Despite Ward Churchill’s misleading claims of “Indian” ancestry, one cannot argue with his well thought arguments and justification concerning the WTC attacks. The University of Colorado professor is under attack for specific statements in his essay directed at a particular class of people that died in the 9/11 attacks. The essay, “Ghosts of 9-1-1,” brings about some very interesting issues concerning the Iraqi death tally not limited to the 500,000 Iraqi children that have died within the last ten years.

In a subsection of the essay, “Trails of Tears,” Churchill wrote: “There were others present on 9-1-1, many others, beginning with the 800,000 Iraqi adults—the great majority of them either elderly or pregnant—known to have died along with their youngsters as a direct result of U.S. sanctions. This makes a total of 1.3 million dead in a population of under 20 million in the decade since the Gulf War supposedly ended. To these must be added another 150,000-or-so Iraqi civilians written off as ‘collateral damage’ during the massive aerial bombardment defining the war itself.”

Churchill’s use of the terms, “little Eichmann,”and “technocrat,” have many sympathizers of 9-11 outraged that anyone could justify the so-called “senseless” act that led to the destruction of the World Trade Towers. The term “little Eichmann” was used precisely to describe a particular class of humans that were occupying the towers at the time of destruction.

Technocrats of the Empire

The term comes from Adolf Eichmann, who was a Nazi technicians who oversaw a portion of the Jewish Holocaust. Though Eichmann wasn’t in direct agreement with the Jewish genocide, he ensured the smooth running of it. This “Eichmann” group is what Churchill calls “technocrats of the empire," those who functioned consciously under the umbrella of American financial institutions purely for their own personal gain.

Churchill stated in a Feb. 26 interview with Satya magazine: “The individuals who are perpetrators in one way or another, the “little Eichmanns” in the background—the technocrats, bureaucrats, technicians—who make the matrix of atrocity that we are opposing possible are used to operating with impunity. If you’re designing thermonuclear weapons, you’re subject to neutralization, in the same sense that somebody who is engaged in homicide would be, in terms of their capacity to perpetrate that offense.”

History Is Repeated

I advise members of the Native American community to pay attention to what Churchill is really getting at here, that the same genocide carried out against the Native American population is synonymous to the situation in Iraq. Considering that Palestinian and Iraqi children are being murdered via “collateral damage” directly or indirectly by the U.S., Americans shouldn’t consider themselves innocent, according to Churchill and the U.S. government’s own historical record of genocide.

Near as I can tell, there are a few factors at work in the Ward Churchill issue. First and foremost, the University Of Colorado Board Of Regents, and Colorado Governor Bill Owens are threatening his job. The actions of the university and the governor bring up interesting issues on free speech and censorship. Their goal is to fire Churchill from his professorship despite his tenure status. More importantly, they are trying to oversee what professors can and can’t say in order to stay employed.

On Feb. 3, Owens made this statement about Churchill: "I appreciate the fact that the C.U Regents have taken the necessary first step in the formal evaluation of Ward Churchill's employment status. However, I deplore the behavior displayed by some students at the Regents' meeting. Their abhorrent behavior underscores the culture of violence that can be spawned by inflammatory speeches and essays, such as those by Mr. Churchill."

Responses from Conservatives and AIM Grand Governing Council

Rightwing conservative Ann Coulter is bent on smearing Churchill’s character to hide the real issues his essay documents. The “Fox News” journalist is presenting her argument from a racist perspective. Coulter’s article entitled “The little Injun That Could (SITTING BULL-S***—Ward Churchill)” is just one of the articles displaying ignorance that the conservative and patriotic news media are spitting out on the web. The article, in a very infantile manner, seeks to dismantle Churchill’s allegations that the U.S. is completely innocent of any genocidal behavior. More importantly, Coulter’s articles should be disregarded due to the clear expression of racism in the title.

The American Indian Movement Grand Governing Council is calling Churchill (who is the leader of the Colorado AIM) a fraud and states that he is misrepresenting himself as a Native American by falsely claiming to be of Creek and Cherokee lineage. AIM is right; Churchill cannot come up with any real evidence that back up his claims of his Cherokee or Creek ancestry.

However, the statement that the AIM Council released in early February is inadequate: “Churchill’s statement that these people deserved what happened to them, and calling them little Eichmanns, comparing them to Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, who implemented Adolf Hitler’s plan to exterminate European Jews and others, should be condemned by all.”

AIM’s statement took Churchill’s statements completely out of context to infer the idea that Churchill directed the term at the entire population of the WTC at the time of 9/11, which isn’t what Churchill intended at all.

Other Historians Make the Same Point

Based on the nature of Churchill’s writings, it is clear he is not trying to harm the Iraqi people or Native Americans. Churchill is doing nothing historians from a variety of ethnicities, haven’t already done. Specifically Howard Zinn, author of “A Peoples History of the United States,” constructed an interesting image of American history from the perspective of the peoples who were victims of American expansion.

Though Churchill’s character is often criticized, his political ideology shouldn’t be overlooked. In an era when war is justified with words like “terrorist” or “religious fanatic” and romanticized with words like “freedom” or “patriotic,” one must realize that human life is at stake.

Bush’s current war is very similar to almost every other war the U.S. has fought. Just as First Nations of this hemisphere were called “savages” during the “Indian wars,” Others were dubbed “gooks” in Vietnam, “slopes” in Korea, and “Japs,” who we all know were the first victims of the atom bomb.

Related links to both sides of the Churchill issue:

http://www.kersplebedeb.com/mystuff/s11/churchill.html
http://www.aimovement.org/moipr/churchill05.html
http://www.newshounds.us/2005/02/01/fight_back_freedom_of_speech_under_attack.php#more
http://www.counterpunch.org/churchill02032005.html
http://www.colorado.gov/governor/press/february05/regents.html
http://www.anncoulter.com/
http://www.billoreilly.com/site/product?pid=18853
http://www.satyamag.com/apr04/churchill.html

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