Little Eichmanns

Blowback—not the white stuff blowing into the back of your nose—but a political term, has become quite pertinent these days. Professor Ward Churchill wrote regarding the 9/11 victims in his work “Some People Push Back/On the Justice of Roosting Chickens”:

They were civilians of a sort. But innocent? Gimme a break. They formed a technocratic corps at the very heart of America's global financial empire – the "mighty engine of profit" to which the military dimension of U.S. policy has always been enslaved – and they did so both willingly and knowingly… If there was a better, more effective, or in fact any other way of visiting some penalty befitting their participation upon the little Eichmanns inhabiting the sterile sanctuary of the twin towers, I'd really be interested in hearing about it.

Now I understand his point. The terrorists hit the WTC and the Pentagon because those are the centers and symbols of American economic and military power. The Islamic Jihadis committed these attacks due to their hatred for America and everything it stands for—mainly the United States’ reckless and self-serving foreign policy which supports evil dictatorial regimes in the Middle East, starts wars when it wants to for oil profits and allows the starvation deaths of children, etc. American actions in the Middle East have led to such a violent response by the terrorists. Perfect example of blowback: CIA funds and trains Bin Laden in 1980’s in Soviet-Afghan war, then Bin Laden turns on U.S. in 1990’s and architects the 9/11 attacks. Did they expect that one? Well you can’t expect to be the big bully all the time without having your subjects strike back occasionally. That’s just common sense, something our stupid government lacks.

Now back to Churchill. Comparing some little stockbroker who worked in the WTC to Adolf Eichmann is quite a stretch to say the least. Eichmann oversaw the systematic extermination of Jews during the Naxi holocaust helping to direct Jews to concentration camps to meet the “Final Solution”. While Eichmann never personally committed the murders, he oversaw the bureaucratic network that resulted in millions of deaths. The stockbroker is no Eichmann. Neither is the guy who writes his check. Churchill seems to have gone off the deep end into some sort of lunacy. His argument was good for the most part until he denigrated the innocent lives lost on 9/11 by calling them Eichmanns. Yes he has the right to say this (freedom of speech) but his logic is pretty cruel (freedom to put your foot in your mouth?). Well to say the least this provided perfect fodder for right-wing pundits (O’Reilly and Hannity) to scream about. The media dug these writings up three years after they were written. Churchill faced blowback first-hand—he lost his position as chair of the Ethnic Studies department. Now the Colorado governor is forcing him to resign altogether from the University of Colorado. Maybe he’ll learn to be more careful next time he writes something like that again.