Remembering 9-11 is easy, but do you remember 9-12 through 11-9?

– Iran’s Ayatollah Imami Kashani spoke of a catastrophic act of terrorism which could only be condemned by all Muslims, adding the whole world should mobilise against terrorism. [link, to the next three paragraphs, as well]

– In Iran, Tehran’s main soccer stadium observed an unprecedented minute’s silence in sympathy with the victims.

– The US Consul General in Jerusalem reported that he has received a huge stack of faxes from Palestinians and Palestinian organizations expressing condolences, grief and solidarity. He himself was pained to see that the media chose to focus on the sensational images of a few Palestinians rejoicing.

– The terrorist act was strongly condemned by every single Palestinian organization including Fatah, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Hamas, Workers Unions and Committees, Human Right organizations (AlHaq, Law, Palestine Center for Human Rights), student associations, municipalities, mosques and churches, etc.

– Ayatollah Ali Khamene�€™i, supreme jurist-ruler of Iran: �€œKilling of people, in any place and with any kind of weapons, including atomic bombs, long-range missiles, biological or chemical weopons, passenger or war planes, carried out by any organization, country or individuals is condemned. … It makes no difference whether such massacres happen in Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Qana, Sabra, Shatila, Deir Yassin, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq or in New York and Washington.�€�

– President Muhammad Khatami of Iran: �€œ[T]he September 11 terrorist blasts in America can only be the job of a group that have voluntarily severed their own ears and tongues, so that the only language with which they could communicate would be destroying and spreading death.�€�

– Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens), prominent British Muslim: “I wish to express my heartfelt horror at the indiscriminate terrorist attacks committed against innocent people of the United States yesterday. While it is still not clear who carried out the attack, it must be stated that no right thinking follower of Islam could possibly condone such an action: the Qur’an equates the murder of one innocent person with the murder of the whole of humanity. We pray for the families of all those who lost their lives in this unthinkable act of violence as well as all those injured; I hope to reflect the feelings of all Muslims and people around the world whose sympathies go out to the victims at this sorrowful moment.”

Fast forward four years. A growing pro-Western movement in Iran has been badly weakened and Iran’s leadership has grown more hardline, because it fears US military force being directed its way, and is rushing to build nukes to defend itself and its oil fields. Our Iraq occupation has mostly benefitted the majority Shias, who are likely to act in unity with Iran.

To grasp the size of the Iranian population, compared to countries we’ve warred with in the past century, it’s roughly similar to Germany, Japan, Korea and Vietnam. It’s nearly 2 and a half times the size of Iraq. And it’s building alliances with Russia and China.

And our leadership issues grave threats against them regularly.

That’s our real record of homeland defense. Those who mourned our losses on 9-11 now arm themselves in fear of the aggression of US leaders, who act outside of world and US law. Especially in Iraq, where supposedly freed civilians endure continued privation while the oilfields are secured. And Iran has the next biggest oil supply.

Now the sabers rattle on both sides. And what has been gained for either side?

The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral,
begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy.
Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it…
Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate.

In fact, violence merely increases hate….

Returning violence for violence multiplies violence,
adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.

Darkness cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

(Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. )

Murder, torture, rape, Constitutional law violations that strip away our liberties. That’s not a prescription for the spread of democracy. It’s a guarantee of perpetual war.

We can have military strength and freedom. We can achieve security with respect and cooperation. With bullying and brutality, we can only achieve fear, hate and retaliation. We can only reap what we sow. And our leaders have been sewing misery, death and destruction.

What can the world think after seeing 4,300 Americans dead or missing on our Gulf Coast, largely caused by governmental neglect? How can we be trusted with the lives of foreign civilians if this is how we treat our own?

We are in greater peril after four years of bad choices. Our leaders have strengthened our enemies and made skeptics of our allies. They’ve failed to move us forward and our nation’s less secure because of its leadership.

Darkness cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.