OPINIONS, ACCOUNTS, STORIES

NEW Global Eye - Mind Games "Thus here we are: two spoiled rich boys made by their fathers' money and connections have now divided the world up between them, and are basically proposing to kill everyone who doesn't agree with them."

NEW Limp liberals fail to protect their most profound values
"What matters is that the Islamic world should for the first time see the west act even-handedly. It matters that the west admits its past errors and draws a line under much shameful history."

What the Afghans need is colonizing - An argument for American imperialism?

NEW Global Eye--Speech Impediment
" Mr. Bush's desire to lift arms-sales restrictions against U.S.-declared sponsors of international terrorism such as Syria and Iran also seems strangely at odds with eradicating terrorism and evil -- but no doubt the grand strategy behind giving weapons to those who give weapons to those who murder in cold blood is part of the super-duper "secret war" that will remain forever hidden from our delicate sensibilities."

Clinton, Starr, and Bin Laden - what price partisan politics?

NEW Islamic peoples are Already Victims of US Power - by John Pilger, Zmag
"An estimated 200,000 Iraqis died during and in the immediate aftermath of the slaughter known as the Gulf War"

NEW Znet: Reaction to the Terror
A compilation of columnists

A Pure, High Note of Anguish - by novelist Barbara Kingsolver

- Thich Nhat Hanh for peace - a talk by a spiritual leader

Robert Fisk: This is not a war on terror .. It's a fight against America's enemies - by Robert Fisk

NEW HarryBrowne.org has some controversial but well-reasoned opinions - the set of articles here gives a powerful perspective on some of the issues and ethics facing the U.S.
"...killing innocent people is terrorism, no matter who does it -freelance terrorists, an international conspiracy, a foreign government, or our government."

Media Pundits Advocate Civilian Targets ".. prominent journalists have been advocating military strategies that violate the laws of war and mirror the strategies of terrorists"

Food for thought for the Militarists
A pragmatic viewpoint written by an Afghani in the U.S.

Light in the Darkness In the names of our loved ones,let us ask for more light and love in the world, for they are what, in the end, stand between us and the da rkness.

"We cannot fight for human rights using inhuman means." An open letter from the Palestinian Center

"When the elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers." Impressionistic Col lage

Bush is walking into a trap says the UK paper The Independent

"I believe violence will only increase the cycle of violence." The Dalai Lama's L etter to Bush

Don't just read! You know you want to respond. And the media don't provide much of an opportunity... so give US your take on these events at our Forums, where you can discuss all those things you're not supposed to talk about in polite company, from politics and religion to propaganda and whether or not the U.S. should go to war.

This page is about everyone's opinions. We'll be collecting editorials and other opinion pieces here (see below) but we also want to post your writing, opinions, cartoons, and columns. If you've got something to say, write it up and send it to us at SUBMISSIONS with 'Subject:SUBMISSIONS .

For something more direct, see how other people answer questions like "What is your greatest fear raised by the WTC crisis?" and "What would you like to tell the Hijackers?"

Check out all the questions by looking at Reflections on the WTC Disaster, or you can respond to most articles on the site by filling out the form at the bottom of the page. And- we are planning pages for artwork, music, poetry and of course your writing - so please send it in. Suggestions for better use of this site are welcome!




Please submit any links or material to LINKS@global-dialog.org
using the Subject: LINKS or if you wish to volunteer to help put this material up, use the Subject:Volunteer


Participant Comments follow below
"We as informed individuals need to organize cooperatively against an ethic of materialism and technology without consciousness. The inventions cannot outpace the cosmic forces. "
Vince vencinias@peoplepc.com
I agree with Vince here. I admit that I am dependent upon technology and I though I try not to be dependent upon material possessions for my happiness and wellbeing-I nevertheless am dependent upon them. I like you "cause and effect" metaphor of the cosmos. And perhaps the problem here is that there is so often a delay in the feed-back which guides our technology and use of natural materials. For example, the fishing industry had to hit an all time low before they recognized that it was to their benefit to "self regulate" the fishing industry and limit certain types of mass fishing so that fish would have a chance to spawn and regenerate. Now, you may be against eating any fish but the same principle has been true in the foresting industry etc. Now when we consider the impact of technology on the environment it becomes tricky. We as consumers don't often see the impact of our consumption. For example, the impact of automobiles on the environment is still debated in some circles. I think we as a people have to make a big jump in that we are willing to use informed predictions of potential hazards to temper our use. Where this comes from is not clear. Sometimes it seems that just waiting long enough is the solution (e.g. electric cars are being developed to replace the pollution pumpers on the road now). However, in other cases our logic dictates that we should avoid use of something like natural gases/oils for transportation when we could use renewable resources (like plant-based alcohols, solar). Unfortunately, it would take a dramatic consumer response to push the industry and government in this direction. Finally, of course the impact of the large consumption of material goods and use of technology in the US on the planet ecology and people of other countries is frightening. I think however to get the massive sometimes passive public of the US to consider this we have to give them feed-back -hopefully in the form of education and information. But the reality is that such change rarely happens until it affects the pocket-books of the rich and many lives of the poor. ---Heather

Heather    pyrrha01@yahoo.com
11/02/01 10:25:28 MST
NEW AGE
We can no longer sit around in our comfortable non realistic bubble called the United States of America. Our reality is no longer one that can be lived by not paying attention to effects of our foreign policy. The U.S.A. has supported the Taliban before and trained the pilots that hit the WTC. Actions come full circle through the law of the universe that is cause and effect. The U.S. is feeling the repercussions of meddling in another parts of the world. We as Americans are being fed information that tells us we are united and this war is for freedom. The goal is for the U.S. to have exclusive world power and control the pieces of the world jigsaw puzzle. We as informed individuals need to organize cooperatively against an ethic of materialism and technology without consciousness. The inventions cannot outpace the cosmic forces.

Vince    vencinias@peoplepc.com
10/27/01 20:59:39 MDT
A Systemic Analysis of International Terrorism

by Fritjof Capra


The horrific terrorist attacks against the United
States on September
11
mark the end of an era - the end of over 200 years of
invulnerability
on
our continent. We had heard fundamentalist rhetoric
about "striking at
the
heart of America" for years, but we took it as empty
threats. We did
not
recognize the emergence of a new weapon on the
international stage
against
which we were defenseless the despair-driven,
desperate suicide
bomber.(1)

This new form of international terrorism exposes the
fantasy of a
national shield against ballistic missiles. Missile
defense is of no
use
whatsoever when terrorists can turn commercial planes
into missiles and
their fuel tanks into bombs with the help of simple
box cutters.


A SYSTEMIC PERSPECTIVE

There is no simple defense against international
terrorism, because we
live in a complex, globally interconnected world in
which linear chains
of
cause and effect do not exist. To understand this
world, we need to
think
systemically in terms of relationships, connectedness,
and context.

Understanding international terrorism from a systemic
perspective means
understanding that its very nature derives from a
series of political,
economic, and technological problems that are all
interconnected. This
terrorism is not "mindless," and it is not directed
against our
"freedom
and democracy," as our government wants us to believe.

Terrorism is always a weapon of the politically
frustrated and
desperate
who feel that they are unable to voice their
grievances through
conventional
political processes. In order to combat them
effectively, we need to
clearly understand the terrorists' frustration.(2)

This does not mean that we should shrink from
capturing the terrorists
and bringing them to justice. Their crimes are
abhorrent beyond words.
But
we
must learn to distinguish between their criminal
methods and
fundamentalist ideologies on the one hand, and the
often legitimate
grievances that drive them into committing such
desperate and horrific
acts
on the other.
We cannot fight terrorists effectively without
understanding them.

We shall see in particular that much of Islamic
fundamentalism is
related
to the role of the United States in the Middle East
and that extremist
Islamic movements often arise in direct response to
American policies.
Of
course, the U.S. is not the only power to blame. There
is the legacy of
European
colonialism, and there are other factors. Yet American
policies have
contributed significantly to the recent rise of
fundamentalist Islamic
terrorism.(3)


INAPPROPRIATENESS OF MILITARY ACTIONS

Understandably, the first reaction to the horrendous
attacks on the
United States is the desire to "strike back." But
responding to
terrorism
with
violence, rather than dealing with the context from
which it emerged,
will continue to create more violence. We must
recognize that military
actions
will not succeed in eliminating the rise of militant
Islamic movements.
On the contrary, they will result in the deaths of
innocent Muslim
civilians
that will fuel anti-American hatred.

Retaliatory strikes against suspected terrorist
targets trigger further
retaliation from terrorists and thus escalate the
cycle of violence, as
Israel's experience has shown. Surgical strikes make
sense only when
there are military targets with heavy equipment, which
the terrorist
networks
do not have. Moreover, such strikes are often based on
faulty
intelligence,
which further exacerbates their negative effects.(4)

Since this terrorism is international, the response
has to be
international as well. The goals of the coalitions and
cooperation
within
the
international community cannot be limited to
identifying and capturing
the terrorists, as they currently are, but must be
extended to
addressing
the
underlying systemic problems. This will be the only
way to marginalize
the terrorists and strengthen our security in the long
run.

AMERICA'S IMAGE IN THE WORLD

The terrorism we are concerned with is directed
against the United
States, and hence the attempt to understand its roots
has to begin with
the
understanding of America's image in the world. This
image is
multi-faceted.
It includes many positive aspects of our society such
as individual
liberty, cultural diversity, and economic opportunity
as well as the
great enthusiasm for American technology, fashion,
sports, and
entertainment,
especially among the world's youth.

On the other hand, the United States is seen by many
as the driving
force
of a global capitalism that is supported by military
force and is often
socially unjust and environmentally destructive.
Indeed, the buildings
attacked by the terrorists on September 11 were proud
symbols of
American
economic power and military might.

U.S. ROLE IN THE MIDDLE EAST

To understand the political context of the recent
terrorist attacks, we
need to look specifically at the U.S. role in the
Middle East. The
common
view
in this country is that we have assumed the role of
peacemakers in the
region. In other parts of the world, and especially in
the Muslim
world,
the view is quite different. There is widespread
anti-American
sentiment,
based on
several legitimate concerns.(5) They include
resentment against
our uncritical support for the Israeli occupation of
Arab land, the
dispossession of Palestinians and for state-sponsored
assassinations;
our support of repressive Arab governments, in
particular that of Saudi
Arabia; ten years of sanctions and military attacks
against Iraq, which
have
killed half a million children; our massive military
presence in the
region, as well as our role as the largest supplier of
arms in the
Middle
East.

These legitimate grievances have contributed to the
rise of several
radical Islamic movements, including Hamas and al
Qaeda, the terrorist
network of Osama bin Laden. Now, why do we support
repressive regimes,
ignore UN
resolutions, and promote violence in the Middle East?
The answer, in
one
word, is "oil." In the view of our government, the
access to Persian
Gulf
oil is essential to the security of the United States.
In the Gulf
region, like in many areas in the rest of the world,
our policies are
primarily
resource-oriented, designed to support our wasteful
economy. Thus, the
U.S. role in the Middle East and its contribution to
the rise of
radical
Islamic movements are inextricably linked to our
misguided energy
policies.

To assure American access to natural resources around
the world, the
U.S.
government continually tries to "stabilize" various
regions and, in
doing
so, has often supported repressive regimes. This has
included support
to
governments that have engaged in widespread terrorism
against their own
populations.(6) Ironically, the U.S. has at times
supported hard-line
Islamic movements. Indeed, some of the most notorious
Islamic
terrorists
today, including many followers of Osama bin Laden,
were originally
trained by the CIA.(7)

Our support of repressive governments has helped to
encourage
underground, often violent, opposition, and the fact
that we ourselves
have
sponsored terrorist attacks undercuts our credibility
in the fight
against
terrorism.

RELATIONSHIP WITH SAUDI ARABIA

To understand the motivation of Osama bin Laden and
other Islamic
extremists, we need to pay special attention to the
U.S. relationship
with Saudi Arabia. This relationship is based on an
extraordinary
bargain,
according to which Saudi Arabia grants the U.S.
unlimited and perpetual
access to its oil fields (which contain 25% of the
world's known oil
reserves!) in exchange for protection of the Saudi
Royal family against
its enemies, both external and internal. This bargain
has shaped
American
foreign and military policy for almost half a century,
during which we
have protected a totalitarian regime in Saudi Arabia
that blatantly
disregards
basic human rights and tramples democracy.(8)

The main purpose of the Gulf war in 1991, originally
code-named "Desert
Shield," was not to drive Iraq out of Kuwait, but to
protect Saudi
Arabia
from a possible attack and to guarantee U.S. access to
the Saudi oil
fields. Since then, the U.S. has maintained and
steadily expanded its
military
presence in the Gulf. In addition we also defend the
Saudi regime
against
its internal enemies. The Saudi Arabian National
Guard, which protects
the royal family, is almost entirely armed, trained,
and managed by the
United States.(9)

The goal of Osama bin Laden's terrorist network al
Qaeda is to drive
the
U.S. out of the Gulf region and to replace the corrupt
Saudi regime by
what they consider an "authentic" Islamic state. Such
a state would be
modeled
after that of the fundamentalist Taliban in
Afghanistan, which is many
times more repressive than the current Saudi regime.
Nevertheless, as
long
as
we continue to support the totalitarian system in
Saudi Arabia, our
support
will fuel anti-American hatred.

CAUSES OF TERRORIST ATTACKS

We can now summarize the multiple causes of the recent
terrorist
attacks
against the United States. At the core lies the U.S.
military presence
in
the Persian Gulf and our support of the repressive
Saudi regime. This
presence, in turn, is a consequence of our dependence
on Saudi oil, due
to many years of misguided energy policies.

Bin Laden's terrorist network has declared an
anti-American jihad, a
religious war, and finds it easy to recruit volunteers
among Muslims
who
feel frustrated and helpless about other aspects of
the U.S. role in
the
Middle East. These aspects include, in particular, the
U.S. support of
the Israeli occupation of Arab land and the
dispossession of
Palestinians;
Muslim casualties of U.S.-supported military actions
and
assassinations,
and especially the death of large numbers of civilians
in Iraq.

At a deeper level, the extremists often receive
sympathy from Islamic
fundamentalists who are struggling to preserve their
cultural identity
in
the face of U.S.-led economic globalization.

A MULTI-FACETED ANTI-TERRORIST STRATEGY

The systemic understanding of the background of
extremist Islamic
terrorism calls for a multi-faceted anti-terrorist
strategy. The
immediate
goal, obviously, is to identify and capture the
perpetrators and
supporters
of
the terrorist attacks against the United States, and
to bring them to
justice
before an international court. Since the extension and
scope of this
terrorism is international, it requires sustained
international police
work, based on extensive and widespread cooperation
among the
international
community.

This means, in turn, that the United States will have
to reverse its
recent isolationist stance and become a responsible
member of the
international
community, supporting its conventions, treaties, and
institutions.
Cooperation with the United Nations and other
multilateral agencies
will
be vital to increase our own strength and
security.(10)

In this international collaboration, it will be
especially important to
enlist the help of Islamic states in portraying the
extremists as
enemies
of Islam, because no true Muslim would take thousands
of innocent lives
in
such reprehensible acts.(11) At the same time, our
leaders need to help
counteract American religious stereotypes. We need to
make it clear
that
the vast majority of the world's Muslims opposes
terrorism and
religious
intolerance.(12)

POLICY SHIFTS

In the long run, the United States will be able to
reduce the terrorist
threats only if it adopts a series of policy shifts to
deal with the
legitimate grievances that often underlie the
illegitimate terrorist
acts. Systemic thinking means shifting our focus from
attempting to
crush
terrorist movements to pursuing policies that
discourage their
emergence.

The following two policy shifts would go a long way
toward increasing
our
national security.

1. A reassessment of U.S. policy in the Persian Gulf,
including
pressure
on the Saudi regime to move toward democratization and
the provision of
basic human rights.

2. Demanding an end to Israel's illegal occupation of
Arab land, in
particular of East Jerusalem and other Palestinian
territories. This
would bring the United States in line with
international law, UN
Security
Council resolutions, and with the views of virtually
the entire
international
community. In the words of the Israeli novelist and
peace activist Amos
Oz, With or without Islamic fundamentalism, with or
without Arab
terrorism,
there is no justification whatsoever for the lasting
occupation and
suppression of the Palestinian people by Israel. We
have no right to
deny
Palestinians their natural right to
self-determination.(13)

CHANGE OF ENERGY POLICY

In order to carry out these shifts of U.S. foreign
policy in the Middle
East, it will be crucial to sever our dependence on
Saudi oil. A shift
of
energy policy from fossil fuels to renewable energy
sources and
conservation is not only imperative for moving toward
ecological
sustainability, but must also be seen as vital to our
national
security.

Such a shift is absolutely feasible with technologies
that are
available
today.(14) For example, the gradual replacement of the
U.S. car fleet
with hydrogen-powered hybrid-electric cars would
eventually save all
the
oil
OPEC now sells and, in addition, would reduce
America's CO2 emissions
by
about
two thirds! And, by the way, a hydrogen-fueled
airplane could not be
used
as
a bomb, because the hydrogen would escape rapidly on
impact instead of
exploding.

The hydrogen economy will eventually be realized,
because it features
superior technologies. However, this development could
be accelerated
dramatically with massive investments by the federal
government. Such
investments would not only bring tremendous
environmental and health
benefits, but would also be an effective long-term
measure against
international terrorism.

Posy
10/26/01 14:48:21 MDT
A voice from a Syrian who had lived in North America some
years back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hi Mar & Dave,

Here is some of my thoughts, you can share it with whoever you want
(I not mean like Taty):

Here people sympathy with the family of the 11th Sept. victims in NY.
We are angry that US did not present a proof that Bin did it and did the cowboy thing of just kicking ass / hang him on the spot.

There are several things that is getting Arab/Muslims angry at US:

- The double standards that US has regarding human life. Not all human beings are equal.

- The pressure that US put on all the newspapers / TV's to report only what is "acceptable" by US.

- All our Friday prayers speeches are approved by security in line with US interest/censorship. So Friday prayer speech now is just a spokesman for the Pentacoon.

- Nobody knows exactly who is the enemi (Islaaaam or Araaabs or Afagaaans or Sauuudis or ..........) but we are assured that the
enemi is none of the above, so WHO is it?

My opinions that, Buush is very happy with the current events and his friends in the Oil and Araaams industries are cheering him. He made people busy with this, so nobody dares to complain about the economy, environment, personal freeeedom and freeedom of speeech, because for Gods sake we are at waar. A waaar that we don't know when it will
end and how.

I believe George Orwell predicted the current US government in his book 1984. The eneemy is unknown, the waar is unlimited, you believe what we tell you, you are in constant feaaar of the eneemy, and we
are told that waaar is accomplishing the goal of making us feel more safe.

I am with my religious and humanity believes totally against what happened on 111 slept. There is no justification for it. The only thing is when you want to treat a disease or an earth quake, you go search for the cause of it or how to avoid it, you don't go and kill every infected person or make the earth flat with cement. I am not saying that US should listen to terrrrrorist, but should be open to the world who has been fighting terrrrosim for years and to try to resolve some of the current issues were US is very biased in their policies like the Isr/Palas confliccct.

It has been very hard to sort out my opinion since I am an Arb & Amer.
Anyway we are planning to work here for a couple of years and see how
things develop.

Take care

Ammar

Posy
10/26/01 14:47:19 MDT
Thank you Heather. I really loved what you posted as well.
Here is something I got from a lovely friend of mine, Michael C,
which is kinda about the same thing. People helping other people...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well, there are wonderful people out there...

Sometimes needs pointing out...like this email I got...from a couple of
different sources, one of which is former air traffic controllers, many of
whom still work in the industry...can't vouch for its validity, could be the
stuff of urban legend...but at least they got the time zone correct for
Newfoundland, and Delta 15 does fly from Frankfurt to Atlanta...Its a nice
sentiment, in any case...

-------

A Pilot's Eye View of Gander, Canada on 11 Sep 2001

We were about 5 hours out of Frankfurt flying over the North Atlantic and I
was in my crew rest seat taking my scheduled rest break. All of a sudden the
curtains parted violently and I was told to go to the cockpit, right now, to
see the captain. As soon as I got there I noticed that the crew had one of
those "All Business" looks on their faces. The captain handed me a printed
message. I quickly read the message and realized the importance of it. The
message was from Atlanta, addressed to our flight, and simply said, "All
airways over the Continental US are closed. Land ASAP at the nearest airport,
advise your destination."

Now, when a dispatcher tells you to land immediately without suggesting which
airport, one can assume that the dispatcher has reluctantly given up control
of the flight to the captain. We knew it was a serious situation and we
needed to find terra firma quickly. It was quickly decided that the nearest
airport was 400 miles away, behind our right shoulder, in Gander, on the
island of Newfoundland. A quick request was made to the Canadian traffic
controller and a right turn, directly to Gander, was approved immediately. We
found out later why there was no hesitation by the Canadian controller
approving our request. We, the in-flight crew, were told to get the airplane
ready for an immediate landing. While this was going on another message
arrived from Atlanta telling us about some terrorist activity in the New York
area. We briefed the in-flight crew about going to Gander and we went about
our business 'closing down' the airplane for a landing.

A few minutes later I went back to the cockpit to find out that some
airplanes had been hijacked and were being flown into buildings all over the
US. We decided to make an announcement and LIE to the passengers for the time
being. We told them that an instrument problem had arisen on the airplane and
that we needed to land at Gander, to have it checked. We promised to give
more information after landing in Gander. There were many unhappy passengers
but that is par for the course. We landed in Gander about 40 minutes after
the start of this episode.

There were already about 20 other airplanes on the ground from all over the
world. After we parked on the ramp the captain made the following
announcement. "Ladies and gentlemen, you must be wondering if all these
airplanes around us have the same instrument problem as we have. But the
reality is that we are here for a good reason." Then he went on to explain
the little bit we knew about the situation in the US. There were loud gasps
and stares of disbelief. Local time at Gander was 12:30 pm. (11:00 AM EST).
Gander control told us to stay put. No one was allowed to get off the
aircraft. No one on the ground was allowed to come near the aircraft. Only a
car from the airport police would come around once in a while, look us over
and go on to the next airplane. In the next hour or so all the airways over
the North Atlantic were vacated and Gander alone ended up with 53 airplanes
from all over the world, out of which 27 were flying US flags. We were told
that each and every plane was to be offloaded, one at a time, with the
foreign carriers given the priority.

We were No.14 in the US category. We were further told that we would be given
a tentative time to deplane at 6 pm. Meanwhile bits of news started to come
in over the aircraft radio and for the first time we learned that airplanes
were flown into the World Trade Center in New York and into the Pentagon in
DC. People were trying to use their cell phones but were unable to connect
due to a different cell system in Canada. Some did get through but were only
able to get to the Canadian operator who would tell them that the lines to
the US were either blocked or jammed and to try again. Some time late in the
evening the news filtered to us that the World Trade Center buildings had
collapsed and that a fourth hijacking had resulted in a crash. Now the
passengers were totally bewildered and emotionally exhausted but stayed calm
as we kept reminding them to look around to see that we were not the only
ones in this predicament. There were 52 other planes with people on them in
the same situation. We also told them that the Canadian Government was in
charge and we were at their mercy.

True to their word, at 6 PM, Gander airport told us that our turn to deplane
would come at 11 AM, the next morning. That took the last wind out of the
passengers and they simply resigned and accepted this news without much noise
and really started to get into a mode of spending the night on the airplane.
Gander had promised us any and all medical attention if needed; medicine,
water, and lavatory servicing. And they were true to their word. Fortunately
we had no medical situation during the night.

We did have a young lady who was 33 weeks into her pregnancy. We took REALLY
good care of her. The night passed without any further complications on our
airplane despite the uncomfortable sleeping arrangements. About 10:30 on the
morning of the 12th we were told to get ready to leave the aircraft. A convoy
of school buses showed up at the side of the airplane, the stairway was
hooked up and the passengers were taken to the terminal for "processing". We,
the crew, were taken to the same terminal but were told to go to a different
section, where we were processed through Immigration and customs and then had
to register with the Red Cross.

After that we were isolated from our passengers and were taken in a caravan
of vans to a very small hotel in the town of Gander. We had no idea where our
passengers were going. The town of Gander has a population of 10,400 people.
Red Cross told us that they were going to process about 10,500 passengers
from all the airplanes that were forced into Gander. We were told to just
relax at the hotel and wait for a call to go back to the airport, but not to
expect that call for a while. We found out the total scope of the terror back
home only after getting to our hotel and turning on the TV, 24 hours after it
all started. Meanwhile we enjoyed ourselves going around town discovering
things and enjoying the hospitality. The people were so friendly and they
just knew that we were the "Plane people". We all had a great time until we
got that call, 2 days later, on the 14th at 7AM.

We made it to the airport by 8:30AM and left for Atlanta at 12:30 PM arriving
in Atlanta at about 4:30PM. But that's not what I wanted to tell you.

What passengers told us was so uplifting and incredible and the timing
couldn't have been better. We found out that Gander and the surrounding small
communities, within a 75 Kilometer radius, had closed all the high schools,
meeting halls, lodges, and any other large gathering places. They converted
all these facilities to a mass lodging area. Some had cots set up, some had
mats with sleeping bags and pillows set up. ALL the high school students HAD
to volunteer taking care of the "GUESTS". Our 218 passengers ended up in a
town called Lewisporte, about 45 Kilometers from Gander. There they were put
in a high school. If any women wanted to be in a women only facility, that
was arranged. Families were kept together. All the elderly passengers were
given no choice and were taken to private homes.

Remember that young pregnant lady, she was put up in a private home right
across the street from a 24 hour Urgent Care type facility. There were DDS on
call and they had both male and female nurses available and stayed with the
crowd for the duration. Phone calls and emails to US and Europe were
available for every one once a day. During the days the passengers were given
a choice of "Excursion" trips. Some people went on boat cruises of the lakes
and harbors. Some went to see the local forests. Local bakeries stayed open
to make fresh bread for the guests. Food was prepared by all the residents
and brought to the school for those who elected to stay put. Others were
driven to the eatery of their choice and fed.

They were given tokens to go to the local Laundromat to wash their clothes,
since their luggage was still on the aircraft. In other words every single
need was met for those unfortunate travelers. Passengers were crying while
telling us these stories. After all that, they were delivered to the airport
right on time and without a single one missing or late. All because the local
Red Cross had all the information about the goings on back at Gander and knew
which group needed to leave for the airport at what time.

Absolutely incredible. When passengers came on board, it was like they had
been on a cruise. Everybody knew everybody else by their name. They were
swapping stories of their stay, impressing each other with who had the better
time. It was mind boggling. Our flight back to Atlanta looked like a party
flight. We simply stayed out of their way.

The passengers had totally bonded and they were calling each other by their
first names, exchanging phone numbers, addresses, and email addresses. And
then a strange thing happened. One of our business class passengers
approached me and asked if he could speak over the PA to his fellow
passengers. We never, never, allow that. But something told me to get out of
his way. I said "of course".

The gentleman picked up the PA and reminded everyone about what they had just
gone through in the last few days. He reminded them of the hospitality they
had received at the hands of total strangers. He further stated that he would
like to do something in return for the good folks of the town of Lewisporte.
He said he was going to set up a Trust Fund under the name of DELTA 15 (our
flight number).

The purpose of the trust fund is to provide a scholarship for high school
student(s) of Lewisporte to help them go to college. He asked for donations
of any amount from his fellow travelers. When the paper with donations got
back to us with the amounts, names, phone numbers and addresses, it totaled
to $14.5K or about $20K Canadian. The gentleman who started all this turned
out to be an MD from Virginia. He promised to match the donations and to
start the administrative work on the scholarship. He also said that he would
forward this proposal to Delta Corporate and ask them to donate as well. Why,
all of this? Just because some people in far away places were kind to some
strangers, who happened to literally drop in among them?

WHY NOT?

Posy
10/24/01 16:09:06 MDT
Hello Posy, I like the post you put under Opinions. It seems that thinking about anything long-enough and with enough knowledge(information) base brings one to the "neutral" or middle stance. There is some interesting dialogue on what defines the "middle" stance in the Utne Cafe.

I wanted to point you guys to this letter I found when roaming around on the art project www.whyproject.org. (which has some interesting art post by the way). Anyhow, I found a pointer to an letter posted by "Wired" which was written by a Pakistani student who worked in the WTC and was there September 11th. He doesn't describe the horrible things he saw but instead describes some beautiful cooperation of humans in a dire situation. It is inspiring.
http://www.e46fanatics.com/phorum/read.php?f=1&i=45274&t=45274
--Heather

Heather    pyrrha01@yahoo.com
10/23/01 15:17:27 MDT
OK, fellow dialogist I don't mean to divert from peaceful discussions of the universe and all but check out these links. I remembered an article on the "free trade" of satallite images and also I have friends who do image processing of sorts that say "big brother" is around the corner if only the AI folks could get their programs to identify "Joe Blow" walking at the base of the transamerican building (i.e. the big pyramid shaped building in the image link I'll put below). Anyhow, they now have 10 centimeter resolution (i.e. you could get a human sitting still but probably would have problems with time space trade-offs). Anyhow, check it out first you will see one of the holy cities of Afghanistan (Mecca) then you will see Chechnya before the war. Then you will see Chechnya after the war. Notice the missing buildings. (I never really understood war frankly but then I'm passive in this regard). Then you will see San Francisco!! And this ain't the 10cm goods it is the lower resolutions shots. Believe me I'm not against the technology because I've been out in a van at midnight when there is no moon and geeze that GPS info comes in real handy!!
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0009/25ikonos/06.html
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0009/25ikonos/09.html
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0009/25ikonos/10.html
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0009/25ikonos/01.html

pyrrha01    pyrrha01@yahoo.com
10/22/01 20:15:05 MDT
hi... me again... at the start of the last one I meant to say
I'm 'not' sure... anyone here is another opinion:



The world doesn't have to choose between the Taliban and the US government.
All
the beauty of the world-literature, music, art-lies between these two
fundamentalist poles.

Arundhati Roy

Appeared in Outlook... Oct 18



...The International Coalition Against Terror is largely a cabal of the
richest
countries in the world. Between them, they manufacture and sell almost all of
the world's weapons, they possess the largest stockpile of weapons of mass
destruction-chemical, biological and nuclear. They have fought the most wars,
account for most of the genocide, subjection, ethnic cleansing and human
rights
violations in modern history, and have sponsored, armed, and financed untold
numbers of dictators and despots. Between them, they have worshipped, almost
deified, the cult of violence and war. For all its appalling sins, the
Taliban
just isn't in the same league.

The Taliban was compounded in the crumbling crucible of rubble, heroin, and
landmines in the backwash of the Cold War. Its oldest leaders are in their
early 40s. Many of them are disfigured and handicapped, missing an eye, an
arm
or a leg. They grew up in a society scarred and devastated by war. Between
the
Soviet Union and America, over 20 years, about $45 billion worth of arms and
ammunition was poured into Afghanistan. The latest weaponry was the only
shard
of modernity to intrude upon a thoroughly medieval society. Young boys-many
of
them orphans-who grew up in those times, had guns for toys, never knew the
security and comfort of family life, never experienced the company of women.
Now, as adults and rulers, the Taliban beat, stone, rape, and brutalise
women;
they don't seem to know what else to do with them. Years of war have stripped
them of gentleness, inured them to kindness and human compassion. They dance
to
the percussive rhythms of bombs raining down around them. Now they've turned
their monstrosity on their own people.

With all due respect to President Bush, the people of the world do not have
to
choose between the Taliban and the US government. All the beauty of human
civilization-our art, our music, our literature-lies beyond these two
fundamentalist, ideological poles. There is as little chance that the people
of
the world can all become middle-class consumers as there is that they'll all
embrace any one particular religion. The issue is not about Good vs Evil or
Islam vs Christianity as much as it is about space. About how to accommodate
diversity, how to contain the impulse towards hegemony-every kind of
hegemony,
economic, military, linguistic, religious, and cultural. Any ecologist will
tell you how dangerous and fragile a monoculture is. A hegemonic world is
like
having a government without a healthy opposition. It becomes a kind of
dictatorship. It's like putting a plastic bag over the world, and preventing
it
from breathing. Eventually, it will be torn open.

One and a half million Afghan people lost their lives in the 20 years of
conflict that preceded this new war. Afghanistan was reduced to rubble, and
now, the rubble is being pounded into finer dust. By the second day of the
air
strikes, US pilots were returning to their bases without dropping their
assigned payload of bombs. As one pilot put it, Afghanistan is "not a
target-rich environment". At a press briefing at the Pentagon, Donald
Rumsfeld,
US defense secretary, was asked if America had run out of targets.

"First we're going to re-hit targets," he said, "and second, we're not
running
out of targets, Afghanistan is..." This was greeted with gales of laughter in
the Briefing Room...

Posy
10/21/01 16:33:06 MDT
Hi Val and all... I am sure where this should go. It seems like
something that should have its own page maybe...

[604] Sirius Thoughts on the War
Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2001 21:19:24 -0400

from Mondo 2000 co-founder R.U. Sirius, here's a
clever little diddy i think
a lot of us can relate to.


---------
Ignore the War
A Personal Declaration of Deep Neutrality

by R. U. Sirius


Dear god, if there is a god, please help me, if you
can help me."
Ganesh Baba

An 85 year-old Buddhist monk had been living in a cave
since 1939, after spirits of the mountain appeared to him
in a dream and asked him to become the mountains protector.
In the course of our conversation, the monk asked
me, Who is this Chairman Mao you keep mentioning?
Bill Porter, from Road To Heaven, Encounters
with Chinese Hermits


I feel sort-of fortunate that I happen to be studying
Taoist texts this fall, for a book Im writing. When human
political affairs become so complex and ugly that an honest,
thinking, feeling person might not easily find her way to a
solid ethical stance, or might not wish to choose sides,
even when his tribes native land is under attack and/or
attacking, one could do worse than seek a still place within
from which to contemplate the eternal and ever-chaotic flow.

And so, perhaps unduly influenced by ancient Chinese
hermits, I declare myself neutral, stuck-in-neutral, neutered
even. Hey, this is no time to front call it what you will.

Dont get me wrong. I prefer our 21st Century global capitalism
that at least maintains some allegiance to those grand
enlightenment themes like choice, democracy, pluralism,
separation of church and state, the right to be irreverent or
ironic, and the rights of women to sing, speak, laugh, look
outside, and wear skimpy clothes, its all preferable to an
ancient philosophy that seeks to dictate absolute conformity
to a particular interpretation of a singular religion. I made
that choice clear years ago by living in Northern California
instead of the Bible Belt.

And we can argue about the causes of this conflict
until were red, white and blue in the face. Some say its
blowback for US militarism and imperial arrogance. Some say
Bin Laden and his ilk are fundamentalist headcases bent on
killing all infidels, and thats a mighty big chunk of humanity.
But as the Peppermint Twins wisely advised, Stop! Youre both
right! I subscribe to the critique of US militarism and
imperial arrogance, and to the fear of fundamentalists bent on
killing all infidels, particularly ones who also happen to
believe they go to a real sexy heaven (sexiness on earth being
virtually verboten) when they die a martyr. I also subscribe to
the claim made by some liberal war supporters that the critique
of US arrogance has little immediate relevance to the question of
how to contend with the situation at hand. In fact, I have enough
on the one hand but on the other hand thoughts rattling around my brain to make my head spin like Linda Blair in the Exorcist.
Talking about my deep confusion may be self-indulgent, but I
suspect that there are many like me; not ready to hail the war,
and not ready to march in protest either.

Yes, I know, in my lifetime (born 1952) the United
States of America has committed acts of war involving either launching an invasion, sending in shooting troops, dropping or planting bombs, or assassinating national leaders in nineteen nations, and has committed violence by proxy in many more. I know that we are the only nation on earth with military bases all
over the globe. I know that our military spends more money than the rest of the G7 countries combined and twenty times as much as
the eight countries we call rogue states. And I know that we sell most of the armaments used by most of the conflicting parties engaging in various slaughters the world over. Even if mainstream political analysts can justify most of these actions, one at a time, when this information is taken in as a whole, they ought to at least admit that we sure stand out among the nations of the world. Surely this burden of empire schtick is a bit much!

In the past, Ive railed against the smugness of ordinary
Americans who with minimal attention stood in quiet support as our
government lobbed the odd occasional bomb into foreign lands with
all the casualness of Jenna Jameson giving blow jobs. I warned
that smug Americans might some day get their comeuppance.

But I wasnt expecting a sort of Spanish Inquisition!

Paradigm Shock
Indeed, like many dissident Americans who believe(d)
that the biggest current political problems were global warming, excess global corporate power, and the police stateist machinations
of the war on drugs, Im dealing with total paradigm shock. These issues continue to be important, and the US Government is not my friend in their regard. But theres no getting around it. The
forces that are almost certainly behind the 9/11 brutality have expressed some serious interest in spreading a demented fascist
fundamentalist rule as far and wide as possible, by any means necessary. Many among us have mocked those whove perceived this
sort of threat in the past as victims of an unseemly paranoia that attacks only unenlightened control freaks. But those Bin Laden speeches and interview and TV broadcasts are real. You didnt hallucinate this one, acid boy. This guy has declared war on
every American, Jew, Pagan and every infidel! Thats everybody who doesnt agree with him as big a portion of the human population as
the non-Aryans our German buddies wanted to off or enslave
back in the day. Of course, when I heard this quote
from Mr. Laden a few years ago, it seemed abstract. Now theres
a fucking hole in the middle of New York City. This aint just some Jasper coming down off a three day speed binge, deciding he should rule the world, and then taking his frustrations with his powerlessness out on his wife and kids. These guys are serious, tactically adept, and reasonably well-equipped. They are
clearly equally happy to kill pacifists, corporate executives,
soccer moms, goths, anti-globalization activists, skinheads,
Sally Fields, dogs, cats, Arab Americans, and firemen.

There are those who will still insist that the main
motivation of these terrorist fighters is their frustration with
US Military presence and aggressiveness in the Islamic region, compounded by US financial and political support for Israel, and Israels treatment of the Palestinians. According to this view, if
we bring our imperial troops and dollars back home, theyll leave
us alone. Maybe. Wanna bet? Consider the terms of the wager.

Consider this: Hitlers Nazis were at least partly the
product of the cruel treatment imposed on Germany by the imperial, arrogant powers that defeated them in World War I. He had some legitimate gripes. Also, as with Bin Laden and his ilk now, many
wise Western thinkers understood how our business-as-usual created
and supported Hitler. We had some major responsibility there. But
when push came to shove, Hitler still had to be stopped.

Now, consider the rule of the Taliban. Homosexuality
is a capital offense. Television and video technologies are confiscated and burned. (Eat your heart out, Jerry Mander!)
Women are punished for showing any skin, even by accident. Photographs and drawings of people or animals are banned.
Clapping is forbidden. Non-religious music is illegal. Unwed
couples who have sex are whipped (Of course, this also happens
frequently in San Francisco, but thats consensual.) No doubt,
US allies Saudi Arabia impose similarly weird restraints based
on the same interpretation of Islamic law.
Indeed, we can find enough contradictions,
counter-examples, and Byzantine
Western double-dealings in this situation to make our
heads spin like Linda
Blair again and maybe even puke green.

Still, the bottom line is that the terrorist cells
being clumsily pursued by
American and British bombs and troops hate US
Imperialism and they hate fun.
Id throw over the imperialism but Ill insist on
keeping whatever fun we
can still manage to afford. Weve arrived at a
peculiar point in history
where we might be seeing a war between the haves and
the have-nots, in which
the haves more or less believe in humanist values
(massive contradictions,
hypocrisies, and colonial advantages duly noted) and
the have-nots dont.
Stalinism and Maoism prefigured all this, but it
emerges into a horrible
clarity with the rise of religious fundamentalisms
among the have-nots. It
s a great time to be neutral!

I used to subscribe to the materialist interpretation
of human conflict
that beneath the ideologies, you find competition for
resources and
territory. I was a jerk. When people are fanatical
about their belief in a
religion or ideology, theyll even act against their
own material interests.
This is idealism, in point of fact, standing in
contrast to greedy
self-interest. (Hold the phone, Ayn Rand. Im not
joining your rallies
either, and I dont feel like unpacking this one right
now.) This is why
idealism can be so much more dangerous than corrupt
power seeking. Idealism
cant be paid off. And when an idealism wants to force
everybody to share
its ideal, it can be implacable.


Trust No One
You may well ask, since I believe the Islamic warrior
cells are probably the
biggest threat to life and liberty since the German
Nazis, why am I neutral?
Why dont I support the war?

Well, because I dont trust the Bush Administration to
do this in the most
humane way possible, and because it might be a really
stupid move. I dont
trust the Bushies to make the right tactical
decisions. In World War II,
the allies visited terror on the civilian populations
of Dresden, Hiroshima,
and Nagasaki. Whether these horrific actions were
necessary to bring the
war to an end is still debated today, but at least the
war did come to an
end. There was a nation state on the receiving end
that could be brought to
surrender. This is different. It isnt really a war.
Its a situation.
And its a situation where the wrong tactics would be a
disaster, both
ethically and in terms of our security. Bombs always
seemed to me a blunt
instrument for military actions that pretend to
surgical precision. So I
assert my democratic right to question the tactics of
the
Commander-in-chief, and I assert my existential right
to declare my total
uncertainty about what the right tactics are at this
moment. If I were
President I wouldnt have that luxury, but Im not, so I
do. You too.

Beyond these tactical considerations, I dont trust the
Bushies
motivations. I dont trust them to act in the best
interests of humanity
and America never mind a dissident weirdo like me.
Already, the attack on
whats left of our civil liberties
(http://www.aclu.org/action/usa107.html)
is under way. And the Pentagon is ripping us off for
more money

(Parenthetical rant Do you mean to tell me that $300
Billion or so a year
in military expenditures is not enough money to go
after an enemy consisting
of a few tens of thousands of stateless desert
dwellers supported by one guy
worth less than Bill Gates dream home, plus whatever
riches come from being
on the shit end (poppy growing) of the heroin trade?
We spend more on
defense than the next five nations combined, but we
cant use what we
already have to go after an enemy the relative size of
a mosquito? Does any
thinking person, for one second, believe that our
technology-heavy military
is going to effectively eliminate a sneaky desert
mosquito if it just has
40, or 80 or $100 billion. After telling us for
twenty years that common
folks cant throw money at problems, like not being
able to pay rent or
Doctors bills, were suddenly going to be made safe by
giving the Pentagon
and our failing intelligence agencies more money?)

If history is any indicator, surely some time in the
future, if were lucky
enough to get there, we will confront evidence of
Bushie neglect for our
safety and freedom in this war. Just like the victims
of Gulf War
Syndrome or the people in the Washington Subway system
who were the
unwitting tests of an early bio-war experiment
(http://csf.colorado.edu/mail/psn/jan98/0027.html) by
our own military, we
will get yet another opportunity to understand that
whatever actions our
government might take, its never about protecting us.


Thou Doth Protest Too Much
Ok. So since Im saying, bombs are a blunt instrument,
why not join the
anti-war protests. Well, at the risk of being
obvious, somebody did just
blow a fucking hole in New York City, and it is
apparently the same bunch
that had declared war on us. This is some serious
shit. This one is
different, and it behooves dissidents not to be
predictable and reactive.
Also, I have to admit the possibility that the Bushies
might be choosing the
best alternative in a Hobsons choice. I have to
consider that nothing
short of shutting down the Taliban regime in
Afghanistan can begin to root
out a genuine threat, and that nothing short of bombs
can defeat the
Taliban. Additionally, I have to admit that theres a
pretty good chance
that the Afghan people particularly the women will
be better off if we
defeat the Taliban with few civilian casualties. It
would be difficult for
the Afghanis to do much worse than the extended rule
of the Taliban.
Ironically, the role model here might be our old
enemies, the Vietnamese,
who finally invaded Cambodia to get rid of Pol Pot,
whose horror show was
spilling over into neighboring countries.



A Rally For the Perplexed
So here am I; neutral, stuck-in-neutral, neutered not
even stuck in the
middle with Bill and Al, but trapped in right field
with Dubya and Herr
Ashcroft busy making plans for his own version of the
Spanish Inquisition,
unable to join the antiwar protests with a clear
conscience because they
could be wrong, not able to fly the flag because I
dont believe in
nationalism, not able to endorse the war because it
could be a dumb tactic
leading to pointless deaths, unwilling to sacrifice my
irony and foolish
irreverence to the martial mood of the country or to a
bizarre and pious
import from the 13th Century.

Do you feel like I do?

Perhaps we neutrals should join together. We can hold
public cry-ins. We
can carry picket signs that say Not sure, Utterly
confused, and Its
just sad. Maybe not.

Maybe its time to turn on, tune out, and drop way down
deep inside
ourselves, quietly, solemnly, into a private search
for meaning. After all,
if its all downhill from here if were all going down
slow, it would be a
lot more dignified to go down in a meditation posture,
or clutching a
Beckett play, that bellowing USA! USA! USA! like some
WWF ape. I mean,
many Americans responded to the situation by
purchasing guns. Theyre gonna
shoot em down some anthrax! Well, everybody has to
find his or her comfort
level, I guess.

Not-knowing is true knowledge.
Presuming to know is a disease.
First realize that you are sick.
Then you can move toward health
Lao Tzu

Posy
10/19/01 17:08:50 MDT
Our collective psyche has been damaged in this country. Fear has been the response that I have seen most out of people. Many do not know where to turn for answers or explanations for the tragedy. It is time to organize cooperative commuities for a changing world. We are not an island and those willing to get together with a mission of righteousness need to do so now. Mililtary response is inevitable, and we will be facing a different world. The go back to your normal lives belief is no longer a reality. The war is not only abroad and domestic but also in our own minds. You will have to face your greatest fears and act according to divine will to find inner peace. Let's use this tragedy as an opportunity to grow spiritually and really get to know one another.
Dr. A rio rancho