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![\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/fe-logo-13-feb-09-250-px1.jpg?resize=250%2C133&ssl=1\" "\\"Fe")
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Perhaps you may have heard of them. They’re\u00a0accused of conspiring to attack the World Trade Center and\u00a0the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.\u00a0 With the Attorney-General’s announcement, last Friday’s Planet Waves edition\u00a0arrived presciently and was aptly named “<\/strong>Beyond the Reactionary Floorshow<\/strong><\/a>,” about the Saturn-Pluto square.<\/p>\n
Holder’s announcement feels like we’ve walked into another world. We’ve been told what to think about the attackers for so long\u00a0and relinquished our civil liberties\u00a0in the face of the 9-11 incident that the mere thought of actually bringing\u00a0the 9-11 conspirators\u00a0to trial\u00a0is a reality shift. That the men are even getting a trial in any court in the US is in itself stunning.\u00a0It’s taking a while to adjust to following the rule of law again.<\/p>\n
A civilian trial will hopefully shed some light if not find the truth in this chapter of our\u00a0history, starting that summer of 2001.\u00a0The question now: Are we ready for it?<\/p>\n
The arguments for and against moving with a civilian trial and\u00a0instead of\u00a0a military tribunal<\/strong><\/a> for these men boil down to this: Was theirs an\u00a0act of war or a crime? \u00a0The opinion divide between these two choices defines the political contours\u00a0of the left and the right for the last eight years, one side fighting for transparency and the other for utter control of information. <\/span><\/em>It feels good just having an open argument about the relative merits of both court systems for this trial. It feels good to have an open argument, period. It beats being branded a traitor for questioning the\u00a0government’s motivations for going to war.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n
<\/span>It means we have\u00a0re-established a living, breathing, functioning democracy again, where people can agree to disagree and debate.\u00a0So a<\/span><\/em>rguing about politics and the War on Terror at the Thanksgiving dinner table may not be anything new, but this year, but we’re also talking about the way our government is adhering to actual laws while doing so. And laws based on the very principles and ideals the country is based on and admired for across the globe. Pinch me. Am I really writing this?<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n
The 9-11 story in America,\u00a0which began with\u00a0Saturn-Pluto in opposition 2001-02,\u00a0is a story with an effect that no doubt will outlast most of us here. Saturn and Pluto are not interested in doing things that don’t count. As we transition forward while Saturn and Pluto are at a right angle, what is it that we will record for posterity in our history books while weighing the guilt or innocence of these five men as they go to trial?<\/p>\n
How will what comes out at the trial ‘square’ against so much credible evidence that has come out the past eight years, indicating an inside conspiracy?<\/p>\n
Holder’s announcement hasn’t diminished\u00a0the intensity of the collective memory of the events of 9-11.\u00a0 An eight-year\u00a0stupor of fear takes some time to get over. \u00a0The trial is an opportunity to take a good close look at\u00a0what’s been hiding under our\u00a0national bed, and see what all the fuss has been about without\u00a0spin.\u00a0There was a\u00a0Boogeyman that unleashed our darkest instincts and\u00a0relinquished our democratic principles while forcing\u00a0a cartoon of democracy down the throats of other countries\u00a0in the name of\u00a0fear.<\/p>\n
As the new Attorney General said:\u00a0 “I’m not scared of what Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has to say at trial, and no one else needs to be afraid either.”<\/p>\n
This is a change signalling that maybe (a big maybe)\u00a0we can\u00a0start\u00a0closing the wound that was 9-11-2001.\u00a0We know what we became after being attacked and know at least in part\u00a0what we’ve allowed in its wake.\u00a0\u00a0A price paid in blood, money and a\u00a0piece of our collective soul.\u00a0 Can we begin to put this chapter of our history to rest? That is what I pray for, because all of us could use the closure. This is the next step. Are we courageous enough to take it?<\/p>\n
Yours\u00a0& truly,<\/p>\n
Fe Bongolan<\/strong>
\nSan Francisco<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dear Friend and Reader: Slipping under the radar during\u00a0the\u00a0memorials for the Fort Hood shootings was Attorney General\u00a0Eric Holder’s November 13 announcement that the U.S. Department of Justice was bringing Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Ramzi Bin al-Shibh, Walid bin Attash, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali and Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi to civilian trial in New York City. Perhaps you … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[29,952,1788,52,1054,1598,1601],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19281"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19281\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}