The Original 9/11
Part I
Statement by the George Bush in His Address to the Nation
“America was targeted for attack because we’re the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world. And no one will keep that light from shining.
This is a day when all Americans from every walk of life unite in our resolve for justice and peace. America has stood down enemies before, and we will do so this time. None of us will ever forget this day. Yet, we go forward to defend freedom and all that is good and just in our world.”
This statement came hours after the 9/11 attack on the Twin Towers in 2001.Undoubtedly the attack on innocent people was a horrendous and criminal act. Nothing at all justifies it. However the justification made by Bush on why America was attacked might not sink well with a lot of people.
It is worthwhile remembering another 9/11, a much earlier one where the USA this time was the instigator and not the victim – where the USA definitely was not a bright beacon for freedom as it militarily and economically set out to undermine the freedom in another country and to oust a democratically elected president. The country is Chile and its President was Salvador Allende.
Salvador Allende was democratically elected and became president of Chile in 1970.He was a socialist, a reformist. His target was to make Chile economically independent. He committed his life’s work to the betterment of his fellow countrymen and countrywomen. He strove for equality and for social reforms through democratic means. His social reforms included social security rights for all workers, land redistribution, rent reductions, improved health care facilities, improved housing and sanitation, free milk for nursing mothers and school children, anti-illiteracy campaigns, the raising of the minimum wage, and the granting of three thousand scholarships for the marginalized Mapuches Indian community. In order to finance these reforms, Allende embarked on an ambitious program encompassing the accelerated nationalization and expropriation of industries. Such policies were of deep concern to US corporations such as Kennecott, Anaconda, PepsiCo, and International Telephone and Telegraph. These industries played a major role in lobbying the US government to implement measures aimed at asphyxiating the freely elected government of Chile.
Criticizing the wildly excessive profits enjoyed by US corporations from copper, Chile’s most lucrative resource, Allende argued that: “Those same enterprises exploited Chile’s copper for many years, in the last 42 years alone taking out more than four thousand million dollars in profits although their initial investment was no more than thirty million dollars… Four thousand million dollars would completely transform Chile. A small part of that sum would ensure proteins for all the children of my country.”The determination of the Americans to suffocate the Andean country’s left-wing government and to sow the seeds of a coup d’état could also be clearly seen in the words of the US Ambassador to Chile, Edward Korry, when he declared: “not a nut or bolt shall reach Chile under Allende. Once Allende comes to power we shall do all within our power to condemn Chile and all Chileans to utmost deprivation and poverty.”
So the USA set out on punishing the people of Chile for having voted democratically for behaving exactly as the US espoused to depict itself. They starved the populace. They even stooped to assassination kidnapping and then murdering General Rene Schneider in October 1970. Schneider was the commander-in-chief of the Chilean armed forces and was targeted for replacement due to his loyalty to his country’s constitution and his refusal to support the US-sponsored coup d’état strategy to topple Allende.
Despite the economic hardship that the Chileans were subjected to, Allende still enjoyed popular support and a million-strong march on September 4 1972 at least indicated that he still enjoyed considerable grass-roots support and that he stood a respectable chance of holding out until his term ended in 1976. From Washington’s perspective, this ‘grim’ political reality compelled them to focus more exclusively on supporting the ‘Track II’ military coup option.
Reem Haddad
Editor -in- Chief