"Collateral Damage" Hits Home

PHOENIX, Tuesday, Sep.11, 2001 - "I can't believe what's happening," a shocked close friend said this morning about the deadliest attack on  American soil since Pearl Harbor (or maybe even ever?).  "No surprise  there," I replied. "I've seen too many tragedies (around the world) in the  last 11 years, some firsthand as you know, to be fazed by anything anymore."

It wasn't a blasé answer. Just factual. So I explained.

When the "world's only superpower" and its allies bombed and killed thousands of innocent civilians in Iraq and Serbia, Americans were told it was just "collateral damage." After all, we, the "champions of democracy" and the free world," were only fighting the murderous regimes of Saddam Hussein and Slobodan Milosevic. Some civilian casualties were "regrettable, but unavoidable," the Pentagon, NATO or State Dept. spokesmen told us.

Now the tables have turned. Terrorism begets terrorism. Unnamed terrorists, presumed to be "Islamic fundamentalists," have now killed thousands of innocent Americans while fighting, what they think are, the murderous regimes of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. Now Americans know firsthand some of the terror the Baghdad or Belgrade residents felt when NATO bombers unloaded their deadly cargo on them. The only thing missing is the terrorists' spokesmen telling us now that it was just "collateral damage;" that "some civilian casualties were regrettable, but unavoidable."

What we did to Iraq and to Serbia was a case of state terrorism. What unnamed terrorists did to us today was retaliation to state terrorism. "Collateral damage" has come home to roost. "What goes around, comes around."  "He who plays with fire, gets burned by fire."

But make no mistake: This was NOT an "Attack on America," as CNN and other networks are hailing. This was a strike at the heart of the Washington-led New World Order. Signs are unmistakable. Just look at the targets: The World Trade Center/Wall Street, the Pentagon... Some sources speculate that one or both of the two hijacked planes that crashed in Pennsylvania might have been destined for either the White House or the Capitol.

America and Americans, meaning innocent civilians who perished today, are "just collateral damage." As Iraqi and Serb civilians were. We are now paying for aggressions and crimes against humanity that our government has committed. Just as Iraqi and Serb civilians were. We've become expendable. Just as Iraqi and Serb civilians were.

So whenever you hear a politician or a media personality say that this attack was "unprovoked;" that this was a murder of innocent "men, women and children;" that it was a strike at the "American way of life"; - and no doubt you'll see and hear much of that in the next hours and days - try a role reversal. Imagine that you're listening to an Iraqi or a Serb politician using those words in reference to victims of American bombs. And then you'll get a fuller picture of what transpired today.

Meanwhile, madness also begets madness. The dust had not yet settled from the collapsed World Trade Center twin-towers, and already some "hawks" in the American government and media were crying for "retaliatory strikes." That's pretty shallow on several levels.

First, the same "hawks" who are telling us bombastically that "America is at war" are at a loss to identify with whom. So who and what are we to retaliate against?

Second, such "hawks" never learn. One only needs to look at the Middle East for an example of futility of violence. To stop anti-American terrorism, Washington must stop its own state terrorism. Both brands of terrorism are despicable and inexcusable

Finally, if there is a silver lining in this vast American tragedy; if there is one good thing that comes out of all this madness - let us hope it is the death of that death merchant scheme - the national Defense Missile Shield. The DMS was being rammed down the American taxpayers throats by both Clinton and Bush administrations, notwithstanding the opposition to it even from most of our allies.

Now I have a very simple question for the American President: In light of what happened today in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania, how would your national Defense Missile Shield have defended us from this attack?

The answer is obvious. Congress should kill the sucker (DMS) before it kills us - financially and geopolitically!

Meanwhile, may God have mercy upon the souls of all innocent people who died today as "collateral damage" of the Clinton/Bush foreign policy. The Washington-led New World Order has now come home to roost. For, "all who draw the sword will die by the sword."