New York Times columnist Paul Krugman is being targeted for writing a blog post on 9/11 saying that the attack was used "to justify an unrelated war the neocons wanted to fight, for all the wrong reasons." CODEPINK cofounder Medea Benjamin was asked on Fox News to defend Krugman's stance. 

Commenting on his statement that "9/11 is an occasion for shame," Benjamin said: "9/11 was used to justify two unjust wars that have led to the death of over 6000 of our soldiers and hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis and Afghan civilians. It has been used to fund a bloated Pentagon budget that has fattened the coffers of defense contractors but has tanked our economy. And it has been used as an excuse to condone torture and indefinite detention, which has sullied the reputation of the United States worldwide. And that is a shame".

The Times is being pressured to fire Krugman for stating his opinion that 9/11 was used as a justification for individual profiteering and an unjust war. 

Conservatives who don't respect free speech--and the truth--are vilifying and threatening Krugman. Medea Benjamin and CODEPINK have been receiving hate mail and phone calls all day as a result of their support of Krugman.

This behavior is all too reminiscent of the immediate post 9/11 atmosphere that was exploited to take away our civil liberties. We will not be silent!

We stand with Paul Krugman and support his right to free speech. And we thank him for opening up a much-needed dialogue on these 10 years of endless wars.