Wednesday, September 12, 2001

To peace-loving people everywhere

Tue, Sep 11, 2001; by Dave Winer. Today the world changed  As the story of the destruction of the World Trade Center unfolded, confusion reigned, now at the end of the day, it's beginning to sink in that we lost so much, an icon, a skyline, and our invicibility. Our vulnerability is revealed, and many hundreds of Americans are dead. Who thought that a commercial airplane could be a weapon of mass destruction? And what about nuclear weapons, are they accessible to the people who would hijack airplanes and crash them into a crowded office building in the largest city in the US? It seems with the demise of the Soviet Union a decade ago that this is just a warmup for an even larger tragedy that's around the corner. Biological weapons seem inevitable too. Read the full article...

Containment Versus Retaliation

Caution! We need to move slowly and carefully. Yesterday's events have left me and many others numb, bewildered, sad and angry.

It all seems like an opening Chapter of a Tom Clancy novel. And like Tom Clancy's stories, it may only be the first act. We must be very careful. Our first need it to protect ourselves and our country. We must avoid any rush to judgement. This was one of the most devastating and successful attacks in the history of human warfare. Those behind it are very dangerous. And, they may not be those we first suspect.

Timothy Wilken

What is terrorism?

Is it limited to the World Trade Center and US Pentagon devastation and loss of life? Or is it everywhere? As in racism, and discrimination against people who are different than others.

I was stunned like everyone else from the images displayed that dark day. I felt totally powerless and helpless to do anything. Thoughts about our national security entered my mind, and I wondered just how secure it is. And then I heard others speak of the President in negative ways blaming him for the weakness in our defenses. Why?  And I realized that blaming isn't the answer either. And that it is easier to blame rather than look at the larger picture to see what is really going on. And then I wondered, as I watched chaos and devastation on tv, what is going on?

How did we as humanity come to reach this point that unleashing terror is the best way for survival? And now in the Information Age, do we still need to kill people especially with weapons of destruction capable of killing millions of people?

John Szczepanik

What Have We Learned?

I think that what we should realize from yesterday is that nuclear weapons and biological weapons have been replaced by far cheaper and more modern weapons of mass destruction; in this case, the 40,000 per day of available commerial flights that cover the skys of our country. Who needs nuclear weapons or biological weapons. Two of the 40,000 flights wiped out more people in a few minutes than have ever been killed before, including the A-bombs that we dropped on Japan. So I differ; we don't have to worry about or think about nuclear weapons and biological weapons. Wake up, the weapons of mass destruction are part of the fabric of our society, part of our everyday life. Poison the water, crash the planes, turn off the air conditioning; whatever. We have created the weapons ourselves and they are there to be used by whomever.

Billy Ladin