...the Bush Administration. They politicized what was and should have remained a day of national unity and resolve, turning it into a partisan invective and an excuse for an unrelated war. This created cynicism...

And, by the way, tremendous shame for decent American citizens.

You MUST read and share this account from 9/11. http://thehappeningstory.blogspot.com/. We should not have let this singular tragedy be used as an excuse to expand tragedy around the globe. It's good to remember those that never had an agenda beyond 9/11--those Americans we lost.

President Cheney orchestrated, cheered and now pimps 9/11. The GOP, keeping Americans safe from Nov. 2000 until Sept. 10, 2001.

I have to disagree with Avlon on a couple of points.

He says the worst thing for him is the "persistence" of "truthers". For one thing, this is NOT worse than Pres. Bush's exploitation of 9/11 both for political/election purposes and to start his long-wanted and unrelated war. NOTHING in US history is worse than that. Second, the "truthers" are a very small segment of society whom no one really takes seriously. They're more like a mosquito that every once in a while buzzes around your ear and is more an annoyance that needs to be swatted away. So they are NOT worse than a president exploiting a catastrophe for his own purposes.

The second point I disagree with is where he disparages treating terrorism as a crime rather than war. When treated as a crime, authorities have actually been more effective at dealing with it. Those terrorist attacks were thwarted via old-fashioned crime fighting techniques, whereas Bush's war only proved to inflame the passions of radical Islamists and reportedly recruit more as well as causing a dangerous increase in anti-Americanism abroad (and it was Bush's State Dept. that called the record-high levels of anti-Americanism 'dangerous').

Treating it as a war I think only feeds right into bin Laden's desires and even gives his cause some perverted credibility. Treating them as criminals, which is what they are, actually defeats bin Laden's goals and tells him, "We're not going to play your game. We're going to round you up best as we can, impose on you our system of justice rather than yours of bloodshed, and while we take your actions seriously - because murdering innocent people over political causes is serious - we are not going to feed your cause by rewarding it with the war you want.

Terrorism IS criminal and should be treated as such.

Some interesting points but coming from the source I have to question motive behind story. I have watched John Avalon on CNN and read some of his postings on TDB-the only comment I have is this: John apparently enjoys his looks, likes to make a loud thunder on CNN with his carefully crafted words and prepared zingers towards the Right-but no one's buying it! Did you ever notice the CNN host will just stare at him and move on...I won't read anymore of his posting on TDB...try and lean a little more towards the middle John...BUSH is OUT OF OFFICE. HEALTHCARE, THE DEFICIT, JOB LOSS...perhaps a story might come to mind on one of these topics?? Or is there not a righty agenda to attack on those fronts...stay focused, stay current.
Just a thought.

Bush politicized the day where most of us feel uneasy even mourning for the victims of that national tragedy. It had to be the most disgraceful ways he cynically used it to further his agenda.

9/11 -- this should never have been cast as a "national" tragedy -- it was a global tragedy. On this date, in the most international of cities, modern civilization was attacked -- and peoples of 60 nations perished. To this day, I've never understood why the US government positioned this event as solely an attack on America. It was an attack on the universality of human rights, which has an agenda to free suppressed and oppressed individuals worldwide, and those who attacked us wish ultimately to defeat this purpose in their own maniacal aim to turn back centuries of social development. When we begin to interpret 9/11 in this light, and this light only, only then will we know what we must do to defeat our enemies.

Once again the supporters of the Bush Crime Family never cease to amaze me. They are so blinded by stupidity & ignorance along with their hatred if anything progressive they are unable to see the Bush/Cheney Crime Family for what it was, a pathetic bunch of cold war thinking men who are guilty of Treason & pre meditated murder of tens of thousands on Americans as well as non Americans.

This jerk of a Congressman is simply put an ignorant jerk who should be thrown out of the House by the leader for this type of behavior or at least sanctioned in some way for being a total idiot with a loud big mouth.

The actions of this ignorant person have nothing to do with what the Bush/Cheney Crime Family did or the harm they have put this Nation & the world into. This loud mouthed idiot is just that, loud mouthed ignorant jerk, period the end.

Its probably a good thing that 9/11 is not a day of unity. For several years, it was the phony unity of shouting down others as "unpatriotic." It was the unity of not asking questions, going along with everything people in government did, even when it was contrary to our values, our institutions, our laws, our prestige in the world. Enough Americans saw through it and eventually made their opinions public enough and now "unity" isn't being crammed down our throats.

Eventually, there will be freedom to question openly and I hope I live to see it:

Our multi-trillion dollar military was impotent on the one day in our lives that the US was under attack; all they could do was fly Bush around the country like someone was after him.

The President of Pakistan told David Gregory on Meet the Press a few months ago that his intelligence sources say nothing has been heard out of Osama bin Laden for 7 years. No follow-up from Gregory, of course, but it got said. Who put out that "bin Laden audio tape" a few days before the 2004 election?

If they tortured these people (Khalid, Ramzi bin al Shibh, Zubayda), then the information isn't just tainted, its worthless. Whatever the heck they said is not credible. Whatever details of "9/11 planning" they said is not reliable. The 9/11 Commission relied on stories that came from torture. All of that needs to be separated out and if its separated out, whats left of the official version? Thats got to be done.

After hearing that Gerald Posner is a contributor to the Daily Beast I just had to join in the conversations. You all have to read Posners book "Secrets of the Kingdom" a very good illustration of the America blend of politics and the close association of the Bush family has with the Arabs. Posner was on C-Span talking about his book and very impressive, so I bought it. I loand it to a friend and now he said it is in paperback.

America you have to understand that I have no personal attachment to either party Democrat or Republican but after reading and looking up much of the resources that Posner had written about I conclude Posner was very gracious in just saying the congressional investigation committee gave Bush a pass.

In my judegment Bush and Company or like some call them the Bush crime family is guilty of complicity at the least in negligence of the highest order if not out right holding the door the open for the terrorist of 911. Bush As personal friends of the Bin Laden family for decades with money deals that span millions if not billion with secret deals, including stuff with the Carlyle group and his father poppy Bush have moved their family fortune successfully at the expense using American resources. That said the war was and is still a contradiction and cash cow for the bush family.

They, Bush and Company are out right repulsive to criminal, dealing an out right horrible social economic situational disaster after leaving the political office. More over the torture issue is criminal; that with the Open market "Derivative trading" is appalling especially with secret Federal Reserve and Treasury deals through the years with in the International money market, World Bank, and international Monetary Fund concerns at the same time linked to the War and International secret prisons.

Face it; it is all disgusting and hard to take about but must be with an embarrassment that will likely destroy the current Republican leadership. Here, there is no recourse but to hold Bush accountable anf those with him because the World is already hinting, the United Nations, that the American dollar be replaced as the Standard. We all know if this happens and the Arabs want payment for the oil we buy in Euros our economy will sink into an abyss of uncharted areas unlike a depression. The Republicans will make the blame on Obama's Health care plan because it will pass, however, as the real reason was and is Bush and Companies economic war and terrorism policies was nothing more than trillion dollar profiteering via American tax money.

For freedom we may have to kill you, for freedom you may have to die.
Number one at liberating, liberating life from body.
Watching spirits fly, freedom from life.

Anti-Flag

I'll say it Van Jones was a bonehead for insinuating the the Bush administration was complicet in the attacks and so is everyone else in this camp. But the article also mentions of how much that Bush politicized this horrible tradegy this alone with the FACT that they ignorred many, many warnings and then there acrobetic style of talking about patriotism while denying it ( Americans are idiots). Finally, they justified many of thier unamerican acts in the name of 9-11 gave the opening to these crazy conspiracy theories.

Bush's cronies duped him. The real WMD was Cheney and company.