I've heard a great many absurd yarns and conspiracy theories from "truthers" in the decade since the terrible tragedy that was 9/11. Such explanations for the event aren’t surprising. It did, after all, appear to have happened out of the blue.
Random. Unexpected. Inexplicable.
But while the dust was still settling at the site of what used to be the World Trade Center, a nearly instantaneous explanation arose. A general consensus, held by the commander in chief, the mass media, your grandparents, perhaps even you.
"They hate us for our freedom".
The rallying cry that caused a new wave of recruits to join the U.S. armed forces. A phrase which served to steel the resolve of policy makers and voters alike to “make the hard choices” of overriding constitutional principles in favor of protective measures. To ramrod new legislation like the PATRIOT Act through the process of being signed into law. To re-think our stance on due process and indefinite detention, when and if it might save american lives.
We wanted to be safe, for the nightmare to be over.
But this is not a nightmare that began in 2001. The prelude to this dream begins in 1951 with the democratically elected prime minister of Iran, Mohammed Mossadegh. While Mossadegh pursued social reform policy that would find general support in modern western civilization (unemployment compensation, mandatory employment benefits, and wealth redistribution into community projects), he made the ultimately fatal mistake of denying the British state control over Iran’s oil production.
What followed was a plot to depose Mossadegh, drafted and carried out by both the British and American governments in 1953 (Operation Boot and Project TP-AJAX, respectively). Iran was again placed under the dictatorial rule of the shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who continued his reign (with the help money and arms from the American government) for more than 25 years when he was finally exiled during the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and eventually replaced by Ayatollah Khomeini.
25 years of brutality and corruption. Years that many Iranians would neither forgive nor forget.
In 1954 the CIA released a classified report [1] concerning the Iranian coup d'état which stated that “Possibilities of blowback against the United States should always be in the back of the minds of all CIA officers involved in this type of operation. Few, if any, operations are as explosive as this type.”
“Blowback”, often misinterpreted to simply mean “consequences”, is a term that describes the perception of victims when experiencing the unintended consequences of covert foreign operations. A complete lack of context as to why a particular event has happened leads to unavoidably erroneous conclusions.
9/11 was blowback. “They hate us for our freedom”, the erroneous conclusion.
I suppose that’s my long-winded way of saying that I can’t really blame “truthers” for many of their suspicions and conclusions. In many ways, 9/11 WAS an inside job and a massive cover-up. And it was undoubtedly an event our own government had a hand in causing.
If we truly wish to honor the victims of 9/11, I believe we should attempt to understand why they died, who was responsible, and how we can prevent such a terrible history from repeating itself.
There’s always a chance that I’m misguided, brain-washed, and much of what I’ve said here is false. Maybe the unholy alliance of western powers was, and is, justified in playing God in the middle-east. Perhaps we really are embroiled in a war primarily driven by religion and ideology, suffering attacks from those who find freedom too repulsive to allow its existence.
If that is the case and the flame of our foreign enemies’ hatred burns only to destroy and eradicate freedom, our freedom, then fear not: there’s only a little fuel left.
[1] http://altbib.com/bak/dox/3681.html Declassified CIA Document (CLANDESTINE SERVICE HISTORY - OVERTHROW OF PREMIER MOSSADEQ OF IRAN - November 1952-August 195)
