Peace, Freedom, and Justice

When a nation goes to war, the first casualty is, of course, Peace. The second is the Freedom of its citizens. And the third is Justice. Peace, Freedom, and Justice are so dear to us that I wonder why we give them up in order to make war. ~ The Rev. Nicholas L. Temple, sermon of March 10th, 2002

In the weeks and months following the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, my critical (suspicious? paranoid?) mind went into high gear. In other words, I was thunkin'. My primary question was:
What is the truth about and Who benefits (cui bono ) from the 9/11 attacks, the War on Terrorism, & The Patriot Act?

My answers, of course, led to more questions, the majority of which have not and may never be answered.

• The most frightening of these was a recognition was that the only ones who really benefit from the 9/11 attacks are the extreme right-wing proponents of a powerful, autocratic government in the United States.
• The War on Terrorism has engaged the United States in a war that probably cannot be won and will last not years, but generations.
• The Patriot Act provided the right wing with almost all of the police powers limiting personal freedom and civil liberties that they have been seeking for many years.

For a long time I believe that I was alone in asking these questions. The citizens of the United States, baited by the fear mongering of the Bush/Chaney administration, seemed to frightened to ask probing questions. It has only been in recent months that I have realized that others have been asking the same questions and reaching similar conclusions:

Many adherents of the 9/11 Truth movement suspect that United States government insiders played a part in the attacks, or at the very least knew they were coming and let them occur anyway.

Those within the movement who argue that insiders within the United States government were directly responsible for the September 11 attacks, often allege that the attacks were planned and executed in order to provide the U.S. with a pretext for going to war in the Middle East and, by extension, as a means of consolidating and extending the power of the Bush Administration. According to these allegations, this would have given the Bush administration the justification to clamp down on civil liberties and invade Afghanistan and Iraq to ensure future supplies of oil. In some cases, hawks in the White House, especially former Vice President Dick Cheney , and members of the PNAMC, a neoconservative think tank, have been accused of involvement in or awareness of the alleged plot. ~ Wikipedia, 9/11 Truth movement

We may never truly know what was behind the 9/11 attacks. Perhaps Attorney General Eric Holder 's decision to bring Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four other accused terrorists to justice in a New York federal court rather than behind closed doors of a military tribunal may give us some insights into the truth. Perhaps that's why the right-wing is so opposed to a public trial. I don't know.

I do know that history attests that Peace, Freedom and Justice have been casualties of the War on Terrorism. I pray the the Obama administration is able to restore those blessed gifts to the American people.