Tuesday, September 11, 2001

Some extracts from someone else's diary. I agree with some of the thoughts, and I think they're articulated much better than I could have:

"2001/09/11 11:13 Turn on the news. I suppose this all was an inevitability -- when you wage war on poor countries with no real way of fighting back except terrorist activities, eventually you get a co-ordinated attack back.
Let me say something very important: DO NOT ALLOW AMERICA TO USE THIS AS AN EXCUSE TO TAKE AWAY YOUR FREEDOM. Terrorism can NOT be fought by restrictive laws, but terrorism is often used as an excuse to abuse the population. It is often used as a catalyst to institute terryifying restrictive laws. America is a strong and beautiful place because of its hold on freedom -- don't let this day make you forget that in fear."

"2001/09/11 11:42 My post here is going to upset some of you, I'm sorry, but I do feel there are a couple things that really have to be pointed out. I think everybody is sad about the loss of lives, but this is a war... I don't see people too terribly upset about the multitude of people that America has killed in acts of aggression overseas in the past few years. Until you're willing to feel for those people as well, and stand up and do what you can to stop that, you only have limited right to be upset here. It's real easy to ignore murder when it's not in your back yard, isn't it?

Here's the thing though: America, along with the UN, is in an active state of war against dozens of small countries. Thousands of civilians have been killed in these countries, along with millions of dollars of property damage. These numbers don't seem high, but flip it the other way around -- how would you feel if a far larger and far more well armed country attacked you and attempted to subvert your legal political structure. You'd have no option other than either roll over and die, or fight back in any way you can.

The "any way you can" means terrorist attacks -- it's the only way that a small nation can fight back. And I emphasize fight back. It's not usually an aggressive move -- terrorism is almost always perceived as an act of national defense. Even if they managed to rally a militia in their country to fight back, they would get no international media, and there is no amount of military action that a small country can muster that can compete with the US military. This isn't the first time this has happened, and it'll just get worse.

America has a poor record winning wars fought on its own soil... And this is a lot harder war to win than the War of 1812. Stay safe everyone, and again, don't trade your freedom for the perception of safety in fear..."

"2001/09/11 12:23 America has a long history of murdering civilians both at home and overseas.
They did it in Vietnam, Korea, Iraq, and so on and so on. Take a look through any history book that hasn't been edited by the US and you'll see a history of litanies.

Of course it's horrible. No one denies that. But America has actively waged war on the rest of the world for a long time. Fuck, America FUNDED most of these terrorist groups via the CIA when they thought they could use them politically. What's the wiccan thought on this? If you send out negative energy, it'll come back and bite you in the ass threefold? America FUNDED and TRAINED these terrorist groups to use as weapons against their enemies, what did they really expect?

Again I say: DO NOT RESPOND WITH HATE. DO NOT RESPOND WITH FEAR. For the first time in your lives you are seeing what it's like to live in most of the rest of the world. Use this to remember why America is a special place. Do not use it to allow America to destroy itself in fear."

"2001/09/11 14:37 If the attack of a military installation gave America the right to kill off two civilian cities (A QUARTER MILLION JAPANESE CIVILIANS were killed) four years after Pearl Harbor, then I don't see how America thinks those same rules don't apply to it as well. Just be thankful that the terrorists aren't as bloodthirsty as the US government has been in the past. In addition, if you want to compare Pearl Harbor, it also allowed America to put its OWN JAPANESE-AMERICAN CITIZENS into CONCENTRATION CAMPS.
What happened was horrible and unneccessary. The people who died did NOT deserve it. Anyone who can help by donating blood should do so no matter what they believe. But America is not innocent, and the US government's 100 year policy of abusing it's strength internationally made this happen."

"2001/09/11 15:04 ...it's interesting to note that today is the 28th anniversary of the CIA overthrowing Salvador Allende's democratically elected government in Chile via terrorist action. Maybe we should start blaming the Marxists as well. Seriously though, even if this was done by Palestinian terrorists, it was NOT done by Palestinians, so don't start blaming people by the color of their skin... I say this because it's EXACTLY what happened during WWII to Japanese people living in Canada in the US. It's real easy to turn to hate in a situation like this."

"2001/09/11 15:18 So there are news reports here in Toronto about Arab and Asian looking people being beaten in the streets. This is happening here in Toronto. I can't imagine how terrifying it is to be Arab or South Asian in America."

"2001/09/11 15:28 For Canadians, the blood donation info line is 1-888-236-6283. The lines may be tied up, just try again if they are.
Oh, and to those that are concerned that I'm just some Canadian doing American-bashing, let me say that I remember Somalia. We all have blood on our hands.

I'll post again since it's probablly already scrolled off this page: Don't let the government allow this as an excuse to erode your civil liberties."

"2001/09/11 16:03 I've seen quite a few people suggesting that there's a lot more to this than the news is telling us. Many things don't make sense -- that the CIA intelligence web didn't know about it, a weird propagandist repsonse from the president, that it's far more co-ordinated than most groups are capable of, that trained pilots (there are only so many people who can fly those big planes) were involved, etc. etc... I'm not suggesting this is the case, but this wouldn't be the first time that the US government via the CIA has attacked its own population for political reasons.
It's interesting to mention where Osama bin Laden, the terrorist millionaire that is being blamed spends much of his time hanging out -- at a CIA built training facility for terrorists. Yeah, it was meant to train terrorists to wage war on America's enemies, but I guess sometimes things don't turn out quite like you wanted.

Stompyboy tells me that there have already been attacks on Middle Eastern cab drivers in Philly. They're civilians as innocent as the people killed in New York. If you want to MAKE THIS SITUATION BETTER, give blood, and make sure your government responds RESPONSIBLY. Do not respond with hate."
posted by jon hassall on 11:56:40 PM