Debra Sweet | September 10, 2016
It’s no secret that government leaders conspire to advance U.S. hegemony in the Middle East with their illicit ‘war on terror’ response to the September 11, 2001 destruction of the World Trade Center in New York City. That horrific event advanced the criminal program of your government, sacrificing liberty to a false promise of security:
Wars of aggression, unjust occupations, and the use of drones, killing hundreds of thousands of civilians around the world;
Mass surveillance on whole populations, with intent to chill protest and dissent;
Indefinite detention and torture of prisoners at Guantanamo and other sites including torturing hunger strikers with force-feeding;
Incarceration of over 2.4 million people in the United States, mainly Black and Latino, a program with genocidal impact against these groups; and
Torture, intimidation and prosecution of whistleblowers while covering up for those responsible for crimes against humanity.
9/11 marks 15 years since the attack on the World Trade Center became justification for U.S. wars of aggression on people in at least 7 countries. None of which attacked the United States. Yet as many as 2 million people have been killed, and many millions displaced by U.S. military interventions, occupations, bombings and targeted killing.
It is on us, the millions of people living in this country, acting together with people around the world, to stand up, tell the truth, and say no to these crimes. We draw inspiration from and stand with Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning, the hunger strikers at Guantanamo and domestic U.S. prisons, and other courageous resisters who have illuminated the truth about what this government does.
The wars for empire continue and are at the heart of the flood of refugees risking their lives to escape war zones of the Middle East and Africa. Many students are returning to school with increased consciousness of the injustices of empire and the U.S. military in particular – see wearenotyoursoldiers.org.