September 11th, 2001
Today, I thought, I was going to help a friend connect to the Internet, and then I’d make a start on this site’s new section, a weblog. Well, I had just done the first of those things when a phone call iced my plans for the rest of the day.
Seeing the smoke billowing from the Pentagon was surprising, but seeing the tower — the one remaining tower — of the World Trade Centre burning, hearing that the other tower had already collapsed and then seeing, live, the second tower crumpling… that was numbingly shocking.
And I’m not even American.
What it must be like to be an American today? Probably like I felt when I heard that an aeroplane had crashed into a Scottish town — at first I didn’t even know it was Lockerbie and that none of my family were involved — only much more so. On a small scale the images of the aftermath are reminiscent of film I’ve seen of Berlin, 1945.
The unbelievable cloud of smoke and dust enveloping Manhattan — Wired News calls it Apocalypse in New York City and yes, the images are apocalyptic.
Americans are talking about Pearl Harbor, and that’s understandable. Except, of course, then they knew who the enemy was. Of course plenty are pointing at the Middle East, or to Afghanistan and Ossama bin Laden. One former Secretary of State has advocated hitting — hard — any known enemies of the USA. There are certainly people out there who would like to see that, and no wonder.
But this would not solve any problem. One of the reasons why there are so many in the Middle East and elsewhere who detest the USA is the perception that it talks about human rights but is quick to bomb the crap out of anyone it feels like thumping whether or not they are in fact anything to do with the event which triggered the US action.
I feel sorry for America and Americans. When — if — they find out precisely who is responsible, a strike against the culprits is not going to seem excessive (unless G.W. starts doing some nuclear carpetbombing). But I hope that there is restraint until there is some solid evidence of who actually did it. This is a time to let the dust settle and mourn, and get some real information. It’s a good time for President Bush to show he’s wiser than we all think he is. Otherwise this could be the start of a very bad time for the West, all of us.
© DC 2001. All rights reserved.
