The importance of posting a good response to this is that it was not a direct e-mail, but rather was posted on a board for many to see. The point is not to sway the writer, but rather readers who may naively fall victim to the perpetrators demagoguery.
I hope this helps.
--Civilized people cannot fathom, much less predict, the actions of evil people.
This makes no sense. We can fathom, and predict them, as evidenced by the fact that the US had several times anticipated just such an attack. What I find incredible is that you seem ignorant of this fact. Were you aware that Condoleezza Rice was either lying or terribly ignorant when she claimed that we never could have anticipated such an attack?
--On September 11, dozens of capable airplane passengers allowed themselves to be overpowered by a handful of poorly armed terrorists because they did not comprehend the depth of hatred that motivated their captors.
No, more likely what happened is that the pilots knew that it was standard policy for NORAD to be informed immediately after a plane was hijacked, and believed that citizens would be protected by such measures. The failure of the FAA to adequately respond to the warnings they were given has nothing to do with the pilots’ reactions. They knew the procedures, and trusted them to be followed. We should all be very concerned about why these procedures were not followed, and who exactly was responsible for the failures to respond appropriately to the situation. Accountability, remember?
--On September 11, thousands of innocent people were murdered because too many Americans naively reject the reality that some nations are dedicated to the dominance of others. Many political pundits, pacifists and media personnel want us to forget the carnage. They say we must focus on the bravery of the rescuers and ignore the cowardice of the killers. They implore us to understand the motivation of the perpetrators. Major television stations have announced they will assist the healing process by not replaying devastating footage of the planes crashing into the Twin Towers.
No, they were murdered because there were some fanatics who were seemingly allowed to remain in the US, despite our knowledge of their presence, and the goals of the groups they were affiliated with. I am a pacifist, and I do not want you to forget, I want you to see that those responsible for the failure to appropriately deal with these terrorists BEFORE they murdered thousands of Americans share a part of the blame, in addition to the terrorists themselves.
--I will not be manipulated.
You already have been.
--I will not pretend to understand.
No one is asking you to. You are being asked to ignore the lies and inconsistencies in the administrations’ statements. Don’t do it.
--I will not forget.
By all means, don’t. Don’t forget that for the better part of a year, this administration did NOTHING about Al Qaeda, despite being warned of the group’s dire threat to our country when they assumed control. Don’t forget that they fired the ONE person who first labeled the attack on the Cole as being the work of Al Qaeda.
--I will not forget the liberal media who abused freedom of the press to kick our country when it was vulnerable and hurting.
This makes no sense. But it seems you’re overwhelmed by emotion and not using your facilities for reason so . . .
--I will not forget that CBS anchor Dan Rather preceded President Bush's address to the nation with the snide remark, "No matter how you feel about him, he is still our president."
I suppose you failed to notice that this remark was made in DEFENSE of the unelected fraud. Who, in the time following the attack, has managed to turn the outpouring of sympathy and good will we received after said attack into fear and distrust, and some outright hatred.
--I will not forget that ABC TV anchor Peter Jennings questioned President Bush's motives for not returning immediately to Washington, DC and commented, "We're all pretty skeptical and cynical about Washington."
I suppose you also failed to notice that he was simply stating a truth. We ARE skeptical about Washington. Or was that only true when a Democrat was in command?
--And I will not forget that ABC's Mark Halperin warned if reporters weren't informed of every little detail of this war, they aren't "likely -- nor should they be expected -- to show deference."
Please don’t forget that. This is one of the fundamental reasons that our forefathers deemed a free and independent media to be crucial to maintaining our democratic republic.
--I will not isolate myself from my fellow Americans by pretending an attack on the USS Cole in Yemen was not an attack on the United States of America.
Who is asking you to? Again, this was known to be an Al Qaeda attack, yet the Bush administration did NOTHING for 9 months about this threat to our country.
--I will not forget the Clinton administration equipped Islamic terrorists and their supporters with the world's most sophisticated telecommunications equipment and encryption technology, thereby compromising America's ability to trace terrorist radio, cell phone, land lines, faxes and modem communications.
Odd that you think this matters, since we knew who the hijackers were, where they lived, what groups they were allied with, and which flight training schools they were attending. BEFORE the attack. Please visit
http://www.observer.com/pages/story.asp?ID=7816 “Four 9/11 Moms Battle Bush” where you will read the following:
"I don’t understand, with all the warnings about the possibilities of Al Qaeda using planes as weapons, and the Phoenix Memo from one of your own agents warning that Osama bin Laden was sending operatives to this country for flight-school training, why didn’t you check out flight schools before Sept. 11?" (Kristen Breitweiser, 9/11 widow)
"Do you know how many flight schools there are in the U.S.? Thousands," a senior agent protested. "We couldn’t have investigated them all and found these few guys."
"Wait, you just told me there were too many flight schools and that prohibited you from investigating them before 9/11," Kristen persisted. "How is it that a few hours after the attacks, the nation is brought to its knees, and miraculously F.B.I. agents showed up at Embry-Riddle flight school in Florida where some of the terrorists trained?"
"We got lucky," was the reply. Kristen then asked the agent
how the F.B.I. had known exactly which A.T.M. in Portland, Me., would yield a videotape of Mohammed Atta, the leader of the attacks. The agent got some facts confused, then changed his story. When Kristen wouldn’t be pacified by evasive answers, the senior agent parried, "What are you getting at?" --I will not be appeased with pointless, quick retaliatory strikes like those perfected by the previous administration.
I take it you are appeased by this administrations’ lengthy, deadly, yet equally pointless strikes? Are you not aware that we are more at risk than before the September 11 attacks? Are you not aware that while Iraq was not a hotbed of terrorism before our attacks there, that it is now? Are you not aware that Afghanistan is once again returning to the control of the Taliban?
--I will not be comforted by "feel-good, do nothing" regulations like the silly, "Have your bags been under your control?" question at the airport.
By all means, don’t. These are silly and pointless. As I said above, our government knew who the terrorists were, where they were, and what their groups agenda was. There is no excuse for their failure to act on this knowledge. One could argue that they let it happen on purpose. Many do.
--I will not be influenced by so called,"antiwar demonstrators" who exploit the right of __expression to chant anti-American obscenities.
I am an anti-war demonstrator. I am not anti-American. I am pro-American. Pro-American security, pro-American responsibility. Waging war against Iraq had NOTHING to do with defeating terrorism. Unless it’s terrorism against Israel, that is.
--I will not forget the moral victory handed the North Vietnamese by American war protesters who reviled and spat upon the returning soldiers, airmen, sailors and marines.
That is truly indefensible. I would never, ever disrespect soldiers, airmen, sailors or marines. My problem is with the civilians in charge of the Iraq war who went against the better judgment of the generals who, in retrospect, should have been listened to and whose advice should have been heeded. I would not spit on these generals. I would spit on those who defied them in order to wage war on Iraq regardless of the consequences, the loss of our soldiers’ lives, and the cost to our nations’ moral high-ground and financial solvency.
--I will not be softened by the wishful thinking of pacifists who chose reassurance over reality.
This statement makes no sense. Again, since you seem to be overcome by emotion, I’ll chalk it up to that.
--I will embrace the wise words of Prime Minister Tony Blair who told the Labor Party conference, "They have no moral inhibition on the slaughter of the innocent. If they could have murdered not 7,000 but 70,000, does anyone doubt they would have done so and rejoiced in it?
I do not. What I wonder is why you do not focus on our country’s failure to prevent these attacks.
- There is no compromise possible with such people, no meeting of minds, no point of understanding with such terror. Just a choice: defeat it or be defeated by it. And defeat it we must!"
Wiser people have pointed out that with proactive attention to threats, you can defuse them before they’re effective. We did not do that. You should be asking why.
- I will force myself to:
-hear the weeping
-feel the helplessness
-imagine the terror
-sense the panic
-smell the burning flesh
- experience the loss
- remember the hatred.
Are you speaking of only the weeping, helplessness, terror, panic, burning flesh, and loss experienced by Americans? Or does this empathy also go to your fellow man, such as the innocent civilians in Iraq, who are being occupied and terrorized by our country? And keep in mind that the war profits for this occupation are being funded by our children and grandchildren.
- We have no choice. Living without liberty is not living.
Do you support the USA PATRIOT Act? How about the Victory Act (nee Patriot Act II)?