— Whether the trial for Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the attacks on 9/11, takes place in civil court or in front of a military tribunal, it should receive the same attention from the TV networks and the nation that was given to the Watergate hearings of the 1970s.

Those hearings took place between May 17 and Aug. 7, 1973. Each of the major TV networks took turns covering them live. When the hearings concluded,        319 hours had been recorded.

Much of the nation was riveted to their TV sets;   85 percent of the public watched at least some portion of the proceedings.

After 9/11, most Americans wanted revenge. They supported the invasion of Afghanistan; they wanted Osama bin Laden caught and punished. Many Americans wanted to ask him why he hated Americans so much that he orchestrated the heinous attacks against innocent civilians.

There is little doubt that Mohammed is guilty. However, during the trial he should be compelled to answer the same question that would have been posed to bin Laden had he been captured: Why?

His answer must be recorded in our history books.

Chalmers Johnson, in his book “Nemesis,” published in 2007, states that bin Laden cited the sanctions enforced against Iraq between 1991 and 2003 as one of the reasons why al-Qaida attacked the United States on Sept. 11, 2001.

The net result of sanctions: They affect the innocent, and those who are the “target” of the sanctions go unscathed. They rarely, if ever, work.

During the 13 years that the sanctions were enforced, Iraq was not able to export crude oil, a commodity that America needed then as much as now.

It was prevented from importing any of the parts that would have enabled it to repair its electrical and water purification systems that had been damaged in the first Gulf War.

Iraqis were forced to consume water that was not treated with chlorine; cholera, hepatitis and typhoid epidemics ensued.

Reports are that 500,000 Iraqi citizens, many of whom were children, died.

All the while, Saddam Hussein continued to enjoy the “good life” in his many palaces.

The damage done to Iraq’s electrical and water purification systems was not, as you might think, the result of collateral damage. In “Nemesis,” Johnson writes:

“During the Gulf War of 1991, the United States drove Iraq from Kuwait but stopped short of invading Iraq itself. Nonetheless, President George H.W. Bush and his national security adviser, Brent Scowcroft, were determined to do everything in their power to make postwar Iraq ungovernable, to stimulate revolt within the country, and to force Saddam Hussein from office.

“During the war itself, the United States dropped some 90,000 tons of bombs on Iraq in the space of 43 days, intentionally destroying the civilian infrastructure, including 18 of 20 electricity-generating plants and water pumping and sanitation systems.

“Dr. Thomas Nagy, a professor at George Washington University, analyzed a large number of declassified Defense Intelligence Agency documents on the bombing and concluded that American officials were well aware that the purposeful destruction of Iraq’s civilian water sanitation systems would cause increased outbreaks of disease and high rates of child mortality.”

Bombings of this nature are prohibited by Article 54 (2) of the “Protocol Additional to the Geneva Convention of August 12, 1949.”

Relative to the “Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol 1), June 8, 1977,” it explicitly states:

“It is prohibited to attack, destroy, remove or render useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, such as food stuffs, agricultural areas for the production of food stuffs, crops, livestock, drinking water installations and supplies, and irrigation works, for the specific purpose of denying them for their sustenance value to the civilian population or to the adverse party, whatever the motive, whether in order to starve out civilians, to cause them to move away, or for any other motive.”

Innocent civilians, no matter in what country they reside, should never die as the direct result of the actions of any political group or foreign government, including ours.

In the foyer of the CIA’s headquarters is inscribed a biblical quotation: “And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).

The trial of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed should be broadcast live on network television and all Americans should be “tuned in.”



Stephen J. Verotsky of Johnstown is a retired high school mathematics teacher after 36 years of service.