Letter to the Editor in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch 2/14/13

http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/mailbag/letters-to-the-editor/attack-changed-our-regard-for-law/article_dd698271-7531...

"The Drone Age" editorial (Feb. 8) asserts that our laws need to catch up with the United States' military tactics. Justification is based on the characterization that al-Qaida's surprise attack changed everything. What it actually changed was only our regard for law. Based on 9/11, the U.S. asserted it can attack any country without being attacked first, our executive branch can kill anyone by assuring us he was a threat, and government agencies can watch citizens from the skin up without oversight.

However, we were lied into Iraq. It was an illegal war. It's connection to 9/11 was a fabrication. We were also lied into Afghanistan. On 9/11 three buildings collapsed symmetrically at, or near, freefall speed into their own footprints. The tops of the twin towers fell (in near freefall) through thousands of tons of undamaged steel and concrete as though it offered no resistance to the falling debris. A third building, undamaged by planes, fell the same way. Collapsing skyscrapers symmetrically, with debris falling faster as it comes down, and keeping the debris in the building's own footprints can only be accomplished through controlled demolition.

It's not really a big surprise that the folks who lied us into Iraq lied us into Afghanistan. What is surprising is that the Post-Dispatch seems prepared to accept rewriting rules of law based on an unbelievable story about what supposedly happened to "change everything" on 9/11. 9/11 was an inside job. We need to find the real villains, not rewrite laws.

Phillip Michaels • University City