Beware Of The Pirates!

They steal. They lie. They blunder. And, ultimately, they kill.

I remember that day very vividly. The minute stock futures tanked - it was around three o´clock in the afternoon in Germany -, we figured something had happened. We turned on the TV and were glued to CNN Europe.

At first there was total confusion. Reports initially talked about a "small plane" that had crashed into one of the World Trade Center Twin Towers.

But why? It didn´t look like a weather related accident, since it was a clear and wonderful September morning in New York.

Then, gradually, as events evolved, we watched in shock and horror as the second plane smashed into the second tower, broadcast live by CNN, like a well-orchestrated, marcabre Hollywook movie. Only this was real.

When the headline "Pentagon on fire" scrolled across the screen, initially I didn´t grasp that it was a literal fire, not one figuratively spoken of.

What was going on?

Where was the government? Where was Dubya?

Complete chaos.

The horror kept unfolding.

I remember images of people desperately waving from the top floors - above where the planes had struck -, thinking to myself, "Someone will, someone must be able to save them", somehow believing that it was impossible to witness those men and women die.

I was naively thinking that because the world was able to watch all of this happening, somehow "someone" must be able to help, perhaps taking them aboard a helicopter. Yeah, right, like it was a Hollywood movie!

Then there were accounts on the Internet, equally contradictory and confusing as that what was being broadcast on TV. I remember talk about an intercom message in the towers, telling people to remain calm and at their desks, because everything was under control (NEVER ever believe officials and authorities telling you that one, NEVER!).

I will never forget the images of the people jumping, out of desperation, because the heat and air were becoming unbearable.

I will never forget Howard Lutnick, CEO of broker firm Cantor Fitzgerald, bursting out in tears. Cantor Fitzgerald lost 658 of a total of 1000 employees. (Lutnick himself survived, because he had taken his son to his first day of kindergarten that day. His brother, Gary, was among those who died.)

I will also never forget Bush (after he finally materialized), and his blabber about "I saw the plane hit the first tower, and I was thinking to myself, what a terrible pilot."

I was thinking to myself, "What a weird reaction. I mean, a plane crashes into one of the WTC towers, and all this guy has to say is `What a terrible pilot?´ And - you saw the plane hit the first tower? How could you? At that point, there was no film material of that ...".

I also remember how surprised I was that amongst all this total confusion and chaos, all of a sudden authorities were able to declare who was behind these atrocities: Osama Bin Laden´s Al-Quaeda.

I remember witnessing in horror as the towers collapsed.

Many questions remain unanswered.

And then ...

It was the hour of the Pirates of the Constitution.

Remember the recount of the Florida votes? Nobody, in these times of national crisis, could have possibly doubted the government, much less the President. This would have been terribly unpatriotic. Or would it?

9/11 serves as an excuse to brainwash and blindfold citizens by telling us that wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and Iran have been, are and will be waged in the name of defending our freedom, and the freedom of those living there.

(Digression: Not that I ever cared for the oppressive Taliban regime and its system contemptous of human rights. But ousting a regime because it trampled the rights of its citizens, particularly of women, was not the reason for attacking Afghanistan. At least human rights in Afghanistan had not been an issue from 1997 to as late as July 2001, when larger issues were at stake, namely oil:

"When George W. Bush took office in 2001, his administration made new overtures to the Taliban, and the pipeline deal gained renewed support, as an incentive to get the Taliban to make political concessions and form a broader government.

[...]

In March 2001, several Taliban officials, including Sayed Rahmattulah Hashimi, Mullah Omar's personal advisor, were invited to Washington by their U.S. lobbyist, Leila Helms, the niece of former CIA Director Richard Helms. The agenda included discussions of extraditing bin Laden as well as facilitating American companies' access to oil reserves in central Asia." Quoted here.

And not that I cared much for Saddam Hussein either. But, contrary to what one of three Americans to this day have successfully been brought to believe, he had nothing to do with 9/11. Or Al-Queda for that matter.)

The horrible events of 9/11 served and continue to serve as a perfect excuse to wreak havoc on our constitutions. Not only in the US of A, but also in Germany, in the UK, in France, in Spain, in Australia ...

They serve as an excuse to happily chop away on civil rights and liberties.

Prisoners kept at will without trial. Prisoners subjected to torture. Citizens (who turned out to be have done nothing wrong, apart from being Muslims, like Khaled Masri) abducted to CIA prison camps, with the knowledge of our government, all covered up in a web of lies.

The very freedom that our governments are purportedly intent on defending, they seem to have very little problem sacrificing by silently doing away with constitutional rights.

Shame on you, Pirates of the Constitution!

We shall and we will never forget.