Fr. Greeley: Blame 9/11 on Airlines, Congress, Bush

[Octafish]

Father Greeley pegs Bushco for what they are:

Blame 9/11 on Airlines, Congress, Bush

by Andrew Greeley
Published on Friday, September 1, 2006 by the Chicago Sun Times

The fifth anniversary of the World Trade Center attack is coming up soon. It should be a time of national disgrace and shame. It never should have happened. Americans have been so busy for the past five years in the search for revenge that they have not bothered to ask why it happened and not asked seriously who was responsible for it. Why was a ragtag band of religious fanatics able to humiliate this country? What did we do wrong? Until we admit our shame, we will not be able to avoid another such national ignominy.

SNIP...

Corporate greed and congressional cowardice and media silence were the primary causes of the destruction at the World Trade Center. To deny this is to lie, one more lie in five years of terrible lies.

The most guilty individuals were President Bush and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice. They wrote off the warnings about al-Qaida they inherited from the Clinton administration as just one more element of the Clinton years they wanted to discard. We won't give terrorism as high a priority as the previous administrations, Rice told Richard Clark. In a work of prestidigitation worthy of the greatest political crooks in history, the administration excused itself from responsibility and shifted the blame onto President Bill Clinton. Again the national media let them get away with it.

Bush promptly assumed the mantle of a wartime president which, as the Wall Street Journal crowed, destroyed the controversy over the dubious Florida vote in the 2000 election. He used this mantle of a nation at war to claim leadership in a global War on Terror and with Rice indulged in an aggressive, go-it-alone foreign policy that alienated almost every other country in the world. Egged on by his coterie of neoconservative intellectuals, he launched a frivolous and foolish fiasco in Iraq in which thousands of Americans and tens of thousands of Iraqis have been slaughtered. Yet precisely because of the myth of his success against terrorism, he won the congressional election of 2002 and the presidential election and will almost certainly win the election this November, once more in the name of war on global terror -- more recently the war on Islamofascism. Now it would seem he and the vice president are planning a war against Iran.

CONTINUED...

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0901-26.htm

Father Greeley's words above are pure gold.

Some days I almost think the Tribune Company puts the nation ahead of profit. Almost.

Speak of the devil, here's a 14-karat gold brick:

[Fermezlabush]

1. Wow! It only took 5 years for the truth to peek in the MSM!

Yeah, I remember the "legitimizing" of W by the 911! "Who cares how he got to be POTUS, thank God he's there! Can you imagine the tragedy if Gore were in his place?"
And I remembewr several Democrats bleating in that chorus

[Octafish]

7. Smirk warned Ashcroft. He didn't warn the flying public.

Ashcroft Flying High

CBS News. WASHINGTON, July 26, 2001

Fishing rod in hand, Attorney General John Ashcroft left on a weekend trip to Missouri Thursday afternoon aboard a chartered government jet, reports CBS News Correspondent Jim Stewart.

In response to inquiries from CBS News over why Ashcroft was traveling exclusively by leased jet aircraft instead of commercial airlines, the Justice Department cited what it called a "threat assessment" by the FBI, and said Ashcroft has been advised to travel only by private jet for the remainder of his term.

"There was a threat assessment and there are guidelines. He is acting under the guidelines," an FBI spokesman said. Neither the FBI nor the Justice Department, however, would identify what the threat was, when it was detected or who made it.

A senior official at the CIA said he was unaware of specific threats against any Cabinet member, and Ashcroft himself, in a speech in California, seemed unsure of the nature of the threat.

"I don't do threat assessments myself and I rely on those whose responsibility it is in the law enforcement community, particularly the FBI. And I try to stay within the guidelines that they've suggested I should stay within for those purposes," Ashcroft said.

Asked if he knew anything about the threat or who might have made it, the attorney general replied, "Frankly, I don't. That's the answer."

CONTINUED...

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/07/26/national/main303601.shtml

One more important thing: A hearty welcome to DU, Fermezlabush. Thanks for the heads-up: "My kool-aid tastes funny."

[ChairmanAgnostic]

2. when mainstream people like Greeley start saying this

two things happen
first, your average Joe starts to realize (If he hasn't already) how badly served the country has been, especially the vast majority that has not involved itself in politics like we have.
second, the administration will start trashing Greeley, while pushing forward its war on terra, smearing everyone in its way, and lying through its teeth.

[Octafish]

8. BushCo is at the tipping point.

The coward of Crawford is in deep doo-doo. Imagine what awaits him once the majority know the Truth?



We must keep plugging away with the Truth. The sooner the better, as the wolves are feeling trapped.

Missiles to protect summit leaders

Rory Carroll in Rome
Wednesday July 11, 2001
The Guardian

Italy has installed a missile defence system at Genoa's airport to deter airborne attacks during next week's G8 summit, fuelling hysteria about looming violence.
A land-based battery of rockets with a range of nine miles and an altitude of 5,000 feet has been positioned in the latest security measure against perceived threats from terrorists and protesters.

Unidentified planes, helicopters and balloons risk being shot down should they drift too close to the heads of state from the group of seven leading industrialised nations and Russia.

Colonel Alberto Battaglini, of the ministry of defence, said the precaution was not exces sive. "The measure, which was planned by the previous government, may seem open to criticism, but in reality it is merely to act as a deterrent against any aerial incursion during the summit.

"They are little missiles ... which only have a deterrent function to discourage any aerial-led attack and they do not present any danger to the residents of the city," he said.

The missile system, dubbed Spada, was erected along Italy's Adriatic coast during Nato's 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia.

CONTINUED...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/globalisation/story/0,7369,519925,00.html

Fact: They prepared for aerial attack at the Genoa G-8 Summit.

[Doctor_J]

3. Greeley writes for the Sun Times, not the Trib

The Bright one is slightly less right-wing than the World's Greatest newspaper, which hasn't endorsed a Dem candidate for prez since LBJ. But the Times does employ robert Novak, Patrick J. Buchanan, and local wing nut Dennis Byrne.

[mopinko]

5. dennis byrne is the trib

on the editorial board, no less.

[Octafish]

14. D'oh. Sorry. My point is the rat bastards KNEW and didn't warn America.

Plus, it's good to see an opinion leader like Father Greeley bring up something more writers should discuss.

Here's something else to think about:

Remember how FBI agent Coleen Rowley said the Minneapolis agents joked that it seemed Osama had a mole at FBI headquarters?



They never thought that maybe Osama and FBI headquarters were on the same side.

September 11 cover-up crumbles: Who was covering for Moussaoui, and why?

By Patrick Martin
29 May 2002

EXCERPT...

One lie replaces another

Then came the revelation this month that September 11 was not such a surprise. Press reports compelled the White House to admit that Bush had been briefed on August 6, 2001—more than a month before the attacks on New York and Washington—about Al Qaeda threats to hijack US commercial airliners.

The official story changed abruptly. Instead of no advance warning, White House and FBI spokesmen now claimed there had been too many warnings. The evidence had been plentiful, but so fragmentary that no one was able to put it together in time to forestall the hijackings.

SNIP...

This new cover story lasted barely a week before it was exploded by Rowley’s 13-page letter to Mueller and the Senate Intelligence Committee. Among other things, Rowley revealed that the local FBI reports from Arizona and Minneapolis had ended up on the desk of the same official at FBI headquarters, David Frasca, head of the Radical Fundamentalists Unit. Even on the morning of September 11, as the Minneapolis FBI agents were watching television coverage of the suicide attacks on the Twin Towers, Frasca called Rowley to tell her not to proceed with an investigation of Moussaoui because Minneapolis might “screw up” something else going on elsewhere in the country.

Nor were these the isolated actions of a single misguided official. Rowley points out, “Despite FBI leaders’ full knowledge of all the items mentioned herein ... the SSA , his unit chief, and other involved HQ personnel were allowed to stay in their positions and, what’s worse, occupy critical positions in the FBI’s SIOC Command Center post-September 11th. (The SSA in question actually received a promotion some months afterward!)”

Rowley’s letter confirms that there was extensive discussion within the government on the danger of hijackings by Islamic fundamentalists, although the public was not informed. Repeated efforts to investigate were being thwarted. Top-level FBI officials were protecting Moussaoui and his confederates, running interference for him when his own reckless and impulsive conduct brought him to the attention of the authorities. The question is, why?

CONTINUED...w/loads of must-read WSWS articles on this subject...

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/may2002/sept-m29.shtml

There is a stream of fire from which emerge poisonous flames.
There is none else there except the self.
The waves of the ocean of fire are aflame
And the sinners are burning in them.

2. Sikhism. Adi Granth, Maru Solahe, M.1, p. 1026

Some have learned a lot since then.

Some have not.

[emanymton]

4. Future Target Of Smear Campaign. Vhy Do You Hate Amerika?

Father Greeley will be called a a member of a liberal pacifist organization actively working against Amerika.

Maybe he is also a fascist appeaser, too.

[leftchick]

6. I LOVE Father Greeley

He is one of the main reasons I have remained a Catholic. Thank you for posting this Octafish!

:hi:

[Peace Patriot]

9. I continue to be amazed at the myopia of intelligent people like

Andrew Greeley, who think that the Bush Junta and its 5 corporate news monopoly CEOs have convinced anybody of anything, and have won elections fairly on the strength of their demagoguery. I have a lot more respect for the majority of Americans than that, and the polls overwhelmingly bear me out. The American people are neither stupid nor uninformed. They overwhelmingly oppose Bush's war, and have from the beginning, before the invasion (56% opposed, Feb '03). They overwhelmingly oppose torture "under any circumstances" (63%, May '04). 84% now oppose any U.S. participation in a widened Mideast war. They even oppose Bush and his war when they ARE misinformed about something. Over 50% still think Saddam had WMDs--and they STILL oppose that war. They apparently do not agree with Bush's his method of dealing with it!

What the American people are is DISENFRANCHISED. And you don't have far to look to find out how it was done in 2004. All you have to know is that the biggest crooks in the Anthrax Congress, Tom Delay and Bob Ney (abetted by Bilderberg 'Democrat' Christopher Dodd), passed a bill in 2002, appropriating nearly $4 billion for fast-track conversion of the entire country to electronic voting, to be run by Bushite corporations--Diebold, ES&S and Sequoia*--with TRADE SECRET, PROPRIETARY programming code, and virtually no audit/recount controls.

I mean, come on.

"Yet precisely because of the myth of his success against terrorism, he won the congressional election of 2002 and the presidential election and will almost certainly win the election this November...." --Greeley

Don't give the Bushites so much credit. People were laughing at their color-coded "terra" alerts--week after week before the election. Most people are more afraid of Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld than of any "terrists." They steal elections. That's what they do. And the only thing I fault my fellow and sister Americans for is taking so long to catch up with their latest gig, "trade secret" vote tabulation by Diebold & brethren.

Maybe what Karl Rove does is a little too devious for Greeley--but Greeley writes fiction (novels) so he should know. Rove pre-writes the narrative (hatred of gays, hatred of brown immigrants, terra-terra-terra--whatever), then drops little newsturds into the newsstream along the way--and maybe orders up some bombings--oh, and also (important newsturd, just heard it recently, again, as in '04) about their big get-out-the-vote campaign "in the churches"**--and--presto!--they have the post-election sound bites for "why they won." It's all smoke and mirrors. They "win" because they steal elections. And now they have the perfect mechanism for control of election results: electronic voting, where nobody gets to see the votes counted or review how it's being done (not even our secretaries of state have the right to review the "trade secret" programming in electronic voting systems). It all goes back to that $4 billion electronic voting boondoggle and the unregulated lavish lobbying that accompanied it, by which election officials, from one end of the country to the other, were bribed, enticed, made stupid, and, where that didn't work, bullied, into purchase of this crapass, hackable voting technology with security holes as big as the moon.

Yeah, they're going steal it in November. Why wouldn't these conscienceless bastards USE the capability that they deliberately set up TO steal it? What can we do? MASSIVE Absentee Ballot voting. FLOOD election officials with MOUNTAINS of paper ballots to deal with, and create sufficient panic and crisis in the election theft industry to FORCE reform NOW. BOYCOTT the machines! Let them sit idle! AB votes are not "safe" either--and the AB voting protest will not insure accurate vote counts this fall--but, if enough people vote AB (and many are--it's up to 50% in Los Angeles), we CAN force election officials to the table, with the demand for transparent, verifiable elections--and save the '08 primaries and general election from Bushite corporate control of the vote counting.*

----------------------------

Notes

*(Here they are--the corporations that now control almost all U.S. voting, each of them with very close ties to the Bush Junta, the Republican Party and far rightwing causes:

DIEBOLD: Until recently, headed by Wally O'Dell, a Bush-Cheney campaign chair and major fundraiser (a Bush "Pioneer," right up there with Ken Lay), who promised in writing to "deliver Ohio's electoral votes to Bush-Cheney in 2004"; and

ES&S: A spinoff of Diebold (similar computer architecture), initially funded by rightwing billionaire Howard Ahmanson, who also gave one million dollars to the extremist 'christian' Chalcedon Foundation, which touts the death penalty for homosexuals (among other things). Diebold and ES&S have an incestuous relationship; they are run by two brothers, Bob and Todd Urosevich.

These are the people who "counted" 80% of the nation's votes in 2004, under a veil of corporate secrecy.

The third major election theft player, Sequoia, employs Republican former CA Sec of State, Bill Jones, and his chief aide, Alfie Charles, to peddle their machines--an outstanding example of the highly corrupt practice of "revolving door employment."

----

**(There is absolutely no evidence of any significant success of Rove's "get out the vote" campaign in 2004. All the evidence points strongly the other way. The Democrats beat the pants off of the Republicans in new voter registration, nearly 60/40. And the corporate news monopolies let him get away with post-election remarks about their "invisible GOTV effort in the churches"! Think about it. How many more votes can the master thieves and mass murderers of the Bush Junta have squeezed out of their 'base"? Meanwhile the Democrats were signing up new voters by the droves--and ALSO attracting the great majority of independent voters and the great majority of former Nader voters! Who is is there? If Bush/Gore '00 voters just about cancel each other out, with Gore having a slight edge (as was proven later by a news monopoly consortium), and the Democrats were pulling most of the new, independent and former Nader voters, where did Bush's purported edge come from? There is NO evidence that rightwing 'christians' INCREASED his numbers! None! This is the myth that HAS succeeded, and that has hoodwinked many Americans. The great progressive majority in this country has been brainwashed into believing that it is the minority. That is a corporate-created, and Rove-created, delusion.)

---
(A note about 2002: While the takeover of the country by these Bushite electronic voting corporations had only just begun in 2002, some states like Georgia jumped in with both feet and quickly converted everything to Dieobld touchscreens (the worst of the election theft machines--un-recountable, un-auditable, paperless voting). Thus, Democrat and Vietnam vet Max Cleland (a paraplegic, who lost 3 limbs in Vietnam), who went into the '02 Senate election with a 15% lead, somehow lost to the Bushite. And it was classic case of Rove pre-writing the post-election narrative. They painted Cleland as a coward and a friend of Osama bin Laden. Then they--and a chorus of political parrots--later attributed their "win" to these disgusting ads. Electronic voting was also likely used to defeat Walter Mondale who stepped in for the popular anti-Iraq war leader Paul Wellstone, after his plane crashed. I will never believe that Minnesotans voted for that worm Norm Coleman. And I have little doubt that, elsewhere, a combination of new electronic voting systems and other Bushite dirty tricks stole enough seats to keep the Democrats from controlling the Senate in the crucial--for the Bush Junta--leadup to the unjust, illegal, unnecessary, murderous "shock and awe" bombing of Iraq,)

[ChairmanAgnostic]

11. I would not call it myopia

it is more complex than that.
Partly, it has to do with a lack of reporting and in depth coverage of the theft of the election. It also has to do with (I suspect) a hope that much of what the Bushistas have done was an aberration, not a plan to do evil.

[DesertRat]

10. Father Greeley is the best! k&r

[Cha]

12. I wish Father Greeley would get

as much air time as A freakin BC gives the liars who blames it all on Clinton and they probably don't show bush reading "The Pet Goat" or his photos ops afterwards for 20-30 minutes or his ignoring the Hart Ruddman Reports or ignoring the August 6, 2001 memo. And, they probably don't mention that If our rightful President, Al Gore, had not been exiled by the 5 betrayers on the supreme court that we wouldn't even have a fucking 9/11!!

greedy oily prevaricators

[Cleita]

13. I love Fr. Greeley. He always speaks the truth whether about

corrupt Catholic clergy or corrupt politicians.