Never Forget the First 9/11 & How the United States Terrorizes the World & Destroys Democracies
Noam Chomsky encourages us to look at ourselves on the 20th anniversary of the second 9/11
(Final words from Chilean President Salvador Allende before his murder at the hands of the United States-sponsored terrorists who overthrew the democratically-elected government and then instituted a military dictatorship in Chile in 1973 that killed far more than Americans have ever experienced in acts of terror perpetuated on us by foreign powers - “Workers of my country, I have faith in Chile and its destiny. Other men will overcome this dark and bitter moment when treason seeks to prevail. Keep in mind that, much sooner than later, the great avenues will again be opened through which will pass free men to construct a better society.”
The airplane hijack attacks that took place in the United States on September 11, 2001 became summarily known as “9/11,” to Americans. As preventable, tragic, and harrowing as those attacks that killed a few thousand innocent people 20 years ago, the far too little discussed original “9/11” was far worse on scale.
It was also committed by the United States government. Recently linguist, Professor, and political dissident Noam Chomsky spoke to Jacobin about American imperialism and the occluding propaganda that conceals it in the minds of most Americans.
On the occasion of the second 9/11’s 20-year anniversary Chomsky discussed briefly how, in the first 9/11, the United States government and corporate and financial establishment orchestrated a military coup to depose and murder the democratically-elected President of Chile - Salvador Allende - and then institute a dictatorship that killed tens of thousands and tortured many more in the nation of only 10 million.
“What about Chile? Kissinger was the point man pressing hard for the overthrow of the Allende government. Two tracks - One track was just straight violence, military coup, and then there was a soft track; make the economy scream. Make it impossible for people to live. They finally got what they wanted, instituted a vicious dictatorship which incidentally was the first 9/11. What happened in 2001 was the second 9/11. The first one was much worse by any measure,” Chomsky argues in the below video.
“Translated to per-capita terms, which is the right way, it would be as if on what we call 9/11 30,000 people had been killed outright, 500,000 had been tortured, the government was overthrown, a vicious dictatorship was instituted, terror, torture, horror…the United States celebrated it, poured funds into the new dictatorship, international agencies did the same. They had been withholding funds from Allende and poured them in. The neoliberals…loved it.”
Chomsky reminds us that, while we are told to meditate on the supposedly singular evil criminality of our external enemies, we would be well advised to use this anniversary of the second 9/11 to also reflect on our own nation’s outsized crimes of terrorism on the rest of the world.
“The neoliberals…moved in to advise the government. Friedrich Hayek, the moral leader of neoliberalism, visited and said he was impressed by the freedom under [the newly installed dictator at the time who would rule with brutality for decades at the United States’ behest Augusto) Pinochet. He said he couldn’t find a single person in Chile who didn’t think there was more freedom under the Pinochet dictatorship than under Allende. Somehow he couldn’t hear the cries of anguish from the torture chambers. That’s the reaction to the first 9/11. I’m sure there are Jihadis who celebrated the second 9/11. We think they’re terrible. We’re much worse.”
Most “never forget” type messages around September 11th vaguely condemn outsiders, foreign threats against out own peace and safety. Chomsky wants us to also look at ourselves as a nation if we say we care about terrorism.
“Take a look at ourselves. Is anybody going to talk about that on the anniversary of 9/11? Maybe you will. I will. Handful of other people. It will be denounced, of course,” he continues.
“But, it’s true. That was the first 9/11. Much worse than what happened on September of 2001. We can begin by educating ourselves. By rising to some minimal moral level so we can pay attention to what we do and what we have done.”