Cancer, and Carcinogens

September 13, 2001 12:22 PM

Cancer, and Carcinogens "This event is not an isolated instance of violence. This is not an 'act of war.' It is one symptom of a cancer that threatens to metastasize."
posted by fold_and_mutilate (2 comments total)

Why must some people try to fasult America and claim there is a "reason" behind what gets done by terrorist? Ok. Israel is hated by many Arabs. But the fact is that a number of Arab nations trade with Israel. And the fact is that Israel was established by a huge vote in the U.N. And the fact is that the U.S. not only gives aid to Israel but second in line for meney expenditures is Egypt. And the oil states need and want our business.
Many extremists in the Middle East simply do not want westerners in the area and feel we pullute their values.
Do we simply say to hell with globalization and let Iraq lead the Arab world?
And the notion that we did not eliminate the terrorists attempt at the Tower after we caught the perpetrators is just plain wrong: the perp is sitting off in Afghanistan, not in jail. He seems to have picked out another crew for another mission.
posted by Postroad at 1:29 PM on September 13, 2001

In my opinion, it is much easier for us to believe that these "terrorists" had no "reason" for doing what they did. It is easier to believe that they are different from you and I. That the hands of the hijacker guiding the 757 into the WTC are different from the air-conditioned hands of the U.S. naval officer who sends a missile off to kill civilians on a jetliner or in the streets of Baghdad. That they are different than the manicured hands of the political leader who signs the bill creating or extending sanctions that deny medical aid to children. That they are different than we, who insist our "national interest" in keeping our SUVs filled with gas allows us to take what we want from the rest of the world. That there is a difference between Reagan's "Afghan freedom fighter" shooting at Soviets, and Bin Laden's "terrorist" shooting at us.

We hate what these hijackers have done, and with good reason. Will we take the easy road and fail to hate what we in the United States have also done? They are not separate things. Hatred was not born fresh with the U.S. naval officer, the Palestinian youth throwing rocks in the street, the Israeli settler protecting his family, or the soldier of jihad.

We are they. They are us. Cancer is our own cells killing us.
posted by fold_and_mutilate at 6:18 PM on September 13, 2001