Henry Gómez: Elián's Return to Cuba Helped Elect George W. Bush and Saved Western Civilization In the Aftermath of 9/11, As Was God's Plan

In "Unintended Consequences," his tribute to 9/11 posted on Babalú, Henry Louis Gómez (he uses his full name only on "historically important" screeds), posits the original theory (we have to call it something) that it was God's divine plan to return Elián to Fidel Castro's crutches so that Cuban-Americans, spurred by this infamy, would provide George W. Bush with the extra 500 votes that he needed to win Florida and hence the 2000 presidential elections. According to Henry, God used Elián as an (expendable) vehicle to insure that Bush, not Al Gore, would be president on September 11, 2001.

Really? Couldn't God just send one of his earthly ministers to stuff 500 extra votes for Bush in the ballot boxes or hotwire one of the voting machines? Heck, He's God, isn't He? Couldn't He have ordained Bush's election without sacrificing an innocent boy in the bargain? Well, of course, God could have done anything. He could even have prevented 9/11. The Christian fundamentalists believe that He didn't stop it because it was His righteous judgment on America for its moral (read sexual) lapses. Henry is not so ambitious. He merely sees 9/11 as a God-provided occasion for George W. Bush to save America. And Bush couldn't have saved America unless Elián was first sacrificed on God's altar.

What Henry does not say is that he supported Elián's return to Cuba, which means that Henry is a Prophet, because he foresaw 9/11 and the necessity of sacrificing Elián in order that George W. Bush might be elected president seven months later and be able to save America on that faithful day.

Here is his whole deceitful and self-deceiving screed before it disappears from Babalú, as God will no doubt command the Prophet Henry to delete it; for it casts God as a child abuser and Henry as just an obedient servant doing his master's bidding. Perhaps God will silence Henry's tongue, smite him or beset him with hecatombs. Surely he is deserving of some punishment for penning this monstrosity of self-exculpation:



Unintended Consequencesby Henry Louis Gomez
September 11, 2001 was a normal Tuesday morning for me. I’m not usually an early riser and this day was no different. I wasn’t feeling well and decided to stay in bed a while longer and call my office later to tell them that I might come in later in the day, if at all. At about 9:15 AM my phone rang, it was my boss and good friend Jose asking me where I was. I explained that I was in bed, under the weather. He told me to turn on the TV, that a plane had crashed into one of the towers at the World Trade Center and that they weren’t sure whether it was an accident or an act of terrorism.

I turned on the TV and watched the images of the burning building. Then tower 2 was struck and all of a sudden this wasn’t just an accident. It was the end of the world. Like everyone else, I watched events unfold and heard the reports from the Pentagon and rural Pennsylvania.

Our country was facing a crisis and I was glad that the man at helm was George W. Bush. I remember thinking to myself that the Elian Gonzalez episode had not been in vain. At the time of the Elian affair, many felt that the boy had an unfulfilled destiny in the US. After all why had God spared his life when all who accompanied him were killed? But I believe that Elian being sent back to Cuba led directly to George W. Bush’s victory over Al Gore. A razor thin margin of 500 or so votes in Florida was the difference. A difference that may have not existed if many of us in south Florida had not made it a point to oppose the Democrats in that election.

To tell you the truth, my life has not changed all that much since 9/11. I wasn’t directly connected to any of those 2,996 who perished as a result of the attacks. My career has advanced; I live in a nicer house, etc. Of course the attacks changed my thinking and made me aware of the war that had been declared against western values. But for the families of those victims, life will never be the same. Working on the 2,996 project has been an incredible reminder of that fact. The course of our country’s history has been permanently changed. Hopefully our future leaders will keep our collective 9/11 experience in mind as the years pass. I know I will.

Question to the Prophet Henry: Was it God's divine plan also to have Val boot me from Babalú so that I could make Val's life miserable and yours? I think so.


POSTSCRIPT:

The Babalunians couldn't delete Henry's post because I had already reprinted it here, so they instead eliminated it from Babalú's front page (along with everybody else's recollections of 9/11) and consigned it to a link in a one-line post entitled "A Solemn Anniversary." They are wily. I will give them that.