Even with historical perspective, there is no way to really understand the terrorist acts of September 11. But only with historical perspective can one see that this horror is not in isolation; that the U.S. government has also been complicit with unforgivable terrorist acts (such as in Central America); and that the solution is much more complex than dropping bombs and waving flags. As with the News section, these articles and links provide teachers with critically needed background information and can serve as a rich resource for classroom discussion.

Understanding the U.S.-Iraq Crisis: A Primer by Phyllis Bennis, Institute for Policy Studies, January 2003

Not In Our Name Fact Sheet

The Ecology of Terrorism: Economic globalization is fuelling economic insecurity, eroding cultural diversity and identity, and assaulting political freedoms of citizens by Vandana Shiva

The Politics of Middle East Oil -- A Bibliography 

Hidden Agenda Behind War on Terror by John Pilger, award winning journalist, Mirror UK

Brutality Smeared in Peanut Butter: Why America Must Stop the War Now by Arundhati Roy, author of The God of Small Things

The Clash of Ignorance by Edward Said on the curious resurgence of a previously dismissed theory on global politics. The Nation. 10/22/01

No Glory in Unjust War on the Weak by Barbara Kingsolver, author of The Poisonwood Bible

How the CIA created Osama bin Laden by Norm Dixon, Green Left Weekly, Australia

Promises, Promises: History Shows That Assurances Made in Wartime Aren't Everything They Seem by Robert Fisk Useful history of the region.

The Algebra of Infinite Justice by Arundhati Roy, author of The God of Small Things

Interview with Zbigniew Brzezinski from Le Nouvel Observateur (France) about how the US provoked the Soviet Union into invading Afghanistan

The Long and Short of Terrorism and Security by retired USAF Lt. Col. Dr. Robert Bowman

The U.S. and Saudi Arabia by Michael Klare

A New Benchmark for Moral Behavior --Details on conditions in Afghanistan by Loic Wacquant

Solidarity Against All Forms of Terrorism by Dr. Vandana Shiva (Indian feminist, environmentalist, and philosopher)

'Why do they hate us?' by Peter Ford, Christian Science Monitor

Pakistan's Dilemma by Kamran Asdar Ali

God Wills It? No, God Doesn't by James Carroll

September 11: A Day That Will Live in Infamy in the US and Chile by Roger Burbach

Remembering the Last U.S. Retaliation Against Terror by Jeff Cohen

A Century of US Military Interventions

Beyond the Frame: Alternative Views -- On-line video clips of leading dissident scholars and activists

Beyond Vietnam by Martin Luther King, Jr. Speech made on April 4, 1967, relevant to the current situation. The link is to King Papers Project web site, from there request speeches and scroll to date above.



Photo by Rick Reinhard.