On March 1, ABC News reported that the USS New York – built from 7.5 tons of 9/11 steel – was christened at the Northrop Grumman shipyard just outside New Orleans after having survived Hurricane Katrina.
As soon as I read this, I felt a rush of emotions, none of them good. For lack of a better term, I will describe the reaction as "cognitive dissonance." Let’s look at the reasons one step at a time.
The ship wears the name of a state, even though that distinction is normally reserved for nuclear submarines. This exemption was won by former New York Governor George Pataki, who in 1994 reportedly got caught selling paroles for campaign contributions to an armed robber and a major drug kingpin. In 2002, the Pataki administration was also accused of covering up abuses in some for-profit institutions that cared for the mentally ill. Apparently the group-home owners paid big bucks to silence the outrage, and there is little doubt in political circles that some of this money made its way into Pataki’s pockets.
The USS New York wears an emblem – a shield with two bars, symbolizing the Twin Towers – and a banner with the slogan, "Never Forget" Trust me, no one will, particularly since a fair portion of Americans (and an unnamed number of government insiders) suspect 9/11 of being a Bush administration conspiracy designed to abridge civil rights in the form of the US Dept. of Homeland Security. A smaller but highly verbal segment of Americans thinks 9/11 was a black ops. Like the Kennedy assassination, we may never know the whole truth.
The USS New York was christened by Dottie England, the wife of Gordon England, Deputy Secretary of Defense. England, a Bush insider, was a member of the military tribunals at Guantanamo. In 2006, the Supreme Court ruled these tribunals were a violation of American law and the Geneva Convention. England, formerly employed by such defense-related industries as Honeywell, General Dynamics and Litton, was appointed the 72nd and 73rd Secretary of the Navy, in spite of having no military experience.
Both appointments occurred under President Bush, who in 2001 also appointed two other civilians, James Roche (General Motors) and Thomas E. White (Enron), to head the Air Force and Army. William D. Hartung, Head of the Arms Trade Resource Center, challenged the appointments because he felt it was unethical to appoint businessmen whose former companies would be the prime beneficiaries of increases in defense spending. Hartung further noted that at no time in recent history had military appointments been made from the civilian sector.
In 2006, President Bush appointed England Deputy Secretary of Defense. England is also reportedly responsible for the 2008 dismissal of of Major Stephen Coughlin, an intelligence analyst for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who warned his superiors that US Muslim groups were supporting overseas terrorists. Coughlin’s removal, presumably at the behest of Hashem Islam, England’s man in charge of "Islamic outreach," has resulted in a strange dichotomy. Islamic front groups now operate with impunity in the U.S., supporting (and even funding) foreign Islamic radicals, who are then hunted down, jailed and likely tortured in US-sponsored detainment (or rendition) facilities. It is precisely this kind of schizophrenic behavior that makes the Bush administration so suspect.
The USS New York survived Hurricane Katrina. Many New Orleans residents did not. Survivors were treated to internment, often without food, water or medical care, and then shipped like so many cattle to other locations. Their removal, often without regard to family units, is a modern-day Diaspora. Many families still have not reconnected. Michael Brown, the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) director, was replaced as manager of the Katrina relief effort when things began to go very badly, but retained his directorship. One example of FEMA’s failure are the trailers built to house Katrina survivors, which are so toxic that FEMA employees are forbidden to enter them. No such warnings have been given to the 48,000 hurricane victims who still live in the trailers.
Clearly, we can build machines for war, but we can’t save our own people, including the brave rescue workers who cleaned up after 9/11.
Lee Ielpi, president of the September 11th Families’ Association and a retired New York City fireman whose son died on Sept. 11, said at the USS New York’s christening: "This ship, as it cuts through the water, is going to send a ripple. That ripple will say ‘We cherish our freedom’." I admire Ielpi, and all the brave men and women who did their part after 9/11, many of whom are now dying of silicosis, bronchitis, pneumonia, lung cancer, cancerous polyps, and leukemia. These illnesses and deaths are directly attributable to the Bush administration, and former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani, both of whom insisted the wreckage was safe to work in without protective gear. Two days after 9/11, James L. Connaughton, head of the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), re-wrote EPA Deputy Administrator Linda Fisher’s draft warning about the dangers of 9/11 cleanup, eliminating all but the most innocuous phrases. Giuliani himself is under investigation for giving a no-bid contract to Motorola for the defective, two-way radios used by New York City firemen during and after the attack.
The USS New York can carry a crew of up to 360 sailors and 700 combat-ready Marines. It will begin sailing in 2009, presumably just in time to strike fear into the hearts of Iranians, who seem to be next on the list of U.S. assault targets. The steel which comprises its hull was taken from the 9/11 site within 18 days of the attack and and sold on the open market, primarily to China and India. This, in spite of the fact that the Twin Towers was, essentially, a crime scene. It seems both odd and portentous that the greatest crime scene in U.S. history was dismantled before investigators could document the evidence.
As I did the research, cognitive dissonance gave way to outrage. The audacity of the Bush administration, which dares “spin” what are in essence two very human (and very American) tragedies to popularize the completion of yet another war machine leaves me both disgusted and dismayed.
Disclosure: I don’t own stock in any companies mentioned or implied.