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Mickey Z
Cool Observer
the Department of Homeland Security.
Monday, August 01, 2005
Families of 9/11 victims say "no" to revenge
The PBU (http://www.pbu.blogspot.com) topic this week was related to U.S. threats of nuclear retaliation for terror attacks. To follow is an excerpt from my upcoming book, “50 American Revolutions You’re Not Supposed to Know: Reclaiming American Patriotism”:
Post-9/11, it was less popular than ever to voice opposition to U.S. government policy...and never was it more important. Perhaps no collective voice of dissent has been more profound than that of the families of 9/11 victims involved in the group Peaceful Tomorrows.
http://www.peacefultomorrows.org
One member of Peaceful Tomorrows is Jeremy Glick. His father, Barry, was a Port Authority worker who died in the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center. Not content with letting others speak for him or paint him with the broad brushes of patriotism and revenge, Glick co-authored a book, “Another World is Possible,” and on February 4, 2003, appeared as a guest on Fox News Channel’s The O’Reilly Factor. The show’s host, Bill O’Reilly—notorious for his right-wing agenda and obnoxious manner—was particularly irate about Glick signing an anti-war advertisement that included this passage: “We too watched with shock the horrific events of September 11 ... we too mourned the thousands of innocent dead and shook our heads at the terrible scenes of carnage - even as we recalled similar scenes in Baghdad, Panama City, and a generation ago, Vietnam.”
(http://www.fair.org)
O’Reilly told Glick he was surprised he’d sign an ad that “equates the United States with the terrorists.” O’Reilly added: “I was offended by that.”
Nonplussed, Glick stood his ground: “Our current president now inherited a legacy from his father and inherited a political legacy that’s responsible for training militarily, economically, and situating geopolitically the parties involved in the alleged assassination and the murder of my father and countless of thousands of others. So I don’t see why it’s surprising.”
As Glick continued on his point about the U.S. funding and arming Islamic extremists in Afghanistan at the time of the Soviet invasion, O’Reilly fell back on boilerplate ripostes like, “You are mouthing a far left position that is a marginal position in this society, which you’re entitled to.” The host added: “I’m sure your beliefs are sincere, but what upsets me is I don’t think your father would be approving of this.”
(http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03/04/07/0222227)
Here is some what followed:
GLICK: Well, actually, my father thought that Bush’s presidency was illegitimate.
O’REILLY: Maybe he did, but ...
GLICK: I also didn’t think that Bush ...
O’REILLY: I don’t think he’d be equating this country as a terrorist nation as you are.
GLICK: Well, I wasn’t saying that it was necessarily like that.
O’REILLY: Yes, you are. You signed ...
GLICK: What I’m saying is ...
O’REILLY: ... this, and that absolutely said that.
GLICK: ... is that in - six months before the Soviet invasion in Afghanistan, starting in the Carter administration and continuing and escalating while Bush’s father was head of the CIA, we recruited a hundred thousand radical mujahadeens to combat a democratic government in Afghanistan, the Turaki government.
O’REILLY: All right. I don’t want to ...
GLICK: Maybe ...
O’REILLY: I don’t want to debate world politics with you.
GLICK: Well, why not? This is about world politics.
O’REILLY: Because, No. 1, I don’t really care what you think.
From there, O’Reilly told Glick: “Keep your mouth shut when you sit here exploiting those people,” “You have a warped view of this world and a warped view of this country,” “Man, I hope your mom isn’t watching this,” and “Shut up,” before finally turning to the show’s engineer and demanding: “Cut his mic.”
In less than 15 minutes, the façade of national unity behind military aggression was shattered.
(This post is presented in solidarity with the Progressive Blogger Union. For more information, please visit: http://www.pbu.blogspot.com.)
Tag: PBU31
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