September 11: A date
which will live in infamy
by
Ian Waldron-Mantgani, September 12, 2001
Members of a shocked world gathered round television
sets yesterday, staring in disbelief as two hijacked planes crashed into
New York City's World Trade Centre at 9am EST. The great monument soon collapsed;
now, a day later, flames and smoke are still rising, and the estimated death
toll resides in the tens of thousands. The Pentagon, centre of America's
military operations, was also attacked. All major buildings in Washington
D.C., New York, Chicago and London were evacuated as soon as
possible.
A few thoughts:
1) This is the largest-scale terrorist attack
ever. Whatever the faults of the American system of government or economics,
it is simply horrific. My generation should perceive it as equivalent in
significance to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor or the Cuban Missile
Crisis. Those few souls not incredibly concerned about the devastation or
repercussions should be ashamed of themselves -- this is a time of crisis
for the Western world.
2) This morning, to see how my colleagues were
coping with the event, I checked the website of Roger Ebert and made contact
with my New York friend Harvey Karten.
Harvey was relieved to find that his wife, who
worked in the Twin Towers, had made it out safely. He made comments that
not only brought home the human disaster but also reminded me of the economic
consequences; important New York businesses will have been obliterated by
yesterday's terrorism, and the destruction of the WTC will plunge the US
further into recession.
Ebert's wife and stepdaughter were in New York
City for the Michael Jackson concert. They turned out to be safe, thank God,
but "What is new and frightening is that we were all forced to think in these
personal terms. This day was going to come sooner or later. The United States
has fought push-button wars thousands of miles from home. Today the war is
no longer far away."
3) I predict an unfairly hard time for Arab-Americans
in the weeks ahead. Ignorance on the part of civilians and sound-bite coverage
of fanatical Middle Eastern violence on the part of the media have built,
over the past few decades, a widespread feeling that all Muslims are dangerous
militants, and should be blamed whenever something is blown
up.
I checked out the GOP-approved conservative website
Free Republic this afternoon to find comments such as "nuke all towelheads"
and "the only good Arab is a dead Arab". On its liberal equivalent Democratic
Underground, the user 'Modem Butterfly' told of how she found herself forced
to defend a miniscule Islamic lady at the grocery store today, when a bigger
guy started screaming that she was "a murderer" and "a fucking
raghead".
I have also been made aware that the career agency
AlleVonTech has adopted the following policy: "Our small contribution to
avenge the deaths of the many people in these attacks will be to disallow
any Islamic users from our service."
In its own way, this is as depressing as the attacks
themselves.
4) Opponents to the current American administration
have been suspicious of how, like his father was accused of doing with Desert
Storm, George W. Bush may attempt to kick off a major conflict in a cynical
gung-ho attempt to bolster poll numbers. The new president has re-ignited
the Cold War with his insane missile defence plans, played chicken with China
and Iraq, and at the same time given friendly approval to the former country's
plans to build up its nuclear arsenal. Many believe that Bush is laying the
foundations for a new "us and them" mentality that will mindlessly unite
the country behind him and generate business for the military industrial
complex.
President Bush's statements in the past 24 hours
have been irresponsible and ominous. He called the terrorist attacks "an
act of war", and told the world to expect "a monumental struggle between
good and evil". The crucial comment he made was "We will make no distinction
between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbour
them."
The fact is, there IS a distinction. The
president's implication that he will respond to the acts of an (as yet
unidentified) independent terrorist organisation by declaring war on another
nation is a terrifying and unwise one. I pray that the US government will
behave in a sane manner, because whether it does or not, nobody will criticise
it; the world is in too much of a frenzy right now to do anything but agree
that what happened was terrible and unconditionally support any retaliatory
action at all. NATO just agreed to certify the attack as an attack on all
its members. Congress just passed a resolution giving the president carte
blanche.
Revenge should not be a priority here. War should
not be an option, even though an out-of-proportion show of force would probably
be the most effective way of giving angry citizens immediate gratification.
The burning issue right now should be the wreckage in D.C. and New York,
where flames and smoke still rise, bodies have yet to be found, and the families
of victims have yet to begin dealing with their loss.
COPYRIGHT©
2001 Ian Waldron-Mantgani
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