"Be wary of the man who urges an action in which he himself incurs no risk." -Joaquin Setani
What we needed during that September five years ago was a leader who would put our grievous loss into perspective. One who would promise to find and punish those specifically responsible for the outrage of 9/11, and to simultaneously work to erase the underlying causes of a hatred so great.
A leader who would have recognized that, yes, even on September 12th, America was essentially still a nation at peace - and would have done everything within his power to preserve, protect, and strengthen that peace. One who would have diffused the knee-jerk bloodlust of the wounded American citizenry, cautioning and counseling us to move forward with diplomacy and restraint, despite the instinctive temptation to answer violence with violence.
"Control thy passions, lest they take vengeance on thee." -Epictetus
Instead, what we got was a wannabe cowboy with a bullhorn, exhorting a vulnerable populace with shortsighted phrases like "dead or alive" and "bring 'em on." A petty opportunist, surrounded by equally petty confidants, who sought only to capitalize on a horrible tragedy by fanning the flame of mob passion which naturally followed 9/11.
And to what end? An actual awakening to the root causes of anti-American sentiments in the Muslim community? Or an excuse to rattle America's global saber, a rationalization for putting a long-standing, PNAC-inspired plan of military conquest into motion, knowing full well that a vengeful nation would easily accept the spilling of any blood, as long as it was Arab blood being spilled?
"It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it." -Robert E. Lee
How unfortunate that the individuals who've so blithely rushed to war, and, in so doing, made America into a global pariah, were never in a position to fully understand General Lee's admonition. This manipulative campaign of pre-emptive revenge was fabricated and sold to a willing public by men who'd spent considerable energies in their lifetimes avoiding the potential horror of military service.
And so, with no first-hand experience of the brutality and depravity of war, they cloaked themselves in the flag, and callously sent tens of thousands of other people's children to be maimed or killed for their deceitful "cause," worried only about keeping the U.S. in such a state of irrational fear that their insidious machinations would not be exposed for the sham they so truly are.
"War is a cowardly escape from the problems of peace." -Thomas Mann
I suppose that, on the surface, it's easy to reject that contention. Cowardly? Surely, the service and sacrifice of our men and women in uniform can only be described as brave. And certainly, there have been countless acts of individual heroism displayed on the field of battle by those who want to believe they're doing the right thing.
But there have been far too many acts of inexcusable savagery as well, which is an inevitable by-product of war - and yet another reason it must be avoided at all costs. The cowardice on display for the past three and a half years is that which has been displayed by the architects of our invasion of Iraq, who, with that long forgotten sympathy of the entire world that we once enjoyed, had a choice in 2003 to stop the cycle of mindless revenge by focusing on those actually responsible for the 2001 attacks - and changing the attitudes that had enabled their influential rise.
"You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake." -Jeannette Rankin
Instead, the actions of this Administration have brought us demonstrably closer each and every day to losing the supposed "war on terror." It doesn't take a genius to see that killing begets more killing. That hatred begets more hatred. And that a people exposed to hourly chaos, destruction, and death cares less about the benefits of their alleged "freedom" than about payback toward those who've put them in the midst of such a ceaseless nightmare.
Unless clear and strong voices rise up in opposition to the very idea of war as a lasting solution to regional differences, we should have every expectation that the current violence in the Middle East will only intensify. And as the "little people" who are bound to suffer most as a result of these wrong-headed policies of subjectively "righteous vengeance," it is incumbent on us to demand that our leaders put an end to the killing, and recognize it for what it is - the counterproductive folly of mean, small minds.
"Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation." -Martin Luther King Jr.
Amen, Reverend. Amen.
What we needed during that September five years ago was a leader who would put our grievous loss into perspective. One who would promise to find and punish those specifically responsible for the outrage of 9/11, and to simultaneously work to erase the underlying causes of a hatred so great.
A leader who would have recognized that, yes, even on September 12th, America was essentially still a nation at peace - and would have done everything within his power to preserve, protect, and strengthen that peace. One who would have diffused the knee-jerk bloodlust of the wounded American citizenry, cautioning and counseling us to move forward with diplomacy and restraint, despite the instinctive temptation to answer violence with violence.
"Control thy passions, lest they take vengeance on thee." -Epictetus
And to what end? An actual awakening to the root causes of anti-American sentiments in the Muslim community? Or an excuse to rattle America's global saber, a rationalization for putting a long-standing, PNAC-inspired plan of military conquest into motion, knowing full well that a vengeful nation would easily accept the spilling of any blood, as long as it was Arab blood being spilled?
"It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it." -Robert E. Lee
How unfortunate that the individuals who've so blithely rushed to war, and, in so doing, made America into a global pariah, were never in a position to fully understand General Lee's admonition. This manipulative campaign of pre-emptive revenge was fabricated and sold to a willing public by men who'd spent considerable energies in their lifetimes avoiding the potential horror of military service.
And so, with no first-hand experience of the brutality and depravity of war, they cloaked themselves in the flag, and callously sent tens of thousands of other people's children to be maimed or killed for their deceitful "cause," worried only about keeping the U.S. in such a state of irrational fear that their insidious machinations would not be exposed for the sham they so truly are.
"War is a cowardly escape from the problems of peace." -Thomas Mann
I suppose that, on the surface, it's easy to reject that contention. Cowardly? Surely, the service and sacrifice of our men and women in uniform can only be described as brave. And certainly, there have been countless acts of individual heroism displayed on the field of battle by those who want to believe they're doing the right thing.
But there have been far too many acts of inexcusable savagery as well, which is an inevitable by-product of war - and yet another reason it must be avoided at all costs. The cowardice on display for the past three and a half years is that which has been displayed by the architects of our invasion of Iraq, who, with that long forgotten sympathy of the entire world that we once enjoyed, had a choice in 2003 to stop the cycle of mindless revenge by focusing on those actually responsible for the 2001 attacks - and changing the attitudes that had enabled their influential rise.
"You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake." -Jeannette Rankin
Instead, the actions of this Administration have brought us demonstrably closer each and every day to losing the supposed "war on terror." It doesn't take a genius to see that killing begets more killing. That hatred begets more hatred. And that a people exposed to hourly chaos, destruction, and death cares less about the benefits of their alleged "freedom" than about payback toward those who've put them in the midst of such a ceaseless nightmare.
Unless clear and strong voices rise up in opposition to the very idea of war as a lasting solution to regional differences, we should have every expectation that the current violence in the Middle East will only intensify. And as the "little people" who are bound to suffer most as a result of these wrong-headed policies of subjectively "righteous vengeance," it is incumbent on us to demand that our leaders put an end to the killing, and recognize it for what it is - the counterproductive folly of mean, small minds.
"Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation." -Martin Luther King Jr.
Amen, Reverend. Amen.
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