7 Responses to “9/11 Reflection and Rage”

1. SaneInSF Says:
   September 12th, 2006 at 8:51 am

   Squandered good will? We never had it. The shock of 9/11 was a mere papering over of the anti-Americanism that has been going on since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

   From the Telegraph:

   “The dislike of America, the hatred for what it was believed to stand for – capitalism, globalisation, militarism, Zionism, Hollywood or McDonald’s, depending on your point of view – was well entrenched. To put it differently, the scorn now widely felt in Britain and across Europe for America’s “war on terrorism” actually preceded the “war on terrorism” itself. It was already there on September 12 and 13, right out in the open for everyone to see.”

   http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2006/09/12/do1202.xml&sSheet=/opinion/2006/09/12/ixopinion.html

2. Melinda Says:
   September 12th, 2006 at 9:59 am

   Dyre, although I share your (and Olberman’s) anger at this Administration, the Prez is not responsible for there being a hole in the ground. The responsibility is more on the state, local and private levels.

   Penn & Teller’s “Bullshit!” says it better than I could. Somebody uploaded the show here… quick, before somebody takes it down:

   http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-682040479797790215

3. Melinda Says:
   September 12th, 2006 at 10:17 am

   Sane:

   There was more to that article, and this part proves that Anne Applebaum is a genius, because I totally agree with her:

   “In part, this is thanks to the extraordinary diplomatic failure of the Bush Administration, which, believing its military power entitled it to arrogance, spurned America’s traditional alliances and launched a war in Iraq without making any preparations for the consequences. [snip]

   “While not entirely incorrect, the notion that President Bush has wasted international post-9/11 sympathy is not entirely accurate either. As I say, at the time of the attacks, influential Europeans, and influential Britons, were already disinclined for their own reasons to sympathise with any American tragedy. [snip]

   “Instead of pointing fingers, the fifth anniversary of 9/11 might be a good time to reverse course. If “war on terrorism” has become an unpopular term, then call it something else. Call it a “war on fanaticism”. Or – as we used to say in the Cold War – call it a “struggle for hearts and minds” in the Islamic communities of Europe and the Middle East. For whatever it’s called, it won’t succeed without both American and European support, without American and European mutual sympathy. And whatever it’s called, if it fails, the consequences will be felt on both sides of the Atlantic.”

   Or, as I said when I looked down Seventh Avenue that day, “Now we’re just like everybody else.”

4. Brian in MA Says:
   September 12th, 2006 at 11:36 am

   “Why am I now angry? Because our government squandered the international good will and national bipartisanship born on that day,”

   I’ll concede that, as long as you are referring to our government as THE LEGISLATURE as well as the Executive branches.

   I couldn’t tell between the Cut and Run plans, the acute Bush Derangement Syndrome, “Bush is a terrorist!”, and the calls for impeachment whether the Democrats wanted “united bipartisanship” or not.

   There’s plenty of blame for everybody, but please don’t be a leftist synchophant and claim all problems are Bush’s fault. Like Bush has any control over what Pakistan does, or how NYC proposes to fix Ground Zero.

   As to Europe: Bush said it best. To Europe, Sept. 11th was just a bad day. Bush went through the whole process of getting an international coalition to go into Iraq, but I guess that slips the minds of those who want to call him a shotgun cowboy. He had this whole thing where he went to the UN for international support, and our old “allies” France and Germany were too busy in Saddam’s intricate schemes to lend us any aid.

   I always marvel at how the Europeans prop themselves up as this great international force, but the only time they’ll ever do anything is if US troops are commited to the cause instead of European forces. It makes me sick that these people sit in their high chairs judging America when they refuse to get off their high horses and get something done themselves. They have to cross a freaking Sea, River, or land border, we have to cross an Ocean.

5. James Says:
   September 12th, 2006 at 2:45 pm

   because 5 years later ground zero is still a hole in the ground

   IF work had begun the day after 9/11, IF memorial plans were easy to solidify… we MIGHT have something on top of that “hole in the ground”… but as was evidenced by MANY things, that “hole in the ground” took about 8 months to clear, and it took MOST of these five years to even come to a consensus on what to build there.

   They said yesterday that IF they broke ground on 9/12 that it would take them at LEAST 5 years if not longer to even finish the thing.

6. Dyre42 Says:
   September 13th, 2006 at 10:14 pm

   I can’t blame W for the state of the 9/11 site. The worst that can be said of him in this regard is he hasn’t been much of an advocate for the memorial/rebuilding effort.

   But there has been a general failure on local, state, and federal levels to deliver what they promised in the name of those that died that day.

   It could also be argued that there has been a failure on the part of the public to hold it’s elected leaders feet in the fire until they deliver what they promised.

7. Dyre Portents Says:
   September 13th, 2006 at 11:27 pm

   Comment on Previous Post

   I mentioned in my previous post that I am not normally prone to anger (I mean the last time I was angry was in Feb of 2001). And what has surprised me since I, for the first time ever, opted to vent my anger in a public forum received zero disagreement…

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