Noam Chomsky's 911: American terrorism and military aggression

Chomsky's 911

Noam Chomsky's Book 911 and his view of Past, Present, and Future Impacts of American and other Terrorism

The well-known American libertarian sociolinguist Noam Chomsky ((Noam Chomsky, June 26, 2007) is the author of the bestselling book 911 (October 2001). Chomsky's 911 consists of interviews between various journalists, worldwide, and Chomsky himself about the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on American soil, the World Trade Center and Pentagon; and on America's military response to those. Chomsky sees these terrorist attacks on America, and the events leading up to and then away from them, as being indicative, in combination with the attacks themselves, of wider and deeper implications springing from America's undeniable historical and present military aggression (Chomsky, 911, 2001).

Chomsky's 911, which essentially argues that all planned and orchestrated aggression against groups, politically; religiously, or ideologically different is terrorism (2001) is clearly [and in this reader's opinion, more than a cut above] typically more 'mainstream' (indignantly or defensively pro-American; therefore anti-Middle East and/or Islam) literary works that have emerged from the West subsequent to the 911 attacks. This is especially true in the sense that Chomsky also sharply criticizes American-based aggression abroad; and not just the aggressions of Muslim or other religious or ideological extremists, as terrorism. Therefore, in Chomsky's view, America, yesterday and today, is equally if not more guilty of terrorism, and is in fact much more successful at terrorism than any of the various foreign groups it calls "terrorist" (911) equally if not more so due to America's greater size and military strength. Therefore, in order to interrupt the continuing terrorist dialectic in today's world, America must become less militarily aggressive and imperialistic, and also more tolerant of non-American world views. Only then will what Americans call terrorism (never including itself as a terrorist entity) lose its core incentive: to terrorize U.S. interests here and worldwide.

Author Biography

The world-renown, politically leftward-leaning sociolinguist Noam Chomsky, who as of 2007 has now taught steadily at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for 52 years (Noam Chomsky, June 26, 2007), was born Avram Noam Chomsky on December 7, 1928, making him 78 years old today (Noam Chomsky, June 26, 2007). Chomsky received his Ph.D. In linguistics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1955. That same year he began teaching at MIT, and gained tenure in MIT's Modern Languages and Linguistics department (now called the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy) (Noam Chomsky) in 1961, at age 32. Chomsky remains today the Institute Professor Emeritus of linguistics at MIT (Noam Chomsky; Barsky 1997). Since 1949, Noam Chomsky has been married to a fellow linguist, Carol Schatz (Barsky). Chomsky's wife (of now almost 60 years) also comes from a similar Russian Jewish background. The two have known one another, their families having been friends in Philadelphia, nearly all their lives (Barsky). The Chomskys have three children, "two daughters, Aviva (b. 1957) and Diane (b. 1960), and a son, Harry (b. 1967)" (Noam Chomsky).

Noam Chomsky's intellectual and theoretical genius is most famously recognized based on his ground-breaking theory of generative grammar, which holds that grammar must be studied as "a body of knowledge possessed by language users" (Noam Chomsky, June 26, 2007). As the article Noam Chomsky also suggests: "His naturalistic approach to the study of language has also affected the philosophy of language and mind is also credited with the establishment of the Chomsky hierarchy, a classification of formal languages in terms of their generative power." But Chomsky is known also (and likely more well-known today, generally) as a left-liberalist philosopher; human rights activist; lecturer, and author of numerous books; articles; essays, speeches, and other writings and communications about myriad, eclectic subjects inside and outside linguistics (Barsky, 1997), but especially world politics.

Noam Chomsky, who would one day also become (and still is) the most quoted scholar in the world (Noam Chomsky, June 26, 2007) was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to brilliant Jewish intellectual parents, both of whose respective influences on him, intellectually and as a future humanist, were enormous (Barsky, 1997). Chomsky's father, William (Zev) Chomsky, a Russian immigrant, was in his own time a distinguished professor and renowned scholar of grammatical structures of the Hebrew language (Noam Chomsky). Chomsky's mother, Elsie Simonofsky Chomsky, also came from a Russian Jewish family that had immigrated to the United States, although Chomsky's mother herself was born in America and grew up in New York (Noam Chomsky, June 26, 2007).

Noam Chomsky's MIT biographer, Robert Barsky (Noam Chomsky: A life of dissent, 1997) suggests that, while Noam Chomsky was very influenced in childhood by his mother's liberal attitudes and strong social conscience, and inherited her shyness and self-containment; it was actually his father who more directly influenced his future academic and professional career as a linguist. Noam Chomsky has only one sibling, a younger brother, David. David Chomsky became a medical doctor, and in fact still practices medicine in Philadelphia today (Noam Chomsky, June 26, 2007).

Both of Chomsky's parents were well-respected members of Philadelphia's Jewish community, and both were also known for the liberal and tolerant world view they shared. Barsky (1997) notes: "The entire Chomsky family was actively involved in Jewish cultural activities and Jewish issues, particularly the revival of the Hebrew language and Zionism" (Noam Chomsky: A life of dissent, p. 21). In addition, "According to the Arts and Humanities Citation Index in 1992, Chomsky was cited as a source more often than any other living scholar during the 1980-1992 time period, and was the eighth most cited scholar in any time period (Noam Chomsky). Nowadays Chomsky is perhaps best known for being an outspoken critic of American foreign policy abroad, the subject, in a more narrow sense, of his 2003 book on world terrorism as reflected by the terrorist attacks on American soil on September 11, 2001. Chomsky's outspoken political activism has also increasingly made him a controversial figure and a lecturer in continuously high demand (Barsky; Noam Chomsky)

Essay

In his politically and culturally controversial book 911 (October 2001), Noam Chomsky defines terrorism (using the U.S. Army's own definition of it (see Noam Chomsky, June 26, 2007) as being any organized aggression on the part of one or more groups, aimed at committing acts of violence against another group or groups, based on ideological; political; and/or religious differences. In this sense, Chomsky suggests that if entities like Al Qaeda are terrorist, so, too, is the American military. If Al Qaeda's political organization contributes to terrorism; so, too, Chomsky holds, does that of America's government.

According to the New Yorker, on Chomsky's 911:

9-11' was practically the only counter-narrative out there at a time when questions tended to be drowned out by a chorus, led by the entire United

States Congress, of 'God Bless America.' It was one [sic] of the few places where the other side of the case could be found; and intelligent patriotism entails knowing the arguments you have to answer. and, outlandish as it may seem to most Americans today, it is possible that... Chomsky's interpretation will be the standard among historians a hundred years from now. (November 20, 2001)

Since the time of its initial, mainly negative reviews, Noam Chomsky's sharply critical appraisal of America's hegemonic military endeavors, in the form of what Chomsky calls terrorism, as much so as similar aggressive acts anywhere else, by anyone else, may have (as a result of the now-protracted Iraq War and its lack of any resolution yet in sight, perhaps come into its own. For example, with no weapons of mass destruction (America's supposed reason for invading Iraq) found in Iraq; combined with the fact of the now hugely unpopular George W. Bush Presidency, based on the war's length and failure; and Bush's stubbornness about withdrawing American troops, Chomsky's major point within 911, that American military might and bullying of others abroad has to do more with economic self-interest than anything else, has perhaps now come into its own in ways nearly unimaginable by the American public, overall, in fall 2001.

Within his review of the film Power and Terrorism, a 2002 documentary consisting entirely of a 74-minute interview with Chomsky on subjects similar to those covered in 911, Turan (January 24, 2003) states, of Chomsky and his views on terrorism:

Though he deplores the [911 terrorist] attacks, Chomsky believes they are historic 'not because of the scale but because of who the victims are.' Imperial centers,..., have traditionally been immune. Because he considers any violence against civilians to be terrorism, he views the U.S. As "one of the worst terrorist states in the world" and sees the World Trade Center attack as more or less a case of the chickens coming home to roost. 'We can't comprehend,' he says bluntly, 'applying to ourselves the standards we apply to others.'

Here, Chomsky suggests that, objectively-speaking; and in a way entirely non-inflected with national; ideological; or any other bias; the word "terrorism" in fact defines certain deliberate, violent actions and/or threats make and/or carried out against another, distinct, group or groups, due to ideological; political; cultural; ethnic; and/or religious distinctions of which the terrorist group disapproves.

Also, according to Chomsky, terrorist threats and actions produce fear (i.e., terror) within the population(s) targeted by terrorists (Pirates and emperors, 1986; 911, 2001; Power and terror, 2002; Hegemony and survival, 2003). Moreover, based on Chomsky's (and before Chomsky's, the U.S. Army's), definition of terrorism; America itself, like (for instance) Al Qaeda; Hamas; Fatah; the PLO, and other terrorist groups, vis-a-vis whom America insists on the moral high ground, is in fact more than such organizations' terrorist equivalent in terms of size and capabilities for damage, death, and destruction (see also Chomsky (2002) Pirates and emperors).

In addition, according to the article "Noam Chomsky" (June 26, 2007):

In response to U.S. declarations of a War on Terrorism in 1981 and 2001,

Chomsky has argued that the major sources of international terrorism are the world's major powers, led by the United States. He uses a definition of terrorism from a U.S. Army manual, which describes it as, 'the calculated use of violence or the threat of violence to inculcate fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological' [emphasis original].

When America invaded Afghanistan subsequent to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Chomsky stated the following month, within his newly-published book 911 (October 2001): "Wanton killing of innocent civilians is terrorism, not a war against terrorism" (9-11, p. 76), obviously, deliberately criticizing the American government's first, immediate counter-response to the terrorist attacks on our soil.

Similarly, in the documentary film Power and terror: Noam Chomsky in our times (2002).

In that film, Chomsky is interviewed at length on the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Within on-camera interviews, Chomsky offers his analysis of how and why America's military aggressiveness abroad, specifically including United States political/military invasions that long preceded the 911 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, objectively constitute terrorism. America itself is oblivious to and/or in denial of that fact, Chomsky observes.

As examples of what he considers to be American terrorism; Chomsky mentions the Vietnam War and more recently, America's bombings of Grenada; Libya; Iraq. Chomsky further points out America's role, beginning August 2, 1990 and lasting about seven months before Iraqi troops surrendered, in helping oil-laden Kuwait drive out Saddam's invading troops, in order to protect not so much Kuwait itself as American oil interests there. Within this same film, Chomsky suggests that violent orchestrated actions, against civilian populations anywhere, including those perpetrated by the United States, amount to terrorism.

Further, Chomsky suggests (911, 2001; Power and terror, 2002) in terms of America's own international military policy and actions; the United States, today and in the future, would do well to hold itself to the same high standards: of ethics; morality and (as the U.S. perceives it) 'fair play' that America expects of other, especially ideologically disagreeing nations (e.g., Grenada; Chile; Iraq); rather than simply responding with military might at smaller, weaker, nations' unwillingness to 'comply' with America's own hegemonic world view.

Chomsky's underlying premise and arguments are arguably more difficult to convincingly refute today than in 2001 or even later. As the Iraq War drags on and everyday Americans continue to doubt what we are still being told about our nation's military and other intentions in Iraq and elsewhere, this may become more difficult still. Today, it is far easier to believe than in October 2001, that America's own acts of terrorism against other groups and nations, for reasons of economic world domination, actually led up to and caused 9-11. The result, instead of our having felt free as a nation, or in many cases even individually, to move on nationally (and in individual everyday life) from the awful day of the terrorist attacks (as a healthier, more confident and more secure society might have done) is that the specter of 9-11 hobble us still - psychically, culturally, and even physically (e.g., through intrusive surveillance; airport searches, etc.). Should American military and economic strategies and actions continue as they are, this will continue in the future.

Conclusions

Noam Chomsky's core arguments within his book 911 (October 2001) may still seem, understandably, extremely polemical. But now more then ever, they also appear astute, even prophetic. Chomsky's 911 is a brave if not a brilliant book. After all, within 911 Chomsky dares, even almost immediately after the 911 terrorist attacks, when most Americans were, figuratively-speaking, wrapped in the American flag and oozing patriotic fervor, to view the 911 terrorist attacks; American response to them; and terrorism generally, extremely differently than most, or than anyone else dared even if they felt similarly.

Today, moreover, as we continue failing in Iraq, Americans as a group may of necessity have turned more reflective and critical of government's handling of the botched war. Chomsky's provocatively left-wing take on terrorism within 911, America's included; will likely continue to rub many the wrong way. Still, the years since September 11, 2001 filled as these have been, and continue in mid-2007 to be; with military and other unfortunate (for America) outcomes, have perhaps made Chomsky's arguments, if not entirely convincing even now, at least more viable than in the past.