U.S. bears sole blame for Sept. 11, Trask says
Haunani-Kay Trask says America should focus on the needs of its own people

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Thursday, October 18, 2001

RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM

Hawaiian studies professor Haunani-Kay Trask said at a UH anti-war forum yesterday that America should stop using its military to police the world and open foreign trade markets.

By Pat Omandam
pomandam@starbulletin.com

The United States has only itself to blame for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, said outspoken Hawaiian studies professor Haunani-Kay Trask.

Moreover, Trask said, the United States should stop using its military might to police the world so it can open up foreign trade markets. It should stay out of the Middle East and elsewhere and instead focus on the needs of its own native and poor people, she said.

"The United States is angry because somebody came back and blew up their World Trade Center," said the University of Hawaii professor and sovereignty activist. "I would be angry, too. But what made them do that? It is the history of terrorism that the United States unleashes against native people all over the world."

Trask's comments, which come at a time of increased patriotism across the country, were given yesterday at a University of Hawaii at Manoa forum sponsored by Professors Opposed to War and the University Peace Initiative, comprised of students, faculty and staff of the UH system.

Organizers say these public forums are meant to educate and stimulate critical thinking on why this war on terrorism is occurring and what it means in the long term for the United States.

Members seek nonviolent, globally responsible and lasting solutions to end violence.

Trask was attending a U.N. conference on world racism in Durban, South Africa, Sept. 11 and said she was shocked and horrified watching the attacks unfold on television.

The first words out of her mouth, she said, were what 1960s activist Malcolm X said when asked about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963: "Chickens have come home to roost."

"What it means is that those who have suffered under the imperialism and militarism of the United States have come back to haunt in the 21st century that same government," Trask said. "The Third World has responded to the First World, and it is bitter and it is hateful. It's crazy, that war out there."

Trask said the United States began the 20th century with the 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom and, a century later, it begins the next one trying to install a new government in Afghanistan.

She said the United States' foreign policy of supporting state-sponsored terrorism to impose U.S.-friendly governments in countries like Chile, El Salvador, Nicaragua, the Philippines, Guatemala and Vietnam led directly to the Sept. 11 attacks.

"Everywhere, the United States has overthrown leftist government. Everywhere, the United States has overthrown native governments," she said. "Why should we support the United States, whose hands in history are soaked in blood?"

About 100 students gathered on the Manoa Campus Center steps to hear the discussion and to be challenged by Trask and others to get involved.

It remains to be seen whether such anti-war activism will rise to the level of protests found on the Manoa campus during the Vietnam War.

"Most of us swallow very easily what we're fed by our government and by the media," said Susan Hippensteele, a women's studies professor who also spoke at the forum.

Hippensteele said there has never been good public dialogue on why these attacks occurred. But a review of U.S. foreign policy shows why people have resorted to these desperate acts of violence against America.

She said President Bush's war on terrorism is more a war on public opinion to generate irrational fear and panic among American citizens so they do not question the policies of the Bush administration.

Hippensteele and others urged students to seek alternative sources of information on the Internet so they can ask tough questions of elected officials and be the watchdog the American public should be.

"Democracy can not be on cruise control," added Ruth Y. Hsu, an associate English professor and moderator of yesterday's event.

© 2001 Honolulu Star-Bulletin
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Stupidity Watch
Here are the views of "outspoken Hawaiian studies professor Haunani-Kay Trask," as reported in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin:

"The United States is angry because somebody came back and blew up their World Trade Center," said the University of Hawaii professor and sovereignty activist. "I would be angry, too. But what made them do that? It is the history of terrorism that the United States unleashes against native people all over the world." . . .

Trask was attending a U.N. conference on world racism in Durban, South Africa, Sept. 11 and said she was shocked and horrified watching the attacks unfold on television.

The first words out of her mouth, she said, were what 1960s activist Malcolm X said when asked about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963: "Chickens have come home to roost." . . . Trask said the United States began the 20th century with the 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom and, a century later, it begins the next one trying to install a new government in Afghanistan.

She said the United States' foreign policy of supporting state-sponsored terrorism to impose U.S.-friendly governments in countries like Chile, El Salvador, Nicaragua, the Philippines, Guatemala and Vietnam led directly to the Sept. 11 attacks.

"Everywhere, the United States has overthrown leftist government. Everywhere, the United States has overthrown native governments," she said. "Why should we support the United States, whose hands in history are soaked in blood?"

We're not sure which is more inane, the notion that Osama bin Laden cares about Nicaragua and Vietnam or the claim that the 20th century began in the early 1890s.

At least Trask doesn't hide behind anonymity. The same can't be said for the creeps who last week burned a flag at Amherst College. Someone claiming to represent this group has posted an essay on a local Web site called the Daily Jolt. Sample:

The United States of America is built upon a history of violence and repression. This began with the genocide of Native Americans who inhabited this land before the arrival of European colonizers and it continued as Black people were brought here as slaves to provide the labor necessary for the country's development. Still today, Mexicans living in the West are regarded as "illegal aliens" in a land that was their home long before it was conquered by the U.S. in 1848, and immigrants continue to arrive every day to this country sold on the "American dream", only to be forced into menial work deemed unfit for "real Americans." The construction and maintenance of America depends on the marginalization and exploitation of those excluded.

Excuse us, but how many of today's undocumented immigrants were even alive in 1848? That's at least 45 years before the 20th century began.

In Egypt's Al-Ahram newspaper, Ibrahim Nafie weighs in with the following denunciation of America's humanitarian efforts in Afghanistan: "The US has gone to lengths to show that its military action is not intended to target the Afghani people. It has air-dropped humanitarian and food relief packages as planes and missiles bombarded other areas of the country. Unfortunately, these packages are being dropped on the most heavily mined country on earth."

Well, we could drop food on, say, Switzerland, where there aren't as many mines, but how does Nafie propose the Afghans get to it?

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