|
Making Sense Of It All
The Attack on America. Below are writings by people who are trying to think this process through. We would like to print any intelligent, insightful and appropriate essays, poems or thoughts. You can email your writing to me at: nwcitizen@fairhaven.com
On separate page: Coming to grips with terrorism Analysis by Paul de Armond PDF version
Monday, September 17
This was forwarded to me by four people who don't know each other. That is not the only reason it is posted. It is just plain good thinking.
Who has the belly for it?
I've been hearing a lot of talk about "bombing Afghanistan back to
the Stone Age." Ronn Owens, on KGO Talk Radio today, allowed that
this would mean killing innocent people, people who had nothing to do
with this atrocity, but "we're at war, we have to accept collateral
damage. What else can we do?" Minutes later I heard some TV pundit
discussing whether we "have the belly to do what must be done."
And I thought about the issues being raised especially hard because I
am from Afghanistan, and even though I've lived here for 35 years
I've never lost track of what's going on there. So I want to tell
anyone who will listen how it all looks from where I'm standing.
I speak as one who hates the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden. There is no
doubt in my mind that these people were responsible for the atrocity
in New York. I agree that something must be done about those monsters.
But the Taliban and Ben Laden are not Afghanistan. They're not even
the government of Afghanistan. The Taliban are a cult of ignorant
psychotics who took over Afghanistan in 1997. Bin Laden is a
political criminal with a plan. When you think Taliban, think Nazis.
When you think Bin Laden, think Hitler. And when you think "the
people of Afghanistan" think "the Jews in the concentration camps."
It's not only that the Afghan people had nothing to do with this
atrocity. They were the first victims of the perpetrators. They would
exult if someone would come in there, take out the Taliban and clear
out the rats nest of international thugs holed up in their country.
Some say, why don't the Afghans rise up and overthrow the Taliban?
The answer is, they're starved, exhausted, hurt, incapacitated,
suffering. A few years ago, the United Nations estimated that there
are 500,000 disabled orphans in Afghanistan--a country with no
economy, no food. There are millions of widows. And the Taliban has
been burying these widows alive in mass graves. The soil is littered
with land mines, the farms were all destroyed by the Soviets. These
are a few of the reasons why the Afghan people have not overthrown
the Taliban.
We come now to the question of bombing Afghanistan back to the Stone
Age. Trouble is, that's been done. The Soviets took care of it
already. Make the Afghans suffer? They're already suffering. Level
their houses? Done. Turn their schools into piles of rubble? Done.
Eradicate their hospitals? Done. Destroy their infrastructure?
Cut them off from medicine and health care? Too late. Someone
already did all that.
New bombs would only stir the rubble of earlier bombs. Would they at
least get the Taliban? Not likely. In today's Afghanistan, only the
Taliban eat, only they have the means to move around. They'd slip
away and hide. Maybe the bombs would get some of those disabled
orphans, they don't move too fast, they don't even have wheelchairs.
But flying over Kabul and dropping bombs wouldn't really be a strike
against the criminals who did this horrific thing. Actually it would
only be making common cause with the Taliban--by raping once again
the people they've been raping all this time
So what else is there? What can be done, then? Let me now speak
with true fear and trembling. The only way to get Bin Laden is to go
in there with ground troops. When people speak of "having the belly
to do what needs to be done" they're thinking in terms of having the
belly to kill as many as needed. Having the belly to overcome any
moral qualms about killing innocent people. Let's pull our heads out
of the sand. What's actually on the table is Americans dying. And not
just because some Americans would die fighting their way through
Afghanistan to Bin Laden's hideout. It's much bigger than that
folks. Because to get any troops to Afghanistan, we'd have to go
through Pakistan. Would they let us? Not likely. The conquest of
Pakistan would have to be first. Will other Muslim nations just stand
by? You see where I'm going. We're flirting with a world war between
Islam and the West.
And guess what: that's Bin Laden's program! That's exactly what he
wants. That's why he did this. Read his speeches and statements.
It's all right there. He really believes Islam would beat the west.
It might seem ridiculous, but he figures if he can polarize the world
into Islam and the West, he's got a billion soldiers. If the west
wreaks a holocaust in those lands, that's a billion people with
nothing left to lose, that's even better from Bin Laden's point of
view. He's probably wrong, in the end the west would win, whatever
that would mean, but the war would last for years and millions would
die, not just theirs but ours. Who has the belly for that? Bin Laden
does. Anyone else?
Tamim Ansary
Saturday, September 15
Some thoughts I wish to share with my neighbors
George F. Drake, Bellingham
I have followed the news of these two days with wet eyes and deep emotions. To me the views of downtown NYC look like the Seoul, Korea I knew back in 1952 after the armies of North Korea, China, South Korea and the US had gone through it four times. The horror, the destruction of life and property is beyond ones ken. In the Korean War the servicemen, in part to save their own sanity in the face of such inhumane bloodshed, took to trying to save the children. Check out my web site www.koreanchildren.org to get an idea of where I am coming from. The humanitarian compassion we are witnessing in NYC is akin to that same feeling of a need to prove that we are decent human beings and can go the extra mile to help those in need.
A decade later, while in the US Foreign Service, my office was blown apart by an act of terrorism in Colombia. Rushing to the scene of the devastation I met the governor, among other officials. He said, "Please do not take this personally. The US Cultural Center is a symbol that is the target of those who hate the US." I pointed out that I was not a symbolic father and husband and did not appreciate the attempt on my life. Real people occupy symbolic targets, as we are so aware of in NYC.
Over the years in many parts of Latin America I found myself in positions where I was accepted as "a friend representing the common people of the US but not the government." As such I became very much aware of the deep hatred of the US government in many circles and for supposedly very legitimate reasons. As a sociologist I studied the ways in which the local oligarchy infiltrated and co-opted organizations of the poor and the left to ensure that there would be no organized pressure for social change. I had full access to the files of the Mano Negra (Black Hand) of Colombia (a right-wing group) and confidence of leaders of many Communist front organizations. I had long meetings with double agents of the right and the left and met with priests who cried over the injustices against the poor. Right or wrong, the poor hated the US and saw us as the friend of their oppressors.
The cries for social justice from the poor of Latin America have too often been equated with communism and suppressed by agents of the US government or by those who would pretend to be speaking for the government. I cannot speak about the Middle East, Africa or many other parts of the world. But I have over 50 years of experiences with some of the poorest of the poor in Latin America and I can tell you they do not love the United States. When natives I hired to help me when I was doing geodetic surveying in Guatemala went on strike for fifty cents a day wage rather than the twenty-five cents I was paying I agreed to the new wage. After all, a quart bottle of beer cost 25 cents and a dayís labor should be worth more than that. Three days later a soldier appeared at my camp and said the governor wanted to see me. So I drove to the state capitol and was informed "The local economy is based on a daily wage of twenty five cents. Pay it or leave." He didnít say "alive" but I fully understood. So I paid 25cents. Economic slavery I called it. Economic stability, they called it. And economic stability became equated with the needs of American investment capital. And the poor hated us for it.
When visiting with the Chuc Mayan natives who had just returned from exile in Chiapas a Mexican social worker with them told me of his companion who had tried to organize a weavers cooperative among the native women. She was gunned down by the right wing paramilitaries as a subversive agent trying to undermine the economic system. After all, how could the middle class merchants, often on contract with US or multinational companies, make a living if the natives wanted a just wage?
I can go on with many other examples of why we are hated by the poor of Latin America. Rightly or wrongly they blame their miserable condition on us.
Those who call for an understanding of why we, as a people, or rather as a nation, are hated so deeply are on the right track. I have long expected that the US would see large-scale terrorism on our soil. The act we witnessed this week boggles the imagination in its level of horror and we must track down the perpetrators and bring them to justice. This is for the short term. And in the long term?
Learn another language. Encourage our youth to travel in other countries by bicycle or by foot for six months or more. Encourage them to meet and spend time with the downtrodden, the poor, the natives and not just those who enjoy French wines in the Hilton hotels of the world. We need to develop an appreciation of cultural diversity and recognize the rights of all citizens of this world to be free of economic exploitation, political oppression, hunger or fear. We need to learn to listen to the "other" and truly try to understand their dreams, why they cry, and why they hate us. We need to learn to love one another regardless of color, religion, tribe, culture or social status. Only with such understanding shall we ever be able to find the road to peace in this world. Then we have to elect national leaders who think the same way.
I love America and I weep for those who died in this act of terrorism. I write this to offer the insight of one who also loves Latin America and weeps for those who die daily because of our insensitivity to their condition.
Wednesday, September 12
Can We Learn
A tragedy as inconceivable as the recent terrorism in New York naturally
demands justice. But there can be no justice commensurate with the
atrocity, just as there can be no justification for the act. There is only
the opportunity to practice circumspection and compassion, to evaluate the
cause and seek solutions. Hopefully we will humbly accept the horror we
cannot change and yet stridently hew to the principles it offends. Reaction
in kind can only extend the suffering. That would be wrong.
This is a chance to be bigger, to demonstrate a capacity for understanding
that underscores our beliefs in freedom and equality. As difficult as it
may be for us to accept and understand the justice for which Palestinians
clamor, they certainly would not struggle without cause and belief.
Ironically, similar complaints of injustice are the foundation of the
Jewish state of Israel. Throughout the ages, the currency of global real
estate has been genocide. Wrongs have begotten wrongs and wrought a history
overwhelmingly characterized by war, not peace. Maybe, by example, we can
make the difference in a world now uniquely capable of communication and
comprehension.
It is not as though we are without shame. Pursuit of U.S. "American
interests" have led to tens of thousands of civilian deaths even in Central
and South America. Testing a new atomic technology on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki may have helped end a horrible armed conflict, but the civilian
targets were unprecedented and resulted in the obliteration of two entire
cities and civilian casualties estimated around 200,000. Today, the Trident
nuclear submarine harbored in Puget Sound carries the destructive force of
well over 1000 Hiroshima's. That force can never be confined to military
targets. The horror to be potentially unleashed on civilians detached from
military objectives cannot be understood even by comparison with recent
events in New York. Those events by themselves cannot be understood. Where
does it all end?
It can only end when the age-old tactic of 'seize power, dominate and
exploit' is no longer accepted. It can only end with equal justice. Equal
justice should be our claim, our example and practice. The Pentagon and
World Trade Center buildings somehow became very symbolic targets
representing a serious flaw in our promise of global democracy to someone.
Our challenge is not to smite the disrespectful. It is coming to understand
the disrespect and learning how to make the bell of liberty ring true for
all. Then we can live with pride instead of fear.
- Tip Johnson, Bellingham
An Imagined Palestinian Voice on the Terror Attack
By Bernard Weiner
When I heard about the cheering that took place in Palestinian and other Arab
cities about the terrorist attack on the U.S., I was appalled, of course, but
wondered what kind of worldview could lead to that kind of chilling
behavior. So IÕve tried below to put myself in the place of Palestinian
zealots and see what might emerge that could possibly justify in their minds
the uncaring slaughter of innocents in the U.S.
If we can begin to understand the political and social soil in which this
terrorism grows, perhaps we can make more sense out of this situation, and
maybe even figure out how to react to those who wish us harm -- other than
simply engaging in slaughter of innocents ourselves. Maybe, out of the ashes
of this disaster, a renewed dedication to the Mideast peace process can
emerge, in addition to trying to find and punish the perpetrators of this
crime against humanity.
*****
An Ode to Terror
You ask why we cheer.
You say we are barbarians for cheering.
What you see as terrorism,
We see as holding a mirror to your eyes.
Your neo-colonialist country and its bloodthirsty ally Israel
Have terrorized us for decades.
Thousands of us have died,
Tens of thousands of innocents,
But we see no mobilization of sympathy on your part,
No rush to punish those who occupy our lands,
Kill our children who throw rocks,
Kill those who huddle behind their parents.
No giant move to help us win justice.
(True, Clinton did some, but ultimately got distracted elsewhere,
And your president Bush has simply walked away from the problem
of peace, preferring the more simple solution of war.)
Israel, in the name of its security, has become
Even more of a vicious, dangerous bully.
It has the big weapons and tanks and artillery and jets
(And maybe even an atom bomb).
And we have a few rifles and lots of stones.
And so we die, have our homes bulldozed,
Our villages razed,
Our economies devastated,
Our buildings attacked by missiles and set afire,
Our children slaughtered.
But your country does little if anything
Except to politely urge restraint.
Both sides have gone way past restraint.
As your own State Department has said,
By ÒhumiliatingÓ us weak Palestinians,
Israel courts disaster.
(And, your country, being the puppetmaster,
Guarantees that the war will come to your homeland.)
That is why we are cheering.
We canÕt take any more humiliation.
We have no big weapons.
So we will borrow your commercial jetliners
As our air force.
We have no bomber planes,
So we choose the kamikaze route,
Dive-bombing into your precious buildings,
Into your minds,
Into your hearts.
Do you get it now?
There is no sanctuary.
The Atlantic and Pacific cannot save you.
We are everywhere and nowhere.
We have untold martyrs in training, willing
To sacrifice their lives for the just cause.
Allah protects the weak,
And we are weak in the conventional sense.
But we are strong in faith.
Faith that ultimately your citizens and government
Will decide that, no matter how much you dislike us,
You will fear our craziness more,
Will fear our willingness to take the war
And chaos,
To your shores.
Then, you will demand a change in policy.
We would prefer to have all of our historic Palestine back,
But even we can see that will probably never happen.
But a just peace must be between two equals.
The current Israeli government is awash in blood
And will never have the courage (or the sense) to make peace.
But through our tactics and will,
We can change the political situation
To force a just solution,
With a large Palestinian homeland,
And a somewhat smaller Israel than currently exists
To brutalize us.
Do you get it now?
You and your president pretend you can ignore us.
By not engaging,
You put your heads in the desert sands
And hope weÕll just blow away.
But it is you who will be blown away.
Airplane by airplane.
Building by building.
Do you get it now?
Do we have your attention?
#
Bernard Weiner, Ph.D., is a poet, playwright, director -- the San Francisco
ChronicleÕs former theater critic -- and has taught international relations
at various universities.
Shattered Dreams and Unsung Heroes
We went to bed last night and we woke up and nothing will ever be the same. Our television brought us such images of death and destruction that have only been portrayed on movie screens, Not at home, Not in our backyard, Not Here, Please not Here in our Home Land. Not in the United States??!!... and then we listen to familiar voices - Tom Brokaw and Peter Jennings calmly trying to explain. What can Not be explained. A New York Skyline resculpted by a monsters plan; a shredded symbol, A Pentagon fortress bombarded, a plane hurled to a field by a brave pilot refusing to hit the DC target.........
As the images flash across the screen I am left with images in my mind of people trying desperately to reach those they Love, Firemen groping in rubble and smoke, Unsung Heroes who ran into buildings to help people because that's their calling. Nurses and doctors tending more people than they can count or hold,. Police trying to find order and calm panic....
Reporters and cameramen filming while running trying desperately to still get the truth out. I am struck with the realization that hours before, they had breakfast, walked their dogs, laughed with their kids... Hours later they may have been clutching perhaps a wallet photo and whispering "goodbye" and "I love you" into a cell phone..... Courage is found in the rubble and the dust, dark smoke doesn't cloud such bravery..... Rubble, ashes and paper falling like snow, like tears...... a deadly rain.......
Tonight my son is drawing superheroes with his friend and eating peanut butter sandwiches, and my dog is in the yard, and my cat is still pestering my canary in his cage outside in his cage under a blue sky, and the skies are so ominously silent. My husband is a flight nurse and I look expectantly at the skies, and for the first time Ever I don't want to see him flying , I want his feet on the ground. I am haunted by an odd coincidence - the date: 9-11,emergency.......
"So what do we now?", my son asks. It is a good question. Then he asks about people wanting Revenge, and I have to tell him that for this level of destruction and death that perhaps there is no retribution, that revenge doesn't measure out when there is such dark evil at work. We have to stay calm and focused, being careful not to judge what we can't understand.
So what do we do now?....... Perhaps we try to take care of each other, hug our kids a little harder, check on neighbors, give blood, and we pray and light candles. Be gentle to each other my friends and have hope. And remember days like these are full of unsung heroes that can be eclipsed by the tragedy of the moment. They are People just like You.
- Allie Cummings, Bellingham
Back to Top
Copyright ©2002 NWCitizen.com All rights reserved.
|