Posted by Adam on September 13, 2001, at 13:18:25
In reply to But, it's not that easy, is it?-Adam, posted by Krazy Kat on September 13, 2001, at 11:36:09
> The UN isn't really that active in our favor. There's a reason we're considered aggressive. Why wasn't this road taken before?
>
> Throw us some more thoughts, please Adam! :)
>
> - K.I agree there is much that could have and probably should have been done in the past that would have been constructive. It's too late now, quite obviously.
But remember, the estimates for the death toll at the WTC are approaching 20,000. That's about 1/3 the number of all the American servicemen who were killed in Vietnam, during the entire campaign, which lasted over ten years. Maybe 3500 people died during the attack on Pearl Harbor. A staggering number of people have been killed in literally one fell swoop. We have to consider that hundreds or thousands of them were not US citizens. They came from all over the world, especially China, UK, Japan, but really all over. This attack has crippled commerce in the area, amputated large pieces of some major international corporations, and seriously impacted global markets. The terrorists couldn't have picked a better target if they wanted to harm not only the US, but secular society and capitolism, the latter a force as great and compelling as any religion. The destruction caused there rivals any single attack in modern war history. The only things I can think of offhand to compare are the bombings of Dresden, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki.
So this is just plain different. It's so shocking, to what I hope is a universal sense of human decency, and so inclusive in its scope, that interest in an international anti-terrorist effort may be more keen than in the past. Hopefully something permanent and constructive might come from such an alliance.
poster:Adam
thread:11152
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20010909/msgs/11309.html