Officials in government have given us a reason why we were attacked on September 11th, 2001. “We were attacked by muslims who hate us because we are free.”

There are many things wrong with this explanation. Firstly, it’s been drawn into question by tens of thousands of people if muslims were responsible for the airplane hijackings, or if it was operatives working inside the U.S. government, and cite compelling evidence to support their position.

Let me be clear on my stance on conspiracy theories such as the “inside job” claim: I accept that I will never know the truth about what really happened. I do think there are several holes in the official government story, for sure, such as the real reason why flight 93 crashed in an open field in Pennsylvania, and why people were able to make cell phone calls from the air, and why debris was never made public. Or why there is only one video of the plane that crashed into the Pentagon, and why the video does not clearly show an airplane. Or why the World Trade Center buildings seemed to collapse into their own footprint. Or why particles of thermite (used to melt steel) were discovered in the WTC debris. Or why explosions took place in the lobby of the WTC towers. One could go on and on. 

It may very well be that the U.S. Government was directly responsible for 9/11 by carrying out the attacks themselves. It could also be that the U.S. Government was indirectly responsible for 9/11 as a result of its aggressive military presence overseas. It could be some combination of the two. It could be something completely different. Since the investigation and conclusions were drawn by the government, rather than several third parties, we are at best given half the story of what happened. 

Though I would describe myself as extremely distrustful of government, and I do not believe the government’s version of events, I am not prepared to say with certainty what exactly happened that day. There are too many variables, too many causes, too much hidden evidence, too many special interests, to ever get a clear story.

There are other things wrong with the idea that those who attacked us hate us because we are free. Who hates freedom? Or is the implication that middle eastern countries are so UNfree, that a relatively free country extracts some degree of resentment? It’s unclear. And then there’s the real shocker – the one rarely talked about, and it’s this: We are not free.

I spent some leisure time today walking around Manhattan, where security is beefed up considerably for the 10 year anniversary of 9/11. There are police posted on literally every corner in midtown Manhattan. There are police officers and homeland security officers checking bags in the subway. There are road checkpoints. There are NYPD helicopters in the sky. There are mobile NYPD command stations and lookout towers on the ground. There are NYPD boats in the harbor. There are “security” cameras everywhere, with more planned installations. 

We are not free, and we are far less free than we were ten years ago. It’s now illegal for New York City restaurants to serve more salt than decreed by the government. It’s now illegal for chain restaurants to not list calorie counts on their menu. It is now illegal to walk through Central Park (as well as all NYC parks and beaches) and smoke a cigarette.

The tyranny doesn’t begin and end in New York. The powers that be, to make you “more safe,” now warrantlessly wiretap your phone. They have unrestricted access to your library records and your Google searches. The FBI has authority to listen in on your cell phone, and track your movements with its built-in GPS. School districts give children laptop computers then use the built-in cameras to spy on them at home. The Federal Reserve is devaluing your currency through inflation. Special interests are given congressional protection. The money you still have left is being taken from you and given to banks, and auto manufacturers, and being flushed away by environmental research scientists. Billions of your dollars are being used to topple middle-eastern dictatorships and replace them with something equally sinister. Just on the federal level, thousands of new laws have been passed since 2001.

Say what you want, but we are not more free after the policies implemented post-9/11. In fact, it could easily be argued that 9/11 was great excuse to expand government. Defense spending alone has more than doubled since 9/11. Our Federal debt has more than doubled since 9/11. In 2001, our debt was around 6 trillion dollars. It is now 14 trillion dollars.

Even more important than these astounding spending statistics is the cost of human life to end the threat that 9/11 posed, which the government insists is still “just as strong a threat.” So, not to marginalize the approximately 3,000 tragic deaths that happened on 9/11, but it must be pointed out that the U.S. government has sent 5,000 American soldiers to their death in Iraq alone since 2001. Even more horrifying is that approximately 100,000 to 150,000 Iraqi civilians (conservatively) have died at the hands of U.S. soldiers in Iraq alone since 2001. Is this a rational response? Is this wish spending of human and monetary capital?

So this weekend, when the propagandists come out in full force to justify the American response to 9/11 and all of the heroes that have kept us safe, turn off your TV, think of what this has cost us, and contemplate the true tragedy of 9/11 – the response.

Thanks and peace,

Nick Foley
The Basic Liberty Letter
http://www.basicliberty.com
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