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First the government. Resisting the urge to bomb someone...ANYONE...in the wake of the horror at the World Trade Center...our government...at least the executive branch responsible for our nation's security, has proceeded with caution to formulate the three pillars of the Powell Doctrine...the leader of operation Desert Storm against Iraq and our current Secretary of State. These principals...
Noting that it was the WORLD Trade Center...not the NYC Trade Center or the US Trade Center that was attacked...and that citizens from 80 countries lost their lives there, the executive has striven mightily and successfully to enlist the entire world in a crusade against terrorism. Even Iraq and Iran...fervent opponents of freedom and modern civilization...have cautiously supported America.
Unlike 1942, when the United States stripped the assets of Japanese Americans and put them in concentration camps with hardly a murmur of dissent from the people, recent attacks against Muslims and Arab-appearing people have been strongly opposed by both the government AND the people.
The people themselves have been magnificent. The most obvious examples are the passengers on a doomed flight who overwhelmed the hijackers and crashed their plane rather than let it proceed to target and the police, firemen and relief workers who have tirelessly worked to try to return New York City to some semblance of normality. However, millions of people are contributing money, encouragement and physical assistant to victims. Indeed, ALL THE PEOPLE IN THE WORLD have risen to new levels in the face of a catastrophe which could happen anywhere, any time. Pictures of Yassir Arafat leading his followers in giving blood for the victims of the attack may have been designed for propaganda purposes, but compared to the bogus videos provided to CNN by Israel of Palestinians allegedly celebrating the WTC event...videos which were actually taken in 1991...a discovery by Brazilian media...this is the type of propaganda which will unite, rather than divide. At first, voices from Israel have been comparing their battle against the people they have conquered to our plight. We dearly hope not! Osama bin Laden's complaints against America are trivial compared to those of the Palestinians against Israel. Furthermore, bin Laden has little or no connection with the Palestinian cause, choosing instead Saudi Arabia and the U.S. as his targets. His beef against us seems to be that we want the entire world to emerge from medieval values into the light of the 21st century, while Saudi Arabia committed the "crime" of allowing U.S. forces on "holy" soil. At any rate, the U.S. has apparently told Sharon to cool it. It's about time!
There have been, of course, some very stupid pronouncements by people who consider themselves our leaders. Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell pronounced that the attack was our own fault, for allowing abortion and other abominations against their interpretation of the Christian Bible. As stupid and insensitive as these statements were, the good news is that, in America, true believer idiots like these can say whatever they wish without fear of being locked up, tortured or killed by their own government. Similarly, Jesse Jackson sounded the warning that a police state is closing in on the American people as we prepare for a long and difficult war. Sorry, Jesse, but we just don't see it. Everywhere one turns, there are people warning of just such problems and guarding against them. Even the Congress, singularly ineffective in situations like this, has debated this very subject, with the aim toward minimizing the danger thereof. Sure, Hillary and Bob and others are still running for higher office by appearing on TV constantly showing their "patriotism," as if they invented it. Compared to the media people, who have risen admirably to the task of informing the world of the changes that must and will be made, politicians in Congress look extremely banal. As time goes on, perhaps the U.S. population will finally realize just how shallow and insipid these people really are and start looking for leaders who will concentrate on what is great and good about America, rather than their own political fortunes.
We reserve our final bit of praise for President George W. Bush. At the beginning of the crisis he exhibited his deer-in-the-headlights-of-history persona. But, by the time he addressed Congress and the nation last Thursday, he had elevated himself to his actual status as the leader of the most powerful nation the world has ever seen. By what he and his people have done, they have raised the dialogue from fictional "lock boxes" on Social Security or shark attacks to thinking and talking about the future of civilization. At least for now.
Good work and keep it up!
Talk to you later...
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