The Chickens Come Home to Roost

I’m watching the dust from the World Trade Center buildings settle and the Pentagon burn, while the White House is evacuated. The FAA has grounded all flights, as it now appears that three domestic commercial airliners were hijacked and crashed into these buildings, and possibly one other plane crashed before finding its target. What else could have happened but a well organized terrorist attack?

From here the script is set. The pundits on TV have already mentioned Osama bin Laden. Retired General Wesley Clark maneuvered into his favorite position, full frontal camera, and announced that only Ossama bin Laden had the resources to co-ordinate such an attack. Newt Gingrich repeated basically the same thing. George Bush has promised that the government will hunt the terrorists down and punish them. "Terrorism against our nation will not stand." Huh? Sadly, terrorism already did stand, the World Trade Centers did not, and the terrorists most directly responsible are already dead.

Back to the TV where the anchor goes on about the previous bombing of the World Trade Centers, the bombing of the USS Cole, Oklahoma City, and the bombing of our African Embassies. Tomorrow the calls for a national day of mourning will begin. Somewhere in this formula of terrorism, mourning, Tomahawk-revenge, repeat, the news-media are failing to connect the dots. Where and why did the cycle begin? Why do people hate the United States enough to come here and try to wreck the maximum amount of death and destruction possible? Why, why, why?

Terrorism gets its name from the type of attack designed to generate the maximum amount of terror. The terrorists responsible for these attacks understood psychology well, and used it to maximum advantage as they planned their attack. They also had a reason for choosing the targets they did. Lets start with the targets, The World Trade Center Towers and the Pentagon.

The World Trade Centers, besides the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building were two of the most widely recognized buildings in New York. They stood at the edge of the financial district, right on Wall Street. They were the two largest symbols of American global corporatism in New York City. They were also crammed full of people, with approximately 50,000 civilians working in the two every day. The terrorist messages, intentional or not, are fivefold. First, civilians are not safe; they are fair game. Second, a highly secure building in the middle of America’s financial capital is not safe; therefore, no office building in any city is safe. The result: office buildings in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Boston, Washington, and other cities emptied within hours of the attacks. The UN and all government buildings in Washington were evacuated. Third, the airlines are not safe. The terrorists hijacked at least 4 planes, from four different airports, and two different airlines. Fourth, the terrorists attacked the symbol of International finance. Why? Fifth, the United States military is despised by whoever did this.

The method of attack, and the timing tells us these terrorists had coldly calculated how to cause the greatest amount of grief for America. The flights were all domestic flights. The departure and arrival cities for the flights may have been only coincidental to the terrorist goal of hijacking the largest jets, but I don’t think this was the case. It’s easier to study a single airport for security weaknesses, get your people hired on the inside, and get weapons through, than it is to hijack planes from Boston, Washington, and Newark. That means security at three separate major airports was compromised. With end route cities in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Newark, Washington, and Boston, people across the entire U.S. have lost loved ones as a result of these attacks.

As of this writing, a group with the name "Palestine" in it is the only one to claim responsibility for attacks. Why would a group of Palestinians claim responsibility for the attack? Why would Palestinians be so happy about the attacks? Why would the terrorists attack military / government and banking targets? Could it be that Palestinian terrorists perceive the United States to favor Israel in the current Intafada. New York is renowned for its large Jewish population, and banking is considered a historically Jewish profession. I think the picture is becoming a little bit clearer. Maybe that’s why the World Trade Centers were targeted in New York City. Don’t get me wrong, they made good terrorist targets for logistical reasons alone: sheer height, the amount of media coverage in New York City, and the timing of the attack ensured that cameras would capture the murders and mahem, broadcasting live to an audience of millions.

Chalmers Johnson has theory. He calls it blow-back. It’s simple really. When a big strong country uses its military or money to push around a smaller country, the smaller country can only fight back via terrorism. And provoked enough, the smaller country will fight back. The Pentagon folks call it asymmetrical war, as in, the two sides are not even. Our side has nukes, aircraft carriers, fighters, tanks, Tomahawks, and is considering missle defense. The other side has a minimum of 4 suicidal hijackers pilots, 12 suicidal hijackers with any kind of gun, some friends in airport security, maintenance, catering, or baggage, an agreed upon date, time, and target list, and enough money to buy a few dozen plane tickets.

When Nikolay Soltys or Joseph Ferguson goes on a murder spree in California, we shake our heads and dismiss it as the doings of a lunatic. When at least a dozen people carry out coordinated suicide terrorist attacks on specific targets in the United States, something besides, or perhaps in addition to, insanity is at work. What could stir and feed such a profound hatred? Dismiss the "jealous of America" idea. Jealousy is the petty hatred of small-minded gossips and pickpockets.

I think that seeing members of your family killed by armaments supplied by the United States, bought with money supplied by the United States, and used with the support of the United States just might do it. If the cycle went on long enough, perhaps for years, hatred could set it. So the question is, who would do this? Here’s a partial list of countries the United States has recently (in the last 10 years) bombed, invaded, supported overthrow of the government, or supplied arms to one side in a war: Palestine, Iraq, Macedonia, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, and Sudan. China is an honorary member of the list, because of its embassy bombing, which was probably intentional. Well, we have the usual suspects, and we can bet that a terrorist from any of those countries will see this attack on the U.S. as retaliation for our bombing of their home soil.

It’s ironic that the initial response is to look to the military for protection after the damage is done, when military involvement around the world was probably the cause. It’s ironic to hear calls to hunt down and punish those responsible, when they already paid with their lives. The evil masterminds remain, and given the success of this attack, they will have legions of new fanatics, ready to die. Even if we eliminate those at the top of the organization, more will take their place. Why?

Will we learn anything in the aftermath of this attack? The lessons seem clear enough: follow an isolationist foreign policy. Stop selling weapons and supplying monetary aid to foreign countries, period. Stop meddling in the internal politics of foreign countries, period. How much longer will we blindly support Israel, when it may have cost us thousands of lives instead of billions of dollars? How many more dead Americans do we need before we realize that our military is seen as an occupation force when viewed with foreign eyes, from foreign shores? Bring them home. How many more civilian lives will it take before we realize our government cannot protect us from harm, when it creates millions who hate us abroad? How much more destruction will be wrecked on American soil before we realize that this is a faint reflection of the destruction we have wrecked on Iraq and Yugoslavia?

The list of countries we have antagonized is long. The names of the dead in those countries run into the hundreds of thousands, if not millions. If we do not change our ways, September 11, 2001 will be remembered as the first in a long string of the worst. I pray that it will be the turning point in the way we deal with the world. I pray that it will be the last, worst attack on the people of the United States. In his Gettysburg address, Lincoln said "that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain". Let us resolve to understand why our countrymen were killed, that their deaths may not be in vain.

"The lessons seem clear enough: follow an isolationist foreign policy."

Geeze. They're actually oozing utopian libertarians out the wood work. Something must have backed up somewhere.

This is the most vile apology for evil that I have read yet. The terrorist are ideologically bent on destroying western (Christian)civilization. They are filled with hatred, and manipulated by psychopathic leaders. To rationalize their behavior is like rationalizing Hitlerian actions.

The USA has done everything for the Moslem nations. We subsidized them, armed them, bought thir oil and carpets, helped foster democracy in their countries, and shed our blood to protected them from take over by their own ruthless murderer Saddam Hussein.

I'm personally a very hawkish conservative, but I find myself very much in agreement with the author.

I'd say this nation is in a great frame of mind to be manipulated today - it's a good thing there are no manipulators amongst us, isn't it?

Duke, with emotions so high, its difficult to think clearly. The author is correct. The question is, what do we do now. We have been attacked, we are at war. I saw, let's defeat the b*stards and then support a non-interventionists foreign policy.

America has for years been the bully-on-the-block, instead of following the words of the founders and minding our own business. The founding fathers found intervention in other countrys affairs repulsive and warned against it. We should be listening to those wise men and keeping our noses at home. The author is dead on.

Boonie Rat

MACV SOCOM, PhuBai/Hue '65-'66

Just saw A report that one Individual RODE THE WTC TOWER DOWN form the 82nd floor as it collapsed and he survived and his wife is 8 months Pregnant! Don't know about your folks but that is final proof to me that there is a Supreme Being!

Oh and for all you pukes who are saying America Deserved this and we should let it go... When the Airlines resume service please go directly to your nearest airline terminal and take the first flight out of the USA! You are not needed here!

If you believe the USA should not respond, please notice the exit to your right and use it... This ride is going to get bumpy and we don't need your pitiful selves to hinder our resolve!

When the Islamic fiends have conquered the rest of the world, the Libertarians will proclaim their disinterest in the carnage just before they get their throats slit. They cannot get it through their skulls that radical Islam hates America, the West, capitalism, and all other manifestations of Western civilization. Shouting to the killers that you are not involved with their plight is like screaming at a hungry tiger, who's eyeing you intently, that you mean it no harm. Rest assured, these savages will gladly slaughter Harry Browne and his cohorts just as eagerly as they did the innocent Americans aboard those flights.

Really. The victims are to blame. This is why Libertarians lack such credibility and why they gather about as many votes as the Communist Party of the USA in elections---nonsense like this.

I am thinking very striaght! All Americans should take this for what it is, an Attack on our Freedom and if you don't believe we should respond then Please Get out or shut up! All who are not prepared to fight this fight will just slow us Down! The Name of this site is Free Republic, are all here prepared to live up to that title? This site and America will Not remain Free if we entertain and act on the idea that we should not obliterate those responsible!

Exactly. Seems like these people are opposed to the United States -- war and violence is OK for everyone else, especially when directed at us. It's just an excuse to attack their own country. "The Chickens Come Home To Roost" indeed... the only "chickens" are the cowards who write these articles trying to make it seem as if we somehow deserved to have many thousands of our citizens -- civilians, mostly -- murdered.

I have a different thought about the hatred, and I don't really believe it stems from US military involvement in the Middle East. It is almost incomprehensible for us to grasp the entirely different world view that comes with the influence of the extremely conservative fundamentalist Islamic beliefs. They believe their hatred is a holy one. They truly believe they are hating what is evil, that we are the great Satan. That is what is so terrifying. This world view has been ingrained in them and they are steeped in it - witness the little children cheering in the streets, waving their little flags and seemingly overjoyed at the deaths of so many Americans. They uniformly believe they serve Allah by this holy war. Like brainwashing or mental illness, you cannot reason with, bargain with, negotiate with such people. They must simply be limited, and severely so, from further actions.

We must learn from this apocalyptic event:George Washington "The duty and interest of the United States, requires that they should with sincerity and good faith adopt and pursue a conduct friendly and impartial towards the belligerent powers." We have a very little time to save our nation, the "hellhole" has reached our own coutry; "Neutrality" is the first step...

That's right. The are so different from us they might as well be Klingons. If it wasn't for the oil the whole region wouldn't be worth shit. It's about time we helped the Russians open up the vast Siberian oilfields and then let the rags in the middle east kill each other for as long as they want. We don't need them, or they're oil....

You are absolutely correct. Islamic fundamentalist (as in not all muslims), believe they have a sacred mission to destroy western culture. They see western culture and western religions as the major threat to their way of life and religious beliefs. They do not believe in peaceful co-existance, they want our destruction, pure and simple.

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