Entries tagged with “9/11” from Reality Window

Amitav Ghosh has an op-ed in the NY Times that underscores something that I was thinking about the other day. He notes that violence and attacks such as that carried out in Mumbai have been in occurring with regularity in India for decades though western media watchers may not have been as aware of them as they might be. He goes onto argue that the 9/11 comparison is inaccurate because there was no history of attacks in the United States prior to 9/11 as there was in India. Then he makes the following point:

When commentators repeat the metaphor of 9/11 they are in effect pushing the Indian government to mount a comparable response. If India takes a hard line modeled on the actions of the Bush administration, the consequences are sure to be equally disastrous. The very power of the 9/11 metaphor blinds us to the possibility that there might be other, more productive analogies for the invasion of Mumbai: one is the Madrid train bombings of March 11, 2004, which led to a comparable number of casualties and created a similar sense of shock and grief.

If 9/11 is a metaphor for one kind of reaction to terrorism, then 11-M (as it is known in Spanish) should serve as shorthand for a different kind of response: one that emphasizes vigilance, patience and careful police work in coordination with neighboring countries. This is exactly the kind of response India needs now, and fortunately this seems to be the course that the government, led by the Congress Party, has decided to follow.

This is exactly the kind of response the US needed to 9/11 and failed to take. Let's hope that the Indian government will avoid making the mistakes of the Bush administration.

Roger Cohen writes a column unlike any I've seen. It's powerful, especially for those who spent many hours in Sunday School and church listening to the scripture from the King James version.

And in the seventh year after the fall, the dust and debris of the towers cleared. And it became plain at last what had been wrought.

For the wreckage begat greed; and it came to pass that while America's young men and women fought, other Americans enriched themselves. Beguiling the innocent, they did backdate options, and they did package toxic mortgage securities and they did reprice risk on the basis that it no more existed than famine in a fertile land.

Thereby did the masters of the universe prosper, with gold, with silver shekels, with land rich in cattle and fowl, with illegal manservants and maids, with jewels and silk, and with Gulfstream V business jets; yet the whole land did not prosper with them. And it came to pass, when the housing bubble burst, that Main Street had to pay for the Wall Street party.

For Bush ruled over the whole nation and so sure was he of his righteousness that he did neglect husbandry.

And he took his nation into desert wars and mountain wars, but, lo, he thought not to impose taxation, not one heifer nor sheep nor ox did Bush demand of the rich. And it came to pass that the nation fell into debt as boundless as the wickedness of Sodom. For everyone, Lehman not least, was maxed out. [...]

For Bush ruled over the whole nation and so sure was he of his righteousness that he did foster division until it raged like a plague. Each tribe sent pestilence on the other.

And in the seventh year after the fall, the dust and debris of the towers cleared. And it became plain at last what had been wrought -- but not how the damage would be undone.

Do go read the whole piece. It's powerful. You may also appreciate TeacherKen's thoughts on the column.

What have we wrought?

The RNC has a problem. First they used fake soldiers in a video supposedly honoring them. But last night they leaped right over that line of disrespect and right into callous insult to anyone impacted by the events of 9/11.

You may have missed it. If you did, you can watch it now.

If you did see it, you already know why people are so angry about the RNC's video last night. A fear and hate-mongering mashup of epic proportions which callously used extended video of 9/11 to create the proper atmosphere of fear and hate at the Republican Convention.

Keith Olbermann was certainly angry about it. So is eshfemme at DU.

But here's the message I'd like to share with you.

plf515 at dkos was in the Twin Towers when they were hit on 9/11. He has a message that he asked us to share far and wide. It's a message for all those who would so callously use other people's loss and grief for their own personal advantage. Get angry with him.

OK, I've not been watching the RNC. But they have apparently pulled something about a 'tribute' to 9/11. And they are going to have McCain start his speech at 9:11 Central time

UPDATE McCain started at 9:11

I am outraged. ...

I'm a victim of 9/11. I was in the building when the plane hit.