by Enver Masud
[Watch Enver Masud rebut The 9/11 Commission Report in a
television interview broadcast to Sub-Saharan Africa.]
Why are there no Arab names on the passenger list for the planes used in
the September 11, 2001 attack on America: American Airlines Flight 11,
United Airlines Flight 175, American Airlines Flight 77, and United Airlines
Flight 93?
Why is the "terrorist ringleader Mohamed Atta" not listed on the passenger
list for American Airlines Flight 11?
We understand that the passenger
list published by the Associated Press on September 17, 2001 is based on
information supplied by "family members, friends, co-workers and law
enforcement." How could "law enforcement" miss all the Arab names?
Yet on September 28, 2001 - seventeen days after the attack - the FBI found
a
curiously worded
will and burial instructions, in Mohamed Atta's suitcase that Atta had
checked for the American Airlines Flight 11 from Boston to Los Angeles, but
which was never loaded on the plane.
Are we to believe that Mohamed Atta's suitcase bore his name, but his
ticket was purchased under a different name? If so what is that other name,
and is it on the passenger list? If the suitcase bore a non-Arab name, why
did the FBI open it? Wouldn't it have been returned to the family of the
ticketed passenger?
The 585 page report of the National
Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States appears to be silent
on these issues, and while it contains much useful information, it leaves
many loose ends.
In formulating its "global strategy," the Commission states that the
"catastrophic threat at this moment in history is more specific. It is the
threat posed by Islamist terrorism - especially the al Qaeda network, its
affiliates, and its ideology." [p. 362]
Al Qaeda does pose a threat, but the
underlying causes of "terrorism" are U.S. policies toward the Muslim world.
Why does the report not highlight the reasons most Muslims cite as the
source of not only Muslim frustration, but as polls show, worldwide frustration, with
the U.S.: Uncritical U.S. support for Israel's occupation of Palestine, the
U.S. occupation and exploitation of Muslim lands, and U.S. support for
authoritarian regimes while proclaiming America's desire for democracy in
those lands.
The report mentions Islam about 300 times, but did the commission seek the
testimony of independent, Muslim scholars or experts? Did it obtain advice
primarily from those who drove the U.S. to war: Israel and its U.S. backers, global corporations, and the military-industrial complex?
Until the U.S. focuses on the specific issues which frustrate Muslims, and
many others, and until the U.S. includes informed, independent Muslims in
the much needed, national dialog, we see no early end to the "war on
terrorism."
America was not attacked just because "they hate us." Until the U.S. accepts
this fact, it will be fighting the wrong war.
---
"War
Against Terror: List of Victims," cnn.com, 2001
Nick Hopkins, "False
identities mislead FBI," Guardian, September 21, 2001
[The men - all from Saudi Arabia - spoke of their shock at being mistakenly
named by the FBI as suicide terrorists. None of the four was in the United
States on September 11 and all are alive in their home country.--David
Harrison, "Revealed: the men with stolen identities," Telegraph,
September 23, 2001]
Enver Masud, "What Really Happened
on September 11 Remains a Mystery," The Wisdom Fund, April 27, 2002
Gary Thomas,"Intelligence Officer Challenges Bush Administration on
'Why They Hate Us'," Voice of America, June 10, 2003
["To think that he's trying to rob us of our liberties and freedom is, I
think, a gross mistake. What he has done, his genius, is to identify
particular American foreign policies that are offensive to Muslims whether
they support these martial actions or not - our support for Israel, our
presence on the Arabian Peninsula, our activities in Afghanistan and Iraq,
our support for governments that Muslims believe oppress Muslims, be it
India, China, Russia, Uzbekistan. Bin Laden has focused the Muslim world on
specific, tangible, visual American policies."
". . . the same polls that show the depths of their hatred of our policies
show a very strong affection for the traditional American sense of fair
play, the idea of rule by law, the ability of people to educate their
children. I think the mistake is made on our part to assume that they hate
all those things. What they hate is the policy and the repercussions of that
policy, whether it's in Israel or on the Arabian Peninsula. It's not a
hatred of us as a society, it's a hatred of our policies."--Andrea Mitchell,
"CIA insider says U.S.
fighting wrong war," MSNBC.com, June 24, 2004]
"Q&A: 9/11
commission's report," BBC NEWS, July 22, 2004
Terry McDermott, "Questions Persist Despite 9/11
Investigations," Los Angeles Times, July 26, 2004
[If you were a Muslim, might you instead figure that the "present
transnational danger" to you was Christian fundamentalist extremism,--Bill
and Kathleen Christison, "The 9/11 Report
and Its Weak-Kneed Consensus: Dodging the Issue of Palestine-Israel;
Blinkered on Causes of Terrorism," counterPunch, July 27, 2004]
[The National Center for Health Statistics, which tracks 113 causes of death
in the United States, reported that in the same year that nearly 3,000
people died in the Sept. 11 attacks, 43,788 died in motor-vehicle accidents,
30,622 by suicide, 20,306 were murdered (including 11,348 by firearms),
14,078 died by accidental poisoning and 3,021 died as a result of
complications from medical care. An additional 700,000 Americans died of
heart disease, the No. 1 killer, according to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, while 553,768 died of cancer and 32,238 died of
blood poisoning.--Miles Benson, "Dangers from terrorism scant compared to other risks, experts
say," Newhouse News Service, August 8, 2004]
Julian Borger, "We
could have stopped him," Guardian, August 20, 2004
David Eliasson, "The
Events of 11 September 2001 and the Right to the Truth," aldeilis.net,
April 14, 2008
VIDEO: "What motivated
the 9/11 hijackers?"
VIDEO: "Politicians
Lying to the American People about 9/11 Motive"
Copyright © 2004 The Wisdom Fund - Provided that it is not
edited, and author name, organization, and web address (www.twf.org) are
included, this article may be printed in newspapers and magazines, and
displayed on the Internet.
