Lecture will provide revisionist’s view of Sept. 11 attacks

June Casagrande

NEWPORT BEACH -- When looked at as a single day, Sept. 11 was a horror

so clear it united a country in overwhelming support for an armed

response, for patriotism, for one president’s campaign for justice.

But when looked at as a moment in history, says author and historian

Howard Zinn, Sept. 11 has a very different meaning.

“Americans are not given any historical perspective,” Zinn said.

“Americans are treated as if they were born yesterday and, to an extent,

they were, so you have no basis for understanding a situation like this

today. Authorities can explain a situation to you, and you have no basis

for questioning and understanding what they’re telling you.”

Zinn, a revisionist historian, will apply this perspective to the

events of Sept. 11 when he speaks in Newport Beach today and Saturday.

The Mexican War, the Spanish-American War, the Persian Gulf War,

Vietnam, he said, all shed light on the U.S. response to last fall’s

terrorist attacks. Each of those conflicts, he said, provide examples of

how the U.S. government has “deceived the American public about reasons

for going to war.”

The implications for America’s current war on terrorism, he says, are

telling.

“I call it the ‘so-called war on terrorism’ because I don’t think

that’s what it is,” said Zinn, who is author of “A People’s History of

the United States” and other works.

Instead, Zinn believes that the terrorist leaders who continue to

elude the U.S. military serve as a convenient excuse to establish a

strategic presence in Afghanistan.

But perhaps more important than what has come after Sept. 11, Zinn

said, are the factors that led up to it.

“That might enable us to understand why Sept. 11 happened,” he said.

“History shows us that reacting with violence is not the way to solve

this problem. The way to react to Sept. 11 is to sit down and look at

what precipitated that horrible event.”

FYI

WHAT: Professor Howard Zinn, author and professor emeritus of

political science at Boston University, will speak at the 2002 fifth

annual Martin W. Witte Distinguished Speakers Lecture Series.

WHEN: Saturday appearance is sold out; some seats may be available for

7 p.m. today.

WHERE: Newport Beach Central Library, 1000 Avocado Ave.

COST: $55 includes dinner and live music by classical pianist Alan

Terricciano.

TICKETS: Call (800) 200-7094, or visit www.newportbeachlibrary.org.