COLUMN: Separating the myths of 9/11 from the facts
Still, six years later, America’s political discourse remains hostage to many misconceptions surrounding 9/11. Our ignorance about the tragedy does its victims no favor, so it’s important we at least confront these more insidious myths:
Myth: 9/11 was an inside job.
Reality: It’s disconcerting that I even have to address this claim, but the self-proclaimed 9/11 “truth” movement is no longer a fringe phenomenon. More than a third of Americans believe it is “very or somewhat likely” that the Bush administration participated in or consciously failed to prevent the attacks of 9/11, according to a recent poll conducted by Ohio University. Are these conspiracy theories really all that convincing? The Bush administration can scarcely stage a decent photo op, let alone mastermind a massive terrorist attack and keep it secret for six years! For a less dismissive refutation of the various conspiracy theories, read Popular Mechanic’s “Debunking 9/11 Myths.” I’m a healthy skeptic of the official 9/11 narrative, but most criticisms are unwarranted and obnoxious distractions from more pressing concerns. Why manufacture reasons to oppose this administration when we already have plenty?
Myth: Iraq was directly involved in the terrorist attacks of 9/11.
Reality: Just this summer, Newsweek found that 41 percent of Americans still believe the above whopper. I was stunned. Even Bush abandoned this assertion years ago. Both the Senate Intelligence Committee and the bipartisan 9/11 Commission found “no credible evidence” that Saddam Hussein’s Iraq was responsible for the attacks. Hussein’s regime and al-Qaida may have shared a hatred of the U.S., but the personal animosity and political differences between Hussein and Bin Laden precluded their cooperation. Bin Laden saw Saddam’s “godless socialism” as heretical. And as a secular Arab nationalist, Hussein wanted little to do with Bin Laden’s Islamist agenda. From a realist’s perspective, it would also be irrational for Hussein to provoke the U.S. via terrorism – he’d only be affording the U.S. a legitimate pretext for his overthrow. In the unlikely case that the attacks of 9/11 had a state sponsor, it’d more likely be Saudi Arabia than Iraq. The terrorist attacks were handsomely bankrolled by Saudi elites and executed almost entirely by Saudi nationals.
Myth: Rudy Giuliani was the hero of 9/11.
Reality: It’s a great disservice to the real heroes of 9/11 – namely the firefighters, the police and the volunteers at ground zero – that Giuliani prostitutes this tragedy for political gain. But Giuliani’s heretofore unblemished 9/11 image is being challenged by some unlikely critics: firefighters. The International Association of Fire Fighters has released a video, “Rudy Giuliani: Urban Legend,” which details some of Giuliani’s most egregious mistakes. To list only a few: He established his command center in the World Trade Center, against the expert advice of his emergency director; he failed to provide his fire and police departments with adequate equipment, like working radios; and he fostered an unhealthy environment at ground zero – volunteers, for example, seldom wore or even had safety masks, exposing them to toxic dust in the air. Giuliani should be running from this record, not on it.
Myth: The terrorists hate us because of our freedoms.
Reality: This consoling delusion is more a bumper sticker than a sound explanation for terrorism. If freedom was the sole criterion for their hatred, then Sweden would arguably be at greater risk than the U.S. But assuming they did attack us for our freedoms, how should we as a society respond? Veil our country’s greatest qualities to model ourselves after al-Qaida’s wet dream? Of course not. So on a gut level, this explanation is unsatisfying. How then can we explain terrorism? As a liberal, I want to believe that poverty breeds terrorism, but, alas, studies point to the contrary – Islamic terrorists are disproportionately wealthy and educated. The answer lies in what the terrorists already explicitly admit: Their motives are political and religious. Decades of American intervention in Middle Eastern affairs and our blind allegiance to Israel has engendered untold resentment. Add to that the Quran’s call for jihad in defense of Islam and its promised reward of 72 beautiful virgins in heaven, and Islamic terrorism is hardly enigmatic.
Myth: We are safer today than we were six years ago.
Reality: Even considering the curtailment of civil liberties, the inconveniences at airport security and the crackdown on terrorist financing, the overwhelming expert consensus is that we are not safer. The main source of this insecurity has been the war in Iraq. Last year’s National Intelligence Estimate cited the war as the jihadists “cause célèbre;” it has inspired a generation of Muslims to take up arms against us. By some estimates, terrorist activity worldwide has increased sevenfold since, and largely because of, our invasion of Iraq. And with the resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan and al-Qaida in Iraq and Pakistan, it’s painfully obvious that we are creating more terrorists than we are killing. Worse still, we are not adequately guarding against these mounting threats. The failure to fully implement the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations, capture Bin Laden and secure our porous borders and ports has left us as vulnerable, if not considerably more so, than we were six years ago.