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Posted September 17, 2001
Innocent People
Many innocent people died today [September 11] in this tragedy, and I hope this day might serve as a time for this nation to get its priorities in order, if nothing else.
We have a military with many of its families on food stamps because of the past policies of this government, yet they still serve their country with honor while its politicians are concerned with little more than spotted owl protection and global warming. I wonder if gun control was a major interest of the citizens of New York today, or I wonder if clean air and water was their concern.
How many times have I heard in the last year or so that "There are no major threats to this country anymore, due to the fact that the Cold War is over." Well; if anyone has any doubts about it after today, I urge them to consider it the next time they think we should cut the defense budget. I have heard a lot of chest thumping today from a generation that spat upon returning Vietnam War veterans, and yet I haven't heard one of them say they are ready to walk into a recruiter's office and sign their name on the dotted line for military service. To this generation that loves to talk the talk, someone has to walk the walk.
~ James Pilkington, Sonora, California
The "Backtalk" editor replies:
America's huge defense budget helped create Muslim terrorism, both by directly funding it in Afghanistan and the Balkans, and by creating widespread resentment of the United States. Bin Laden and other power-mad Arab leaders can easily recruit Saudis who want to rid their country of foreign troops; Iraqis whose relatives have been killed by "sanctions of mass destruction"; Palestinians, whose enemy has been armed by the U.S. Government; Sudanese, whose country's main source of medicine was blown up; etc. – and other Arabs and Muslims who identify with them.
It's interesting to note that all of these actions by the United States Government contradict the foreign policy advice that George Washington gave in his farewell address. The quality of the American elite seems to have declined.
The Real Story
...America,
once the hope of the world has now come to represent the
Evil Empire to millions. ...Americans have become so
arrogant, so callous, so mindless, they know the US
Government is lying all the time about everything. Yet
the average American has chosen not to concern himself,
not to think about what our military is doing around the
world, destroying people's lives, as if we could be impervious,
like gods on Mt. Olympus, forever. What did Americans
think it was like being bombed night and day by hundreds
of planes in Iraq and Serbia? Did they think at all?
Most I am afraid have preferred to believe the TV talking heads and newspaper spinmeisters.
Thank you AntiWar.Com for being the one real beacon. The first place that I and so many others turn to for the real story. Justin you are absolutely right, you've been saying it all along. I only wish they would print your opinions in the Washington Post, etc. Maybe then I would start buying it again.
Golden Rule
Jefferey Rhody, ["National Tragedy," September 12] and, no doubt, a lot of other people who frequent Antiwar.com was taken aback by Justin Raimondo's analysis of how the events of September 11 came to pass.
Was Mr. Rhody offended by all of the "experts" on contract with our mainline media who were saying the same thing yesterday – that large scale terrorist attacks in the US were inevitable because we're the world's only superpower, and you can't do what a superpower does without making a lot of enemies?
The difference is, Mr.Raimondo advocates policies that would not provoke terrorism, where the Henry Kissingers and Sandy Bergers, et al shrug their shoulders and say, "Well, we're going have to learn to live with this sort of thing."
Mr. Raimondo may have been too blunt in his analysis for Mr. Rhody's emotional state, but he told the truth. America is not invulnerable. We can build space shields, but they won't defend us against jetliners piloted by suicidal fanatics. We can ground our civilian air lines, but that won't stop a terrorist with a Ryder truck full of home brewed explosives. What might really curb terrorism? In my mind, letting the golden rule inspire our foreign policy would work.
Isolationism
[Regarding "Democrats should not fight fire with fire," by Simon Jenkins, London Times, September 12, linked to by Antiwar.com:]
[Simon Jenkins wrote,] "We should not be terrorized into isolationism."
True – yet that course (isolationism) is the American way. It was what our founders wanted and what the majority of us today want. We wish to trade with whomever we please, and have military alliances with no one. We wish our country to be so damn dangerous that no one will dare attack, and that if they do, they will pay a price that will redefine "horror."
The only way to do that is to bring our troops, mess out of everyone else's business, and arm every American. This is not being terrorized into isolationism, this is called common sense.
As it stands, you are very much in error when you say NATO intervention in Serbia and Iraq was about "good intentions" and white man's burden. It was about oil. We are not stupid out here – we saw American flyers comport themselves as war criminals, flying terror raids against Christian civilians to support Islamic terrorists. We are able to follow the money and we know that this was evil.
Iraq? Who in the world gave us the moral authority to bomb a foreign country routinely on the trumped up excuse of defending their own air space?
No sir, isolationism suits me fine. You see, I believe in using deadly force against my enemies, but I like to have some moral high ground when I do it. NATO has murdered morality along with the Serbs and Macedonians. And the Iraqis.
I used to work as a bodyguard – I asked a preacher once if there was anything morally wrong with that. Answer: "What kind of people need bodyguards? And should you be hanging around with them?" I say to you that we should not be hanging around people like Tony Blair, Ariel Sharon, the KLA et al. Nor should we act as bodyguards to every stinking cesspool of a country that can afford to buy an American politician.
The Whole World Loves Us
Maybe the following ditty can offer some perspective in this tragic, frightening time.
THE
WHOLE WORLD LOVES US
(to the tune of "Jesus Loves Me")
The whole world loves us, This I know, For the President tells me so. We are right and they are wrong, They are weak but we are strong.
Yes, the world loves us, Yes, the world loves us, Yes, the world loves us, The President tells me so.
The whole world hates us, This I fear, For the terrorists make it clear. Clueless lambs 'bout anything foreign, Are we sheep about to be shorn?
Yes, the world hates us, Yes, the world hates us, Yes, the world hates us, The terrorists make it clear.
Kill them all, This I hear, From all sides both far and near. Right is right and fair is fair, They bomb here and we bomb there.
Yes, kill them all, Yes, kill them all, Yes, kill them all, Both sides cry out in fear.
I don't hate And I don't kill, For the Bible's with me still. The Lord in sorrow sighs "Ah, men!", They hate us and we hate them.
Yes, they all hate them, Yes, they all hate them, Yes, they all hate them, The Bible can't instill.
Truth shall conquer, This I know, For the Lord would have it so. Open up your heart and mind, Learn the truth from all mankind.
Yes, Truth shall conquer, Yes, Truth shall conquer, Yes, Truth shall conquer, The Lord would have it so.
Opinionated Propaganda
Although I agree with bits and pieces of your site, it strikes me mostly as opinionated propaganda, a lot of which is very similar as that put out by hard-line Chinese Communists. They don't like our "interventionist" policies either.
Do
you truly think that globalization is something that can
be stopped by hiding on this side of the Atlantic and
Pacific Oceans? (Just asking, so if you could avoid your
normal name calling and slandering, and just explain yourself,
I might have a little more respect for your opinions expressed
in "Backtalk.")
My second question is for your Serbian correspondent.
He talks about the Kosovo Albanian penchant for dealing
in white slavery and heroin. Does he realize that every
ethnic group in the Balkans is involved in these "businesses"?
How do you get an Albanian and a Serbian to get along?
Set them up in a drug or prostitution ring together.
...My
vote is stop the intervention in the Balkans also. I do
agree with you. These people, all of them, no matter the
ethnic group, deserve each other.
~ Big Al from the cesspool of the Balkans
Nebojsa Malic replies:
The KLA has made nefarious "business" dealings, from slavery to the narcotics trade, into a major, widespread industrial endeavor, universes apart from smaller operations run by individuals of all faiths and ethnicities (of which I am fully cognizant). To put it bluntly, there is a major difference between an individual pimp and an organization that runs a chain of brothels.
I
am bewildered that, despite your disdain for "these
people," you nonetheless remain in that "cesspool"
instead of returning to your homeland.
The Balkans, or particular parts of it anyway, are my homeland, and however fetid they may be at this time, I have a moral obligation to advocate their well-being. I am here because those responsible for making the Balkans into a cesspool have forced me to leave, while you seem to be there because they welcomed your presence. You're welcome to trade places, though.
As for globalization, it is neither a faceless, inevitable historical process, nor is it anything truly new, except perhaps in extent. Furthermore, it is far from a natural accretion of world cultures and values, evolving over time into bonds of commonality. Rather, it is a conscious attempt to impose one society's values on the rest of the world by propaganda, persuasion and often brute force. The very notion that this can be accomplished successfully is mind-blowing, especially when one considers similar endeavors of the past. The great powers of Europe – Britain, France, Germany, Russia – dominated most of the known world for the better part of a century, until the Great War shredded the Imperial order to bits. No one has fully recovered either from this experiment, or its near-apocalyptic ending, and already there are fools who are all too eager to try again. Whether they are driven by hubris, lunacy, or both, they will fail, if simply because conquering the world is impossible.
Powell's Advice
[Regarding Nebojsa Malic's columns of September 13, "Intersections of Fate":]
As
a Serbian-American, Mr. Malic echoed my very first thoughts
when I learned of Tuesday's tragedies. I hope this horrible
event will help Americans to think about how other countries
feel when their capitals are bombed, their women raped,
their men murdered. No American would dream of using "restraint"
against these murderers. If America has the right to respond
swiftly and effectively to terrorism, so should all other
countries.
Yesterday Colin Powell was asked if he would follow the
advice he has given to others in the world (i.e. Macedonia)
when dealing with terrorists. He was visibly made uncomfortable
by this line of questioning and only said, "When
terrorists attack, you should respond." I hope Macedonia
will ignore Powell's previous "advice" and follow
this new line of thinking.
~ R. Zivkovic