- The terrorist attacks against America comprise a horrible
tragedy. But they shouldn't be a surprise.
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- It is well known that in war, the first casualty is truth
-- that during any war truth is forsaken for propaganda. But sanity was
a prior casualty: it was the loss of sanity that led to war in the first
place.
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- Our foreign policy has been insane for decades. It was
only a matter of time until Americans would have to suffer personally for
it. It is a terrible tragedy of life that the innocent so often have to
suffer for the sins of the guilty.
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- When we will learn that we can't allow our politicians
to bully the world without someone bullying back eventually?
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- President Bush has authorized continued bombing of innocent
people in Iraq. President Clinton bombed innocent people in the Sudan,
Afghanistan, Iraq, and Serbia. President Bush Senior invaded Iraq and Panama.
President Reagan bombed innocent people in Libya and invaded Grenada. And
on and on it goes.
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- Did we think the people who lost their families and friends
and property in all that destruction would love America for what happened?
When will we learn that violence always begets violence?
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- Teaching Lessons
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- Supposedly, Reagan bombed Libya to teach Muammar al-Qaddafi
a lesson about terrorism. But shortly thereafter a TWA plane was destroyed
over Scotland, and our government is convinced it was Libyans who did it.
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- When will we learn that "teaching someone a lesson"
never teaches anything but resentment -- that it only inspires the recipient
to greater acts of defiance.
-
- How many times on Tuesday did we hear someone describe
the terrorist attacks as "cowardly acts"? But as misguided and
despicable as they were, they were anything but cowardly. The people who
committed them knowingly gave their lives for whatever stupid beliefs they
held.
-
- But what about the American Presidents who order bombings
of innocent people -- while the Presidents remain completely insulated
from any danger? What would you call their acts?
-
- When will we learn that forsaking truth and reason in
the heat of battle almost always assures that we will lose the battle?
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- Losing our Last Freedoms
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- And now, as sure as night follows day, we will be told
we must give up more of our freedoms to avenge what never should have happened
in the first place.
-
- When will we learn that it makes no sense to give up
our freedoms in the name of freedom?
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- What to Do
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- What should be done?
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- First of all, stop the hysteria. Stand back and ask how
this could have happened. Ask how a prosperous country isolated by two
oceans could have so embroiled itself in other people's business that someone
would want to do us harm. Even sitting in the middle of Europe, Switzerland
isn't beset by terrorist attacks, because the Swiss mind their own business.
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- Second, resolve that we won't let our leaders use this
occasion to commit their own terrorist acts upon more innocent people,
foreign and domestic, that will inspire more terrorist attacks in the future.
-
- Third, find a way, with enforceable constitutional limits,
to prevent our leaders from ever again provoking this kind of anger against
America.
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- Patriotism?
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- There are those who will say this article is unpatriotic
and un-American - that this is not a time to question our country or our
leaders.
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- When will we learn that without freedom and sanity, there
is no reason to be patriotic? ___
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- Harry Browne was the 2000 Libertarian presidential candidate.
You can read more of his articles at http://www.HarryBrowne.org, and his
books are available at http://www.HBBooks.com.
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