Commentaries On The 9/11 Commission Report
By Christopher Effgen
The Disaster Center
July 25, 2004
The work of the 9-11 Commission would not have taken place had it not been for the relatives of victims of the attack insisting that the hearings take place. To the extent that the work of the commission will accomplish any good it will be due to the quality of character of Americans who suffered the loss of loved ones on 9-11-01. They asked a simple question, which congress and the President were reluctant to answer. It was a question that everyone who loses a loved one has a right to demanded the answer to. How and why could this happen.
To the extent that the work of the Commission is a failure, responsibility for that failure can be and should be taken by the commissioners and their staff.
The investigative work of the commission was limited to the events related to 9-11-01. The problem with this approach is that 9-11-01 was an isolated event. A disastrous event may be critical in motivating one to understand an underlying problem, but is not the basis for developing sound policy. As one of our justices wrote, "Great cases do not make good law."
Terrorism is a single threat source. When historic records are examined, we find terrorism is a relatively minor threat source. Understanding why this has been the case is more likely to mitigate the threat of terrorism than any other exercise in learning that one could undertake. Yet the work of the commission did not encompass such a study.
Of actual past events, nature, technology, government, industry, human caused accidents, and non-terrorist related criminal acts represent far greater risk/threat sources to individuals. Acts of terrorism involving, what the commission refers to as weapons of mass destruction, are an even rarer threat source. The use of these substances to kill has largely been restricted to acts undertaken by states and by the accidental and deliberate releases of these substances by industry.
In history mass killing has generally been the result of the exercise of political power by states.
The greatest mass murders in history have married religious doctrine and/or the cult of leadership worship with the power of the State to justify the use of techniques of mass murder as a means to achieve political/religious ends and to maintain their authority and power.
The little freedom that human race has enjoyed in its short history came about because individuals who exercised political power and religious authority were separate entities. As separate entities these two forces competed with each other for the support of the people. When the two institutions are formally joined there is no need to compete for the people’s support.
The Iraqi and Afghanistan people paid an enormous price for allowing leaders to come into power who acted in the name of god/self with the power of the state. The people subject to such rulers sacrifice their freedom, their lives and livelihoods, while the benefits of such power that remain are distributed to the individuals and interests who support thier power.
A state allowed a known terrorist to take up residence.
Osama Bin Laden had been associated with terrorist acts going back at least 7 years prior to 9-11-01. Every 18 - 24 months he regularly engaged in terror acts against United States interests. Your President and Congress claim that they are not responsible for the loss of your loved ones because Osama Bin Laden did not share with them the time, date and place of the attack.
The commission would have us believe that "terrorism is the defining quality of world politics." Is this what we want to be the defining quality of our lives, of our world?
Consider this statement from the report:
"… there is no common ground—not even respect for life—on which to begin a dialogue. It can only be destroyed or utterly isolated."
If you were told that Bin Laden had said this about the United States, it would be believable. In fact, it was written in a portion of the report describing how we should deal with the threat of terrorism from certain Islamic elements. The United States has acted out this strategy in Iraq, which on the day the commission issued its report was a worldwide center for terrorism, while occupied by United States forces. The United States, after a war that caused the destruction and looting of the Iraqi’s country, handed back power to an Iraq council under economic and social conditions that were worse for the Iraqi people than on the day the United States invaded, when Saddam Hussein ruled them.
The commission tells us that, "What is needed to confront the threat of terrorism is a broad political-military strategy that rests on a firm tripod of policies to:
• attack terrorists and their organizations;
• prevent the continued growth of Islamist terrorism; and
• protect against and prepare for terrorist attacks."
Yet, To carry out this strategy we are told we need to attack people who have not yet attacked us, change a culture that we can not change, and impose restrictions on the liberty of the people of the United States and indeed the world. In short the commission would have us follow a policy that would serve Osama Bin Laden's ends.
The commission advises us that a "clash of civilizations" needs to take place against a stateless network of terrorists, for the object of "prevailing over an ideology." While this is taking place we must somehow also generate understanding and tolerance within and between faiths.
I don't know any of the family members who lost loved ones on 9-11-01, but I doubt that any of them want a clash of civilizations to be the most enduring legacy of their deaths.
The commission points out that "terrorism is a tactic."
Since it is a tactic, then we must carefully examine the ends that are sought. Is the end creditable? What conditions must take place before the end is realized? The answers to these questions go to the heart of the issue, but the commission does not address them.
Osama Bin Laden wants to be the Prince of a United Muslim State. In order to reach his end, he needs to first so alter the economic and political systems that the resulting disruption may cause the suffering or deaths of a billion people. The people so affected would be from all religions, races, creeds. People everywhere would be affected by the violence and economic disruptions that would be required to force people to alter their democratic systems of government in order to place him on the throne of a united muslim state.
The reality is that no sane person wants such a future for the human race. If Osama Bin Laden understood the consequences of what it is he was trying to do, the costs it would take to achieve his vision for the world, even he wouldn’t want to subject his children to such a future.
Al Qaeda was the creation of a man who grew up privileged and wealthy in a repressive religious nation. His wealth enabled him, when he visited western nations, to taste the fruits forbidden to him by his religion. He engaged in acts and performed deeds that merited his condemnation by the faith, which he now uses to condemn others. At a point in time he realized how wrong his acts had been, he experienced a revelation of faith, and returned to the faith he had been brought up to believe. He felt that the hand of god upon him. He believed that god, not he, was responsible for the ideas in his head and the acts he carried out. In this others, who had engaged in the same kind sins against their moral upbringing and experienced the same type of revelation, supported him. Then too, others were attracted to him who saw that with his wealth, position and power he could be used as a means to obtain their ends.
At points in time his nation, brothers and sisters became disaffected by his actions. Like anyone who has a brother or sister who is acting a little crazy, they tried to reason with him, they pleaded with him to dissuade him from this insane course of action. When he would not listen, they stripped him of his position and denied him access to the family's wealth. They forced him into exile and even tried to kill him.
In the Koran we read of his lament at 9-11, his willingness to forgive his brothers and sisters. "Yet, if they repent, and perform the prayer, and pay the alms, then they are your brothers in religion; and We distinguish the signs for a people who know."
This document is located at:
http://www.disastercenter.com/911_1.htm
Commentaries On The 9/11 Commission Report
For Those Who Loved
Them
Risk/Threat Management
The Terrorism
Center
Deep
Institutional Failings
WMD -- Weapons of Mass
Destruction
The
911 Commission Report and the Markle Foundation's Recommendations
An Example of Data Matching
The Accuracy of Data Matching
What the United States Stands For
The 911
ReportThe complete Commision Report in PDF format (7.4
MB)
Christopher Effgen [send him an mail] is the owner of the Disaster Center web site, and has been active in reporting about disasters by digital means since the site was established in 1996. He has authored articles dealing with wide variety of disaster related topics including risk/threat management, neural networks, the science of disaster communication, and compiled numerous disaster related statistics (many of which are hosted on this site). He is active as a participant in national and international forums promoting disaster mitigation towards the goal of sustainable development.