09-18-2004, 08:02 AM
Hmmmm... how to respond to the claim that the New York attacks were a government conspiracy? Oh, I know! Let's claim that it is true *and* that it was planned by the same blokes who whacked President Kennedy. If we're going to believe ludicrous things, let's believe *really* ludicrous things.
*ahem* Anyhow...
On the subject of terrorism: I do not believe that the US is to blame for the terrorist attacks on their own soil. It is terrorists who premeditate, plan and execute their designs. It is abundantly obvious that they alone shoulder the responsability for the carnage they inflict.
On the other hand, I do believe that American foreign policy has contributed towards making the USA a prime target of such extremists. The propoganda is how this fact is often (mis)represented in print and other media -- imperialism and exploitation leading to predictable blowback. If only things were that simple. I suspect that the US's role as global peace keeper/body guard has earned it a lot of its enemies. Most of the pundits also fail to speculate on what problems we might have if the US were not policing the world.
Informed or not, this is what I've come to believe. Anyhow, what's more important is how we move forward.
*ahem* Anyhow...
On the subject of terrorism: I do not believe that the US is to blame for the terrorist attacks on their own soil. It is terrorists who premeditate, plan and execute their designs. It is abundantly obvious that they alone shoulder the responsability for the carnage they inflict.
On the other hand, I do believe that American foreign policy has contributed towards making the USA a prime target of such extremists. The propoganda is how this fact is often (mis)represented in print and other media -- imperialism and exploitation leading to predictable blowback. If only things were that simple. I suspect that the US's role as global peace keeper/body guard has earned it a lot of its enemies. Most of the pundits also fail to speculate on what problems we might have if the US were not policing the world.
Informed or not, this is what I've come to believe. Anyhow, what's more important is how we move forward.