THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: In Our Name

The Daily Telegraph ^ | February 15, 2003 | The Daily Telegraph

[Becki]

Good morning!

Why do I think 9-11 happened? This is honestly very difficult for me. It is a real struggle for me. I can understand differences, grievances, and honest struggles. I can understand wars, fought as wars. I can understand attacks on our Marine barracks as an act of war on warriors. But I simply cannot fathom that kind of depravity.

I don't think September 11 is unique except perhaps by scale. It would be on the scale of Pearl Harbor but even that was an act of war on warriors. Throughout history there are far too many examples of this kind of depravity. Usually they occur within borders as some despot decimates his own population or some faction seeks control. Sometimes they escape borders. And when they do, they must be stopped.

But when you boil all the meat off the bones, evil exists. You cannot hide from evil. It grows and spreads and feeds off what it destroys. It's like lava, oozing everywhere and leaving charred remains in its wake. Evil must be faced, resisted and conquered. If not, it absorbs you, and you become part of it. You become complicit in its actions. I believe we are facing evil. Only evil can take such pleasure in so much pain and grief.

Why did September 11 happen? The volcano erupted, and now we must stop the spreading. There are a number of convenient excuses they rattle off, but even given the philosophical differences, in the end there is no sane justification for it.

I know this is long, but I hope I answered your question.

Take care.

Becki

[nwrep]

But when you stick your nose into a vipers den then expect to be bit. But answer me this. If a Serb started shooting congressmen at the foot of the Capitol building after a session would you wonder why he did it? Of course it is wrong but would you seriously wonder why after we bombed his country for 78 days from 15,000 feet, supported a bunch of Narco- Islamic terrorists, and destroyed and split his country from it's historic starting point? Do you think 9/11 was just becauuse they "hate our freedom"? Our policies have nothing to do with it?

Thank you for responding. I honestly think that we will be hated, despised and envied no matter what we do. You cannot be the most powerful, most successful and the richest, and expect to be liked and adored by people who are not powerful, not successful and not rich.

I don't think America is a perfect country. There has never been one, and there never will be a perfect nation. But America is the best that there has ever been.

[B Knotts]

At that time, there was a spontaneous wave of support for America that, in Britain, was almost unanimous - with the exception of some of the leaders of today's march.

Ouch.