American life. Yet, a year or so ago, who would have thought that most of corporate America had been conspiring with accountants to cook their books since -- well, at least the bright dawn of the era of Reagan and deregulation." Although there is an automatic government-approved standard requiring that fighter planes be launched whenever hijackings occur, no such launchings were effected until 9.40am, nearly an hour-and-a-half following that moment when air controllers knew of the hijacking and fully 50 minutes after the first plane had struck one of the twin towers. "By law, the fighters should have been up at around 8.15. If they had, all the hijacked planes might have been diverted and shot down," Vidal writes. The famed author acidly criticizes the behavior of both George W. Bush on the day of the attacks and he seethes as he contemplates the "nonchalance" of the acting Joint Chief of Staff, General Richard B Myers, who failed to launch air support until the twin towers had already crumbled into ruins. Osma bin Laden deserves to be labeled an "Islamic zealot" and an "evil doer," says Vidal, but he argues, nevertheless, that no free pass should be given to Bush to wage war on an abstract concept such as "terrorism." |
|
Gore Vidal: Faulting Bush on post-9/11 investigation