Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Progressive Christian
Politicizing 9/11

Politicizing 9/11

Last updated on: June 24, 2012 at 1:40 pm by Fred Clark

8 Comments

Politicizing 9/11 2012-06-24T13:40:05-04:00 Fred Clark

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Paula Zahn in shocked — shocked — at the attempt to make the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks an issue in next year's presidential election.

She's not upset with the Republican National Convention for plans to hold its big bash as close to the anniversary and as close to Ground Zero as they can. And she's not upset with President Bush, who has invoked this tragedy incessantly to raise millions for his campaign and to garner support for everything from tax cuts for the wealthy, to the elimination of civil service protections for federal workers, to more tax cuts for the wealthy.

None of that bothers Paula Zahn or her guest, Joe Klein.

What has them upset is this comment from Gen. Wesley Clark:

There is no way this administration can walk away from its responsibility for 9/11. You can't blame something like this on lower-level intelligence officers, however badly they communicated memos with each other. The buck rests with the commander-in-chief, right on George W. Bush's desk.

Before turning to Zahn and Klein's tag-team response, let's consider a question they don't address: Is what Clark said true?

Well, George W. Bush was president of the United States on Sept. 11, 2001. He was in charge, the Big Desk where the buck stops belonged to him and no one else. It was his watch, and 3,000 Americans got up, went to work, and were killed.

Does this mean Bush is "to blame"? Of course not. Responsibility and blame are two different things. Osama bin Laden is to blame for Sept. 11, not George W. Bush.

But Bush was in charge. This ghastly, unprecedented1 event took place during his administration. And there's no way this massive failure of national security can be twisted into a badge of honor. The fact that he sees it as one, and that people like Zahn and Klein are eager to credit him for it, is baffling and perverse.

Wesley Clark simply noted what should be an obvious fact: Bush was president. The buck stops with him. This is unacceptable to Klein:

This was such an unimaginable act, that nobody could have predicted it in advance. And I think that Clark has been running his mouth about things like this. … You cannot expect to be elected president of the United States if you're as irresponsible as this. Sorry.

You read that right: talk of leaders taking responsibility is, to Joe Klein, irresponsible.

Zahn, of course, has two guests. Who else do you think is on her show? Who else might be worth talking to on the topic of the failures that led to Sept. 11?

Maybe Kristen Breitweiser2 — the 9/11 widow who has for two years been demanding exactly the kind of accountability and responsibility that Clark is talking about?

Of course not. Zahn's other guest is Torri Clarke. Clarke is a former Pentagon spokeswoman who spent the previous two years doing professionally exactly what she and Klein and Zahn are condemning — politicizing 9/11.

"It's not about a blame game," Clarke says, thus proving that she — like Zahn and Bush — is also incapable of grasping the essential moral distinction between blame and responsibility.

Zahn concludes this Carroll-esque segment by saying, "Why don't we go back and take another look at some of the imagery that was so powerful shortly after the attacks of 9/11?"

She then shows a clip — not of the burning towers, not of the heroic firefighters and rescue personnel, not of the walls of photographs of the missing. She shows George W. Bush, a little man behind a big desk where the buck never stops, reading Michael Gerson's words off of a TelePrompTer: "These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve."

Powerful imagery indeed.

– – – – – – – – – – – –

1. I don't use the word "unprecedented" lightly. The only event that compares to 9/11 is Pearl Harbor, which struck a military target and which claimed fewer victims. The similarities between 9/11 and 12/7 are not as illustrative as the differences. Such as:

A. The attack on Pearl Harbor confirmed that Roosevelt's plans and priorities for national security had been right all along. He had argued for years that American isolationism was not an option in a world at war. Pearl Harbor proved him right. Sept. 11 exposed Bush's foreign policy and national security priorities as grossly misguided and irrelevant. He had spent the previous year arguing against peacekeeping and nation-building efforts, putting antiterror concerns far, far below missile defense on his To Do list.

B. Pearl Harbor was rightly seen as a massive failure of our national defense. It was, therefore, thoroughly and objectively investigated with the full cooperation of the White House. This happened because everyone acknowledged that we must learn from our failures if we hope to prevent similar catastrophes in the future. And because they knew the difference between responsibility and blame. The Bush White House, by contrast, has opposed every effort to investigate the massive failure of national security that occurred on Sept. 11, 2001. Whistleblowers are punished, subpoenas are ignored, and the families of victims just get angrier and more frustrated. To this very day, the Bush administration is stonewalling the commission led by Tom Kean, the Republican former governor of New Jersey. This determined refusal to investigate smells rotten — it stinks of corruption, complicity and an utter rejection of adult responsibility.

C. FDR responded in the months and years following Pearl Harbor with decisive, bold and sustained action — action that reshaped the world for the better. The key word here is "sustained." Bush responded to 9/11 with one bold gesture — the bombing of Afghanistan and the liberation of its largest city. Al-Qaida and its hosts, the Taliban, have been dispersed, but not defeated. The job in Afghanistan is far from finished, yet Bush has removed all but 12,000 U.S. troops from that region. The troops most vital to the work there — Special Forces and language experts — were pulled out of Afghanistan more than a year ago and sent to Iraq to prepare for a war that President Bush has admitted is unrelated to Sept. 11.

2. Here's my advice to Wesley Clark: listen to Kristen Breitweiser, join her campaign and let her campaign work with yours. Let's see if smug talking heads like Joe Klein are so condescendingly dismissive when the word's are coming out of her mouth. Presidential candidates have power and a platform to get noticed, but they carry the taint of ambition. The 9/11 widows have the integrity of a cause that wants nothing more than truth and justice, but they have little in the way of influence or a platform. Seems to me you could both would benefit from working together.

Uncategorized

9/11

Previous Post

October 29, 2003

I am Spartacus

Next Post

October 30, 2003 Asking Questions

Recent Comments

8 Comments | Leave a Comment

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category class warfare evangelicals Iraq Left Behind Mammon music Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

In the Parable of the Mustard Seed, what does the seed represent?

Select your answer to see how you score.

The Pharisees Wealth Sin The kingdom of God