Date: Fri, 05 Oct 2001 10:32:45 +1100
Subject: Re: Different approach to terrorist threat


In the best of all possible worlds, the best of all possible governments
would promptly execute pre-determined procedures to ameliorate a tragic
event and prevent a recurrence.

On September 11, firemen and police ran into a hellish conflagration, saved
thousands of lives, lost hundreds of their own.

Six days after the event, Sontag meditates on history and the future while
an anguished citizenry prays for deliverance from impending horror.

Democratic debate in a burning town hall is impossible.

Two decades of terroist  disasters, from the failure of Carter, the lives
lost in Beirut by an inept  Reagan Administration, civilians killed in
hi-jacked planes, kidnapped hostages held for years in the mid-east, and the
documented disasters under Clinton,  were insuffcient to arouse the public
to demand action.

One hour on September 11 changed the equation.

The public demands prevention now.  Changing the U.S. global presence and
long-term policy in the manner intimated by Ms. Sontag will have to wait.

Her courageous advocacy against the State terrorism of Milosevic was timely
and
contributed to a solution.

September 11 commenced a new conflict, absolute conviction of vulnerability,
a terrible urgency.  The government we have is our only weapon, we must
support it.

Hugh Bone>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

> > Let's Look Reality in the Face. By Susan Sontag
> Monday, September 17,
> 2001
> > (Le Monde )
> >
> > For a terrified and sad New Yorker, America never
> seemed to be
> further
> > away
> > from recognizing reality than facing the monstrous
> dose of reality of
> > Tuesday, September 11.
> >
> > The gulf which separates what occurred and what one
> should
> understand,
> on
> > one hand, and the sheer deception and self-satisfied
> nonsense peddled
> by
> > practically all the leading public figures of
> American life, and its
> > television commentators, is stupifying and
> depressing.
> >
> > The voices authorized to keep track of the events
> seem to be joined
> in
> a
> > campaign aimed at treating the public like children.
> Who has
> acknowledged
> > that it wasn't a matter of "cowardly" aggression
> against
> "civilization,"
> > or
> > "freedom," or "humanity," or the "free world," but
> an aggression
> against
> > the
> > United States, the self-proclaimed world superpower,
> an aggression
> which
> > is
> > the consequence of specific American actions and
> interests? How many
> > Americans know about the continuation of American
> bombings in Iraq?
> And
> > since we're using the word "cowardly," shouldn't it
> be applied to
> those
> > who
> > kill from high in the sky, out of the range of
> possible reprisals,
> rather
> > than to those who are willing to die in order to
> kill others?
> >
> > As for courage -- a morally neutral virtue --
> whatever one can say of
> > those
> > who perpetrated Tuesday's slaughter, they were not
> cowards.
> >
> > At all costs American leaders want to make us
> believe that everything
> is
> > all
> > right. America is not afraid. Our resolve is not
> broken. "They" will
> be
> > hunted down and punished (whoever "they" might be).
> We have a
> > robot-president who assures us that America always
> has its head held
> high.
> >
> > A whole range of public personalities, vigorously
> opposed to the
> foreign
> > policy of this administration, apparently feel free
> to say nothing
> but: we
> > are all united behind president Bush.
> >
> > We've been reassured that everything was going along
> well, or close
> to
> it,
> > even on a day marked by the stamp of infamy, and
> even if America was
> now
> > at
> > war. Yet all is not well. And this isn't Pearl
> Harbor. Considerable
> > reflection is going to be necessary, maybe it's
> being done now in
> > Washington
> > and elsewhere, on the colossal failure of American
> intelligence and
> > counter-intelligence, on the possible options for
> American foreign
> policy,
> > in the Middle East in particular, and on what
> constitutes an
> intelligent
> > program for military defense.
> >
> > But those in charge of official functions, those who
> wish to be and
> those
> > who have been in the past, have decided -- with the
> willing
> complicity
> of
> > the major media -- not to ask the public to bear too
> great a part of
> the
> > burden of reality. The complacent and unanimously
> lauded platitudes
> of
> a
> > Congress composed of one Soviet-like party appeared
> contemptible. The
> > unanimity of moralizing rhetoric, aimed at masking
> reality, poured
> out
> by
> > leading Americans, and the media, in recent days is
> unworthy of a
> mature
> > democracy.
> >
> > Leading American figures, and those who would like
> to be, have let us
> know
> > that their duty is only one of manipulation: to
> impart confidence and
> > manage
> > the pain. Politics, the politics of democracy-which
> involve
> disagreements
> > and encourage sincerity-have been replaced by
> psychotherapy. Let's
> suffer
> > together. But let's not be stupid together. A little
> historical
> conscience
> > can help us understand exactly what happened, and
> what might continue
> to
> > happen.
> >
> > "Our country is strong", they keep telling us. For
> my part, that
> really
> > doesn't console me. Who can doubt that America is
> strong? But America
> > should
> > not be only that.
> >  --- hbone <hbone-AT-optonline.net> wrote: > For what
> it may be worth,
> >
> > Harry Browne writes on the subject, more
> > installments to follow.
> >
> > http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=24787
> >
> >
> > Hugh
> >
> >
>
> ____________________________________________________________
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