A group of fanatical terrorists synchronized the hijacking of  four American commercial airliners and conducted
a suicide attack while the planes were still full of  frightened passengers and slammed the aircraft into the populated
symbols of American defense and commerce.  While we pray for the best, it appears that the hopes, the dreams,
and the futures-the warmth and breath of our family, friends, and lovers, over 5,000 in number, were wiped away
on a beautiful late summer morning, in the short space of a little over an hour.  Over the following days, the people
of America and many other nations desperately attempt to contact those who they fear may have been in harms way.
Some are relieved, some are devastated, and some will live the rest of their lives only knowing that a friend or
family member left for work, and never came home.

Over the week, the best and the worst of America is placed on display for the entire world.  It is the best that
draws the focus because it is so magnificent, so beautiful, so typically American in its response, that it warms
the hearts of the world, and bonds our international allies to us like brothers.

The best

During the hijackings, it appears that passengers on the aircraft over Pennsylvania, having communicated with
their loved ones on cell phones and learning of  the fate of two previously seized planes, forced a crash into an
open field at the cost of their own lives, but they may have saved a thousand.  Within an hour of the events,
Americans lined up outside of hospitals nationwide to give their blood.  And the bravest of Americans, those
who serve as firefighters and police, threw themselves into the burning rubble to give aid and comfort and,
in the process, lost more than 300 of their own.

In New York, that exquisite international city, whose residents are hardened by overcrowding and perpetual
foul weather, people do all that they can for individuals they’ve never met, though nothing seems to be enough.
A group of fireman dive for cover in an open subway as the first 110 story building crumbles on top them.
They dig themselves out and rush back to the carnage, only to perish as the second building collapses.
The following day, a fireman is dug out of girders and cement powder, where he was trapped when the
second building fell.  Medics wash his face and slip an iv into his arm.  He asks for a peanut butter and
jelly sandwich.  He eats it, stands, puts on his helmet, and walks back into the smoke and dust.

Mayor Giuliani was the picture of perfection as the leader of a city in crisis.  Throughout the day on September
11th, he gave at least five press conferences, answering questions clearly and directly.  If he didn’t have an answer,
he said so, but always left the impression that he would make efforts to find the answer.  He calmed his constituents’
fears, attempted to quell xenophobic and racist reactions, and in general made himself highly visible.  He did exactly
the type of things that George W. Bush should have done, but did not.

The worst

The worst of us attempted at every opportunity to bring life to the darker side.  Shameless bigots used this situation
to do everything from harassment to firebombing Muslim and Islamic Americans.  Some oil companies price gouged
already suffering citizens.  Crooks set up bogus charity organizations to rob the compassionate.  And the truly sick
called in fake bomb threats from coast to coast.

Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell used the opportunity to blame America’s diversity, and to tell us that the responsibility
of this tragedy belonged to our acceptance of any lifestyle that did not conform to radical Christianity, or the never
ending fight of the ACLU to secure civil rights.  Ann Coulter used the obituary of friend, Barbara Olson, to level an
attack on Senator Clinton, and to insult the world and all non-Christian Americans by proclaiming that we should
bomb all of the Middle East, kill all of their leaders, and convert all of their citizens to Christianity.

Trent Lott joined the Talaban by proclaiming that it was time to begin the discussion about the removal of America’s
individual liberties.  Republican officials, and ex-officials called for American unity on the one hand, and then blaming
liberals and/or Democrats on the other.

To those mentioned above, shame on you all.  You bring dishonor down on Americans as the world watches.
To the world, I ask that you not judge us by these shameless opportunists.

The Fourth Estate

I watched one evening as Ted Koppel nearly broke his arm while patting himself on the back, and proclaiming
what a wonderful job the press was doing at bringing us all together.  While this is a laudable accomplishment,
for the most part the television press abandoned their obligations to provide accurate information, and to ask
important questions.  Immediately following the attack, broadcast news was busy adding to hysteria by issuing
false reports that the planes were carrying biological agents, that truck bombs were exploding in populated
cities nationwide, and that the Washington Mall and the West Wing of the White House were burning.

To the credit of print journalists, they did ask some of the hard questions such as why the president was not
available to provide reassurance to the people.  That question has been speciously responded to by saying
that there was credible evidence that Air Force One was a target.  I use the word specious, because the next
question should be obvious, but it is always left unasked by the broadcast media.  If Air Force One was a target,
why did Bush stay aboard Air Force One to fly to both Louisiana and Nebraska?  Wouldn’t it have been safer
for him to stay on the ground in one of  the military bases in Florida?

To his credit, Peter Jennings did ask some very gentle questions on ABC.  The most important; if Bush is still
under high security, and Chaney is sent to Camp David to keep the two apart, are the American people currently
safe, or should they be bracing themselves for further attacks?

But perhaps the biggest failure of the Fourth Estate was their failure in the months prior to this outrageous attack.
As Arianna Huffington so rightfully criticized in her commentary about the press in the months since George W.
Bush has moved into the White House, the press has focused on nothing but the trivial.  While former senators
Hart and Rudman had completed their report on securing our boarders against terrorism, and were desperately
attempting to get congress and the White House to act, the press focused on whether or not Clinton sold a pardon
to Rich (he didn’t), whether his administration had trashed the White House on their way out (they hadn’t), whether
Condit was guilty of murdering Chandra Levy (he was never a suspect), and what should be done about shark
attacks off the Florida coast (there were no more than usual).

I’ve read the Hart/Rudman report over the last week.  I didn’t even know of its existence prior to Huffington’s
commentary.  It is/was a careful analysis of our susceptibility to an attack such as this one.  Indeed, the report
came so close to predicting this attack that it couldn’t have been closer without picking the date and the number
of aircraft.  It offered a three tiered list of recommendations, including a system for intelligence that was respectful
of civil liberties, added security for airports and government buildings, and an independent agency designed to gather intelligence from all national and cooperating international intelligence agencies to watch the movement of terrorist
groups.  It even offered a system of redress for foreign peoples, offended by US government actions that would
have stripped terrorists of the rational for such drastic measures.

The bipartisan commission that wrote this report had been working on it for two years prior to Bush entering
the White House, and it was completed on January 31, 2001.  By April, congress was almost ready to act on
this report when Bush notified congress that he was disregarding it.  His rational was that he wanted Dick Cheney
to form his own commission to study the issue, and while Bush was busy selling an ill advised tax give back to the
richest Americans, the issue was completely ignored.  After the attack, Bush is insisting on an undefined war that
will cost an unknown number of American lives, and to strip away civil liberties in the name of “protecting freedom.”
Based on past experience, one can only assume that, in the name of unity, this report and the solid work of the
commission that created it will be sent down the memory hole.

And, as always, there are stories that emerge from abroad, ignored by our own press, that raise further serious
questions.  While the Bush administration is demanding more funding for intelligence, there are indications that
our intelligence may have known that this attack, or something of its nature was about to occur.  The German
daily, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) reported that Echelon systems (an international communication
monitoring system conducted by satellites) had revealed that Middle Eastern terrorists were planning an attack
against Israeli and American symbols of culture, and that it was well known and understood throughout the
European and American intelligence community.

German authorities have also confirmed that an Iranian man, arrested on immigration charges in Germany,
had from his cell phoned US intelligence services on multiple occasions warning of this specific attack.

Brain Whitaker, writing for the UK Guardian, wrote an article with the dateline of September 10, 2001,
stating that only last week, the Secret Service, the FBI, the Department of Immigration, Diplomatic Security
agents and the IRS served a sealed warrant on InfoCom, a Texas based company providing Islamic web sites
and communications systems.  An 80-strong taskforce seized computers and hard drives, locking themselves
in the in the building for three days.  It has long been known that terrorist cells communicate by encrypting
messages on the web and through e-mails.  The US press has not even mentioned this invasion, and the
government has not commented.  To get a warrant for this search, officials must provide probable cause
that a crime is being committed, and by the make up of the task force, the crime must obviously contain
international implications.  But, as stated, the warrant is sealed and not subject to public scrutiny.

In a television interview on ABC, Senator Orrin Hatch stated that US intelligence had intercepted a
telephone communication from a suspect reporting to his handlers, known agents of Osama bin Laden,
that the “targets have been hit.”  Anyone listening to radio reports on that day know that that information
was revealed less than two hours after the attack.  I heard it myself.  If that information reached the pressin
so short a time, it can be assumed that intelligence agencies were listening while the hijackings were in progress.

Bin Laden has the habit of stating his plans prior to their completion by releasing a video tape to the European press.
He did exactly that a few weeks ago, warning that an attack would take place of such magnitude that it would
restructure the balance of power in the civilized world.

Add to this the State Department warnings to international travelers in the week prior to the attack, and the unusual
amount of security given George W. Bush throughout his time in office.  Bush’s security has been given the priority
of no president since World War II.  Protesters have been allowed nowhere near him, being confined to “First
Amendment Zones.”  He has not once walked the streets to shake hands with Americans since campaigning.
An additional security barrier has been constructed around the White House.  And Bush has spent more time
out of Washington than any president in our history.

As uncomfortable as the question is, it must be asked.  What did the president know, and how soon did he
know it?  I flew twice over the prior weekend, and airport security had not been increased.  In fact, it seemed
far more lax than usual.  In view of all of this, why weren’t precautions taken to protect American lives?
Why wasn’t security increased at our airports?  If we could have prevented even one of these hijackings,
it might have saved 2,000 lives.

Congress

There appears to be one courageous Representative in the House.  With a single vote, the House has wiped
away our children’s education, health care for our elderly, and social security.  They have handed America’s
purse strings to George W. Bush to use as he sees fit while conducting a “war.”  They failed to ever once ask,
who precisely are we going to war against, how it will be conducted, what will be its consequences,
and what will be its duration.

All Bush has promised is revenge, while fighting an undefined war, against undefined people, with an undefined
loss of American lives.  Never in our history has congress acted so irresponsibly, no matter what the national
opinion polls are telling them.  One, and one Representative only, stood up with courage to ask those questions
 - Barbara Lee of Oakland, CA.  She has already received death threats.  But Barbara, you are a buoy of
reason in a sea of  anger and fear.  I know that you will light in history as a profile in courage.

An attack on freedom and democracy

While George W. Bush, congress, and the Fourth estate choose to label what happened in New York,
Washington, and Pennsylvania as an attack on freedom an democracy, it is no such thing.  It is an attack
conducted by fundamentalist zealots, led by power hungry megalomaniacs, against innocent Americans going
about their daily lives.  It cannot be answered, and it must not be answered by fundamentalist zealotry, led by
fear and outrage.  That answer will only set the world afire.  We can only answer this war crime with the cold
hard reason of law and justice, such is our tradition that has inspired the western world.

The only recent attack on democracy and freedom remains the selection by five members of the United States
Supreme Court of the President of the United States against the specific provisions of the Constitution.  The
Constitution was designed to survive the elements of fear and rash passions.  It is my hope that it gets us through
the years to come.  But as long as the high court contains the likes of Rehnquist, Scalia, Thomas, Kennedy,
and O’Connor, I fear that it will not.

We cannot, and should not remember those who we’ve lost by the blind rage of “group think.”  Loyal dissent
is our most prized American possession.  I hope that the majority among us will not abandon it.  I hope that we
will remember our heritage of freedom, and the lifestyle that those who we love have lost.  My wish is that our
traditions will not be sacrificed upon the alter of bloodlust and hatred.  My prayer is that my fellow online
journalists will continue to defend the Constitution, democracy, and reasoned discourse just as long as we
are all able.  My greatest fear is not that we will suffer another terrorist attack born outside our country,
but the irreparable damage that might be done by the paranoia that is allowed to flourish from within.