I don't like to post anything much on the 11th of September, but I do occasionally like to point out how, after my initial shock, I reacted to te 9/11 attacks. This is an excerpt from what I wrote 11 days later on 9/22/2001, when the war in question was not the invasion of Iraq, but the mounting of a military response against the perpretrators:
(5) But military force cannot be the only aspect of this campaign, and I'm not talking about freezing financial assests (although there's nothing wrong with that). While I outright reject the notion that in some perverse way we had this coming to us, there is a great deal of truth in the idea that we have some amount of culpability in creating the conditions that allowed the attacks to occur. Our messing around in Afghanistan and then walking away, our one-sided backing of the Israeli government even when they were acting badly and breaking their agreements, our sponsership of globalization without proper concern for the problems and concerns of the rest of the world, and so on. We need to deal with the problems that we have had a hand in creating, if only for the selfish reason that by doing so, we may alleviate some of the conditions under which Islamic fundamentalism has grown as dangerous to us as it obviously has.
(6) To that end, we need to "bomb them with butter, bribe them with hope." We *must* act as nation-builders, or at least facilitators so that nations can rebuild themselves. We should do this not out of guilt, from simply as a matter of enlightened self-interest.
(7) If we are going to engage in a war, then it needs to be an officially declared war. The only entity in the United States that can declare war is the Congress, and if it is to be war, then they alone can say it. This is not the Gulf of Tonkin, some flimsy puffed-up excuse for hostilities -- we've been hit hard on our own shores, and a Declaration of War, if military action is necessary, is certainly justified. But don't ask us, the American people, to sacrfice without declaring war, and don't ask the people to sacrifice without asking the same of corporations.
(8) It's good to remember that Osama bin Laden, whether or not he was the party ultimately reponsible for the 09-11-01 attacks, *has* declared war on *us*, he has declared a fatwa on Americans, both military and civilian, and has, in the past, killed Americans abroad, on American soil, our embassies in East Africa.
(9) Finally, we need to remind ourselves that the purpose of any military action should not be retribution or retaliation for its own sake, although we would certainly be justified in seeking those things. Any military action should be in the service of the ultimate goal of making Americans secure, not only in their homeland but elsewhere in the world. Any military action, or any other part of this campaign against terrorism that we have been thrust into, which doesn't serve to move us closer to that goal is counter-productive and should not be carried out. If using the legal mechanisms and processes of our country and the world community could stop terrorism, bring the people responsible for the attacks on America to justice and make us secure in our homes, then it would be best to use them instead of military action. Unfortunately, however, I do not think that is the case. I think that it is inevitable that we will have to fight. And so, we should.
I supported the action taken against Afghanistan - I thought it was just, and a measured response to what had occured (I still believe this to be the case), but, in the end, the Bush Administration fucked it up, pulling troops out to mount their nonsensical invasion of Iraq, and allowing bin Laden to escape capture. Worse, he abandoned Afghanistan to fall back into the same pattern of opium production and warlord-ism.
(All the conservatives who are currently complaining that a withdrawal from Iraq would be failing to uphold our obligation to the Iraqi people, where were they when we walked away from Afghanistan in order to invade Iraq?)
What's also important to me, although it's not explicitly stated in this piece, is that my very first post-shock response was "Why?" Why would they want to do this to us? I realized that I was woefully unknowedgeable about Islam and radical Islamists, and set about trying to educated myself by reading as much as I could, discussing it with my friends and acquaintances and colleagues, and watching the various talking heads. I'm still no expert, far from it, but I think I can truthfully say that by the time Iraq rolled around, I certainly knew more than the President of the United States about fundamental things, like the difference between Sunni and Shiite, or how Iraq came to be made into a nation, and why it wasn't going to be a cakewalk to lop off its head and still have it walk and talk and breathe like a real country.
(Just to be clear, that doesn't make me a genius or even particularly smart or educable, it makes Bush pathetic, something he continues to display on an ongoing basis.)
absolutist
aggresive
anti-Constitutional
anti-intellectual
arrogant
authoritarian
blame-placers
blameworthy
blinkered
buckpassers
calculating
class warriors
clueless
compassionless
con artists
conniving
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deadly
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hateful
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hypocritical
ideologues
ignorant
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inflexible
insensitive
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irrational
isolated
kleptocratic
lacking in empathy
lacking in public spirit
liars
mendacious
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non-rational
not candid
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oblivious
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philistine
plutocratic
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propagandists
rapacious
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unsympathetic
venal
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virtueless
warmongers
wicked
without integrity
wrong-headed
Thanks to: Breeze, Chuck, Ivan Raikov, Kaiju, Kathy, Roger, Shirley, S.M. Dixon
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recent listening
influences
John Adams
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Aphex Twin
Isaac Asimov
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"Catch-22"
Raymond Chandler
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"The Harder They Come"
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"Singin' in the Rain"
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Talking Heads/David Byrne
Tangerine Dream
Hunter S. Thompson
J.R.R. Tolkien
"2001: A Space Odyssey"
Kurt Vonnegut
Yes
Bullshit, trolling, unthinking knee-jerk dogmatism and the drivel of idiots will be ruthlessly deleted and the posters banned.
Entertaining, interesting, intelligent, informed and informative comments will always be welcome, even when I disagree with them.
I am the sole judge of which of these qualities pertains.
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Corrections
I correct typos and other simple errors of grammar, syntax, style and presentation in my posts after the fact without necessarily posting notification of the change.
Substantive textual changes, especially reversals or major corrections, will be noted in an "Update" or a footnote.
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the story so far
unfutz: toiling in almost complete obscurity for almost 1500 days
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