The terrorists do give a damn. They hate "progressive" elements in society. They will be happy if Arafat is killed by the Israelis and the peace process in the Middle East breaks down. What you call progressive they consider evil forces of modernism and appeasement opposed to their fundamentalist worldview. They will be happy that you and the vast majority of Americans are wholly committed to strike back hard. This is what they want. It will recruit more to the Jihad and destabilise many Arab countries in the middle east even more. Precisely the conditions favorable to further Jihad within many Arab countries alllied with the US.
I think there is hubris in that most citizens seem to think that this war can be won without the other side being able to mount any very significant counterattack.. There is not the slightest indication that the war might involve vastly more shocking counterattacks using chemical and biological warfare. You are willing to go to war and provoke this sort of reaction. The values of the terrorists are fundamentally different from my own. I am an atheist humanist of sorts influenced by Marxism. I am assuming that the terrorists are Islamic fundamentalists of some type. Even so I can appreciate their total commitment to their cause, their ability to control events, and the manner in which things are unfolding exactly how they wish, while progressives call them mad dogs to be exterminated, madmen, cowards and on and on and are confident that they have the power to be victorious.
When the Trade Towers fell this should have been a lesson that the US is not invulnerable that the terrorists can cause huge casualties to the US. Why does it seem that this lesson has not sunk in to most people's consciousness. The response seems to imply that this is some sort of temporary situation that will be restored after the war is over and better security measures implemented. It may be a difficult war with some casualties and considerable costs but these people will be eradicated and things will return to "normal", that is the US and its allies will impose its will world-wide. What I fear is that a warlike response will not only destabilise many countries, gain recruits to continue the holy war, but produce further scenes the likes of which we have never seen before. Perhaps you can explain to me why this is not at least a plausible scenario?
Among the appropriate responses in my opinion would be to simply capture try and punish those responsible, increase security, encourage negotiation between Israel and the Palestinians-as Powell has been doing to his credit and also other situations such as Chechyna. If people see the possibility of progress in the here and now they are not likely to become suicide bombers who receive their rewards in the hereafter. No war will ever create a world free of the threat of terrorism, end crime, stop drug use, and so on.
Cheers, Ken Hanly
----- Original Message ----- From: Lawrence <lawrence at krubner.com> To: <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com> Sent: Sunday, September 16, 2001 5:57 AM Subject: Re: The emperor's new scarecrow
> > Chuck Grimes wrote:
> > >Tuesday's terrorism has turned a classic contradiction: by attacking
> > >the symbols of Capital and Empire it has managed to dis-organize the
most
> > >progressive elements of a society, and re-inforced the most repressive
> > >elements of a society.
>
> Terrorists don't give a damn.
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