© Opinions the other press e Kali thurber e opinionsubmit@hotmail.com September 17, 2003 Right Hook > J.J. McCullough Op Columnist With the anniversary of 9/11 having come and gone, it’s worth investigating how various groups have chosen to commemorate the massacre of thou- sands of Americans. The vast majority of us commemorated the day with peri- ods of quiet reflection. It has been two years since the tragedy occurred and yet I still often feel remorse knowing how the pain must still be fresh in the minds of the victims’ families. Across the United States and Canada, many peo- ple lit candles in memorandum. Some hung flags from their houses, or wore ribbons on their shirts. To most, it was a day of mourning and remembrance. To radical leftists, however, it was a day of celebration. The far-left set never held any great remorse for the attacks the United States suffered on 9/11, not even on the day itself. Living in a leftist hotbed like British Columbia, I have no trouble remembering the reac- tions of the various radicals on September 11, 2001. To anti- Americans, the attacks on 9/11 were the fulfillment of a prophecy they had been eagerly predicting for years. For years, they had argued that America was a brutal, bloodthirsty imperialist power. As America fought Soviet-sponsored Communist tyranny around the world, leftists accused American politicians of being war crim- inals, American allies as being fascists, and American soldiers as being baby- killers. Instead of supporting American opposition to tyranny, leftists chose to align themselves with real criminals, such as Fidel Castro, Ho Chi Minh, and Ayatolya Khomeni. When these dictators denounced the US and called for its immediate destruction, these leftists eagerly bobbed their heads in agreement, and praised the “wisdom” of these “progressives.” America could do no right—she was a monster, the “Great Satan,” as Khomeni quipped, and the chief promoter of the evil and oppressive capitalist system. When the Berlin wall fell and the threat of Communist subversion was all but extinguished, for a while it seemed like leftists had run out of ammo. Under President Clinton the United States turned inward, and except for a few iso- lated humanitarian missions, rarely ventured outside its own borders. September 11 changed all that. Out of nowhere, America was attacked by a group of Islamic fanatics from wealthy Middle-Eastern families. The quiet complacency of the Clinton years was destroyed—suddenly America would once Page 6 have to respond. This was just the break the leftists were looking for. In the wake of the attacks (in a move that will sure- ly go down in history as one of the stu- pidest protests in history) radical pro- fessors and student groups in universi- ties all over North America began to hold “teach ins” in their class rooms as a sort of “pre-emptive protest” against America’s inevitable retaliation. “Teach ins” were a concept that had originally been invented in the 70s. Left-wing professors would invite people skeptical about the Vietnam War into their lecture halls and proceed to indoc- trinate their young students as to why Ho Chi Minh and the Vietcong were such lovely, peaceful folks, and why America was a brutal imperialist mon- ster for crushing their little “peasant revolution.” The “teach ins” of 2001 were largely the same. As anyone who follows radical leftist thinking knows there is not a single problem in the world that was not somehow directly started by the United States. Tying the destruction of the World Trade Centers to the American government was tricky but with vast lies and deception they were able to pull it off. There were two basic themes: The first was that America had “created” the Taliban, Osama Bin Laden, al-Qaeda, Radical Islam, etc. This was hardly a new argument. Over the years, leftists have blamed America for “creating” just about every tyrant that has ever walked the earth. No dictator or terrorism is ever created due to regional issues or religious ideology; they are instead cre- ated, Dr. Frankenstein-like, by the United States. A few out of context and poorly researched “facts” are all that is e http://www.otherpress.ca September 11th, a ‘eftist celebration needed to support these views. In the case of al-Qaeda, America “created” the group the Reagan Administration had supported Afghan resistance fighters after the Soviet Empire invaded Afghanistan in 1980. Nevermind that the United States was backing the non-Islamic, Communist, legitimate government of Afghanistan at the time. Nevermind that the Taliban did not come to power until more than a decade later, during the Clinton years. Nevermind that in 1980, Osama Bin Laden was still an unknown Saudi citizen who had virtu- because anti- and unimportant ally no role in the anti- Soviet resistance and certainly received no special attention from the United States. Nevermind that it was in fact the Soviet inva- sion which destabilized and destroyed Afghanistan, leaving it weak and vulnerable to the foreign import of Islamic extremism. It’s much more convenient for leftists to continue to believe their myths about the “cause” of 9/11, than get bogged down in any pesky facts. The second theme the leftists used to avoid caring about the victims of 9/11 was what they called “viewing events in context.” According to them, this meant that since, numerically, more people have died on dates other than 9/11, America has no right to complain over the death of 3000 civilians. The idea that September 11 was the “worst terrorist attack in history” was pooh- poohed by leftists, who believed they could point to much worse events per- petrated by America. This claim could not hold water either. September 11 was, in fact, the worst terrorist attack in modern history. Obviously more than 3000 people have died in various civil wars and famines over the years, but in terms of multiple thousands of people being killed in a target attack in one day, September 11 is, without a doubt, an immensely significant historic mile- stone. The events that leftists tried to drag up to “compare” the carnage of 9/11 to were similarly ludicrous. For example, some leftists had argued that President Clinton had killed “thou- sands” of innocent people when he ordered missile strikes against a suspect- ed chemical weapons factory in Sudan. They clearly hoped no one would both- er to research this, as in actuality there was only one confirmed casualty— the night watchman. Claims that destroy- ing this “medicine factory” caused a massive humanitarian crisis was an equally unfounded allegation. This process repeated itself on the first anniversary of September 11. The “it’s America’s own fault” line would be repeated, although often disguised as a “memorial service.” I remember attend- ing one such memorial service last year. It was obstinately titled “Commemoration of victims of terror- ism,” but was actually just a front for spin the anniversary to further their own agen- anti-Americans eager to da. The main speaker opened the event with a quick mention of the victims of the WTC bombing, then proceeded to help us “view this in context” by listing all the “ that America itself has apparently been inflicting upon the rest of the world. Sometimes the 9/11 pretexts would terrorism” be ignored altogether. By an extremely convenient coincidence for leftists, the date “September 11” was also the date the corrupt Marxist President of Chile, Salvador Allende, was deposed in a mil- itary coup. Allende, despite being an incompetent, unpopular, and undemo- cratic leader was much respected by the socialist left for his anti-American rhet- oric. When he was deposed in 1973, America was blamed. Thus, many left- ists ignore the WTC disaster, and instead use September 11 as an occa- the “American that brought down the Marxist hero of Chile. This year was the 30th anniversary of the coup. Judging from the posters I have seen plastered around town, many leftists eagerly chose to attend “memorials” for the vic- sion to mourn Imperialism” tims of an obscure coup of a country that they would probably be hard- pressed to identify on a map, rather than show any degree of compassion for the 3000 innocent Americans who died less than 800 days ago, mere miles from our own borders. September 11 was a horrible tragedy, unprecedented in its scope and terror. Yet many leftists quietly celebrated the date, and continue to dishonour the victims of the attack by using the date to further their own hateful agenda. And for that, we must never forget.