Posted on 09/12/2001 12:31:51 AM PDT by ouroboros
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
By Harry Browne
© 2001 WorldNetDaily.com
The terrorist attacks against America comprise a horrible tragedy. But they shouldn't be a surprise.
It is well known that in war, the first casualty is truth – that during any war truth is forsaken for propaganda. But sanity was a prior casualty: it was the loss of sanity that led to war in the first place.
Our foreign policy has been insane for decades. It was only a matter of time until Americans would have to suffer personally for it. It is a terrible tragedy of life that the innocent so often have to suffer for the sins of the guilty.
When will we learn that we can't allow our politicians to bully the world without someone bullying back eventually?
President Bush has authorized continued bombing of innocent people in Iraq. President Clinton bombed innocent people in the Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Serbia. President Bush, senior, invaded Iraq and Panama. President Reagan bombed innocent people in Libya and invaded Grenada. And on and on it goes.
Did we think the people who lost their families and friends and property in all that destruction would love America for what happened?
When will we learn that violence always begets violence?
Teaching lessons
Supposedly, Reagan bombed Libya to teach Muammar al-Qaddafi a lesson about terrorism. But shortly thereafter a TWA plane was destroyed over Scotland, and our government is convinced it was Libyans who did it.
When will we learn that "teaching someone a lesson" never teaches anything but resentment – that it only inspires the recipient to greater acts of defiance.
How many times on Tuesday did we hear someone describe the terrorist attacks as "cowardly acts"? But as misguided and despicable as they were, they were anything but cowardly. The people who committed them knowingly gave their lives for whatever stupid beliefs they held.
But what about the American presidents who order bombings of innocent people – while the presidents remain completely insulated from any danger? What would you call their acts?
When will we learn that forsaking truth and reason in the heat of battle almost always assures that we will lose the battle?
Losing our last freedoms
And now, as sure as night follows day, we will be told we must give up more of our freedoms to avenge what never should have happened in the first place.
When will we learn that it makes no sense to give up our freedoms in the name of freedom?
What to do?
What should be done?
First of all, stop the hysteria. Stand back and ask how this could have happened. Ask how a prosperous country isolated by two oceans could have so embroiled itself in other people's business that someone would want to do us harm. Even sitting in the middle of Europe, Switzerland isn't beset by terrorist attacks, because the Swiss mind their own business.
Second, resolve that we won't let our leaders use this occasion to commit their own terrorist acts upon more innocent people, foreign and domestic, that will inspire more terrorist attacks in the future.
Third, find a way, with enforceable constitutional limits, to prevent our leaders from ever again provoking this kind of anger against America.
Patriotism?
There are those who will say this article is unpatriotic and un-American – that this is not a time to question our country or our leaders.
When will we learn that without freedom and sanity, there is no reason to be patriotic?
Harry Browne was the 2000 Libertarian presidential candidate. More of his articles can be read at HarryBrowne.org, and his books are available at HBBooks.com.
Your attempts to justify immoral acts are often the cause of our disputes.
Your opinion is SOOO in the minority.
Perhaps. But, it is no less correct.
We will never become the hermit neighbor in the neighborhood of the globe.
I'm perfectly capable of forming relationships with people abroad without your help or the help of the government. I do not require the nanny state to facilitate me dealings with citizens in other countries.
However, when the government commits violence against non-combatant civilians in other countries, and presumes to do so on my behalf, then we have a problem.
Well, I often wonder if picking them up and shaking them vigorously would help......
Unless their "night watchman" has been feeding them a total line of crap and has controlled them by force. In which case, our retaliation is only justifiable were we to take out the night watchman and his hired hands.
Taking out revenge on civilians who are not involved in any way, is simply wrong just as killing innocent Americans was wrong yesterday. (And will be tomorrow and the next day).
There are a few of us who know what heinous acts have been committed by our government and its NATO allies.
Those who we teach the truth (as the media simply will not do) sometimes react in a positive way to the truth, and others, like the warmongers we see here, simply refuse to accept the truth.
Jesus said "I will spew you out of my mouth" speaking of moderate fence sitters. I am betting you have a far better take on that message than I. But in some ways, I feel that prophecy is coming to fruition in a general sense if not a specific one.
Karma or the price for our sins, we are being warned. We had better listen.
How would you feel if China started funnelling arms and training to eco-fascist environmentalists in Oregon. Would that be ok? - Reponse? Blank stares.
But it's A-OK if we do it to others.
Side note... can someone point me to the Andrew Sullivan piece? I'd like to read it, but it keeps getting pulled before I have a chance...
I guess if one person is wrong, his opponant *must* be right?
Come on, AppyPappy, you know better than that. No one here is condoning this terrorist act. All we are saying is that the chances of this happening can be (or maybe could have been) reduced if our foreign policy had been (becomes) different.
I happen to agree with them, but I also believe that the people responsible for this must be brought to justice. I mean real justice and not a kangaroo court.
Tuor
People say how horrible this was -- and it *was* very horrible. But it was hardly anything to what would've happen, what may *still* happen, if a nuke were set off in any of our major cities. And, personally, I think there is a significant chance that at least one of our enemies has a nuke of some sort (probably a suitcase nuke).
Obviously, we must find and bring to justice all who were part of this attack. If those harboring our enemy refuses to give them up, then they must be made to do so. But only through justice, the rule of law, and under the gaze of God should we proceed.
America is, as it has always been, a far greater danger to itself than any outside force.
Tuor
When the policeman comes for your guns, Bibles, and churches what are you going to do? Will you defend freedom? Or will you hide in your bedroom and just pray so you can feel like you're accomplishing something without having to actually do anything. What did you do when the IRS seized that church in Indiana?
Your fellow Christian-haters just murdered 20,000 Americans...
No, your political ideology did.
The politicians you elected wrought this catastrophe upon us. I saw them all hudled together in a room praying this afternoon, pretending to be all concerned. They're a bunch of frauds like you.
...here's the L.P.'s lap-dogs trying to rationalize it and justify it.
No, not trying to rationalize and justify it. The LP has been opposed to interventionist foreign policy since its inception nearly 3 decades ago. It's not like we didn't know something like this would happen. It was only a matter of time. This is not the first terrorist attack against an American target. Just the first in the continental US.
Did you honestly believe that we could bomb other countries into submission with impunity forever? Without any retaliation?
Let's see another of your fine graphics which call Christianity evil. Bin Laden would approve.
My criticism of your political views are not an attack on Christianity. You remind me of people who shout racism everytime somebody disagrees with them.
Demidog is suggesting (and I agree) that the actions are morally equivalent.
This is not because he has no standard of moral judgment by which to compare these actions. It is because he does have a standard of moral judgment. And he is applying it in an equal and exacting fashion, as Scripture demands.
The US objected to Serbian reprisals against perhaps a few thousand Albanians (many of whome were militant radicals as the Serbians claimed, though Milosevic remains an immoral thug all the same); we responded by bombing that nation unmercifully.
Likewise, Bin-Laden's butchers are incensed against the US starvation of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi men, women and children (Don't imagine that this is all about Israel -- that's part of it, but US imperialism in the Gulf is certainly a greater contributor to muslim rage).... and they have reacted by targeting tens of thousands of American civilians for murder.
Well, unfortunately for them, the main reason the US government exists is to punish those who murder American citizens. I think that you'll find no disagreement whatsoever from the Paleos and Libertarians that, regardless of how we got here, that punishment must now be executed with extreme prejudice, lest the aggressors come to believe that American blood my be spilt without reprisal.
But once that retaliation has been executed, it does the War-Party Interventionists no good to pretend that it is not their empire-building which has resulted in this bloody wound on the American civic body. We will clean up the blood, and we will kill the aggressor. But it remains a matter of pure, undiluted Foolish Arrogance for us to continually make enemies we do not need.
That is no indication of any weakness of resolve to kill these enemies. Because they are our Enemies, they must be killed.
But it doesn't have to happen again. It probably didn't have to happen this time. We should only make the enemies we have to make. If we make enemies with reckless abandon, they will surely kill our people with abandon, and then we (absolutely necessarily) have to kill them in retaliation.
War is Hell. We should prefer to invite it as rarely as reasonably possible.
Olive branch?
Agreed. The preferred retaliation option at this moment should be the annihilation of the State and quasi-State elements actually responsible for this atrocity. Civilian casualties should not be sought; they will just be inevitable. I only observe that, in a "perfect" world, the Afghans could satisfy Justice by surrendering those responsible (or making every effort to do so).
That probably won't happen, of course, so it will get messy. That's unavoidable.
But this mess is not of the "America First / Peace and Republic" crowd's making, it is largely the legacy of the empire-builders (of both major Parties). This is their bastard; they should proudly own up to their paternity.
They won't, of course.
You are correct in that the first duty of government is to protect its citizens. By all means some retaliation is in order. I don't believe anybody is saying otherwise.
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