On a tuesday in September 2001.......
September 11 sucks in many respects.
It is said, that everybody will remeber forever what he has been doing, when he got the news of the twin towers going down.
I remember I was at work and the internet nearly broke down, CNN was out of reach.
I remember the sarcastic remark of a colleague, that this could be the response for the American world politics. I think he didn't know how damn right he was.
I remember driving home. It was strangely and terrifying calm everywhere. The news where read like a obituary notice. Today the Dow Jones was buried, he lost x percent and then the trade was stopped and nobody knows when it will come back to life again.....
I remember the infinite loop of the pictures of the tower crashing planes and who wouldn't?
I remember the helplessness of George W. Bush, when he got the news (I have seen it later in the movie of Michael Moore). This could have been human but the results were fatal in many ways. He annouced the war against terror, a thought like an unborn scare or the emperor's new clothes. It does not exist.
You can't be at war with terrorism. Terrorism has no state, no borders, no government, no body. It changes like a hydra. If you cut off one head, another one will appear. It will be even worse, concerning terrorism. But America didn't realize that. Terror isn't Afghanistan or Iraq. Terror is an answer to a question nobody knows. It can't be wiped out, if not by the terrorists itself, because of realizing the senselessness or failure. We had the RAF (Rote Armee Fraktion) in Germany who declared their cancellation in 1998 after their importance and attention faded.
The so called wars against terror were a huge mistake, Colin Powell now regrets his speech at the UN, concerning the proof of weapons of mass destruction (I hate this word). An argumentation that proved to be unsustainable, these weapons were never found.
Then many civil laws were changed in the States and in many other countries (including Germany). The seed of fear, spying, cutbacks of almost every right was sowed. It fell on a fertile ground in the US, a anyhow fear-occupied, weapon loaded country. People awoke to late (not before the last election, where George W. was given another try) and it will take a long time (if ever possible) to regain the situation before September 11.
I would have wished, that America had reacted more like the British people after the terror attacs in the city of London. Hats off! They didn't show their fear to the world (and the terrorists). Their heads remained high. The mayor of London went to work with the subway. No war was announced. What a loss for the terrorists. They look like abhorrent, disgusting criminals and idiots now (for everybody in the world), who killed innocent people. Not like martyrs or protagonists of something worth fighting for.
I hope we have learned this lesson well.
It is said, that everybody will remeber forever what he has been doing, when he got the news of the twin towers going down.
I remember I was at work and the internet nearly broke down, CNN was out of reach.
I remember the sarcastic remark of a colleague, that this could be the response for the American world politics. I think he didn't know how damn right he was.
I remember driving home. It was strangely and terrifying calm everywhere. The news where read like a obituary notice. Today the Dow Jones was buried, he lost x percent and then the trade was stopped and nobody knows when it will come back to life again.....
I remember the infinite loop of the pictures of the tower crashing planes and who wouldn't?
I remember the helplessness of George W. Bush, when he got the news (I have seen it later in the movie of Michael Moore). This could have been human but the results were fatal in many ways. He annouced the war against terror, a thought like an unborn scare or the emperor's new clothes. It does not exist.
You can't be at war with terrorism. Terrorism has no state, no borders, no government, no body. It changes like a hydra. If you cut off one head, another one will appear. It will be even worse, concerning terrorism. But America didn't realize that. Terror isn't Afghanistan or Iraq. Terror is an answer to a question nobody knows. It can't be wiped out, if not by the terrorists itself, because of realizing the senselessness or failure. We had the RAF (Rote Armee Fraktion) in Germany who declared their cancellation in 1998 after their importance and attention faded.
The so called wars against terror were a huge mistake, Colin Powell now regrets his speech at the UN, concerning the proof of weapons of mass destruction (I hate this word). An argumentation that proved to be unsustainable, these weapons were never found.
Then many civil laws were changed in the States and in many other countries (including Germany). The seed of fear, spying, cutbacks of almost every right was sowed. It fell on a fertile ground in the US, a anyhow fear-occupied, weapon loaded country. People awoke to late (not before the last election, where George W. was given another try) and it will take a long time (if ever possible) to regain the situation before September 11.
I would have wished, that America had reacted more like the British people after the terror attacs in the city of London. Hats off! They didn't show their fear to the world (and the terrorists). Their heads remained high. The mayor of London went to work with the subway. No war was announced. What a loss for the terrorists. They look like abhorrent, disgusting criminals and idiots now (for everybody in the world), who killed innocent people. Not like martyrs or protagonists of something worth fighting for.
I hope we have learned this lesson well.
posted by Konrad at 3:28 PM
3 Comments:
You expressed your opinion on 9/11 and America's reaction to terrorism very well, Konrad. Maybe you should submit this piece somewhere (mainstream media)?
Oh thank you very much. Maybe I could write a reader's letter. But probably I would have to translate it back to German. That's funny!
I was at work in the UK offices of a big American corporation. Our office area had the only TV on our floor, so everyone was crowded round watching in total disbelief. We watched the second plane hit the tower live on CNN. I'll never forget that sight, ever.
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