This is a day on which Americans must stop in the daily flow of life and remember our war dead. We should think not only of our fellow citizens who died in their thousands in those terrible few hours this morning three years ago, but also of the courage of those around the world doing their best to prevent or delay ‘the next time’. Each day which passes without another attack on our soil is a blessing we should cherish. It is another day in which millions may go about their daily lives, love their children and spouses, be kind to strangers and enjoy the blessings of liberty.
Make no mistake. Our turn will come again. Before this World War is over, there will be other grim days to remember.
As we have seen in Russia, not even children… not even infants are safe. These are monsters we battle. This is evil and depravity of a depth and kind almost beyond twenty-first century comprehension. Whether you wish to call them a mutation or a throwback or meme infested cultists of the damned makes no difference to me. I refuse to share a planet with them and I refuse to share the name Homo Sapiens with them.
I will never forget. And I will never, ever, forgive.
[SPOILER] – This is not a eulogy. If you think criticism is … untoward… on 11/9/04 then don’t read – [SPOILER]
“These are monsters we battle”
Narg. If there’s one line of thought I really try to get home to people, it’s this one. Evil is a property of people. You don’t get less human by doing it. As soon as we try to write off extreme evildoers as ‘monsters’ we surrender reason. They are people, which is why it makes them hard to find, which is why it’s easy to get people to do this stuff. We need to understand what makes people do this stuff, then we can try to prevent it. If we just say “hey, monsters in our midst! stamp on them!” then we lose.
“This is evil and depravity of a depth and kind almost beyond twenty-first century comprehension.”
Speak for yourself. The second thing I try to point out consistently, is that most centuries have contained far worse evil and depravity than anything seen since 11/9/01.
” I refuse to share a planet with them and I refuse to share the name Homo Sapiens with them.”
Well, tough luck big guy, because unless you top yourself right now, that’s exactly what you’re going to do. I realise our leaders would like this so called war on terror to last all my life, but even if it did, it would not erradicate evildoers. You share this planet with serial killers and mass murders and rapists and thugs, and, oh shit, you share your DNA with them too, so my advice is to actually deal with it, instead of getting all gung-ho about cleansing the undesirables from our gene pool. People who talk like that have a bad track record on the old ‘extreme evil’ front, funnily enough.
J [who’d happily forgotted it was 9/11. Arg]
I believe it was Sun Tzu who said something like, “one must know one’s enemy like one’s lover”. It goes without saying that we must deeply understand these people if we are to have any real chance to find them and kill them.
I must add that I am quite glad to not be one of those who must crawl into these cesspit minds in order to do so.
By all means understand your enemy. The mistake is to empathise with them and treat them as if they are just an abberation of the species. If you fight a monster, understand it, don’t pretend it’s like you.
Seems to me that cleansing the islamists from the gene pool is just about the most perfect manifestation of ‘dealling with it’ that can be contrived.
The goal is simple, but it is exceptionally diificult. To transform to Arab/Muslim world into one that can live comfortably alongside the West. That means democratization, free speech, rule of law and basic capitalism. This goes against the way Islam is currently interpreted.
Clausewitz said something to the effect that “In war everything is very simple, but what is simple is incredibly difficult to accomplish.”
I do not see why ‘democracy’ is pre-requisite. Democracy does not perforce lead to secularisation.
It certainly has not done so in the US. We’re about as unsecular a nation as there is in the developed world.
Democracy even in a weak and corrupt form, such as in Turkey and a few other places I could name, is useful as a way societies can correct some of their mistakes.
Florence King once quoted a Japanese war criminal on trial in 1946 who said “I hate America , you are democrazy. ”
There’s an interesting analysis of jihad and Islam at Front Page by a guy named Bostom. I got to it through NRO. Sorry, I don’t know how to make links.
I went out on the fornt porch to get my newspapers this morning and noticed the flag was tangled up on its pole. Couldn’t have that, not today, at least, so I straightened it out so it hung properly.
There’s a funny little movie from years ago, called “Waltz of the Toreadors”, with Peter Sellers. He plays an aging cavalry officer at his retirement date. It mostly farce, but there is one little moment when he’s talking to the doctor.
The gist of it is, even though the body is 64 yrs old, there still beats the heart of a young man who would like to climb on his horse, take out his sword, and lead one more charge.
Sitting here in my pajamas, struggling just to type, needing my glasses just to see the words, I still wish I could be out in the field with the boys.
And so, I adjust my flag, and say a little prayer, hoping someone is listening, and shuffle back into the house. The big deal today is baseball practice for my 12 year old, maybe they need an assistant coach. Can’t throw anymore, but good at hitting and fielding instructions. One does what one can do.
Sorry if I’m not interested in debating the merits of democracy today. Somebody might be bleeding in its defense as I sit here, and their opinion is all the argument there is for me.
I think they don’t want to acknowledge Binny’s death because they don’t want to turn him into a martyr.
I’d suggest we should always remember that the price of freedom usually involves breaking someone’s head somewhere. Accordingly, we should remember that there are always, around the world, people putting their lives on the line (and often enough, losing them) so that we get to sleep safe & secure at night. Don’t just remember one incident, however tragic – terrorism didn’t start on 9/11, nor will it end with the defeat of Al Qaeda.
I believe there has been but one year since 1945 where no British servicemen have been killed on active duty somewhere in the world. I don’t know how the figures stack up for the US, but it’s probably not that different.
As for de-fanging Islamist society, democracy isn’t necessarily the answer. If it is, I suspect the wrong question is being asked. People turn to religion for many reasons, but one of the powerful factors is the degree of awfulness of everyday life.
One notices throughout history that as general prosperity and security in life increase, so religious practice decreases. America is not, I think, an exception to this – the until recently comparatively small welfare state has meant that life is not as secure as in, for example, most of western Europe. It’s great as long as you are working, but if not… It certainly plain that religious observance is more common amongst the poor and uneducated i.e. those with the least secure lives.
I suspect one of the answers to removing Islamist fundamentalism is to ensure wealth is spread more evenly across the Moslem societies rather than being split between a tiny number of fabulously wealthy people on the one hand, and 99% of the population with nothing on the other. A higher degree of education is also needed. I wouldn’t advocate a socialistic approach to achieving this, but economically and politically more liberal governments are needed and will probably have to be imposed. Democracy isn’t necessarily part of the answer, since this is something that only really works if it develops naturally rather than being imposed from outside just because one particular nation thinks it is the answer to all possible problems. It is especially not the answer in tribal societies which have this kind of division of wealth, because the politics will become those of envy, greed and resentment.
We’ll always have the lunatic zealots, of all religions, but the key is to make sure they don’t have popular support. Then they’re easy enough to neutralise.
EG
I’ll agree with J that this is part of human nature. But, simply understanding will not make them want to kill us less. And, wishing we would all forget about 9/11 is only going to increase the odds that it continue to happen, and our ability to turn the tide gets tougher and tougher.
For various reasons, nihilism in the form of Islamic extremism has taken hold throughout the world. Poverty, war, bad politics, Faustian bargains, polygamy, television, airplanes, and any number of other reasons can be blamed for it and may have had important roles. But, simple understanding does not change the situation we are in today. We know that human are capable of horrible things. But, we also know that in the right circumstances humans are capable of good things. It so happens that rule of law and property rights seem to enable societies where people can, for the most part, co-exist.
So then, what other way to win this war than by creating such societies? We know that we can’t simply fight a traditional war against the terrorists. There is no Al Qaedia to conveniently attack.
And so we are doing what we can based upon our understandings. We fight the terrorists where we can. We also pressure other countries to root out terrorists in their midst, as well as to reject the rhetoric and philosophies that the terrorist espouse. And we are trying to create free societies in Afghanistan and Iraq. Ultimately, we must succeed – not only for the future of these countries, but for the larger example they provide.
Your writings from the front lines of the war on terrorism, where you risk your life daily, to fight and kill the monsters who threaten all of us and our children, are among the most inspirational I’ve read on this topic. Since 9/11, there has been a never-ending parade of armchair generals, who’ve never faced combat and never killed anyone (let alone in personal, hand-to-hand combat), yet whose mouths are fairly spittle-flecked as they exhort us, in ever louder and shriller tones, to do whatever it takes, whatever the cost in blood and treasure on both sides, until every last monstrous enemy is dead, dead, dead: deader than Osama’s libido. How refreshing to hear the way it really is for the warrior on the front lines, from someone with firsthand experience of war, who, though sick at heart with the killing and destruction, in which he has been a sad but patriotically resolute and obedient participant, still understands and endorses the hard truth that it is either them or us. Only someone who has every reason to abhor war, yet fights on because the need is great and the cause is just, can adequately communicate the point of our great struggle to the average person on the street. Thank you for shouldering that burden, in addition to facing danger and possibly death every day, defending the homeland. We are not worthy.
I see Merritt has arrived to represent the pretentious twit faction of libertarianism because the ‘lets deal with the real world’ approach that gets written here cannot go unchallenged as being genuine libertarian thought!
Really Dale, how dare you express heartfelt views? How dare you suggest you have an idea what is at stake unless you are being shot at yourself!
Seriously you guys should stop calling yourselves libertarians because the terms is becoming synonymous with MORON.