September 13, 2001Posted on 09/13/2001 5:44:30 AM PDT by sendtoscott
Why Did It Happen?
by Rob Moody
Crisis is the rallying cry of a tyrant. ~ James Madison
As I followed the coverage of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Tuesday, a number of thoughts occurred to me. I have seen very little, if any, coverage of these items by the mainstream media:
The intelligence failure by the federal government was total and complete. The primary raison d’etre given for the State is that it protects us from those who would do us harm. But in this case, it couldn’t even protect the headquarters of its own protection agency.
The security failure by the government was total and complete. The government operates and provides security for virtually every major airport in America. How could four airplanes be hijacked in one morning? How much time, money and energy does the government spend searching passengers and luggage for drugs, cash and other harmless contraband when it should be looking for guns and knives?
President Bush said the federal government would find the perpetrators and punish them (the focus is always on retribution instead of trying to understand why it happened in the first place). But it seems that many, if not most, of those people are now dead. Bush said that freedom had been attacked and that freedom would be defended. I cringed when I heard those words, because they sounded like Newspeak. No, it was hegemony that was attacked, and freedom will be sacrificed to defend hegemony.
Hawks such as Senators John McCain and Chuck Hagel have already started beating the war drum, calling the attacks "an act of war" and "a second Pearl Harbor." Of course they’re an act of war; our government has been at war with other countries and peoples since the beginning of the 20th century. Only after a battle takes place on American soil do we realize this. "Hey, tonight’s baseball game has been canceled. What’s going on?" Of course, politicians love war since it always results in the expansion of state power. As Randolph Bourne said, "War is the health of the State."
I’m sure the neocon warmongers at National Review and The Weekly Standard are berserk with rage right now, and will call on Bush to nuke some Third World country, lest America be "humiliated" again like it was with China. Meanwhile, the unindicted war criminals Henry Kissinger, Sandy Berger and Richard Holbrooke called on the U.S. to "respond" by committing the same crimes they have committed.
September 11 was a black day for Liberty. I am extremely concerned that politicians will use these attacks as Hitler used the Reichstag fire to suspend civil liberties and consolidate his power. I can only imagine what kind of legislation New York’s senators – who happen to be two of the most tyrannical members of Congress (if Hillary were President, she would have already suspended the Constitution and imposed martial law) – will propose "to prevent something like this from happening again." As Claire Wolfe wrote on Tuesday, "They--Rudman, Hart, Gingrich, FEMA, the military, and all the creepy corporations who sell them their spy cameras, their bio-war supplies, their retina scanners, their metal detectors, and the other gear of the crushing Big Brother state--have been waiting for something like this to happen." Whatever Schumer & Co. propose – war, more police power, censorship of the Internet, gun registration – Congress will approve it so they can be seen as "doing something," and the American sheeple will gladly surrender what few rights they have left in return for their newfound "security."
Doesn’t this make the idea of spending $100 billion or more on a missile defense shield seem awfully foolish? It seems that individuals armed with knives and box cutters pose a more immediate threat. But the politicians will point to these attacks as proof that we need a missile defense shield more than ever.
What surprised me the most about the attacks was not that they were carried out, but that they were conventional in nature. For the last several years, I have been expecting a nuclear, biological or chemical attack on a large American city. If you thought there was panic on Tuesday (911 operators were flooded with calls, there was fear of a bank run, the price of gas shot up to $5 a gallon in some places, etc.), wait until they attack a city with Sarin or anthrax.
It seems to me that the vast majority of Americans reflexively want to "respond," presumably militarily, instead of trying to understand why this happened in the first place. As long as they can strike back with a few hundred cruise missiles, they’re not really interested in why they were attacked.
I was disturbed by the almost mindless jingoism I heard on Tuesday, which I last saw after the Gulf War. One veteran said this made him want to "re-up" (re-enlist in the military). Why? So he could be sent overseas by politicians to kill people he didn’t know, and perpetuate the cycle of violence? It is one thing to love your country. It is quite another to want to kill people who have never done you any harm. I now see how FDR could manipulate a populace that was much less educated and informed into wanting to go to war. One caller to a radio show described how a woman was standing on the side of the road, waving an American flag (Why?), and reiterated that this was "one country, indivisible." The talk show host responded by saying that everyone should fly an American flag every day anyway, and implied that a lack of patriotism contributed to the attacks. I submit that the truth is just the opposite. It is our unthinking, unquestioning patriotism that causes us to mindlessly support the politicians every time they want to bomb another country. The more patriotic we are, the more the politicians bomb, and the more the rest of the world despises us.
I have heard virtually no discussion about the motive of the attackers. It seems to me that it would be the key to understanding why this happened and preventing something like this from happening again. I don’t know which group is responsible, but given the way Palestinians were celebrating in the streets, I would not be surprised if it was a Middle Eastern group that was violently opposed to the state of Israel. Assuming that’s the case, why did they come halfway around the world to attack America? They attacked America because America has been attacking them on almost a weekly basis since at least the 1970s. From Libya to Afghanistan, we have bombed, shelled, invaded, occupied, sanctioned, embargoed, spied on, inspected and otherwise meddled in the affairs of virtually every country in the Middle East. The U.S. government has two basic policies for countries in the Middle East: either it’s giving them billions of dollars in aid each year or it’s bombing them; there is no in-between, no neutrality. They also attacked America because the U.S. government has been giving billions of dollars of economic and military aid to the Israeli government, which has used that aid to repress and kill Palestinians.
When will we learn to have, as Jefferson said, "Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none"? You reap what you sow, and on September 11, America finally reaped its bitter harvest.
September 13, 2001
Rob Moody [send him mail] is a financial planner in Atlanta and lives in Kennesaw, where every household is required to own a gun. He also edits Strike The Root.
I'm not the least bit afraid of the ideas of others. We need that. But there is a time and a place. Thousands have died, thousands of families and friends don't yet know if there loved ones are safe.
Our government IS being proactive, and from what I've seen getting some pretty darn good evidence and that right soon. We don't know that our government WILL take military action, or at least to what extent.
Let our President and the government do their jobs. Analyze later. But for now (emphasis on the now), we should all remember what our mommas taught us, "If you don't have anything good to say, don't say anything at all."
American intellegence failed... oh me oh my ! Liberatarians who speak so fondly of American rights to pretty much do whatever we please under the law without being bugged seem to think that we should have KGB ?
Hi Kanada . I've got adoption papers for you !
Cheese.
Typist will soon be found in bed .
"The intelligence failure by the federal government was total and complete." Okay, why was that? While I think that it's unrealistic to expect intelligence to ferret out every evil act before it's done if you want to follow the roots of the failure go back to Frank Church. Don't take my word for it, do it yourself and draw your own conclusions.
"The security failure by the government was total and complete." Airport security? Hey, if anybody thought that airport security was more than something to irriate you and perhaps give you a false sense of security I have news for you, those poor folks at the "security checkpoint" aren't up to the task. Methinks that real security would have Mr. Moody screaming facism.
No dialog on motive? You haven't been paying attention Mr. Moody. I dunno where you've been but they've been saying what their motive is for a long time if you care to listen. It's still out there, spend a few minutes and find out for yourself. I hate to shock you, but their motive is that they want you dead.
I can't believe the stuff I'm seeing elsewhere about how we need to understand the motives of the attackers and get to the root cause of terrorism. They tried appeasement with Hitler. A clue for those not privvy to a "classic" education. It didn't work.
Oh no, didn't you know that all third world nations are honored to be bombed by our military for some superficial reason?.
The fact is that American's would rather not be bothered to ask the government the "Why's" until such time as it is too late, such as now.
---max
Undoubtedly these are contributory events, but the underlying hatred of the USA is based on that most useful (to Democratic and other demogogue politicians) of all emotions - ENVY. The Islamic fundamentalists hate us because they envy us. If we never intervened in any other country they would still hate us because they hate wealth. They hate accomplishment. They hate seeing success. Their hatred is based on the envy felt by the self-made loser for the self-made success. This is shown by the fact that their primary and most deadly attack was on the most visible symbol of accomplishment in the USA - the WTC. In this regard they are exactly the same as the supporters of Al Sharpton, Maxine Waters, David Dinkins, Yassir Arafat, the Clintons etc. These Democratic tyrants are marginally more subtime in their attack on success and accomplishment in that they want to destroy it via taxes rather than fire, but the emothion is the same.
Now as to whether the fundamentalists would hate us enough to kill 10000 innocents and kill themselves in the process is another story. My guess that without the constant stirring like Slick Willie's "wag the dog" attack on the Sudan, and our constant politically motivated (Jewish vote) support of Israel they may not have been motived to commit Tuesday's atrocity, but they would still hate us because we are what they are not We don't live in squalor. We have a few freedoms that the fed hasn't gotten away to abrogating (yet). Those who live in poverty because of their own stupidity and lack of ambition hate those who work to get ahead. You see it when you see who elects Democrats that promise wealth redistribution. You see it when you see who supports "reparations." Islamic fundamentalists are human. Their hate filled politicians manipulate the same base nature of humanity that the race-baiters and socialists use in this country to get and keep power.
---max
I am amazed that you managed to completely miss my point. It took some effort on your part, but you did it - congratulations. IF you had bothered to read my whole post you would have seen the words
"Undoubtedly these are contributory ... "In case you are hard of understanding, I'll paraphrase. There is no one reason for the attack. Our military stirring in every pot during the last 8 years is of course part of the motivation, but envy whipped up into frenzy is right up there with it. Many politicians all over the world thrive on power they get by stirring up the basest human emotions. All you have to do is look at our domestic crop to know that this is true.
This "oh, they just did it because they were pissed at us and, well, can you really blame them?" defense of the massacre Tuesday is bullsh*t! If being a prosperous and freedom-promoting people is considered provocation, what are we to do? Become barbaric radicals like them so they will leave us alone? Be understanding of a dictator's need to poison and muder his own countrymen? Stand by as an entire region drives in against a people who we believe have legitimate claim on the land they occupy?
It's clear that the most successful propoganda campaign ever executed was the behind-the-scenes one during the 60's and 70's by the communists that has turned out a whole generation plus of spineless Americans who continually criticize one of the only countries that allows its citizens the right to do so. They are so convinced that the government is not to be trusted at all, that every action and word from it is to be met with skepticism, and that America is ultimately responsible for the evils of the world because we happen to have the most influence in it.
Try sticking up for the United States once in a while...it sticks up for you all the time.
Given that I'd like to opine that regardless of that the current events were probably going to happen anyway. Simply an opinion, I can't prove it, but bear with me.
Why? Our founding document, radical 225 years ago, is no less radical today. What makes it special is it's promise of the "unalienable rights" of every person including "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." American's are not _obligated_ to give themselves to a higher purpose.
What seems to drive others crazy is that we don't see those persuits as a right, we take them for granted. IMO others see this as us being selfish and shallow. This is nothing new, this has been going on for decades. Ditto what appears to them as our lust for wealth (and perhaps the reason the WTC was a target). Money is still considered the root of all evil in many cultures.
It's not limited to those outside of the US. Yesterday or the day before I read a column (can't remember where) that we have lost the "safe and coddled life" we have enjoyed. "Coddled"? To persue what our founders considered our God given right? To be safe from insanity?
Our freedom is a threat to those that wish to control and nothing inflames them more than our model. It was bad enough when it was limited to the US but now millions and millions see us as the shining city on the hill. Nothing threatens tyrants and terrorists more than a concept that will destroy everything they wish to maintain.
Mix in some religious beliefs (don't take my word for it, check out the Koran, Jihad and infidels) and you have a pretty strong brew.
Again, I can't prove this, just like we can't prove that if the events you mention hadn't happened this wouldn't have happened, but I know absolutely that there are people that created events that I don't understand through a very, very long historical lens; Stalin and Hitler for two, other than the filter of wanting power and wanting to destroy.
I appreciate your consideration of these ideas.
Powerful word.
Since it IS WAR, can we expect to find TightSqueeze down at the local recruiting office later today? Maybe you'll get lucky and beat Bill Clinton there.
Me? I put MY 4 years in the USAF during the "thing" in Nam.
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