STOP the MADNESS WAR
Edition- Sept
14
AMERICA HAS a BRUTAL WAKE-UP CALL, Bush Receives Pardon + Heavy Duty;
Twin Towers Evaporate,
Our Flag Will Still
Wave
Well, we told you so: in our
last (July 14th) newsletter
(at end) we predicted a terrorist attack on NYC or DC, which we thought might
be nuclear.
We are paying for our
blithe, heedless, overly-cautious
behavior- and again nailing the barn door shut after the horse has
escaped. We knew bin Laden was gunning for us for years, yet all we could
muster was 80-odd painless cruise missiles in Afghanistan- had we followed it up
with 100 airborne commandos, 5-6,000 citizens would still be alive. We
regularly slap down rogue nations but fail to provide a single orbiting fighter
to defend DC or NYC or Chicago. Reportedly the Israeli’s were prepared to
attack the bombers of the Beirut Marine barracks + US Embassy, but we didn’t
sign off on it. We knew the first bomber of the WTC, Ramsey Yousef, had plans
to blow up 10 airliners over the Pacific on a single day and we’ve watched
suicide bombers multiply like lemmings in Israel..... but we couldn’t bring
ourselves to put one skymarshall on each plane. A Jan 2 ½ year comprehensive
Defense Dept. sponsored report from the US Commission on Nat. Security warned
of imminent attacks, but was summarily dismissed by President Bush, who preferred
to give the
vast job to FEMA + his former campaign mngr. These fanatics had knives-
they could have been stopped with tear gas or a stun gun. “But you have 35,000
flights a day!” exclaimed an editor. So what. Planes are flying bombs. We’ve
ignored 7 terrorist bombings of our people over 18 years without any effective
retaliation (except Libya). We’ve embargoed and starved a crushed enemy to
force them to remove an evil leader that ½ million troops couldn’t or wouldn’t.
We carry on air strikes on Iraq as a mindless reflex, rather than a policy,
though the allies of Desert Storm have long since bitterly defected. For a
decade, we’ve denied Iraq chlorine after we devastated their water purification
and sewage treatment plants, so tens of thousands have died of disease. We’ve
ignored sequentially larger Israeli (Sharon) brutality towards the Palestinians
as they lumped the entire leadership in as terrorists and attacked and killed
them. This horror was predictable, indeed almost inevitable, since Sharon
strode on the Temple Mount with an army of security men; and Bin Laden bragged
about his next terrorist spectacular. If the Palestinians are the Mafia, and
Israel is Robert Kennedy; America is JFK. Terrorists think if they kill one the
other will wither. They can’t and it won’t. Meanwhile, the Palestinians,
wizards of PR, danced in the street at America’s pain, as they had done so
productively a decade ago at Kuwait’s invasion (they were later expelled).
Author Tom Clancy details a deliberate 747 crash into the Capital by a pilot
whose son + brother have been killed in a war with the US. Apart from his
dubious nationality (Japanese), the question was only ‘when’, not ‘if’.
Palestinian rage and frustration was obviously building to a crescendo.
Because they were so lightly
armed, the terrorists carefully chose virtually empty planes: 38, 56, 58, 81
people on the least traveled day of the week to minimize passenger opposition,
which they got anyway- heroically in the Pa. crash. Draconian security checks are no solution, a knife can be
fashioned from many things (and not even necessary if they have 5 goons); the
only solution is armed skymarshalls with low velocity weapons. Reinforcing
cockpit bulkheads and providing pilots with weapons would prevent a repeat of
this horror. Likewise, an air cap should always protect out 3 or 4 major
cities. There was 18 minutes of warning to stop the second terrorist airliner
and save ~2,500 souls. Shutting down the air system, stock market, and tourist
centers for days grants the monsters what they want- the power to stop America
in its tracks. Overreaction and panic, an American trait, must be replaced by a
more stoic steadfastness, a “stiff upper lip”, like the Brits. It’s not the end
of the world, except for bin Laden, and of course- the American innocents who
suddenly found themselves on the firing line of a war they didn’t know existed.
Bin Laden and his network
should be hunted down and the Taliban attacked unless (even though?) they
deliver him, but a true war on terrorism would also have to target the Iranians
+ Hezbollah that supported so many past bombings. Now the murderous mullahs
(only 2% of the Muslim clergy) are brutally oppressing a liberal President
so the correct strikes might free an exhausted startlingly young populace from
their “religious” yokes. Likewise Syria has always secretly provided cover and
support for terrorists, though the extent of that now is unclear. Hezbollah,
Islamic Jihad, Hamas, PFLP, and other Israel/Lebanon/Syria based terrorists are
more difficult targets- the Israeli’s haven’t managed to stop them with far
better intelligence than we have, though what was really lacking was the
political will. And we must have firm proof of culpability against us.
However, there is enough info for quick strikes at the Taliban leadership which
provided safe haven for Bin Laden for so many years (and deserve perdition for
blowing up the millennium-old statues of Buddha alone). One report claims bin
Laden was appointed head of the Taliban military! The enemy isn’t a country we
must build forces for 6 months to attack, but a fluid group of individuals, no
more than 2000, who need to be tracked down by fast moving commando units,
Rangers, + special forces backed by whatever conventional power is necessary.
Is it imaginable that
Clinton or Gore wouldn’t have forced an emergency summit to try to stop the escalating
nightmare in the Middle East? Our woefully inexperienced President let his
press secretary address the shaken nation 7 hours later as he shuttled around
the country like a rabbit. He can transmit from anywhere in the world on Air
Force 1. He first seemed to be 100 ft underwater without Scuba gear, although
he recovered in his memorial address. His contempt for international treaties
and general ignorance of world affairs hasn’t helped. At least Cheney knows how
to run a war.
I was supposed to fly
coast to coast over NYC on Tuesday. I visited the WTC, perched improbably
on the bottom tip of the $26 island like it would unbalance it, for the first
and last time just after Y2K. I spent 6 hours at the top, wandering around the
huge walls of glass with the secluded alcoves below, gazing down on the great
city from Olympian heights, roaming the roof, unable to leave. Thanks to the
hero firefighters and Condolences to all in NYC and elsewhere who’ve lost
friends and family, and to all Americans who’ve lost a portion of our freedom
and boundlessness that may not return.
BUSH
RECIEVES PARDON, HEAVY DUTY
The natural support American
leaders receive in times of military threat has given Pres. Bush a reprieve
from multiple investigations into Florida election crimes, growing outrage over
the squandering of the surplus, doubts about his foolish missile plan, and
questions about his competence. However, he will now face a task that doesn't
entail month long vacations: leading the nation in a series of battles against
a wily and evasive foe. We hope he's up to it.
TWIN
TOWERS EVAPORATE
In a collapse into almost
nothing the World Trade Towers apparently literally 90% blew away as clouds of
dust. In those clouds were supposedly 2% asbestos, giving all rescue workers
possibly dangerous exposures- friends miles away suffered. I think the rubble
is so small a volume because it’s collapsed into the 5-10 floors of the
subbasement The collapse of the 2nd tower was so smooth and vertical,
shattering into pieces and collapsing into itself in what looked like a perfect
controlled demolition... that I think they might have had satchel charges on an
upper floor that went off simultaneously. Although it sounds strange, we were
stunned at the low fatality count: those buildings hold 50,000 people and our
best estimates were 20,000 dead; the killers made a crucial mistake- they did
it an hour too early- before the towers were full, and the evacuation of the
buildings in the hour and quarter before they dropped were incredibly successful.
This attack about matched the worst one day death toll in American history: the
battle of Antietam in 1862- 4700, though 3000 more died of their wounds later.
Thanks to the lower New Yawkers who gave us hours of blow by blow reports.
OUR
FLAG WILL STILL WAVE
I've always been dubious of the people who run around waving
flags- they often seem to least understand the principles that this country was
founded on. Yesterday, I went out and after 3 tries at stores, a woman at
K-Mart ripped a stapled one off of a table and gave it to me for free. It's on
the door. This business of making sure the winner of the election won, that our
country cares about the dispossessed and needy, that we halt the depredations
of bullies + monsters, that we treat other countries with respect while
providing an example, that we reform unjust laws and unfair sentences, that we
don't allow corporations to dictate our way of life, that we punish our
enemies, and revenge our victims... it's all part of citizenship, without which
our nation couldn't really function. It's never wimpy or futile, even when you
don't succeed. I'm the first member of my family born in the USA, and wouldn't
want to be from anywhere else. When you see the bulky exhausted firemen
fearlessly digging in the dangerous rubble for pieces of strangers for 2 days
straight, you see the power and strength of America.
One of the most moving
things is the tremendous unlimited support from Britain, Canada, Germany,
France, Russia; who’ve been snubbed by this administration. Although many
believe Americans are widely disliked around the world, the truth is most
people in every country like us, admire us, and look to us to provide an
example of the greatest freedom, wealth, justice, and opportunity of any nation
in the world. They come in boats and planes by the millions, risking death, for
the chance to live and work here. Our job, our mission, is to fulfill that
promise and see that it isn't sullied or betrayed. And, at the moment, to kick
some ass.
