After considering how alternative summits have been held as a form of direct action, it seems to me that the best form of Direct Action at this time is not doing futile things that will actually play into the hands of the far right, such as cutting rail lines, but rather launching a 911 investigation.
In recent days I have listened as the debate as turned to turning from protest to direct action, and most of the direct action I have heard proposed sounds not only futile, but also counter productive. Cutting rail lines only plays into the hands of the far right, and is the kind of futile gesture that could land people in jail while for the most part the war goes on (as you might notice, everything is already in place for the war). As well the far right can easily manipulate this kind of direct action to alienate the public at large from the protests against the war. Certainly some types of direct action proposed by anarchists (or agent provacteurs) that call for torching things and smashing businesses is not going to do anything but marginalize the peace movement. Politicians are not afraid of this type of anarchy, but would actually welcome it. I am not against the anarchist philosophy, which says that basically everyone is equal and there is no such thing as a powerful person, and these divisions in society are meaningless (do the powerful still use the crapper like everyone else?) However torching a building, or even cutting a rail line really doesn't accomplish much at the end of it all, is mostly a symbolic gesture, and is already to late to stop the war in any case, and can also play into the hands of the far right and be used to polarize public opinion.
Now you might notice that a night club burned to the ground and an inquiry was started immediately. You might notice that the space shuttle blew up, and an inquiry was started immediately. You might recall that over a year and half has gone by and no 911 inquiry has started. There was this gesture of starting some white washed investigation by appointing Henry Kissinger as the 'chief investigator' but that didn't fly, and now we are all so busy and all so distracted by the war that the whole issue is basically on a back burner.
Now why has there been no investigation. The reason is that 911 is the Achilles heel of this current administration, and could even constitute grounds for impeachment. But for some peculiar reason the left and the progressives just do not want to go where they obviously should have gone long ago, always hurling out that accusation of 'conspiracy theory', even though it obvious that the administration is worried enough about the potential impact of a 911 investigation that we just aren't having a 911 investigation, as you will have noticed.
Now I am aware of all the truly strange sounding theories that are flying around, that are unlikely to go anywhere, lacking any proof, and just being unfounded assertions. For example there is the one about the 'remote controlled plane' which was steered into the towers from the ground. Then there is the one that states that all Jewish people were told to stay home from work on 911 and not go into the towers (false). And then there is the one about how the towers were mined with explosives and brought down by a controlled demolition. Then there is the one about how the Pentagon was fired upon by a missile by the military. And the list goes on.
Now what qualifies as a 'conspiracy theory.' Anything for which there is no evidence other than wild speculation certainly counts as a conspiracy theory. Could still be true one might suppose. After listening to the torrent of lies being told in these times, what isn't possible after all? (Just last night Perle stated that after the invasion of Iraq they 'will find Saddam's weapons of mass destruction' and I have no doubt that they will, this being just the kind of devious dishonesty and ungodly conduct that this administration is capable of - compare it to placing the suspect against the wall and then planting the cocaine on them, after which they will get charged with trafficking in cocaine. People have gone to death row in just this way, for God's sake, and certainly this administration, based on its dishonest conduct in recent times, is more than capable of planting a little cocaine on Saddam).
However some things are a lot harder to do the Nixon thing with and just lie, and lie and lie to get out of it. I want one question asked and one question answered during this 'alternative 911 investigation'. Why was it the case that at the Genoa summit there was such great concern that a suicide bomber was going to use civilian air craft to bomb the summit that a) Genoa was surrounded by anti-aircraft batteries b) civilian passenger jets were restricted in where they could fly near the summit, at the risk of being blasted out of the sky c) George Bush did not stay in Genoa but instead retired to Navy ship, bristling with anti-aircraft guns d) Ashcroft swore off civilian passenger aircraft during the summer after receiving an FBI threat assessment e) the administration knew, a month in advance, that something like 911 was imminent and yet sat on their thumbs and did nothing, such as beefing up airport security, which would have done the trick.
In brief, why was 911 allowed to happen?
There are two possible explanations, neither of which is palatable to the Nixon white house, which is why there has never been any 911 inquiry, and why the Republicans will continue to stall a 911 inquiry, until hell freezes over if they can. The first is that the administration is so grossly incompetent as to defy understanding, in particular when they displayed such competence at Genoa. The second is that they were waiting for 911 to happen just for the simple reason that they knew that the entire far right wing agenda would suddenly come out from the shadows off in the fringes and go main stream, as it has, you might notice. This would also explain the peculiar behavior of George Bush, on the day 911 took place. People have made note of the fact that he really didn't seem that alarmed and that is reaction was inappropriate. But then they had been waiting for it all summer, sure and certain of the fact that this was just the ticket they needed to install a Nazi like regime in America, and do all those dreams of the extreme right wing, such as finally at long last shredding the bill of rights, the constitution of the United States, and they would also have a free hand to do all those wars they had been longing for over the years. And they were right...
And the 'left' and the 'progressives' were wrong. They have a huge network, and are able to mobilize mass demonstrations, which in the end, prove to be useless (they mass demonstrated all throughout the Vietnam war, you might remember). And they can't even get their shit together, spot a golden opportunity, and impeach even one Republican administration, before it is too late, and your nation is completely destroyed by the hawkish right wing.
Now before the reactionary left springs into action and rallies around the Nixon white house, I thought I would point out to you that 'analyzing the failure of our institutions' is the White House strategy for deflecting any 911 investigation. The end result is the rebirth and installation of the Total Information Awareness program, probably on an even broader scale (the excuse here being that 911 was an 'intelligence failure', which is ridiculous, and then there is that other idiotic thing about how it was an institutional failure, since apparently people are so stupid that when they know someone is going to crash planes as flying bombs, and they know it months in advance, doing a simple thing like beefing up security like Israel's El Al does, well, you really need to revamp your institutions, bring in Total Information Awareness, make everything more intrusive, more Hawkish, because apparently people are just that idiotic. This kind of so called 'leftist' thinking will get everyone royally screwed, as for some weird reason they rally around the Nixon white house, and try to split the left with their idiotic theories about 'institutions' being to blame for American citizens being bombed on 911, while those same institutions were able to save Ashcrofts ass, and kept Bush cozy and safe at Genoa.
The reason there has been no 911 inquiry is because no one has thought up some perjury to use as an answer to the questions I just asked above, which, if the left and the progressives are thinking, means that these are the questions to be asking. Go ask them. See what they say in reply. come on. Go do it. I will excuse those 'leftists' who are feeling, even now, the urge to rally around the Nixon white house, and will leave them to start kicking up a cloud of dirt, perhaps help to initiate total information awareness, which is the end result of their efforts. I just want a simple answer to the simple questions posed above. so go on and ask them. Let's hear that wonderful answer of theirs. They've had a year and half. No one though of anything yet.
and FOR GOD'S SAKE don't be stupid enough to 'write your congressman'. Something this radical will have to be a grass roots thing. Congress will only move to impeach this administration when the pressure rises at the grass roots level.
So go on. Ask them. And while you are at it, ask yourself, too. Ask your friends. Ask them, why is there no 911 inquiry. Then ask them the questions above. What's the answer. Gross imcompetency? I don't think so. They were to competent when it came to protecting Ashcrofts ass, and much to competent at Genoa. go on. Ask yourself, ask your friends, and then ask your congressman, if you want to panic them, but don't expect any help.
If the left fucks this thing up, you deserve to spend some time with the Nazi regime, which is progressively is what is happening to you. YOu also deserve to live with the five hundred thousand civilian casualities of innocent Iraqis in some third world wreck of a place (with lots of oil) that, you know, is just that much a clear and present danger to you that it needs to be invaded by the extreme right wing, and right now too. Just the other day, Rumsfeld was once again talking about 'human shields' in preparation for the massive casualities the American Military Industrial complex is about to create in Iraq.
You deserve what is going to happen to you, if you do not do what obviously has to be done, and take DIRECT ACTION by impeaching this administration. Certainly they are capable of just telling one perjury after another, as everyone who is thinking in this place already knows. Certainly they are capable of blowing little babies to kingdom come. Certainly they are more than capable of destroying American democracy and shredding everything America has always stood for, replacing it with their own hawkish vision of world domination and a constantly worsening police state. And certainly people like this are capable of sitting on their thumbs for a few months, waiting for 911 to happen, so as to empower that hawkish agenda of theirs, and put into motion their fore ordained plans to attack Afghanistan and Iraq (neither of which has anything to do with 911 itself, 911 was just the ever so convenient tool used by the Nixon white house to bring the extreme right wing into full power).
SO FOR GOD'S SAKE WILL YOU PEOPLE DO THE RIGHT THING AND ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS. Resist all attempts to split the left with phony 'analysis' of your so called 'flawed institutions' and just start asking the right questions and IMPEACH THE NIXON WHITE HOUSE.