What does it all mean?
Horowitz: "America is soft." Vincent: "Proud to be a New Yorker." Military expert: Signs point to "the Afghan group." And more reactions.
By Salon staff
Sept. 11, 2001 | Michael Klare, professor of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass., and the author of the recently published "Resource Wars: The New Landscape of Global Conflict"
You would have to look for groups that are capable of highly skilled and professional operations like this. Your first thought would have to be what is called "the Afghans" -- not necessarily the Afghan government, but that group of people who volunteered to fight with the mujahedin against the Soviet army and received very sophisticated training as well as financing from the CIA. This group would include bin Laden, but there are others as well.
The actions today clearly involved dozens but not hundreds of people. A small enough group to keep their activities secret as they were plotting.
We will desperately look for targets to strike; the pressure for retaliation will be enormous. But it will be hard for us to pinpoint the responsible parties. Groups like the Afghans are stateless. You could strike the Taliban central command, but it's unlikely their top leadership authorized it. These terrorist networks are purposely not highly structured. They're like the right-wing militia types in this country. They may all show up from time to time at the same gun shows, but there is no mailing list or centralized command.
We failed to kill those responsible for the Nairobi embassy bombing when we attacked Afghanistan and the Sudan. I think our chances this time of targeting the right people will also be very slim.
These actions took a tremendous level of precision and sophistication. My guess is this group put all of its resources into this; they've shot their wad. It might inspire other groups that view the U.S. to be the Great Satan to strike, but the numbers who are capable of pulling off something like this are few.
The Palestinians are unlikely to have been involved in something like this. Their rage is directed at Israel, the enemy within their sight. And their military and political apparatus is under immense stress right now; they have their hands full at home.
People are saying this attack was unprecedented, but there have been similar attacks against U.S. targets overseas, of course, like the embassy in Nairobi, the U.S.S. Cole and the military barracks in Saudi Arabia.
This action points less to Palestine than it does to the Saudi Arabia peninsula, where there is a major U.S. military presence and where the U.S. is a powerful backer of the Saudi royal family. Among those like bin Laden who view the U.S. as the Great Satan, in their minds the U.S. military is an occupying force in a sacred land and the Saudi family is corrupt and complicit.
I'm very worried about anti-Arab and anti-Islamic hysteria. And I'm very worried it will radically alter the lives of average Americans. It will be a long time before Americans ever take a plane trip the same way or visit public spaces. The fear will lead to stepped-up security measures and an erosion of our civil liberties.
Americans will struggle with the question "Why us. I thought we were the good guys?" But for many people in the world, we are a symbol of evil and oppression. Our vast wealth and power are bound to create resentment in some quarters. We should ask ourselves what actions our government has taken over the years that have built up this resentment. Such as our close relationship with the Saudi royal family, which many in that country view as hopelessly corrupt and tyrannical. Since there is no ability to oppose the family's rule in a democratic fashion, opposition to their rule is bound to take a terroristic route.
David Horowitz is a columnist for Salon.
The destruction of the World Trade Center, the attack on the Pentagon, the revelation to all the world that even the White House is vulnerable, should be a wake-up call to Americans.
This country is at war, and we are far behind in securing our citizens' safety and preparing for our defense.
How was it possible to hijack four commercial airliners from major airports, one of them Dulles International, and to do so within a set time frame?
How could obvious targets like the Pentagon and the World Trade Center towers be so undefended?
We know the answer. America is soft. America is in denial. America is embarrassed at the idea that it has enemies and must protect itself.
America has been so eager to cash in on "peace dividends" that it has stripped itself of even prudent defenses.
America is in denial that much of the world hates us, and will continue to hate us. Because we are prosperous, and democratic and free.
Today's tragedies must be a wake-up call.
It's time to remember that the first duty of government is to provide for the common defense.
That means it's time to spend the surplus on national security now. Beginning with a missile defense system that will prevent even bigger terrorist disasters in the future.
It is time to dramatically increase our domestic counterterrorist and intelligence efforts, and to step up the monitoring of all groups who have declared war on the United States.
It's time to tighten our security systems, beginning with airport checks. It's time to let the profiling of potential terrorists -- and that does mean Islamic and Palestinian terrorists -- outweigh the objections of the ACLU and other leftist groups.
It's time for those on the political left to rethink their alliances with anti-American radicals at home and abroad.
It's time for the president to identify the monsters who planned the day of infamy, and then to carry out a massive military strike against them and any government who sponsored these acts.
It is time for a new sobriety in America about what is at stake in the political battles with those who condemn America as an "oppressor" nation.
It is time for Americans who love this country to stand up in her defense.
Next page: Vincent: Proud to be a New Yorker