Sobran on Terrorism

Joe Sobran ^ | September 11, 2001 | Joe Sobran

[Arthur McGowan]

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[Breaker quote: Why should anyone want to hurt us?]

  It was predictable. For years I've been writing that
the U.S. Government has been making more enemies than
Americans really need, all over the globe, and that one
of these days some of them would have a nasty surprise
for us.

  In fact it nearly happened a few years ago, when
Islamic radicals tried to blow up the World Trade Center.
But of course they made a botch of it and got caught.

  This time, though, someone pulled off what must have
been an extremely cunning conspiracy, a criminal feat for
the ages. They managed to execute a secret plan calling
for four simultaneous hijackings of airplanes. Those who
committed these coordinated deeds -- in spite of all
security measures -- also had the determination to die in
hitting their targets.

  This wasn't "terrorism." This was war. It wasn't a
random attempt to scare people with an arbitrary
atrocity, like the bombing of a pizza joint; it was a
serious attempt to kill as many people and do as much
material damage as possible at two strategic targets, the
World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

  But, as I write, hours after the attacks, we don't
know who is at war with us. We may never know. Who has
reason to hate this country? Only a few hundred million
people -- Arabs, Muslims, Serbs, and numerous others
whose countries have been hit by U.S. bombers.

  Imagine hating a country so much that you were
willing to cross an ocean and carry out an elaborate
revenge against its people, killing yourself in the
process. This is something far more than the sort of
ideological anti-Americanism that leads student mobs to
throw stones at U.S. embassies abroad; that's kid stuff.
This is an obsessive, fanatical, soul-consuming hatred.

  Foreigners aren't quite real to Americans, and most
Americans are unaware of how profoundly their government
antagonizes much of the human race. We are easy-going
people who generally have no idea how bullying we seem to
foreigners. Until now, we have had no experience of what
the U.S. Government has so often inflicted on others.
Now, at least, we have an inkling of what it feels like.

  Government spokesmen have responded with their usual
cant of "cowardly attacks" by "terrorists" who "hate
democracy and freedom." Rubbish. A fanatic who is ready
to die is the opposite of a coward, and nobody can "hate"
such abstractions as "democracy and freedom" with that
kind of intensity.

  It's dangerous to belittle your enemy, especially
when his courage and cunning have already proved as
formidable as his hatred and cruelty. The first question
you should ask about your enemy is why he is your enemy
in the first place.

  You may be deluding and flattering yourself if you
assume he hates you for your virtues. But our "leaders"
assure us that our enemies are unnaturally evil people
who hate us only because we are so wonderful. And they
manage to utter this nonsense with an air of tough-minded
realism.

  True realism, on the other hand, doesn't mean
blaming Americans for bringing these horrifying and truly
evil acts on themselves. It does mean trying to imagine
alien perspectives from which our government's conduct
might appear so intolerable that some people might be
driven to take atrocious revenge.

  "To understand all is to forgive all," says the
French aphorism. Not true. But understanding all can at
least teach you how to avoid making enemies, and avoiding
making enemies is the best defense -- better than a $300
billion "defense" budget that didn't defend the World
Trade Center.

  The great director Jean Renoir was once asked why
there were no villains in his films. He answered simply:
"Everyone has his reasons." Your bitterest enemy may have
his reasons for hating your guts. You may not think they
are good or sufficient reasons, but you'd better take
them into account. If he has any brains, he may find a
way to hurt you.

  The United States is now a global empire that wants
to think of itself as a universal benefactor, and is
nonplussed when foreigners don't see it that way. None of
the earlier empires of this world, as far as I know,
shared this delusion; the Romans, the Mongols, the
British, the Russians and Soviets didn't expect to rule
and to be loved at the same time. Why do we?

[Denver Ditdat]

It does mean trying to imagine alien perspectives from which our government's conduct might appear so intolerable that some people might be driven to take atrocious revenge.

Perhaps those who would take such revenge will soon have a new standard of American action to use as a measure.

If they think that they have seen what a united and angry America can offer up in the way of "intolerable" conduct, then do not know their history well.

We are capable of serving up retribution in Biblical proportions. Only one nation in the history of the world has experienced it, though there may soon be another.

Someone may soon regret opening this particular can of worms.

[Arthur McGowan]

I'm sorry that you so completely failed to grasp the meaning of Sobran's column.

[VeritatisSplendor]

Good post, Arthur.

By the way, the American news media has not reported any statements from the Pope. Do you know where I would find such statements online?

[Arthur McGowan]

I'm sure that anything th Pope says will be at http://www.ewtn.com

[Arthur McGowan]

I predict that the Pope will oppose what happened in NYC and Washington.

[Illbay]

Make no mistake about it, part of this is the inevitable result of allowing that hick-with-a-*ick from Arkansas to run our foreign policy for eight years, bombing aspirin factories and getting involved in that mess in the Balkans where NO ONE was the good guy and EVERYONE came out of it hating us equally.

Now we're in it up to our necks, and we're going to have to finish what Mr. Clinton started.

If you even TRY to make this point to a liberal he will hoot and scream at you and try to shut you up. But I believe it is the indisputable TRUTH.

[CommiesOut]

World in shock, disbelief at US attacks

[The_Expatriate]

Finally, a breath of the fresh air of reason! While the 'who' and the 'what' of these attacks are certainly questions of primary importance, we must not lose sight of the 'why' if we seek to prevent future attacks. Simply bombing those responsible (if and when we discover their identity) will not in and of itself deter future attacks; indeed, without a change in US foreign policy, the US counterattack will do no more than give the next bunch of terrorists more justifications and more martyrs for their cause.

[The_Expatriate]

Make no mistake about it, part of this is the inevitable result of allowing that hick-with-a-*ick from Arkansas to run our foreign policy for eight years...

Without question Herr Clinton has done more than his share to fan the flames of anti-Americanism, but I don't think you should let Congress off the hook for its complicity in Clinton's foreign adventures.

[Romulus]

I'm sick with fear that, having feasted on the blood of their secular enemy, these killers will have a go at the biggest religious target available: Vatican City.

[Theresa]

"It does mean trying to imagine alien perspectives from which our government's conduct might appear so intolerable that some people might be driven to take atrocious revenge."

He's right.

[Aric2000]

He may not have grasped what Sobran was saying, but he speaks for a majority of Americans. We will have revenge, and we will destroy ALL who dare attack us.

We may have done some stupid stuff with our foreign policy under Clinton, but Bush IS NOT Clinton. I believe our foreign policy will change, but AFTER these cowards, YES, cowards, have their backers so devastated, that NO ONE will ever try something like this again!!

Vengeance should be ours, and if Bush is as pissed as I think he is, it will be!! Watch out there taliban, we're coming for you!!

[neutrino]

We are capable of serving up retribution in Biblical proportions. Only one nation in the history of the world has experienced it, though there may soon be another

Exactly. And it's time to do it. Sobran would have us tuck tail and whine to the terrorists - "Oh, please, Mr. Terrorist, please don't hurt me any more. But if you must, it's OK. We did bad things in the past.". No! Smash them down, hard - they don't like the nice America? Give them an America to fear.