On Sept. 11, at a Washington, D.C. event on “Turning the Tide,” convened by scientists and activists who are demanding a new investigation of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, former Congressman and U.S. Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich delivered a remarkable address, excerpted here. It is well worth the time to watch it in full.
“After my experience in Congress, most of which was spent fighting wars…. This is the first time since 9/11 that I’ve actually created a synthesis that I wanted to share with what I think is a group that’s emerging as one of the most formidable groups hopes for truth in this country…. But I just have something that I want to share with you before I begin, and that’s about what happened yesterday in Utah with Charlie Kirk. I didn’t know Charlie, but I will say this, that mass violence—which we’re talking about here tonight—mass violence impels and creates personal violence, which, in turn, creates mass violence. So whatever your politics, please understand that the assassination of Charlie Kirk is a grave assault on our nation. It diminishes all of us. It challenges us to recognize that we have to escape this endless rotation of the wheel of violence…..
“So it’s been well established that Israel and the U.S. are partners. What is not understood is the square dance-like sequence—the deadly do-si-do back and forth—of that partnership involving 9/11, the U.S. and Israel aligned in prevarication determinately wrongly associating the motive, the intent, and the execution of the attacks with Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Immediately after 9/11, Netanyahu, who was in America on that day, was asked by the BBC what the attack meant for U.S.-Israeli relations. ‘It’s very good,’ he said. ‘It’s very good.’ Then he caught himself. ‘Well, not very good. It will generate immediate sympathy.’
“On September 12th, in a CNN interview, Mr. Netanyahu said, ‘It’s not just bin Laden. It’s not just the networks. It’s also the states that harbor and support them. Iraq, Iran, the Taliban, and Afghanistan.’ A few days later, on September 16th, 2001, Vice President Cheney appeared on NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” and he claimed, ‘We also have evidence that Saddam Hussein’s been harboring terrorists, including al Qaeda.’ On the first anniversary of 9/11, on the evening of September 11, 2002, President Bush, with New York’s Ellis Island as a backdrop, gave a speech which set the stage for conflating Iraq with 9/11.
The next day, September 12th, 2002 in Washington, D.C., Benjamin Netanyahu appeared before the congressional committee of which I was a member, and with the unmistakable intent of influencing Congress to vote to go to war against Iraq because of 9/11, he said, ‘Do you believe that action can be taken against Saddam only after he builds nuclear bombs and using them?’...
“I had a chance to ask Mr. Netanyahu some questions. And one question I asked was this. ‘Mr. Netanyahu, what other countries would you have us bomb?’ He answered, ‘Iran, Libya.’ ...
“Now Benjamin Netanyahu, the once and future leader of Israel, and President George Bush each conflated Iraq with 9/11 synchronously at key moments, each with the same purpose, a deadly orchestration towards a premeditated war against Iraq, which 9/11 was used to falsely justify. We know now that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, but at least a million innocent—1 million innocent Iraqis died because of that war. 5,000 of our brave servicemen and women lost their lives in that war. Our economy suffered greatly, at least $5 trillion in cost. Our national honor was tarnished. And as Colonel Schaefer mentioned a moment ago, no one no one has ever been held to account. …
”[A]fter 9/11, we went to war for the next eight years. I gave over 300 presentations in Congress, pointing out over and over and over the lies, the loss of life, calling not just for the end of the war but for new direction in U.S. policy in the region. I introduced legislation for the creation of a cabinet-level Department of Peace to begin a new effort to shift the consciousness of the nation away from violence as a way of settling conflict—to avert deadly violence at home and war abroad. …
“In the ensuing years, the Israeli prime minister has been successful in gaining U.S. weapons to bomb Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Gaza, the West Bank, and most recently Qatar. The U.S. pursued Israel’s interest in bombing Libya, murdering Gaddafi and then murdering Iran’s General Soleimani. Now, Netanyahu gave a speech to Congress last year, during which he received an astonishing 55 standing ovations as he called for America to stand together, this time against Iran. When we stand together, we win and they lose, he said, urging a U.S. attack on Iran, which occurred less than a year later, with the U.S. bombing three of Iran’s nuclear sites. We stood with Netanyahu and his country in Iraq. And we lost our national honor. We lost our men and women who put their lives in the line. A second attack on Iran looms, which could well precipitate World War III. When we stand together in illegal aggression, we all lose. …
“Our social reality has been reconstructed to support genocide and to support the policies of a nation and its leaders who lead us from one bloody conflict to another. The U.S. may protect Israel with its veto in the Security Council, but it cannot protect it from the hundreds of millions of people worldwide who are not misled, who know when they see it, and condemn murder for what it is. If truth equals anti-semitism, it’s time to perhaps to examine what anti-semitism really is. The facts are that countless Gazans have died. Gazans are being starved. The reality is that a large-scale program of ethnic cleansing is ongoing. …
“We should mourn the deaths of every innocent Israeli. If we mourned the deaths of every innocent Palestinian in Gaza, we might well drown in our own tears. The death of truth, however, is beyond mourning. It is the final nail for the American republic. And that is why, Richard, what you’re doing and what Turn the Tide is about, is a chance to help protect and save our country. Thank you. Thank you….
“As I conclude, I want to ask this question. Why is it that we in America, who pride ourselves on freedom of thought, freedom of speech, freedom of inquiry, why are we not permitted to ask questions about the imperent, destructive symbiotic relationship between the U.S. and Israel? About the constant strategic deception, about the billions that go for mass murders, about the undue influence that Israeli interests have on our own government? Why can’t we probe further into the advisability of having the leaders of a nation of 10 million influence the most important national security decisions of our nation of 350 million? It is time for the U.S. to assert our own hard sovereignty, not through escalatory rhetoric and illusions of world dominance, but by thoroughly examining the premise not only of U.S.-Israeli relations, but of all of our foreign entanglements.
“Let’s start taking care of things here at home. I do not believe that the people of the United States support stealing people’s homes. I do not believe that today’s Americans support the theft of people’s lands. I do not believe Americans want to starve people or want to murder children or want to see their tax dollar or support genocide. We do have serious political differences in America which outside elements exploit. We know that the polarization and the partisanship which is evident caused us to lose sight of what unites us at such a time. We must remember things that help hold us together. What binds us together as American people is a sense of common decency, a desire to do the right thing, a desire to see our families flourish and our communities thrive, a belief in goodness and God in our communities, and a hope for something that we used to call the American dream, a home, hearth, health, education, jobs, decent wages, retirement security….
“We cannot hope to attain this unless we’re truly free and independent with no permanent friends or foes. Just the permanent social and economic interest of the American people as our first commitment and as our highest fiduciary responsibility. As we strive, we must remember who misled us into war against Iraq over 9/11 and be thoroughly cautious. Thanks again, Richard, Kurt, and all of you here for turning the tide and those who know that we do not fear asking the deeper questions that followed the events of 9/11/2001, twenty-four years ago.
“Everything that we’re told about 9/11, which was instrumental in leading us to attack Iraq, has been proven to be a lie. Accordingly, we have a clear right and an obligation to search for answers to the fundamental question about the planning of 9/11, its execution, the physical effects, the structural consequences when the planes hit the World Trade Center….
“The conspiracy, if there was one, was against the truth and against the American people. So, let us continue with a limitless quest for answers. Fear not drawing conclusions that shake the foundations of this country because truth is the path to national reconciliation. Truth is the path to bind up our wounds. Never has there been a time in the history of America where the quest for defining truth is of such importance. Truth rescued from our deepest darkest recesses. Truth facing our deepest fears. Truth liberating a nation tired of being told lies by people in high places with low motives. The Bible says, ‘You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.’ So, my dear friends, let us fearlessly march through the fog of disinformation, misinformation, manufactured intelligence, and ops. We move forward dauntlessly towards an uplit path. Thank you.”
