I created this page in the weeks following 9-11,
and discusses the problem of hate crimes against Arab and Middle Eastern
looking citizens; it also has some links on bin Laden and a hint about
why the Anthrax may be domestic terrorism.
Just as the country finished executing
McVeigh for the Oklahoma City Bombing and getting the closure that's
alleged to follow, President Bush declares the first war of the 21st
century. The death toll for the attacks on the World Trade Center and
the Pentagon is about 3,879, - twice the losses of Pearl Harbor (but with
victims from 70 countries).
This page draws on my
experience studying topics like genocide, hate crimes and justice.
It cannot provide answers so much as highlight some of the important
aspects for both the immediate future and longer run for
living in a global village that has suicide bombers
with control over fully fueled jet planes.
Assuming the perpetrator was Osama bin
Laden, we should start to know our enemy a little better. He follows a
non-mainstream version of Islam, but how many people know the basic
tenants of his beliefs? What are his grounds for a holy war? We can't
have an intelligent response without some better knowledge of his
worldview.
Domestic
Terrorism and Retribution for McVeigh's Execution
Indications are that bin Laden is behind
the attack, but Arab terrorists were the prime suspects early on in
Oklahoma City also. Before being sentenced to death, McVeigh uttered
only four sentences, including a quote from former Supreme Court Justice
Louis D. Brandeis: "Our government is the potent, the omnipresent
teacher. For good or ill, it teaches the whole people by its
example." To McVeigh, the government's laying siege to the
compound and burning it to the ground violated cherished personal rights
and also served as the example for him to level the Murrah federal
building. To some in the militia movement, McVeigh's execution would be
an example of government overstepping its bounds, which Brandeis said
"breeds contempt for the law; it invites every man to become a law
unto himself; it invites anarchy-[and] would bring terrible
retribution"
So far, many in the so-called patriot
movement have not shown the resolve for suicide bombing. However, the Turner
Diaries ends with the central character takes a "one way trip
to the Pentagon" with a warhead in the front seat of the plane.
(The date is Nov 9 [11/9] while these attacks occurred 9/11.) The
Turner Diaries is considered the Bible of the survivalist right;
it is the story of Earl Turner's transformation from citizen to activist
to hero in the fictional account of 'The Order' overthrowing the corrupt
Jewish and minority led U.S. government. McVeigh read it many times and
slept with it under his pillow.
p 102: "We stopped wasting our
resources in small-scale terror attacks and shifted to large-scale
attacks on carefully selected economic targets: power stations, fuel
depots, transportation facilities, food sources, key industrial
plants. We do not expect to bring down the already creaky American
economic structure immediately, but we do expect to cause a number of
localized and temporary breakdowns, which will have a cumulative
effect on the whole people"
The book is an important discussion of methods for putting a
society back together after war, genocide, or apartheid. It
doesn't advocate a particular one, but
is a fascinating review of war crime trials, truth commissions,
reparations, etc.
"You will be
dealing with this during your careers" said the FBI instructor in
the class on biological weapons.
Preston's The Cobra Event
is a tale of a deadly virus mated with common cold germs so it would
spread with casual contact. The book follows up on events from a
test release to hunting down the perpetrator before he releases it
in New York City. It's a gripping novel and the author did his
homework through Freedom of Information Act requests and sitting in
on FBI classes.
"NEW YORK, Aug. 24, 1998 — At the CIA, it happens often enough to have a code name: Blowback. Simply defined, this is the term that describes an agent, an operative or an operation that has turned on its creators. Osama bin Laden, our new public enemy Number 1, is the
personification of blowback. And the fact that he is viewed as a hero by millions in the Islamic world proves again the old adage: Reap what you sow."
Part of the problem is that important contextual
information is not included in media reports, as discussed in Postman's
book Amusing Ourselves to Death : Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business.
His example was the Iranian hostage crisis that lasted for more than a
year, but most people had no idea what the title Ayatollah meant or any
basic tenants of the belief system. The internet seems to help in that
more information is available (although Postman
argues there's now information glut).
