Post-9/11 Liberal Reaction

Liberal Third Party Groups Urged Restraint, Blamed America:

Immediately After 9/11, MoveOn.Org Petition Urged "Moderation And Restraint" And Use Of "International Judicial Institutions":

"We, The Undersigned, Citizens And Residents Of The United States Of America ... Appeal To The President Of The United States, George W. Bush ... And To All Leaders Internationally To Use Moderation And Restraint In Responding To The Recent Terrorist Attacks Against The United States." (MoveOn.Org Website, "MoveOn Peace," Posted 9/13/01, Accessed 6/23/05)

"We Implore The Powers That Be To Use, Wherever Possible, International Judicial Institutions And International Human Rights Law To Bring To Justice Those Responsible For The Attacks, Rather Than The Instruments Of War, Violence Or Destruction." (MoveOn.Org Website, "MoveOn Peace," Posted 9/13/01, Accessed 6/23/05)

"[W]e Demand That There Be No Recourse To Nuclear, Chemical Or Biological Weapons, Or Any Weapons Of Indiscriminate Destruction, And Feel That It Is Our Inalienable Human Right To Live In A World Free Of Such Arms." (MoveOn.Org Website, "MoveOn Peace," Posted 9/13/01, Accessed 6/23/05)

Just After 9/11, Liberal Filmmaker Michael Moore Derided "Terror And Bloodshed" Committed By Americans. (David Brooks, Op-Ed, "All Hail Moore," The New York Times, 6/26/04)

Just After 9/11, Moore Blamed America's "Taxpayer-Funded Terrorism" And Bush Administration For Terrorist Attacks. "We abhor terrorism – unless we're the ones doing the terrorizing. We paid and trained and armed a group of terrorists in Nicaragua in the 1980s who killed over 30,000 civilians. That was OUR work. You and me....Let's mourn, let's grieve, and when it's appropriate let's examine our contribution to the unsafe world we live in." (Michael Moore Website Archive, "Death, Downtown," Posted 9/12/01, Accessed 7/27/04)

In 2003, Moore Downplayed Threat Posed By Death Of 3,000 Americans On 9/11. MOORE: "Three thousand Americans were killed. There's 290 million Americans, all right? The chance of – of any of us dying in a terrorist incident is very, very, very small." (CBS' "60 Minutes," 7/27/03)

Michael Moore Said U.S. Should Not Have Removed Taliban After 9/11. MOORE: "Likewise, to bomb Afghanistan – I mean, I've never understood this, Tim." (CNBC's "Tim Russert," 10/19/02)

Liberal Donor George Soros Claimed America Should Have Treated 9/11 Attacks As Crime, Responded With Police Work. "War is a false and misleading metaphor in the context of combating terrorism. Treating the attacks of September 11 as crimes against humanity would have been more appropriate. Crimes require police work, not military action. To protect against terrorism, you need precautionary measures, awareness, and intelligence gathering – all of which ultimately depend on the support of the populations among which terrorists operate. Imagine for a moment that September 11 had been treated as a crime. We would have pursued Bin Laden in Afghanistan, but we would not have invaded Iraq. Nor would we have our military struggling to perform police work in full combat gear and getting killed in the process." (George Soros, The Bubble Of American Supremacy, 2004, p. 18)

Soros Said The Execution Of 9/11 Attacks "Could Not Have Been More Spectacular." "Admittedly, the terrorist attack was a historic event in its own right. Hijacking fully loaded airplanes and using them as suicide bombs was an audacious idea, and the execution could not have been more spectacular." (George Soros, The Bubble Of American Supremacy, 2004, p. 2)

Soros Said War On Terror Had Claimed More Innocent Victims Than 9/11 Attack Itself. "This is a very tough thing to say, but the fact is, that the war on terror as conducted by this administration, has claimed more innocent victims that the original attack itself." (George Soros, Remarks At Take Back America Conference, Washington, DC, 6/3/04)

SOROS: "Far From Reducing The Terrorist Threat, The War On Terrorism Has Actually Increased It." (George Soros' book The Bubble Of American Supremacy, 2004, pp. 186-187)

Liberal Democrat Officials Urged Restraint, Blamed America

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH): "'The Time For Peace Is Now,' [Kucinich] Declared Optimistically July 11, Two Months To The Day Before Terrorists Hit The Pentagon And The World Trade Center. ... Sitting In His Capitol Hill Office Last Week, Near A Window Where He Could See The Smoke Rising From The Pentagon On Sept. 11, Kucinich Insisted He Is More Optimistic Than Ever That People Worldwide Are Ready To Embrace The Cause Of Nonviolence." (Elizabeth Auster, "Offer The Hand Of Peace," [Cleveland, OH] Plain Dealer, 9/30/01)

Kucinich: "Afghanistan May Be An Incubator Of Terrorism But It Doesn't Follow That We Bomb Afghanistan ..." (Elizabeth Auster, "Offer The Hand Of Peace," [Cleveland, OH] Plain Dealer, 9/30/01)

Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-HI): "Only Now Are We Trying To Figure Out What Is Islam. Maybe If There Was A Department Of Peace, They Would Be Able To Say, 'Uh-Oh, We've Got Some Problems With These People,' ... I Truly Believe That If We Had A Department Of Peace, We Would Have Seen [9/11] Coming." (Ethan Wallison, "War A Challenge For Peace Caucus," Roll Call, 10/1/01)

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA): "I Am Convinced That Military Action Will Not Prevent Further Acts Of International Terrorism Against The United States." (Eddy Ramirez, "Calif. Congresswoman Alone In Vote Against War Powers Resolution," [University Of California-Berkeley] Daily Californian, 9/17/01)

Al Sharpton (D-NY) Said That The Attacks On The World Trade Center Are Evidence That "America Is Beginning To Reap What It Has Sown." (Adam Nagourney, "Say It Loud," The New York Times, 12/1/02)

Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) Claimed Osama Bin Laden Could Be Compared To "Revolutionaries That Helped To Cast Off The British Crown." "'One could say that Osama bin Laden and these non-nation-state fighters with religious purpose are very similar to those kind of atypical revolutionaries that helped to cast off the British crown,' Kaptur told an Ohio newspaper, The (Toledo) Blade." (Malie Rulon, "Lawmaker Compares Osama, U.S. Patriots," The Associated Press, 3/6/03)

John Kerry: War On Terror Is A Law Enforcement Operation
Kerry: "[W]ar On Terror Is Far Less Of A Military Operation And Far More Of An Intelligence-Gathering, Law-Enforcement Operation." (The Iowa Brown & Black Coalition Presidential Forum, Des Moines, IA, 1/11/04)

Kerry Told College Students America Needs President Who Understands War On Terror Is Primarily Law Enforcement. "Kerry used the speech to amp up his rhetoric against President Bush ... 'The war on terrorism is primarily an intelligence-gathering and law enforcement operation and we need a president who understands that,' he said. 'This president doesn't have the experience to be commander in chief.'" (Steve LeBlanc, "Kerry Invokes Vietnam In Rallying College Students To Campaign," The Associated Press, 12/2/03)

Liberal Democrats Floated 9/11 Conspiracy Theories

Gov. Howard Dean (D-VT) Suggested "Interesting Theory" That President Knew 9/11 Attacks Were Coming And Didn't Stop It. CALLER: "[O]nce we get you in the White House, would you please make sure that there is a thorough investigation of 9/11, and not stonewall it?" DEAN: "Yes. There is a report, which the president is suppressing evidence for, which is a thorough investigation of 9/11." NPR'S DIANE REHM: "Why do you think he's suppressing that report?" DEAN: "I don't know. There are many theories about it. The most interesting theory that I've heard so far--which is nothing more than a theory, I can't think – it can't be proved – is that he was warned ahead of time by the Saudis. Now who knows what the real situation is? But the trouble is, by suppressing that kind of information, you lead to those kinds of theories, whether they have any truth to them or not. And eventually they get repeated as fact. So I think the president is taking a great risk by suppressing the clear – the key information that needs to go to the Kean commission." (NPR's "The Diane Rehm Show," 12/1/03)

Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) Suggested Bush Administration Had Prior Knowledge Of Attacks, But Wanted Defense Contractor Friends To Profit From Ensuing War. "Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.) is calling for an investigation into whether President Bush and other government officials had advance notice of terrorist attacks on Sept. 11 but did nothing to prevent them. She added that 'persons close to this administration are poised to make huge profits off America's new war.' In a recent interview with a Berkeley, Calif., radio station, McKinney said: 'We know there were numerous warnings of the events to come on September 11th. ... What did this administration know and when did it know it, about the events of September 11th? Who else knew, and why did they not warn the innocent people of New York who were needlessly murdered? ... What do they have to hide?'" (Juliet Eilperin, "Democrat Implies Sept. 11 Administration Plot," The Washington Post, 4/12/02)