September 11, 2001: American Nationalism
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Howard Zinn on September 11, 2001
"Nine months into his presidency (George W. Bush), on September 11, 2001, a cataclysmic event pushed all other issues into the background. Hijackers on three different planes flew the huge jets, loaded with fuel, into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in downtown New York, and into one side of the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. As Americans all over the country watched, horrified, they saw on their television screens the towers collapse in an inferno of concrete and metal, burying thousands of workers and hundreds of firemen and policemen who had gone to their rescue. "It was an unprecedented assault against enormous symbols (the World Trade Center representing "free" trade and the Pentagon representing U.S. imperialism and dominance) of American wealth and power, undertaken by 19 men from the Middle East, most of them from Saudi Arabia. They were willing to die in order to deliver a deadly blow against what they clearly saw as their enemy, a superpower (hegemony) that had thought itself invulnerable. "...It should have been obvious to Bush and his advisors that terrorism could not be defeated by force. The historical evidence was easily available." -- Howard Zinn (A People's History of the United States, p.677-678). |
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CONFLICT IN SYRIA
| What do you know? |
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Questions?
What are Hezbollah and Hamas? Why are relations between the United States and Iran unsettled? More about president Bashar al-Assad? What is a refugee? What is the Arab League? More about Obama's request for Assad to step-down? More on Obama's "red line"? Why isn't there any international support for military action? ARTICLES ON SYRIA |
CLICK ON THE MAP TO ZOOM IN. Notice that Syria is between Iraq and Israel. Hezbollah is based out of Lebanon, another country on Syria's border. Hamas is based out of the Palestinian territories.
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What are our options?
| Options Organizer.pdf |
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