Reviewing 9/11: A Nation in Deep Trouble

By Carter Heyward

I cannot encourage readers of The Witness strongly enough to read, pass on, and discuss The New Pearl Harbor: Disturbing Questions about the Bush Administration and 9/11 , a book by David Ray Griffin (Foreword by Richard Falk, Northampton, MA: Olive Branch Press, 2004), and to see Fahrenheit 9/11 , the acclaimed film by Michael Moore, which was released a couple of weeks ago. The book and film are mutually reinforcing and are likely to be hailed someday as two of the most incisive, courageous, and accurate indictments of the George W. Bush administration.

Suffice it to say that David Griffin is definitely not the sort of flake associated with “conspiracy theories” – unless, of course, they turn out to be true. . . What if it's true – that the U.S. government was, to some lesser or greater degree, complicit in the events of September 11, 2001?

Among theologians, David Griffin is held in high esteem as an intelligent, fair-minded professor and colleague who is more likely to understate than exaggerate the truth as he understands it. Over decades, his work has been taken seriously and regarded with appreciation. Suffice it to say that David Griffin is definitely not the sort of flake associated with “conspiracy theories” – unless, of course, they turn out to be true. This is the possibility that punches the reader of The New Pearl Harbor (NPH) in the gut. What if it's true – that the U.S. government was, to some lesser or greater degree, complicit in the events of September 11, 2001? What if the government's failure to scramble jets to pursue the hijacked planes was something more than the incompetent fumbling commented upon in June 2004 by the 9/11 Commission? What if the U.S. government did not try to capture or kill Osama bin Laden either before or after 9/11? What if Flight 93, the only one of the four planes that the passengers were gaining control of, was shot down by the United States? What can we make of reports that intelligence officers who attempted to probe the events of 9/11 were treated harshly by their superiors?

These are several of the many questions raised and examined, but not definitively answered, by David Griffin in this riveting book. And these questions make it highly recommended for study by such compatriots as social historian Howard Zinn, liberation theologian Rosemary Radford Ruether, relational psychologist Janet Surrey, feminist social ethicist Beverly Harrison, psychiatrist Steven Bergman (a.k.a. novelist Samuel Shem), and Princeton professor emeritus of international relations Richard Falk, who calls NPH “an extraordinary book” and states, “It is rare, indeed, that a book has this potential to become a force of history.” If even a quarter of the questions raised by Griffin point to some deep and evil truths, we as a nation are in deep trouble.

Some of the most troubling, indeed haunting, questions put before the reader by David Griffin are examined by the bold and radical filmmaker Michael Moore in his popular documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 . While Moore's public persona – a gutsy image of confrontation and speaking truth to power – contrasts with Griffin's more academic and mild-mannered demeanor, these two brave men are raising through their different media not only many of the same questions about the events surrounding September 11, 2001, but even more immediately questions about the credibility and morality of the Bush administration and the character of George W. Bush himself.

Questions stirred by both Griffin and Moore are not whether, but rather, what kinds of hidden, or not so hidden (like Halliburton), connections there are between the events of 9/11 and the long-term aspirations of the Bush administration. . . And why is Bush so resistant to public scrutiny when the future of the planet itself may be hanging in the balance?

In Fahrenheit , both Bushes, father and son, come across as weak men with inherited access to power and privilege. They are men of dubious integrity, whose business dealings and political affairs are morally compromised through and through. Like Griffin, Moore notes the longstanding associations between the Bush family and the political and business elite in Saudi Arabia, including the bin Laden family. While neither Moore nor Griffin suggests any direct personal collusion between Osama and Dubya, they both suggest connections – “complicity” is Griffin's word – between the economic aims that, from the beginning, have driven the current Bush administration's foreign policy and those of the bin Ladens and other privileged Saudis. Questions stirred by both Griffin and Moore are not whether, but rather, what kinds of hidden, or not so hidden (like Halliburton), connections there are between the events of 9/11 and the long-term aspirations of the Bush administration. No one is accusing Bush of being knowingly in cahoots with al Qaeda, but Griffin and Moore are suggesting that there is more going on between them, in the real world of economic scheming and political intrigue, than George W. Bush is willing to open to public scrutiny. And why is Bush so resistant to public scrutiny when the future of the planet itself may be hanging in the balance?

One of Michael Moore's old friends tells me that, as far back as she can remember, Moore has had a stunning ability, as well as the raw nerve, to raise into public view issues which those in power are trying to conceal. This is exactly what Michael Moore has done in Fahrenheit 9/11 . People can accuse Moore of a biased interpretation (of course, all political views are biased, aren't they?), but his genius as a documentary filmmaker is in letting the subjects speak for themselves.

As the director, Moore doesn't have to say much of anything or even offer much of an interpretation, though he certainly does the latter. The film presents material for us to observe – and be blown away by – such as George W. Bush's interesting non-response to the reports being given to him – over 5, 6, 7 minutes – as planes were hitting buildings and word was reaching him that the United States was under attack. This is a scenario which, for Griffin, like Moore, raises troubling questions about why Bush, if he believed the U.S. was under attack, didn't immediately authorize the military to scramble jets and shoot down all planes that had been hijacked. Moore and Griffin go much further than the official 9/11 Commission, which has just finished its work, in pushing for a serious investigation of the myriad connections between Bush, Cheney, et al, and things that happened – and did not happen – before, on, and after September 11, 2001.

That many of us have suspected, prior to reading the NPH or seeing Fahrenheit , that something is terribly rotten in our national government is chilling testimony to the urgency of the call to vote Bush out of office – and make sure our votes, and those of others, are counted this time. Our nation and world cannot afford another stolen election. God bless America indeed – and God bless the whole wide world. May She hold us in her hands and guide us in the ways of courage and compassion.

The Rev. Carter Heyward, Ph.D., is the Howard Chandler Robbins Professor of Theology at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass., where she has taught since 1975. She also serves as liturgical coordinator for the Brevard Episcopal Mission in western North Carolina, and is the author of more than a dozen books. Carter may be reached by email at carterheyward@aol.com .

See also: "Was the Bush Administration Complicit in 9/11?" by Rosemary Radford Ruether