America is paralysed

The Straight Goods Cyber Forum with Larry Solway

Commentary:

  I am not the first to use the word. The New York Times, probably the best window into that ravaged, nervous, and disconnected city, has used it extensively. Every perverted nitwit who phones in a bomb threat, every person who looks or sounds Arabic is suspect. In the Friday closing of all three (Newark, LaGuardia, Kennedy) airports, the police were stopping everyone who was dark skinned, spoke with an accent or had a lot of facial hair!
  There are cynics whose racism is barely beneath the surface, suggesting that it is anger against America for their support of Israel. In the other side there are those who look with some kind of perverted pleasure at the "celebration" in East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip as evidence that the Palestinians are on the wrong side of decency.
  It is religious fundamentalism that brooks no differences, and declares war on infidels. It is beyond the scope of what we understand to be reasonable response. It is Jihad.
  There are so many shades of opinion in America and elsewhere; it is impossible to make sense of them. They range from the "nuke the bastards" people who want America to devastate Afghanistan to the dovish ones who urge calm.
  I am perversely amused at the new alliance America looks to Russia which has "had experience in Afghanistan" for guidance on what to do next. There is a suggestion that the Russians, who were beset by subversion from their Muslim republics, including the devastation wrought by Chechen rebels who bombed Moscow apartment buildings, will make common cause with America and occupy Kabul, overthrowing the Taliban. It has now become too surreal to sort out.
  America has endured a catastrophic attack. Is this the time to remark smugly that finally America is finding out what it is like to be under siege?
  I can't decide. I am, as many are, overwhelmed by the grief that has overtaken America. We are still after all, their closest friends. Whatever they have done, from softwood to NAFTA has nothing to do with the tragedy they are now being forced to endure.
  So where do I go from here?

Larry Solway and Straight Goods invite your comments on The Attack and what comes next: What does the attack on the US mean to you?

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Posted: September 17, 2001

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