From vde9076@oz.sunflower.org Sun Oct 7 13:48:19 2001 Date: Sat, 06 Oct 2001 15:45:55 -0700 From: David Eisenstein To: deisenst@coin.org Subject: Fwd: FW: London Times article on US, its resolve, etc.... Dave this was sent me today, Saturday. Oct. 6, 2001. Dad >X-Sender: sue.fred@popd.ix.netcom.com >X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 4.3.2 >Date: Fri, 05 Oct 2001 22:18:30 -0600 >To: (Recipient list suppressed) >From: Sue & Fred Horne >Subject: Fwd: FW: London Times article on US, its resolve, etc.... > > >>Sun, 30 Sep 2001 >>Andrew Sullivan in the London Times >> >>No eloquence can match the impact of their evil. Americans' critical >>weakness in the past two decades has been their reluctance to shed blood >>or their goals. They believed they could construct a huge military and >>never have it fight real wars and suffer real casualties. They thought they >>could alter history and advance their interests from the air alone. With the >>exception of the Gulf War, which they hesitated to finish, they have shrunk >>from the fight. When the current enemy struck again and again throughout >>the 1990s, Bill Clinton responded without real credibility, struck back >>without >>real endurance, enraged the terrorists without truly hurting them. We are >>now living with the consequences of his appeasement, and of his refusal to >>challenge Americans beyond what the polls said they already wanted to do. >>Whoever launched this war on Americans has now accomplished the task >>Clinton didn't dare embark on. America has been bloodied as it has never >>been bloodied before. >> >>I would be a fool to predict what happens next. But it is clear that Bush >>will not do a Clinton. This will not be a surgical strike. It will not be a >>gesture. It may not even begin in earnest soon. But it will be deadly >>serious. It is clear that there is no way that the United States can achieve >>its goals without the cooperation of many other states - an alliance as deep >>and as broad as that which won the Gulf War. It is also >>clear that this cannot be done by airpower alone. As in 1941, the neglect of >>the military under Bill Clinton and the parsimony of its financing even >>under Bush must now not merely be ended but reversed. We may see the >>biggest defense build-up since the early 1980s - and not just in weaponry >>but in manpower. It is also quite clear that the U.S. military presence >>in the >>Middle East must be ramped up exponentially, its intelligence overhauled, >>its vigilance heightened exponentially. In some ways, Bush has already >>assembled the ideal team for such a task: Powell for the diplomatic dance, >>Rumsfeld for the deep reforms he will now have the opportunity to enact, >>Cheney as his most trusted aide in what has become to all intents and >>purposes a war cabinet. >> >>The terrorists have done the rest. The middle part of the country - the >>great red zone that voted for Bush - is clearly ready for war. Thedecadent >>Left in its enclaves on the coasts is not dead - and may well mount >>what amounts to a fifth column. But by striking at the heart of New York >>City, the terrorists ensured that at least one deep segment of the country >>ill-disposed toward a new president is now the most passionate in his >>defense. Anyone who has ever tried to get one over on a New Yorker >>knows what I mean. The demons who started this have no idea about >>the kind of people they have taken on. >> >>But what the terrorists are also counting on is that Americans will not >>have the stomach for the long haul. They clearly know that the coming >>retaliation will not be the end but the beginning. And when the >>terrorists strike back again, they have let us know that the results could >>make the assault on the World Trade Center look puny. They are banking >>that Americans will then cave. They have seen a great country quarrel to >>the edge of constitutional crisis over a razor-close presidential election. >>They have seen it respond to real threats in the last few years with >>squeamish restraint or surgical strikes. They have seen that, as Israel >>has been pounded by the same murderous thugs, the United States has >>responded with equanimity. They have seen a great nation at the height >>of its power obsess for a whole summer over a missing intern and a randy >>Congressman. They have good reason to believe that this country is soft, >>that it has no appetite for the war that has now begun. They have gambled >>that in response to unprecedented terror, the Americans will abandon >>Israel to the barbarians who would annihilate every Jew on the planet, >>and trade away their freedom for a respite from terror in their own land. >> >>We cannot foresee the future. But we know the past. And that past tells >>us that these people who destroyed the heart of New York City have made >>a terrible mistake. This country is at its heart a peaceful one. It has >>done more to help the world than any other actor in world history. It saved >>the world from the two greatest evils of the last century in Nazism and >>Soviet Communism. It responded to its victories in the last war by pouring >>aid into Europe and Japan. In the Middle East, America alone has ensured >>that the last hope of the Jewish people is not extinguished and has given >>more aid to Egypt than to any other country. It risked its own people to >>save the Middle East from the pseudo-Hitler in Baghdad. America need >>not have done any of this. Its world hegemony has been less violent and >>less imperial than any other comparable power in history. In the depths >>of its soul, it wants its dream to itself, to be left alone, to prosper among >>others, and to welcome them to the freedom America has helped secure. >> >>But whenever Americans have been challenged, they have risen to the task. >>In some awful way, these evil thugs may have done us a favor. America may >>have woken up for ever. The rage that will follow from this grief and shock >>may be deeper and greater than anyone now can imagine. Think of what the >>United States ultimately did to the enemy that bombed Pearl Harbor. Now >>recall that American power in the world is all but unchallenged by any other >>state. Recall that America has never been wealthier, and is at the end of >>one of the biggest booms in its history. And now consider the extent of this >>wound - the greatest civilian casualties since the Civil War, an assault not >>just on Americans but on the meaning of America itself. When you take a >>step back, it is hard not to believe that we are now in the quiet moment >>before >>the whirlwind. Americans will recover their dead, and they will mourn them, >>and then they will get down to business. Their sadness will be mingled with >>an anger that will make the hatred of these evil fanatics seem mild. >> >>I am reminded of a great American poem written by Herman Melville after >>the death of Abraham Lincoln, the second founder of the country: >> >>There is sobbing of the strong, >>And a pall upon the land; >>But the People in their weeping >>Bare the iron hand; >>Beware the People weeping >>When they bare the iron hand. > >--------------------------------- >Sue & Fred Horne >Santa Fe NM >