|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 819
old hand
|
old hand
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 819 |
It's obvious that this was an extremely well thought-out attack, with a 75% success rate (three of four hijacked aircraft hitting their targets). The question I have to ask is why? They struck at the symbols of US economic and military power, notwithstanding the horrific loss of civilian life, basically giving the US a bloody nose. Are these people protesting US meddling in their countries' affairs, as this country is wont to do far too often, or are they just trying to rule the world themselves? The former deserves genuine, thoughtful consideration by the US government; the latter deserves annihilation. Which, in your opinions, is more likely the case? Are there alternatives to these two possibilities? Those outside the US may well have insights that I, a citizen of the US, may not have, so I value all input.
Geoff
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409 |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379 |
<<Are there alternatives to these two possibilities?>>
Religious zeal. I suppose this could be considered a variant of the first.
Should the US rethink its foriegn policy? Yes. But this was an act of war.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
there is at least one other possibility, Geoff. to some religious zealots the WTC is a symbol of Jewish hegemony -- witness the 1993 bombing attempt. along with the obvious military significance of the Pentagon, this looks like an attack on the two great satanic evils of present-day Islam.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409 |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065 |
Well yes. As someone who lives in a predominantly Muslim country, I have to say that the reaction here so far seems to be shock and disbelief. Over and over again I keep hearing "It's like something out of a movie" and pity for those working or families and dependents of people working in the WTC, even ffrom people who normally take a somewhat jaundiced view of the US and its policies.
In the meantime, might I suggest that tempting though it is, we not speculate over who was responsible. Remember after flight 101 crashed into the Atlantic, there was a lot of speculation about Palestinian terrorists and it turned out to be an accident, and the man (I forget his name) who was falsely accused of the bomb at the Atlantic Olympics. Just imagine the consequences of retaliation against the wrong people or of people taking the law into their own hands as many are tempted to do after horrific news.
Bingley
Bingley
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 163
member
|
|
member
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 163 |
I would like to express my deepest condolences to the American people and to the human race because this has been an act against all humanity.
I am deeply ashamed about being a member of a species that can make things like that.
If one of their objectives was making us a little worse, at least in my case, they have succeeded. I am ashamed too about the thoughts of wild retaliation that keep churning on my mind.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981 |
>In the meantime, might I suggest that tempting though it is, we not speculate over who was responsible.
I agree.
Although there has been some news reporting of celebrations, the overall reaction, around the world, has been of horror at the scale of the atrocity and loss of human life. The WTC was home to many foreign trade organisations, and there is a diverse ethnic mix in today's USA. People of all races and religions must have suffered.
Adverse reactions have been shown on television but the power of the mob is very strong and, even with our relatively free press, we know we are not given all the information that is available. It is hard to imagine what it must be like growing up in one of the countries of the world, like the old Soviet regime, old South Africa, for example, where news reporting and even that which is taught in schools, is very, very biased. A recent interview with a woman who had been caught on film screaming at black people being bussed to school in Little Rock, Arkansas is an example of how we conform to the beliefs of those around us. She said that it was hard to believe that she had done such a thing but it was not just her view but those of the ministers, teachers and family around her. Who else do we trust? The news showed a woman screaming "Fenian Bastards" (no apologies for the quote) at catholic children going to school in Northern Ireland, only last week. It isn't only the extreme ends of the fundamentalist muslim world that displays such behaviour.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757 |
I think these thoughts are spot on. We give these inhuman bastards too easy a victory by descending to the depths of our natural anger. They, after all, are the ones who can only gain by a world made less rational, less humane, less careful and caring.
Cold and calculating reason is now required, and reprisals and preventative measures taken in the control of this reason. We coud have nothing better to guide us. Reason's opponents can have nowhere to hide from its light.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409 |
|
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,670
Members9,187
| |
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
|
0 members (),
149
guests, and
43
robots. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
