One more Sept. 11 inquiry fails

Thomas Jefferson once said that all tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for good people to do nothing.

In accordance with his words of wisdom, my hope that our country will continue running a great length in human history as one of the world’s strongholds of freedom and justice has taken a brutal strike.

A national petition launched in early February on whitehouse.gov demanding official answers to the swarm of unsettled questions circling 9/11 was dismissed last week because it didn’t meet the threshold of 100,000 signatures within 30 days.

It’s incomprehensible how we failed to pressure the government for the confirmed truth behind the most direct diabolical assault on our country’s citizens. What makes this particularly agonizing is that the public showed significantly more interest in the ridiculous petition to deport Justin Bieber, which received more than 260,000 signatures earlier this year.

The domestic attacks of September 11, 2001, vitally wounded our country. It claimed the lives of more than 2,700 Americans and helped trigger wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, destroying many more innocent lives and giving power-hungry politicians the green light to accelerate the deterioration of our rights. The alarming spectacle of a misbehaved pop star gathering more public attention than re-investigating what happened on 9/11 shamefully illustrates the blissful slumber and short attention span of our collective conscious.

Still, there is a division in this country that spurs debates and keeps the subject alive.
We have people who turn away and carry on, accepting the U.S. government’s word and clinging to their “crazy conspiracy theorist” rhetoric as their primary defense tactic. Then there are those who refuse to blind themselves from those tragic events and do a little homework, coming to the common understanding that 9/11 is shrouded in as much mystery as it is in horror. If our public servants in government weren’t at least taking wrongful advantage of the crisis, then they would already be working to further clarify what happened on that unforgettable day as a basic duty. The official explanation of 9/11 was used to manipulate Americans into believing the fraudulent War on Terror — and thus the foolish idea that trading our liberties for the promise of safety by the government — is somehow patriotic.

A new investigation is pivotal because it might reveal unspeakable truths that can disrupt these ideas and offset our current cascade from a just and free country toward the tyrannical state Thomas Jefferson warned about.

Demanding a new investigation of 9/11 isn’t just about questioning supposed authority. It’s about preserving our constitutional republic.

edharo@indiana.edu
@EdHarodude