Remembering 9/11

I was not in USA when Sept. 11 tragedy occurred five years ago. I landed in Kochi, India on that day, totally unaware of the horrible events which had taken place just a few hours earlier. (I remember getting annoyed at the questioning by the Indian immigration officer who wanted to know my whereabouts during the last two days, and reasons for coming to India). I was quite upset when I heard the shocking news from my brother-in-law who had come to the airport to pick me up. (I knew then that USA would no longer be a ‘free’ country). Everyone I met in India shared with me their outrage and sadness at the attack on a country they most admired. Still I felt alone in my sorrow and shock as I was quite cut off from everything that was going on USA. The local T.V. replays of the second plane striking the World Tower, and the reactions of the Indian politicians (who hoped that USA will soon attack Pakistan!) got tiresome after a while. When I got back to USA two weeks later, Osama Bin Laden was already identified as the leader behind the attacks, and the invasion of Afghanistan was in motion. In short, I missed seeing and sharing the grief and anger of the people in USA immediately after 9/11. Yesterday, I got a flavor of what I missed by watching a video broadcast of some of the events happened during that time. It was a painful experience. The sincerity and compassion of the American public always amaze me. (People in USA are so different from the 'Ugly Americans' image the government has managed to cultivate abroad). I was especially touched by Dave Letterman’s interview of news anchorman Dan Rather. Rather broke down sobbing twice during the interview, and apologized for his unprofessional behavior! Dan Rather has been accused being a ‘weird’ person with a few quirks. But no one can deny that he is a true patriot who loves his country dearly. I was struck by the answers he gave to the two questions which everyone had in their minds – who did this, and why? In his answer to the first question, Rather implied that Saddam Hussein was behind the attacks, and Bush Sr. did not ‘complete his job’ in the 1991 Gulf War. (Sizable number of people in this country, still believes that Iraq has something to do with 9/11). His answer to the second question, why USA?, was – ‘A group of Muslim extremists are so jealous of the American success and way of life, that they want to kill all of us’. Even after five years, this is the common answer you get to this question in this country. Guess it is difficult to change first impressions!

Ed Murrow of our times!

Over the last few years, I have become quite disappointed about the Main Stream Media (MSM) in this country. Instead of providing a critical and unbiased view of the current events, as it should, it often plays safe by giving both sides of a story, however wrong one side may be. During the 2000 President election, it was quite obvious to anyone, who was knowledgeable about world affairs, that George Bush was no match to Al Gore for his knowledge and experience. (I remember Bush embarrassing himself by not knowing the names of political leaders of India and Pakistan). But it was gleefully ignored, and the focus was on how 'likable' the candidates were, and how stiff Gore looked! The MSM again gave a pass to President Bush on his justification of Iraq war, without doing any critical analysis of his strategy against the lessons from past history. In 2004, the New York Times sat on their story on Karl Rove being a leaker of the cover of CIA agent Valerie Plame, waiting for the Presidential elections to be over! My list of complaints against the news media can go on like this.
Anyway, last week I found someone in the MSM who is refreshingly different and blunt. It is Keith Obermann of MSNBC. He gave a six-minute speech rebutting Secretary Don Rumsfield’s assertion that people who criticise the Iraq war are like the ‘appeasers’ of the Nazis before World War II. Obermann speech was stunning and brilliant. I loved his opening statement, “The man who sees absolutes, where all other men see nuances and shades of meaning, is either a prophet, or a quack. Donald H. Rumsfield is not a prophet.” His assertion that, “His (Rumsfield’s) government, absolute and exclusive in its knowledge, is not the modern version of the one which stood up to the Nazis. It is the modern version of the government… of Neville Chamberlain!”, was logical and well thought out. I am sure that this speech will be referred and quoted years from now, like Edward Murrow’s speech during the McCarthy era criticizing the witch-hunt for communists. Thank you, Keith. You give me hope!