Posted by Adam on September 11, 2001, at 18:01:07
In reply to why not grieve the deaths of the terrorists...?, posted by kid_A on September 11, 2001, at 14:06:54
I just got back from the gym. From what I heard of the chit-chat in the locker room, the populist vote will go something like "bomb the motherf***ers straight to hell." That was more-or-less an exact quote. This followed by a chorus of assention. I can't see how Bush could possibly resist an attitude like that, if it is widespread. I sit in a lab where literally half the people I work with have lived in the US for less than fifteen years, and that sort of talk isn't heard. But at a local gym, hoo-boy. I'm largely insulated from the "guy on the street" during the day, unless I'm there. An informative contrast.
The Bush team of Condi Rice and Donald Rumsfeld have communicated their my-way-or-the-highway attitude with such unabashed forthrightness, I simply can't see any other course of action but a worldwide hunt for bin Laden, even if he wasn't in charge. It strikes me as perfectly reasonable to assume he or those loyal to him were somehow connected. Woe be to anyone who gets in the way. Other nations will be pressed to turn over all they know about bin Laden's movements, under threat of sanction from the US. I do not doubt their resolve or their ability to maneuver Bush into using the War Powers Act to counter any action by Congress, if there is one, to rein-in the response. Powell, no doubt, will not dream of cutting off the marionet strings at a moment like this.
It's not good, this attitude. Look at Israel. What has a hard-liner (Sharon) gotten them so far? More dead, an even greater resolve on the part of their enemies, with no end in sight. You fight religious fanatics with force, and they'll throw their dead babies at you before they'll give up fighting you back. And they never forget. One is forced to either use one's head and deal with them diplomatically, or kill every last one of them. The latter simply isn't an option. We'd be monsters if we took that route. So what are the options? Act in self defence, avoid retribution, and deal with the fact that, as the last superpower, we will always be a target. I think that's the best we can do.
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> Its not as simple as saying person A and person B are responsilbe, and their lives are exempt from guilt.... I dont believe in capital punishment because I do not think it acts as a deterant to crime, but who grieves for the dead men walking, other than their mothers? How can we even think at this moment to dedicate even a tiny iota of our emotion to the possible future loss of life in a country which so openly supports acts of terrorism against inocent victims...
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> Two wrongs do not make a right, but one rightly placed act of vengence can save many future lives.
poster:Adam
thread:11152
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20010909/msgs/11212.html