an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind

The events surrounding the killing of Osama bin Laden last week were interesting to me on so many fronts. But before I elaborate and hopefully inspire some deeper thought in my audience, let me be clear that I stand firmly on the side of justice and accountability. I feel very strongly that the perpetrators of 9/11 must be held fully accountable for their actions and must be punished under the rule of law for their actions. Doing anything less will insure that these sorts of events will happen again in our future.

What was so disturbing were the images of people jubilant in the streets, celebrating without restrain, the death of another human being. Of course he was the "bad" guy and we were the "good" guys, but I am certain that those who celebrated in the streets half way around the world when Americans were killed in the past felt exactly the same way. It is vindictive tribalism at its worst. Whatever tribe one belongs to is always on the side of good and the enemy tribe is always on the side of evil. Seems that it has been that way since the dawn of humanity.

And while we are busy blaming each other those who are the instigators and architects of the violence and terror can rest assured that they, like the wizard behind the curtain, will not be noticed until history fades into the background and new tribal conflicts take center stage.

Large anti-American rally in Pakistan, Oct 26 2001

1500 Architects and Engineers (http://www.ae911truth.org/) have demonstrated beyond any reasonable doubt that the devastation of 911 could not have been caused by the hijacking of airplanes alone. That two airplanes can cause three high rises to collapse into their own footprint is a piece of modern mythology that defies the laws of physics and the scrutiny of reason. And still, that singular event has been imbedded in our minds as the "act of war" against the US, masterminded by a man in a cave. If it were true, what would that say about our engineering abilities, our technological savvy, our military capacity?

The crime against the US and the world was perpetrated by engaging known terrorists to perform an act that could be expanded by well placed explosives into a dramatic visual, convincing American citizens to sacrifice their civil liberties for the sake of blind vengeance. This vengeance allowed us to enter an unjust war in Iraq under false pretenses and spend trillions of unfunded dollars on the military, bankrupting our economy in the process.

Sadly this week, instead of bringing us justice, will likely serve to crystallize the misconception that a single man in a cave caused all this mess. The result will be that the military industrial complex will continue to manipulate events to their benefit and we will likely see more of the same in the future. And who is to blame in all of this? Well when you point the finger remember that only one points away from you and three are pointing towards you.

It is ourselves we have to blame. The information has been verified for some time now but no politician will ever move to bring the real perpetrators to justice as long as the public refuses to understand and acknowledge the facts behind the story. Even the media can not be solely blamed as long as we are determined to blindly cling to our simplistic delusions.

On 911 some 3000 people were killed and instead of conducting a thorough investigation and applying the rule of law we launched a "war on terror" that has cost trillions and killed tens of thousands more.

That same year 42,000 people were killed in automobile accidents in the US and we were satisfied with conducting routine investigations and letting the courts handle it without launching a "war on cars".