This is the text of a speech I gave today at the Castro's memorial to Mark Bingham...

the other victims of 9/11

by Tommi Avicolli Mecca

They’re the countless civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq who have been murdered (and continue to be killed) by American bombs or by American soldiers since the invasion of their countries by the U.S. and its allies. Though they possessed no weapons of mass destruction nor any ties to the attack on the twin towers in New York City, President George Bush and the overwhelming majority of Congress chose to unjustifiably reap revenge upon those innocent people.

They’re the orphaned children in Iraq and Afghanistan who now must be raised by family members or wander the streets alone. They’re the single mothers left without any visible means of support. They're the countless refugees who have been forced to flee in the wake of the overwhelming chaos unleashed on their countries.

They’re the victims of the toxic remains of the bombs and other weapons the American and ally forces have used against them. They’re the unknown numbers of people who have been made sick by the millions of pounds of hazardous waste from U.S. military bases that has been dumped throughout their lands and which will be left behind when our troops finally go home.

They’re the future victims of those awful chemicals: the babies who will be born with genetic defects, and the adults who will have to live with deformities or in constant pain for the rest of their lives. 

They're the U.S. and ally soldiers who suffer all sorts of strange ailments from exposure to the same deadly chemicals and waste materials, and who will no doubt be ignored when they complain that they are sick.  

They’re the many people who were racially profiled in this country in the anti-terrorist hysteria following 9/11. They did nothing more than look a certain way or believe in a certain religion, yet they were made to feel as if they themselves had flown the hijacked planes into the twin towers.

They’re the prisoners at Guantanamo (“the gulag of our times,” as Amnesty International once called it) who were, and still are, denied their basic human rights under the Geneva conventions. 

They’re the countless poor, homeless and working-class people in this country who have had basic human services and other safety nets cut because military/defense now eats up an outrageous 63% (a higher percentage than ever before) of the federal budget and the endless wars have cost America over a trillion dollars and counting since 2001. 

The forgotten victims of 9/11. Their blood is the same color as the other victims, but their lives have been deemed less important.