Gone but Never Forgotten

Throughout one's life they must endure the heartache of losing someone close to them, whether it be a parent, sibling, grandparent, close family member, or even a close friend. People find all new ways to have their loved one or friend live on. Some people make stickers to put on their car, memorials for their lost loved one, or some wear something that the deceased always wore to always have them with them at all times. So this causes one to think, even though that person is gone are they truly ever forgotten?

Death in itself is an event that can cause someone extreme emotional or psychological pain, however when people do things to remember the deceased by it can make dealing with their loss a little easier. One good example I seen of this while reading Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Johnathan Foer was when Oscar made his mom the bracelet that was conducted of the last words his father spoke. He used different color beads on the bracelet to represent certain things, e.g. maroon beads were used for breaks between letters. For him this was a way for his mom to stay connected to his dad, so even though he was gone from everyday life him memory, and last words would never be forgotten.

Reading through this book I have grown a personal connection to how exactly Oscar feels when loosing his dad. When I was young I lost my grandfather who was a father figure to me and the man I based who I wanted to be upon. Losing him completely crushed my world and found myself at a place where I had no idea as to what to so or say. Even tho he was gone I still wore his necklace because to me this was a way for me to keep him with me at all times. When my seventeenth birthday approached I decided to get a tattoo on my right arm in remembrance of him. So just as Oscar tried to make and do things to remember his father, I tried the same thing to remember my grandfather.

Although death is an extremely painful process to endure, you can try and make dude with what you can. In the back of one's mind they must always think, yes they are gone but they never will be forgotten.

Torture: America After 9/11

The events of 9/11 have truly changed the country as we know it. Mostly this change has come in the way of how America acquires information from Middle Easterners.  After the events that occurred, America became a country that did whatever they wanted to get the answers to the questions that they had. Even telling untrue facts to Americans along the way, by doing this the government had Americans believe that the methods that they were using were necessary when in all actuality they were unnecessary methods in some cases. In Mark Danner's "Our State of Exception" , he points out elements that causes one to think if the actions that America has taken since 9/11 are truly moral, and necessary, actions.

In his essay, Danner keeps referring to the torture that American used on Abu Zubaydah. Americans did whatever they could to get information out of him. According to the government, He was supposed to be the right hand man of Osama Bin Laden. Later it was learned that when the government told American people that he was second in-line of Al-Queda that it was a lie. Zubaydah was essentially nowhere near that high in the chain of command. Danner wrote that Zubayah was more of a "very rich prize."  I start to think when I hear this, how can our government torture an individual that is completely innocent or the charges in which they are accusing him? How is it morally, or just, to torture an individual who had absolutely no role into what happened to American on September 11th? The answer to both of those questions is that our government overstepped the boundaries and just did whatever they wanted to Abu Zubaydah.

The torture in which Zubaydah endured is inhumane and unjust and yet the U.S. government seen absolutely no problem with the techniques they were doing on a INNOCENT man. The one detail Danner included that stuck out to me the most was  when he wrote about the waterboarding Zubaydah received.  He writesin the words of Zubaydah:

"After the beating I was then placed in the small box. They placed a cloth or cover over the box to cut out all light and restrict my air supply…. The wound on my leg began to open and started to bleed…. I was then dragged from the small box, unable to walk properly and put on what looked like a hospital bed, and strapped down very tightly with belts. A black cloth was then placed over my face and the interrogators used a mineral water bottle to pour water on the cloth so that I could not breathe. After a few minutes the cloth was removed and the bed was rotated into an upright position. The pressure of the straps on my  was very painful. I vomited. The bed was then again lowered to horizontal position and the same torture carried out again with the black cloth over my face and water poured on from a bottle. On this occasion my head was in a more backward, downwards position and the water was poured on for a longer time. I struggled against the straps, trying to breathe, but it was hopeless. I thought I was going to die. I lost control of my urine. Since then I still lose control of my urine when under stress."

This sounds like absolute torture, If this man was associated to 9/11 and was withholding vital information of another attack then maybe this would be necessary, however in real sense it is not! It was even documented that Zubaydah gave up information to authorities before being tortured, So if he was willing to give up information peacefully then what was the need for the torturing? They even talked about the SERE system, which is a system that is used to prepare U.S Air Force pilots who are captured by enemies for the pain and techniques that they will endure. This difference in doing that in the Air Force versus in the real world is the fact that the pilots can say stop at any time, whereas the individuals enduring it in the real world cannot! Within his essay, Danner writes : SERE training, as one former instructor told the Senate Armed Services Committee, from whose report I am quoting, was “based on illegal exploitation…of prisoners over the last

fifty years." If a person within our own Armed Forces believes this to be illegal then why the hell do we still do it?

This is a supreme case of American overstretching its power and doing something absolutely inhumane! It's crazy to think out government saw absolutely nothing wrong with this and continue to let this occur and go on. I'm all for getting answers about future attacks on our soil and everything, but the way in which America treated Zubaydah was completely unnecessary and completely uncalled for. By the events of 9/11 it has forced the U.S. to believe that torture is the only way to acquire vital information when it actuality sometimes torture is not needed at all! 

America The Unjust

In today's world, people throw around the word terrorist so easily and freely. When someone does a vicious act, especially if they are from another ethnic group, they are viewed to America as terrorists. Well one must sit back and ponder to the question whether America it self can be looked at as a terrorist organization.

Terrorist tend to think of brutal and violent acts against humanity and go forth with them, and if one says that America has not done this when it comes to the war in Iraq/ Afghanistan then they are truly mistaken. The violent acts that American soldiers used to torture the Iraqi's and Afghans can definitely fall under the category of terrorism. If the roles were reversed, we as Americans would be calling for their heads but sense it isn't we just do whatever we want and just say they were terrorists and then no one really thinks to much about it. I believe Obama said it best in his speech for the Nobel prize, he made a statement saying that war between armies and civilians have become intertwined. Yes, what happened that September day was awful and horrific and as an American I was highly enraged, but if we knew who did it then what was the need for us to drop bombs over a city during the night? Maybe some of them were terrorists but the vast majority were not, that's like saying that because my friend steals that makes me a thief.

America has always been known to try and show their power and " flex their muscles" . What was the reason for going to Iraq? Oh wait their are multiple reasons, why can't the government firmly decide on the reason as to which we are fighting? Let's take Bush's reasoning as to why we went into Iraq, for those who don't remember it was due to weapons of mass destruction. After we looked and looked and could not find any why was it that we went to war with them? Bush's actions could be found is a sense as terrorism. By no means am I saying that Saddam deserved to live, but to kill him in that way and infiltrate his country and kill his people was in a sense terrorism. Again, if the roles were reversed we as Americans would fight to the very end to save our country and people and in a sense that is what the Iraqi's are doing. Make no mistake I love my country but they have done wrong and it is time that it pointed out, Bush's actions killed hundreds of thousands of lives and yet he won't have to answer for them? How is this just, there is no way one can say that Bush was in the right to declare war on a country when the reasoning behind it is a false reasoning.

America by all means has a right to be brutal with Iraqi's, but not every single one of them only those directly associated with the actions that happened that September day. Bush's actions can be thought of as a terrorist act and yet he will always be known for fighting terrorism and not the lives he caused to die. America is a great and true country, but to think that are actions to certain things are just is just to far fetched.

Symbolism Within Flight 93

The effect of this movie can not help but to be felt by every American. Sitting back and watching a movie that portrays such a tragic event in U.S. history cant help but bring sadness to Americans. However, while watching this movie I noticed one thing that the producer used within the film, and this is symbolism. It can be seen in the passengers aboard Flight 93.

When viewing the reactions that the passengers aboard Flight 93 had you can't but see that they symbolize America and how it acts to terrorist. When those people lives were in danger and threatened they stood up for themselves and did everything they could to try and stop the inevitable. When it seemed as there was no hope they fought back against the enemy and tried to obtain an outcome that would allow them to save their lives and not die that day. When America is pushed they always push back and in the actions that those passengers took that day they symbolize how America truly is.

I also believe that the producer tried to symbolize the whole Islamic religion as a corrupt religion in how he portrays the reactions of the terrorist upon the plan. When the terrorist took over the cock pit and it came across the scanner that 2 planes had hit the trade centers, the pilot said our brothers have completed their mission now its our turn. This statement shows heartlessness in the sense that why would someone be happy with the killing of many and what religion would condone such a tragic act. Also, when the co-pilot ran and told the other two about the planes, they were all giving praise to God and rejoicing. How could a God be happy with a massive killing of individuals? The last thing that stuck put to me was when the co-pilot asked if they were going to make it to the capitol and the pilot said " God willing we will make it." Does the Islamic God hope people with killing innocent civilians? In these ways I believe that the author portrays Islamic religion as a corrupt religion.

This movie caused Americans to relive that horrific day and the feelings attached to it. It also implied many cases of underlined symbolism to represent bigger things such as the Islamic religion or America in general. After watching this movie do you see any other symbolism portrayed within it? If so what is it?