Wednesday, June 23, 2004
The Problem with the Anti-War Crowd
As I'm going through my second reading of John Miller's The Cell, I was struck by a few observations that I'll try to write down here as I go along in the next few days/weeks.
Many of those that oppose the Iraqi war do so because of no visible connection between the events of 9/11/01 and the Iraqi government.
They miss the point.
9/11 was one small part of a larger global war. We have been at war with radical Islam for nearly 20 years now, really ever since Osama bin Laden's army kicked the Soviets out of Afghanistan.
Many think that this new war on terror began on 9/11. That was just a manifestation of this war, an awakening for many in this country to the threat of Al-Qaida. What was one of the first things you heard on that fateful day?
This was the first attack by a foreign terrorist on U.S. soil.
Wrong.
How quickly we forget the 1993 World Trade Center bombing that killed 6 people.
The very same building but truth be told, by the time 9/11 occurred, not many would even remember 1993.
Then you have the bombing of the USS Cole, a mere 11 months before 9/11. Again, sadly enough for many Americans it didn't even register on their radar.
Marine barracks. African embassies. Pan Am Flight 103. The Khobar Towers. Ramzi Yousef's plan to simultaneously blow up American airliners in mid-air.
Twenty years of terrorism against this country, but many want you to forget all of that and only use participation in the 9/11 plot as justification for military action or diplomatic pressure from here on out.
This isn't a movie. You don't have a clean beginning and a clean end. No, there is no evidence that Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi government took part in 9/11. But who cares? There is evidence out there that Al-Qaida and Iraq have connections. Saddam Hussein gave money to families of Palestinian suicide bombers. Is it really inconceivable that someone with such a hatred of America facilitated any one of these attacks? Or gave input on them?
Why should we have fought the Germans in WWII? After all, it was Japan that attacked us?
I think it is inherent in our Western culture (or perhaps this is a new phenomenon) that everything must be in black or white. But unfortunately in this new war on faceless enemies, shades of gray are the rule. 9/11 was a terrible event in this nation's history, but it was far from the beginning and is far from the end. Hopefully what it turns out to be as history runs it's course is a turning point.
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Many of those that oppose the Iraqi war do so because of no visible connection between the events of 9/11/01 and the Iraqi government.
They miss the point.
9/11 was one small part of a larger global war. We have been at war with radical Islam for nearly 20 years now, really ever since Osama bin Laden's army kicked the Soviets out of Afghanistan.
Many think that this new war on terror began on 9/11. That was just a manifestation of this war, an awakening for many in this country to the threat of Al-Qaida. What was one of the first things you heard on that fateful day?
This was the first attack by a foreign terrorist on U.S. soil.
Wrong.
How quickly we forget the 1993 World Trade Center bombing that killed 6 people.
The very same building but truth be told, by the time 9/11 occurred, not many would even remember 1993.
Then you have the bombing of the USS Cole, a mere 11 months before 9/11. Again, sadly enough for many Americans it didn't even register on their radar.
Marine barracks. African embassies. Pan Am Flight 103. The Khobar Towers. Ramzi Yousef's plan to simultaneously blow up American airliners in mid-air.
Twenty years of terrorism against this country, but many want you to forget all of that and only use participation in the 9/11 plot as justification for military action or diplomatic pressure from here on out.
This isn't a movie. You don't have a clean beginning and a clean end. No, there is no evidence that Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi government took part in 9/11. But who cares? There is evidence out there that Al-Qaida and Iraq have connections. Saddam Hussein gave money to families of Palestinian suicide bombers. Is it really inconceivable that someone with such a hatred of America facilitated any one of these attacks? Or gave input on them?
Why should we have fought the Germans in WWII? After all, it was Japan that attacked us?
I think it is inherent in our Western culture (or perhaps this is a new phenomenon) that everything must be in black or white. But unfortunately in this new war on faceless enemies, shades of gray are the rule. 9/11 was a terrible event in this nation's history, but it was far from the beginning and is far from the end. Hopefully what it turns out to be as history runs it's course is a turning point.
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