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Subject: 
Re: Just Teasing, I Have No Intention of Debating Any of This...
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.debate
Date: 
Fri, 21 Mar 2003 12:39:51 GMT
Viewed: 
437 times
  
"I'm all for it," said Vince Diamonde of New York City, the place hardest
hit by the September 11 attacks. "You had to live here to understand it. We
lost everything you can imagine."

What I don't get about all this is how much we have failed to appreciate the 11
September 2001 attack and what it could do for us.

We were gifted with the opportunity to walk in the other guy's shoes.  We were,
just for a day or two, knocked off our perch and made to live with exactly the
sense of security that most of the world feels every day.

Have we completely missed the boat?

That sense of insecurity is not the way people should live.  We felt it and
knew it to be wrong.  Why don't we know it to be wrong for others?  Hell is
raining out of the sky in Iraq.  Neither Palestinians nor Israelis are secure.
Essentially no one on the continent of Africa is secure.  A billion Chinese
are insecure.  Who is secure in Latin America?  These people live a life
trapped in the horror that we experienced for a morning.

Have we done anything to help increase security for anyone, ourselves included?

I agree with Richard and with Erik.  If we are securing freedom from tyrany for
the people of a fantastically rich culture who can be our friends going into
the future, this might be a noble action.  But if, as it appears -- it is
merely an oil grab, then this will be the shame of an entire generation of
Americans.  Because you and I have allowed this to happen.

Can there be a free state in Mesopotamia?  I know that there cannot with Saddam
Hussein there, but what about when he's gone?  If the locals don't want a
democracy, or aren't organized enough for it to be efficient, what will we have
bought them?  And really, I think we all know that Iraq is no threat to the US,
so what will we have gained for us?

I just don't see how this can end well.  But I hope I'm wrong.  I'm reminded of
the line in _The Outlaw Josey Wales_ when Captain "Redlegs" Terrill says
something like "doin' good ain't got no end."  (Unfortunately, he's the
villain.)

Chris



Message has 3 Replies:
  Re: Just Teasing, I Have No Intention of Debating Any of This...
 
(...) I've been wondering about that point for a few weeks, and it's given me perspective on a similar issue from a few decades ago (my apologies to those among us who've already heard this story): Anyone who invokes Godwin's Law with the same zeal (...) (22 years ago, 21-Mar-03, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
  Re: Just Teasing, I Have No Intention of Debating Any of This...
 
I'm sort of not following you here, Chris. (...) I don't know if we *have* but some think we *can*...see (URL) gives a link making the argument that working to overthrow tyrants is useful. Again, I'm not sure I agree with that writer's view. Do you? (...) (22 years ago, 21-Mar-03, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
  Re: Just Teasing, I Have No Intention of Debating Any of This...
 
(...) Hmm, the question of what to do if the locals don't want a a free state. It seems obvious to us that anyone (who won't have substantial power in the alternative state) should prefer a free state, but is that really true? If it isn't, what do (...) (22 years ago, 21-Mar-03, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

Message is in Reply To:
  Re: Just Teasing, I Have No Intention of Debating Any of This...
 
I previously noted: (...) Q: One question for you both. Do you believe that there is a link between Saddam Hussein, a direct link, and the men who attacked on September the 11th? THE PRESIDENT [Bush]: I can't make that claim. THE PRIME MINISTER (...) (22 years ago, 21-Mar-03, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

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