********
Note: For the victims of the incidents at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon:
May God grant that many were in a state of Grace.
Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine,
et lux perpetua luceat eis.
Note: For readers of the following special analysis, what should be borne in
mind at all times is that what is at stake in the world today is not physical
lives and deaths, but the Eternal verities such as Justice, Reason, Supernatural
Truth and the like. It's not a matter of a body count. It's a matter of Right
and Wrong.
********
"When statesmen forsake their own private conscience for sake of their public duties, they lead their country by a short route to chaos." - St. Sir Thomas More, in "A Man for All Seasons"
"Until now, we have had no experience of what the U.S.Government has so often inflicted on others. Now, at least, we have an inkling of what it feels like." - Joe Sobran
+++
Readers are thanked for their patience in waiting for a Part II which we can only hope will prove to have been worth the wait.
Since Tuesday things in the American mind have become worse, rather than better. Confusion and bloodthirst reigns supreme, now, in this country, and there is no sign of either those twin plagues going away any time soon.
So, we're pleased to present these further thoughts in the hopes, nay with a plea, for sanity and clear-headedness in this time of unprecedented confusion.
Some further thoughts on Sanity.
Justice vs. Revenge
There is now an unprecedented thirst for blood in this country. The common people, the pundits all across the political spectrum, the politicians, the press generally - all are calling for "war" and "war now!" The question as to who is to be bombed into the 22nd century or what exactly will be accomplished by so doing is still, largely, irrelevant.
Catholics used to use phrases and terms like "just war," "chivalry," "non-combatants," and the "Peace of God and the Truce of God." Of course, those were in the good old days - days really good, and so very, very old at this point that for most they are not even a distant memory. But in man's frantic search for the relics of antiquity (Dead Sea Scrolls, Atlantis, and a host of other questionably relevant "treasures" of the past), perhaps the medieval laws governing combat should be among the things "resurrected."
"So many innocent lives lost!" goes the cry which supposedly justifies not just justice but revenge. "Nuke the bastards! Who cares if civilian lives are lost!" goes the response. Well, the point about innocent lives is at best an imprecision. Only God knows if they were innocent in the most Catholic sense of the term. Of course, the spin-masters do not use words in their Catholic sense. But it should be noted that Serbian civilian casualties are always that – “civilian casualties.” While American non-combatants are “innocents!” – and the more innocent they were, the more murderous the attacks and thus the more revenge is justified.
If the WTC attacks were truly the result of anti-American terrorism (and not the Mossad or the U.S. Govt…it's possible!), then the angst-filled aggressor should have attacked a military target in an act of open, and honorable, warfare. That the attacks were not honorable nor open makes, to some extent, the WTC victims “innocent” – innocent of involvement in a military conflict. But we normally refer to that type of innocence and the innocence of a “non-combatant.” In this vein one could even argue that the attack on the Pentagon was an attack on a legitimate military target. This is not to undervalue the lives of the men and women who serve in the country's armed forces. But it is to say that those who maintain the American military machine, which has bombed - just to casually name the ones that come to mind immediately - Iraq, Serbia, and the Sudan in the last three years, must perhaps be prepared to make "the supreme sacrifice in defense of the Constitution" which they promised to make, even if bombing those and a host of other targets has NOTHING to do with defending the Constitution - and therefore our White House and State and Defense Dept. officials are guilty of CRIMINAL imprudence and negligence for placing American lives in harm's way to spread "American values" around the reluctant globe and force them upon unwilling populations.
There can be no doubt that most of what SHOULD motivate the anger and sadness of American citizens over these attacks is the loss of civilian (vs. innocent) life in what may very well be the first skirmish in a far greater and more bloody war.
But "let he who has not sinned cast the first stone" - or drop the first bomb. Loss of civilian life as a result of wartime operations is certainly not an area in which the U.S. has distinguished itself - and we cannot act surprised, shocked, and horribly offended at the thought that non-combatants often perish in the battles of modern war. We might even be able to claim the distinct honor of having taught the world a lesson on that score, a lesson which evidently Tuesday's attackers took to heart. Sherman sure taught the South a lesson as he burned a wide swath through Georgia; Dresden, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Belgrade, Baghdad, and countless other cities were unfortunate results of the style of warfare which this savage excuse for an honorable military man had ushered in at the end of America's Civil War. One might even remember the callous reaction to the death of Khadaffi's daughter as a result of the Lybia bombing - "them's the breaks," we may remember the Americans saying. Not to mention Madeleine Albright's sensitive reaction (on May 12, 1996) to comments by Lesley Stahl of CBS that 500,000 Iraqi children were killed by US sanctions in an attempt to get Saddam: "We think the price is worth it." Well, that's easy to say if it's not our children. And if we've lost all civilized sense of what is and is not allowable in a conflict. Perhaps we as a people now have a better sense of how it might feel to loose relatives and friends...relatives and friends who are being asked to pay the ultimate price in a war which they didn't intend to fight, but which their government may well have provoked.
The dismay over the attacker's audacity in transcending all moral limits in knocking down two buildings filled with civilians, dismay so cogently expressed by Tony Blair on 14 Sep - these "hideous and foul" events showed that there were no longer any moral limits on their methods of killing or the number of victims... - is a little hard to cope with in light of the West's conscious abandonment of the medieval "rules of war." The notion that war is a necessary and even honorable thing in defense of the rights of a nation (or even the rights of God!) and therefore MUST be waged honorably, is a notion that we have willingly, purposefully, and knowingly discarded. It shouldn't come as a surprise to us that - just like the poor family store which is forced to cut wages, stiff employees, and decrease quality and customer service in order to keep up with the economic imperialism practiced by the local WalMart - other nations or individuals resort to less-than-honorable means of combat when provoked thereto by a nation that has long since itself dispensed with those honorable means.
Which brings to mind something else Americans would do well to contemplate
in the wake of the WTC and the Pentagon With the exception of the Civil War,
we haven't really ever been exposed to bloodshed on American soil, and certainly
not at the hand of a foreign power - at least since 1812. We have never been
"occupied" or had our country invaded by "peacekeepers."
But for others it is a way of life. Macedonians, Serbians, Iraqis have; and
that at the hands of the U.S. or its international front, NATO. Which is not
to say that Macedonia, Serbia, or Iraq are flawless countries with populations
that have a spotless track record. We can hear the response now - "they
deserve it!" Well, what's good for the goose is good for the gander, and
if we're capable of sitting in judgment of just what kind of punishment these
various populations may or may not deserve, it may then be a classic sign of
American hubris that we cannot conceive of someone claiming the right to sit
in judgment of us - whether they truly have that right or not. But ultimately
the guilt or innocence of the victim populations - ours, or those
that are victims of American military might - is not the point. The point is
that the weeping and wailing that surrounds this event, justifiably called horrific
and shocking, must ring just a bit hollow for those who live through warfare
on a daily basis. Belgrade in June of 1999 looked a lot like Manhattan, and
yet American sympathy for the war being waged on Belgrade against those attempting
to defend themselves from Marxist and Muslim aggression in the form of the terrorist
(though US-backed) KLA was non-existent. Not to mention the scenes from Palestine
which are eerily similar to Washington D.C. But more on that later.
If we lived in a sane country, then, we'd be shocked and appalled at the slaughter
of non-combatants, and we'd live by the rules - the violation of which is the
source of our anger - by ensuring, as best as reasonably possible, that our
response avoided the very crime which provoked our ire. But, as we said in the
last issue, this degree of introspection and logical consistence is not part
of the American character today. The American mind
prides itself on being anti-dogmatic, which is to say, that no Truth above the
frail and fleeting world in which humans live and work exists or can be known
with certainty to exist. Truth, for Americans, is made by circumstances and
necessity. It's NOT true that we cannot bomb Serbia into oblivion "to weaken
the Serbian spirit," as General Clark explained back in 1999, but it IS
true that we will NOT accept the commission of an act of war against ourselves
which claims civilian lives. This inconsistency - simply put, a "double
standard" - is so characteristic of the American mentality as to be almost
gut-wrenching should we stop to consider it too seriously and too intently.
The "Amen Corner."
Lest some readers think that we are over doing our assessment of the blood lust which has taken over the American people and leadership, just a few samplings should serve to illustrate our point. We also should note that in a good many of these press samplings, there are the predictable references to all kinds of things that should give the discriminating reader pause. Some of these include: sentimental reference to WWII and the "Greatest Generation," comparisons of the "terrorist foe" to Hitler, and the association of these attacks on the WTC and the Pentagon with "attacks on America and the world's commitment to freedom." The comparisons get sillier, broader, and more meaningless as the days roll by. Which is something that should alert all of us that rational thought and clear and concise thinking is NOT the order of the day. Clearly, we are being subjected to a barrage of psycho babble designed to throw us into a full scale war with someone whom we can't even identify. The consistency of the message being broadcast by "folks" (as our President says) across the political spectrum is either amazing (what a coincidence!) or eminently predictable. Too much consistency by the puppets can mean only that there is someone pulling the strings.
(quotes follow the colons...THIS IS A LONG, THOROUGH SUMMARY. IF AND WHEN THE READER HAS HAD ENOUGH, HE IS INVITED TO SKIP PAST THE PRESS SAMPLING AND CONTINUE READING...)
- The President: This enemy attacked not just our people but all freedom-loving people everywhere in the world...We will rally the world...This will be a monumental struggle of good versus evil, but good will prevail. [Is the "good" the ruthless financial might embodied by the WTC or the callous force of arms employed by the Pentagon for the advancement of the U.S.'s diplomatic agenda?]
...and again at the national "prayer" service: In every generation, the world has produced enemies of human freedom...They have attacked America because we are freedom's home and defender. And the commitment of our fathers is now the calling of our time... Our responsibility to history is already clear...To answer these attacks and rid the world of evil. [Rid the world of evil! Well now, does that require Congressional authorization? What it does require is a Constitutional Amendment, because the 1st amendment guarantees that in this great nation good and evil are whatever you want them to be. And it is of course perfectly evident that we were attacked because we defend freedom. Of course. The freedom of every nation to follow America's lead and do whatever she wants them too. The Palestinians were, no doubt, very impressed with our attempt to rid the world of evil and defend freedom by walking our of a U.N.-sponsored conference which threatened to condemn Zionism and Racism.]
- Colin Powell: this was an assault not just on America but on civilization. [If this is true it was an attack on civilization, it was an attack on Jewish civilization, and an attack on the twin pillars of money and physical force...two things which the Jews have used against the Christian world for centuries. That is a civilization NOT worth defending. It would be hard to demonstrate otherwise, i.e., that it was an attack on Apple Pie and Motherhood, which is what America USED TO stand for.]
- German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder: "They were not only attacks on the people in the United States, our friends in America, but also against the entire civilized world, against our own freedom, against our own values, values which we share with the American people." [One wonders what values the WTC and Pentagon are supposed to represent?]
- Hilary on the Senate floor: We also stand united behind our resolve -- as this resolution so clearly states -- to recover and rebuild in the aftermath of these tragic acts. You know, New York was not an accidental choice for these madmen, these terrorists, and these instruments of evil. They deliberately chose to strike at a city, which is a global city -- it is the city of the Twenty First century, it epitomizes who we are as Americans. And so this in a very real sense was an attack on America, on our values, on our power, and on who we are as a people. [Answer us this, dear obnoxious Senator from New York: If NYC is a GLOBAL city, why is this being billed as an ATTACK ON AMERICA? Do Americans really want the instruments of global power in their country (WTC, U.N., etc.), and if so, has world domination gotten itself so ingrained into the American mind that it is now part of our character? If so, it is part of our character well worth expunging, even if to do so required pain and suffering. An "attack on our power" - most certainly. But is it a legitimate power in the first place?]
- Kissinger and McCain have both called this "an act of war," and Kissinger was talking about retaliatory attacks even before there was (and is) ANY idea of where or whom to attack.
- Fox news used this neat phrase in a recent broadcast: "the fallen pillars of liberty, trade, and defense." One wonders if the victims of U.S. military might and/or imperialist capitalism have the impression that they are the twin pillars of liberty.
Meanwhile, the neo-conservative establishment, which is substantially Jewish (not a trivial fact), fell in step with an overwhelming show of support for letting loose the dogs of war, and a consistent line about how much this would help America to sympathize with poor Israel:
- the FrontPageMag.com headline of Thursday or Friday suggested that our government's ban on government sponsored assassinations be revoked. This would be an impressive display of defense of the rule of law. In Catholic circles assassination is referred to as murder, but god forbid we Catholic have any influence in politics.
- Cal Thomas: It brings into clear focus the state of war that has existed for some time between America and those who oppose our values and way of life. [This "way of life" business is such a joke. What possible connection is there between the WTC and the average American way of life?]
- Geo. Will: The acrid and unexpungeable odor of terrorism, which has hung over Israel for many years, is now a fact of American life. Yesterday morning Americans were drawn into the world that Israelis live in every day...The terrorists' targets yesterday were symbols not just of American power but also its virtues. The twin towers of the World Trade Center are, like Manhattan itself, architectural expressions of the vigor of American civilization. The Pentagon is a symbol of America's ability and determination to project and defend democratic values. These targets have drawn, like gathered lightning, the anger of the enemies of civilization. Those enemies are always out there. [These remarks are mind-blowing in their ignorance. It is touching that we are reminded of the plight of the Israelis in light of what they did and continue to do to the Palestinians with the blessing of that "symbol" which is supposed to represent "America's ability and determination to project and defend democratic values." Which is altogether another tragically humorous statement, unless the projection of democracy is routinely and ironically carried out without regard for whether the people upon whom this democracy is being imposed want it in the first place.]
- Bill Buckley: We handled the problem of kamikaze-minded warriors by dropping an atom bomb on the source of that infestation. There is no corresponding target for the holy warriors in Palestine and elsewhere in that part of the world. When it is not possible to reason with holy warriors, it is necessary to immobilize them or crush them...But the broader perspective is indispensable, and it tells us to seek to honor the memory of Tuesday's innocents by standing resolutely by the principles that made their country the object of the special odium of Osama bin Laden. [What principles were those, Bill? Why does no one, not even a mental giant like yourself, enunciate exactly what those are? Is it because those principles are the same hypocritical principles which give us the right to impose our will by financial and military might and then convince ourselves that because we have the power it must be the right thing to do? Dropping an atom bomb is indeed a wonderfully civilized way to defend civilization.]
- Thomas Friedman (from Jerusalem): It pits us - the world's only superpower and quintessential symbol of liberal, free-market, Western values - against all the super-empowered angry men and women out there. Many of these super-empowered angry people hail from failing states in the Muslim and third world. They do not share our values, they resent America's influence over their lives, politics and children, not to mention our support for Israel, and they often blame America for the failure of their societies to master modernity. [Here we are given some clarity. Liberal (i.e., anti-truth), free-market (i.e., cheat and advertise the poor consumer out of his money, all under the blessing of law!) values. Notice that "free-market" is being used as an adjective by this master of language, as if a value (which we Catholics would recognize as having some connection to the terms Truth, Beauty, Goodness...from which flow the Virtues of Faith, Hope, Charity, Justice, Fortitude, Temperance, and Chastity) could be somehow explained in a free-market context. Are there unfree-market values? What Talmudic, mind-numbing rot. And another thing: what's wrong with someone resenting "America's influence over their lives, politics and children"?]
- David Horowitz (FrontPageMagazine.com September 11, 2001): The destruction of the World Trade Center, the attack on the Pentagon, the revelation to all the world that even the White House is vulnerable, should be a wake up call to Americans. This country is at war, and we are far behind in securing our citizens' safety and preparing for our defense. America is in denial that much of the world hates us, and will continue to hate us. Because we are prosperous, and democratic and free. [Again, more clarity. What we are defending is PROSPERITY - though no one attempted to take away our houses, land, or personal belongings the way banks, credit card companies, and Israeli bulldozers do; DEMOCRACY - though the voter turn-out at national elections borders on 50% and less than half of those think it does any good (which it doesn't); and FREEDOM - which no agency impedes more that our federal government, unless you are attempting to spread pornographic filth, further open America's already leaking borders, abort children, further remove Almighty God from schools and Government, or advance the sinister agenda of something warped and corrupt (name your evil: lesbianism/homosexuality; no-fault divorce; pedophilia; gay "marriage," immodest and scandalous fashion, etc.). What a wonderful creed to rally to!]
Craig McMillan: Nothing short of the fortitude and determination shown by our parents and grandparents, followed by their uncompromising insistence of total surrender by America's enemies, can suffice for us. [Perhaps Craig thinks that total surrender will ultimately produce something other than what it produced from Germany's complete humiliation in WWI?]
Joseph Farah: Bush, in fact, asserted he would hold any nation harboring the terrorists accountable for their actions. Israel has been coaxed and bullied by the U.S. to do precisely the opposite. Now the U.S. administration says it is outraged and is determined to "punish" those responsible for "the attack on freedom." I'm glad to hear it. And, far be it for me to question the sudden good judgment being shown in Washington. But it's illustrative of what I have been saying for the last year. The U.S. has been asking Israel to maintain an untenable course of inaction. In fact, Washington has helped to ensure that terrorism would spread beyond the Middle East to the shores of the U.S. through its shaky, equivocal, timid, impotent, weak, half-way measures in the face of Israel's constant battle with terror. [Well, how remorseful we all feel for not having seen the writing on the wall, Mr. Zionist(?)Arab(?)Christian(?). What a shame it is that we didn't encourage Israel to annihilate the Palestinians in one swoop, thereby obviating the need for them to try to explain to the international community just why a land that was occupied by Arabs for 900 years was suddenly turned into a war zone to make room for the (once-) Chosen People to occupy the (no-longer-) Promised Land. Could it be that this attack is an unprecedented opportunity for Israel to embark on the course of action which they have so much desired, but lacked the support to do? More on that later too...]
Tom Ambrose: The charred body parts of Tuesday's victims aren't even buried and I've already begun to hear the pacifism of columnists and others: "Violence begets violence." "This should be a measured response." I don't think so. Tell me again: How many men, women and children died this time? Thousands? Most likely. Tens of thousands? Possibly. When are we ever going to learn? Appeasement does not work! It never has. It never will. The Israelis, God bless them, offered Arafat nearly everything he wanted - his response was to murder more Israelis. The U.S. has ignored China's ongoing and appalling violations of human rights and so China has continued to abuse millions of their own people and some of ours. History is replete with such examples. [One point of clarification, Tom. Pacifism is the error of refusing to fight when one is warranted. Militarism (or in your case being just plain wrong) is the error of wanting to fight at all costs, without regard to who will be injured or whether fighting will accomplish the objective in the first place. How convenient for you to label those arguing for caution as "Pacifists." How long before they are simply "traitors?" Speaking of eroding freedoms...]
Michael Savage (NewsMax.com): We now know which countries sponsor, support, and harbor terrorists. They are Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Sudan, and Libya. It is time for the United States to declare war against these powers and to immediately strike against the tyranny that reins on their shores. [An interesting leap from harboring terrorism to "the reign of tyranny." It would be hard to demonstrate that terrorists actually rule those countries, so perhaps the point is that if we assume that the countries can be on our potential target list, then we'll be able to eliminate a few regimes that are not as cooperative as they are supposed to be with the NWO? Just a hypothesis...after all, the internal logic is hardly obvious.]
- Heritage foundation Op-Ed: War wasn't declared on the United States on Sept. 11. It was declared long ago by those who believe that the United States, which spreads such dangerous notions as freedom and democracy, is a "great satan." We just didn't want to face it. [Freedom and democracy. A logical thing to try to blow up. Ah yes, the connection is very clear.]
The mainstream press is also, of course, unanimous. This following summary complied by a London paper is illustrative:
QUOTE
New York Post
The daily tabloid is among the most vociferous in its call for swift retribution...Further back, the opinion and editorial pages effectively prepare the nation for war.
Columnist Neil Kressel says that even if Bin Laden is captured "his organisation, al-Qaeda, operates decentralised cells in trouble spots throughout the world, probably including Afghanistan, Sudan, Pakistan, Chechnya, Egypt, Tunisia and elsewhere. In a sense, we will be fighting world war."
Leader: "Time to clean house," says the Post. It argues that America must ignore the rest of the world and press ahead with finding and wiping out the perpetrators of Tuesday's atrocity, accepting that civilian casualties are inevitable...
New York Daily News
The Daily News also takes a forceful tone, welcoming the help of other countries but declaring that America must be allowed to stand alone. "We would like to fight alongside the Europeans, the Israelis, the moderate Arab states, the Russians; even the Chinese. If they want to join, they'll be welcome. But empty words of sympathy aren't needed at this point. Action is."
"When this war intensifies and inevitably gets bloody some of our presumed friends may decide their interests diverge with ours. It has happened before. So, in the end, we must be ready to go it alone."
Repeating its call for action against states that harbour terrorists, the paper concludes: "In this new age, which they have brought upon themselves, the rogue states of the world will have to choose: If they are not against terrorism, they are for it. They will be held accountable; their lives will be made unlivable. We must make the price of harboring terrorists impossible to bear. In this war, there are no sidelines."
New York Times
The more conservative broadsheet described the mood of the nation as one preparing
for war. "The marble halls of Washington resounded with talk of war,"
it said.
UNQUOTE
The Wall Street Journal conveniently tugged on the WWII heartstrings plus the demon-image of Hitler to stir up sympathy for the "war," with this Op-Ed headline on the 12th: "We Beat Hitler, We Can Vanquish This Foe, Too" by Mark Helprin.
And the Washington Post's Robert Kagan had this to say:
One can only hope that America can respond to yesterday's monstrous attack on
American soil -- an attack far more awful than Pearl Harbor --with the same
moral clarity and courage as our grandfathers did. Not by asking what we have
done to bring on the wrath of inhuman murderers. Not by figuring out ways to
reason with, or try to appease those who have spilled our blood. Not by engaging
in an extended legal effort to arraign, try and convict killers, as if they
were criminals and not warriors. But by doing the only thing we now can do:
Go to war with those who have launched this awful war against us. Over the past
few years there has been a nostalgic celebration of "The Greatest Generation"
-- the generation that fought for America and for humanity in the Second World
War. There's no need for nostalgia now. That challenge is before us again. The
question today is whether this generation of Americans is made of the same stuff.
Please let us make no mistake this time: We are at war now. We have suffered
the first, devastating strike. Certainly, it is not the last. The only question
is whether we will now take this war seriously, as seriously as any war we have
ever fought, whether we will conduct it with the intensity and perseverance
it requires. Let's not be daunted by the mysterious and partially hidden identity
of our attackers. It will soon become obvious that only a few terrorist organizations
are capable of carrying out such a massive and coordinated strike. We should
pour the resources necessary into a global effort to hunt them down and capture
or kill them. It will become apparent that those organizations could not have
operated without the assistance of some governments, governments with a long
record of hostility to the United States and an equally long record of support
for terrorism. We should now immediately begin building up our conventional
military forces to prepare for what will inevitably and rapidly escalate into
confrontation and quite possibly war with one or more of those powers.
Well, it can't really be better expressed than that, now can it. Two criminal attacks and it is a "war against America." Therefore we should respond in kind, and in our outrage over the slaughter of civilians we should accept the fact - maybe even desire it - that some of "their" civilians will be slaughtered. And furthermore this is our chance to do what our ancestors did when they defeated Hitler, and, by the way, as we all know, there can be no question whatsoever about the fact that the Americans were the great "liberators" of Europe (despite Tehran and Yalta, despite our alliance with the Soviets, despite the orders to American generals in Germany at the end of the war to FORBID the passage of Germans from East to West in an attempt to flee Bolshevism before the country was carved up by its new masters, despite Dresden, despite Hiroshima, despite Roosevelt's knowledge of Pearl Harbor - what a great historical period to want to imitate!). Oh yeah, and Israel sure will appreciate the sympathy from our having declared bloodthirsty "war" on all terrorists and their countries - which are, strangely enough, all Arab. What an extremely neat and clean package, this response to the WTC and Pentagon attacks. It almost reads like a screenplay.
What is most under attack, and remains so even to this very moment, is the possibility of a sane response, a Catholic one.
1. A just and measured response is either "treasonous" or it stinks of “pacifism.”
2. The notion that the criminals should be caught, tried, and convicted, like others are treated when we are not "at war," and even as the "actors" on the stage of the NWO are treated (a la Milosevic and his "trial") is thought to be appeasement and compromise. And the suggestion is conveniently dispensed with because, of course, we are at war (how quickly we forget).
3. The suggestion that we, as a nation, take this unique opportunity to examine our collective conscience about how we "run" the world, and how we behave as a nation in the eyes of God, is a non-starter, and it too borders on treason "during this grave time of national crisis!"
No, the "great stereopticon," as Weaver called the Press, has done its duty. There will be no debate about our country's behavior. There will be no discussion about whether or not we earned God's wrath due to any number of public and official sins. There will be no contemplation of behaving like civilized people while we go to war, purportedly to defend civilization.
And what a captive audience we are:
- a poll which ran just a couple of days after the attacks indicated that 9 of 10 Americans consider this an act of war, and 7 of the 10 favor retaliatory strikes. Not bringing the criminals to justice, mind you, but retaliatory measures as if we had been invaded by Soviet paratroops. Currently CNN shows 53% of Americans want a massive mobilization against Afghanistan. They know more than we do, obviously, about Afghanistan's guilt.
- Typical of some of the more extreme letters to neo-conservative "alternative" media websites such as WorldNetDaily, NewsMax, and FrontPageMag:
QUOTE
President George Bush can end this problem once and for all. Nuke every Islamic
nation there is. If this country doesn't destroy those nations completely and
immediately, we will be considered weak and this will happen again.
Nuke 'em and nuke 'em now!
UNQUOTE
and
QUOTE
Let this be a lesson to all the Jew-hating and Anti-Israel posters-both right
and left-who regularly pollute this board: THESE ARABS ARE BEASTS! THEY ARE
SAVAGES! THEY ARE NOT HUMAN BEINGS! We can no longer deny these obvious facts:
ALL of the Arab-American population must be put under heavy surveillance; the
few who are civilized like Abdul will be let go. All others should be hassled
and harrased, whether at airports, employment etc. All the Hamas support groups
and front organizations must be shut down, all Arab non-citizens should be forcibly
deported (including graduate students and the like) or put in camps similar
to those set up for the Japanese during World War II: they pose a far greater
threat and their loyalty is indeed in question. And of course we must shell
and bomb all the guilty countries: Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and so on down the
line. This IS war: lets finally fight it!
UNQUOTE
The antidote to such savage lust for revenge is not to be found in mainstream circles. Though where it is found, my what a breath of fresh air it provides! Hear one Samuel Francis, a lone (and therefore largely unpublished) voice of sanity:
QUOTE
Let us hear no more about how the "terrorists" have "declared
war on America." Any nation that allows a criminal chief executive to use
its military power to slaughter civilians in unprovoked and legally unauthorized
attacks for his own personal political purposes can expect whatever the "terrorists"
dish out to it. If, as President Bush told us this week, we should make no distinction
between those who harbor terrorists and those who commit terrorist acts, neither
can any distinction be made between those who tolerate the murderous policies
of a criminal in power and the criminal himself.
The blunt and quite ugly truth is that the United States has been at war for
years - that it started the war in the name of "spreading democracy,"
"building nations," "waging peace," "stopping aggression,"
"enforcing human rights," and all the other pious lies that warmongers
always invoke to mask the truth, and that it continued the war simply to save
a crook from political ruin. What is new is merely that this week, for the first
time, the war we started came home - and all of a sudden, Americans don't seem
to care for it so much.
UNQUOTE
Some thoughts on Duty.
With the exception of Sam Francis' pithy comment, these issues will not be reflected upon by those in the mainstream. We as Catholics, therefore, should give serious thought to our obligation to proclaim the truth from the rooftops - and that more vigorously than ever. Despite the fact that 99 out of 100 people have closed their ears to sane speech due to the din of the war-mongering media and government, there is always that 1 out of 100 that is stirred to critical thought as a result of Tuesday's events...particularly when those events are put into perspective for him by a sane voice. And that 1 out of 100 can become 2 million out of 200 million. And when we have reached that many, then we'll be a force to be reckoned with.
So network, dear Catholics, network like you've never networked before. DO NOT give in to the FALSE Patriotism, the "Now's not the time to criticize" silliness. If ever there was a time to think critically about where this country is heading and what it is doing, NOW IS THE TIME. Now is the time to assert that Truth and only Truth is the criteria by which things should be judged in this life, as in the next. Now is the time to demand that the government help to reform the people rather than corrupt them. Now is the time to demand that the government help to right the wrongs in the world rather than support and create them. Now is the time to address the fundamental contradiction at the root of American and all pluralist societies, which says that any truth is valid, even while we're being told that the truth of militant Islam is "a little too true" to fit nicely into a pluralist society, just as the Catholics were told that they didn't fit into pluralist society some 200 years ago.
Now is the time to start the next Crusade! Do not be reduced to a bundle of nerves by the constant intrusive, inappropriate, inexcusable coverage by the media of the great sadness of victims' families! Turn off the box and clear your mind. Examine the problems in our society, so perfectly illustrated by the destruction of two symbols of American arrogance, and mankind's pride. Let us work together to articulate the answers, and to proclaim those answers to an unwilling world. If indeed the entire world is in the hands of our enemies, let us never forget that we have an entire world therefore to conquer!
It's late, and Part III, IV, and V still need doing. But this is your dose for now.
Next time, some thoughts on International Jewry, the Official Story, and "Islam vs. the West."
Until then, pray, think, network, and keep your head down.
Cristus regnat!
God rest the souls of the victims, and God grant this nation the grace to examine
its own behavior in the light of the Divine and Natural Law.
"When statesmen forsake their own private conscience for sake of their public duties, they lead their country by a short route to chaos." - St. Sir Thomas More, in "A Man for All Seasons"
"Until now, we have had no experience of what the U.S.Government has so often inflicted on others. Now, at least, we have an inkling of what it feels like." - Joe Sobran
+++
Readers are thanked for their patience in waiting for a Part II which we can only hope will prove to have been worth the wait.
Since Tuesday things in the American mind have become worse, rather than better. Confusion and bloodthirst reigns supreme, now, in this country, and there is no sign of either those twin plagues going away any time soon.
So, we're pleased to present these further thoughts in the hopes, nay with a plea, for sanity and clear-headedness in this time of unprecedented confusion.
Some further thoughts on Sanity.
Justice vs. Revenge
There is now an unprecedented thirst for blood in this country. The common people, the pundits all across the political spectrum, the politicians, the press generally - all are calling for "war" and "war now!" The question as to who is to be bombed into the 22nd century or what exactly will be accomplished by so doing is still, largely, irrelevant.
Catholics used to use phrases and terms like "just war," "chivalry," "non-combatants," and the "Peace of God and the Truce of God." Of course, those were in the good old days - days really good, and so very, very old at this point that for most they are not even a distant memory. But in man's frantic search for the relics of antiquity (Dead Sea Scrolls, Atlantis, and a host of other questionably relevant "treasures" of the past), perhaps the medieval laws governing combat should be among the things "resurrected."
"So many innocent lives lost!" goes the cry which supposedly justifies not just justice but revenge. "Nuke the bastards! Who cares if civilian lives are lost!" goes the response. Well, the point about innocent lives is at best an imprecision. Only God knows if they were innocent in the most Catholic sense of the term. Of course, the spin-masters do not use words in their Catholic sense. But it should be noted that Serbian civilian casualties are always that – “civilian casualties.” While American non-combatants are “innocents!” – and the more innocent they were, the more murderous the attacks and thus the more revenge is justified.
If the WTC attacks were truly the result of anti-American terrorism (and not the Mossad or the U.S. Govt…it's possible!), then the angst-filled aggressor should have attacked a military target in an act of open, and honorable, warfare. That the attacks were not honorable nor open makes, to some extent, the WTC victims “innocent” – innocent of involvement in a military conflict. But we normally refer to that type of innocence and the innocence of a “non-combatant.” In this vein one could even argue that the attack on the Pentagon was an attack on a legitimate military target. This is not to undervalue the lives of the men and women who serve in the country's armed forces. But it is to say that those who maintain the American military machine, which has bombed - just to casually name the ones that come to mind immediately - Iraq, Serbia, and the Sudan in the last three years, must perhaps be prepared to make "the supreme sacrifice in defense of the Constitution" which they promised to make, even if bombing those and a host of other targets has NOTHING to do with defending the Constitution - and therefore our White House and State and Defense Dept. officials are guilty of CRIMINAL imprudence and negligence for placing American lives in harm's way to spread "American values" around the reluctant globe and force them upon unwilling populations.
There can be no doubt that most of what SHOULD motivate the anger and sadness of American citizens over these attacks is the loss of civilian (vs. innocent) life in what may very well be the first skirmish in a far greater and more bloody war.
But "let he who has not sinned cast the first stone" - or drop the first bomb. Loss of civilian life as a result of wartime operations is certainly not an area in which the U.S. has distinguished itself - and we cannot act surprised, shocked, and horribly offended at the thought that non-combatants often perish in the battles of modern war. We might even be able to claim the distinct honor of having taught the world a lesson on that score, a lesson which evidently Tuesday's attackers took to heart. Sherman sure taught the South a lesson as he burned a wide swath through Georgia; Dresden, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Belgrade, Baghdad, and countless other cities were unfortunate results of the style of warfare which this savage excuse for an honorable military man had ushered in at the end of America's Civil War. One might even remember the callous reaction to the death of Khadaffi's daughter as a result of the Lybia bombing - "them's the breaks," we may remember the Americans saying. Not to mention Madeleine Albright's sensitive reaction (on May 12, 1996) to comments by Lesley Stahl of CBS that 500,000 Iraqi children were killed by US sanctions in an attempt to get Saddam: "We think the price is worth it." Well, that's easy to say if it's not our children. And if we've lost all civilized sense of what is and is not allowable in a conflict. Perhaps we as a people now have a better sense of how it might feel to loose relatives and friends...relatives and friends who are being asked to pay the ultimate price in a war which they didn't intend to fight, but which their government may well have provoked.
The dismay over the attacker's audacity in transcending all moral limits in knocking down two buildings filled with civilians, dismay so cogently expressed by Tony Blair on 14 Sep - these "hideous and foul" events showed that there were no longer any moral limits on their methods of killing or the number of victims... - is a little hard to cope with in light of the West's conscious abandonment of the medieval "rules of war." The notion that war is a necessary and even honorable thing in defense of the rights of a nation (or even the rights of God!) and therefore MUST be waged honorably, is a notion that we have willingly, purposefully, and knowingly discarded. It shouldn't come as a surprise to us that - just like the poor family store which is forced to cut wages, stiff employees, and decrease quality and customer service in order to keep up with the economic imperialism practiced by the local WalMart - other nations or individuals resort to less-than-honorable means of combat when provoked thereto by a nation that has long since itself dispensed with those honorable means.
Which brings to mind something else Americans would do well to contemplate
in the wake of the WTC and the Pentagon With the exception of the Civil War,
we haven't really ever been exposed to bloodshed on American soil, and certainly
not at the hand of a foreign power - at least since 1812. We have never been
"occupied" or had our country invaded by "peacekeepers."
But for others it is a way of life. Macedonians, Serbians, Iraqis have; and
that at the hands of the U.S. or its international front, NATO. Which is not
to say that Macedonia, Serbia, or Iraq are flawless countries with populations
that have a spotless track record. We can hear the response now - "they
deserve it!" Well, what's good for the goose is good for the gander, and
if we're capable of sitting in judgment of just what kind of punishment these
various populations may or may not deserve, it may then be a classic sign of
American hubris that we cannot conceive of someone claiming the right to sit
in judgment of us - whether they truly have that right or not. But ultimately
the guilt or innocence of the victim populations - ours, or those
that are victims of American military might - is not the point. The point is
that the weeping and wailing that surrounds this event, justifiably called horrific
and shocking, must ring just a bit hollow for those who live through warfare
on a daily basis. Belgrade in June of 1999 looked a lot like Manhattan, and
yet American sympathy for the war being waged on Belgrade against those attempting
to defend themselves from Marxist and Muslim aggression in the form of the terrorist
(though US-backed) KLA was non-existent. Not to mention the scenes from Palestine
which are eerily similar to Washington D.C. But more on that later.
If we lived in a sane country, then, we'd be shocked and appalled at the slaughter
of non-combatants, and we'd live by the rules - the violation of which is the
source of our anger - by ensuring, as best as reasonably possible, that our
response avoided the very crime which provoked our ire. But, as we said in the
last issue, this degree of introspection and logical consistence is not part
of the American character today. The American mind
prides itself on being anti-dogmatic, which is to say, that no Truth above the
frail and fleeting world in which humans live and work exists or can be known
with certainty to exist. Truth, for Americans, is made by circumstances and
necessity. It's NOT true that we cannot bomb Serbia into oblivion "to weaken
the Serbian spirit," as General Clark explained back in 1999, but it IS
true that we will NOT accept the commission of an act of war against ourselves
which claims civilian lives. This inconsistency - simply put, a "double
standard" - is so characteristic of the American mentality as to be almost
gut-wrenching should we stop to consider it too seriously and too intently.
The "Amen Corner."
Lest some readers think that we are over doing our assessment of the blood lust which has taken over the American people and leadership, just a few samplings should serve to illustrate our point. We also should note that in a good many of these press samplings, there are the predictable references to all kinds of things that should give the discriminating reader pause. Some of these include: sentimental reference to WWII and the "Greatest Generation," comparisons of the "terrorist foe" to Hitler, and the association of these attacks on the WTC and the Pentagon with "attacks on America and the world's commitment to freedom." The comparisons get sillier, broader, and more meaningless as the days roll by. Which is something that should alert all of us that rational thought and clear and concise thinking is NOT the order of the day. Clearly, we are being subjected to a barrage of psycho babble designed to throw us into a full scale war with someone whom we can't even identify. The consistency of the message being broadcast by "folks" (as our President says) across the political spectrum is either amazing (what a coincidence!) or eminently predictable. Too much consistency by the puppets can mean only that there is someone pulling the strings.
(quotes follow the colons...THIS IS A LONG, THOROUGH SUMMARY. IF AND WHEN THE READER HAS HAD ENOUGH, HE IS INVITED TO SKIP PAST THE PRESS SAMPLING AND CONTINUE READING...)
- The President: This enemy attacked not just our people but all freedom-loving people everywhere in the world...We will rally the world...This will be a monumental struggle of good versus evil, but good will prevail. [Is the "good" the ruthless financial might embodied by the WTC or the callous force of arms employed by the Pentagon for the advancement of the U.S.'s diplomatic agenda?]
...and again at the national "prayer" service: In every generation, the world has produced enemies of human freedom...They have attacked America because we are freedom's home and defender. And the commitment of our fathers is now the calling of our time... Our responsibility to history is already clear...To answer these attacks and rid the world of evil. [Rid the world of evil! Well now, does that require Congressional authorization? What it does require is a Constitutional Amendment, because the 1st amendment guarantees that in this great nation good and evil are whatever you want them to be. And it is of course perfectly evident that we were attacked because we defend freedom. Of course. The freedom of every nation to follow America's lead and do whatever she wants them too. The Palestinians were, no doubt, very impressed with our attempt to rid the world of evil and defend freedom by walking our of a U.N.-sponsored conference which threatened to condemn Zionism and Racism.]
- Colin Powell: this was an assault not just on America but on civilization. [If this is true it was an attack on civilization, it was an attack on Jewish civilization, and an attack on the twin pillars of money and physical force...two things which the Jews have used against the Christian world for centuries. That is a civilization NOT worth defending. It would be hard to demonstrate otherwise, i.e., that it was an attack on Apple Pie and Motherhood, which is what America USED TO stand for.]
- German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder: "They were not only attacks on the people in the United States, our friends in America, but also against the entire civilized world, against our own freedom, against our own values, values which we share with the American people." [One wonders what values the WTC and Pentagon are supposed to represent?]
- Hilary on the Senate floor: We also stand united behind our resolve -- as this resolution so clearly states -- to recover and rebuild in the aftermath of these tragic acts. You know, New York was not an accidental choice for these madmen, these terrorists, and these instruments of evil. They deliberately chose to strike at a city, which is a global city -- it is the city of the Twenty First century, it epitomizes who we are as Americans. And so this in a very real sense was an attack on America, on our values, on our power, and on who we are as a people. [Answer us this, dear obnoxious Senator from New York: If NYC is a GLOBAL city, why is this being billed as an ATTACK ON AMERICA? Do Americans really want the instruments of global power in their country (WTC, U.N., etc.), and if so, has world domination gotten itself so ingrained into the American mind that it is now part of our character? If so, it is part of our character well worth expunging, even if to do so required pain and suffering. An "attack on our power" - most certainly. But is it a legitimate power in the first place?]
- Kissinger and McCain have both called this "an act of war," and Kissinger was talking about retaliatory attacks even before there was (and is) ANY idea of where or whom to attack.
- Fox news used this neat phrase in a recent broadcast: "the fallen pillars of liberty, trade, and defense." One wonders if the victims of U.S. military might and/or imperialist capitalism have the impression that they are the twin pillars of liberty.
Meanwhile, the neo-conservative establishment, which is substantially Jewish (not a trivial fact), fell in step with an overwhelming show of support for letting loose the dogs of war, and a consistent line about how much this would help America to sympathize with poor Israel:
- the FrontPageMag.com headline of Thursday or Friday suggested that our government's ban on government sponsored assassinations be revoked. This would be an impressive display of defense of the rule of law. In Catholic circles assassination is referred to as murder, but god forbid we Catholic have any influence in politics.
- Cal Thomas: It brings into clear focus the state of war that has existed for some time between America and those who oppose our values and way of life. [This "way of life" business is such a joke. What possible connection is there between the WTC and the average American way of life?]
- Geo. Will: The acrid and unexpungeable odor of terrorism, which has hung over Israel for many years, is now a fact of American life. Yesterday morning Americans were drawn into the world that Israelis live in every day...The terrorists' targets yesterday were symbols not just of American power but also its virtues. The twin towers of the World Trade Center are, like Manhattan itself, architectural expressions of the vigor of American civilization. The Pentagon is a symbol of America's ability and determination to project and defend democratic values. These targets have drawn, like gathered lightning, the anger of the enemies of civilization. Those enemies are always out there. [These remarks are mind-blowing in their ignorance. It is touching that we are reminded of the plight of the Israelis in light of what they did and continue to do to the Palestinians with the blessing of that "symbol" which is supposed to represent "America's ability and determination to project and defend democratic values." Which is altogether another tragically humorous statement, unless the projection of democracy is routinely and ironically carried out without regard for whether the people upon whom this democracy is being imposed want it in the first place.]
- Bill Buckley: We handled the problem of kamikaze-minded warriors by dropping an atom bomb on the source of that infestation. There is no corresponding target for the holy warriors in Palestine and elsewhere in that part of the world. When it is not possible to reason with holy warriors, it is necessary to immobilize them or crush them...But the broader perspective is indispensable, and it tells us to seek to honor the memory of Tuesday's innocents by standing resolutely by the principles that made their country the object of the special odium of Osama bin Laden. [What principles were those, Bill? Why does no one, not even a mental giant like yourself, enunciate exactly what those are? Is it because those principles are the same hypocritical principles which give us the right to impose our will by financial and military might and then convince ourselves that because we have the power it must be the right thing to do? Dropping an atom bomb is indeed a wonderfully civilized way to defend civilization.]
- Thomas Friedman (from Jerusalem): It pits us - the world's only superpower and quintessential symbol of liberal, free-market, Western values - against all the super-empowered angry men and women out there. Many of these super-empowered angry people hail from failing states in the Muslim and third world. They do not share our values, they resent America's influence over their lives, politics and children, not to mention our support for Israel, and they often blame America for the failure of their societies to master modernity. [Here we are given some clarity. Liberal (i.e., anti-truth), free-market (i.e., cheat and advertise the poor consumer out of his money, all under the blessing of law!) values. Notice that "free-market" is being used as an adjective by this master of language, as if a value (which we Catholics would recognize as having some connection to the terms Truth, Beauty, Goodness...from which flow the Virtues of Faith, Hope, Charity, Justice, Fortitude, Temperance, and Chastity) could be somehow explained in a free-market context. Are there unfree-market values? What Talmudic, mind-numbing rot. And another thing: what's wrong with someone resenting "America's influence over their lives, politics and children"?]
- David Horowitz (FrontPageMagazine.com September 11, 2001): The destruction of the World Trade Center, the attack on the Pentagon, the revelation to all the world that even the White House is vulnerable, should be a wake up call to Americans. This country is at war, and we are far behind in securing our citizens' safety and preparing for our defense. America is in denial that much of the world hates us, and will continue to hate us. Because we are prosperous, and democratic and free. [Again, more clarity. What we are defending is PROSPERITY - though no one attempted to take away our houses, land, or personal belongings the way banks, credit card companies, and Israeli bulldozers do; DEMOCRACY - though the voter turn-out at national elections borders on 50% and less than half of those think it does any good (which it doesn't); and FREEDOM - which no agency impedes more that our federal government, unless you are attempting to spread pornographic filth, further open America's already leaking borders, abort children, further remove Almighty God from schools and Government, or advance the sinister agenda of something warped and corrupt (name your evil: lesbianism/homosexuality; no-fault divorce; pedophilia; gay "marriage," immodest and scandalous fashion, etc.). What a wonderful creed to rally to!]
Craig McMillan: Nothing short of the fortitude and determination shown by our parents and grandparents, followed by their uncompromising insistence of total surrender by America's enemies, can suffice for us. [Perhaps Craig thinks that total surrender will ultimately produce something other than what it produced from Germany's complete humiliation in WWI?]
Joseph Farah: Bush, in fact, asserted he would hold any nation harboring the terrorists accountable for their actions. Israel has been coaxed and bullied by the U.S. to do precisely the opposite. Now the U.S. administration says it is outraged and is determined to "punish" those responsible for "the attack on freedom." I'm glad to hear it. And, far be it for me to question the sudden good judgment being shown in Washington. But it's illustrative of what I have been saying for the last year. The U.S. has been asking Israel to maintain an untenable course of inaction. In fact, Washington has helped to ensure that terrorism would spread beyond the Middle East to the shores of the U.S. through its shaky, equivocal, timid, impotent, weak, half-way measures in the face of Israel's constant battle with terror. [Well, how remorseful we all feel for not having seen the writing on the wall, Mr. Zionist(?)Arab(?)Christian(?). What a shame it is that we didn't encourage Israel to annihilate the Palestinians in one swoop, thereby obviating the need for them to try to explain to the international community just why a land that was occupied by Arabs for 900 years was suddenly turned into a war zone to make room for the (once-) Chosen People to occupy the (no-longer-) Promised Land. Could it be that this attack is an unprecedented opportunity for Israel to embark on the course of action which they have so much desired, but lacked the support to do? More on that later too...]
Tom Ambrose: The charred body parts of Tuesday's victims aren't even buried and I've already begun to hear the pacifism of columnists and others: "Violence begets violence." "This should be a measured response." I don't think so. Tell me again: How many men, women and children died this time? Thousands? Most likely. Tens of thousands? Possibly. When are we ever going to learn? Appeasement does not work! It never has. It never will. The Israelis, God bless them, offered Arafat nearly everything he wanted - his response was to murder more Israelis. The U.S. has ignored China's ongoing and appalling violations of human rights and so China has continued to abuse millions of their own people and some of ours. History is replete with such examples. [One point of clarification, Tom. Pacifism is the error of refusing to fight when one is warranted. Militarism (or in your case being just plain wrong) is the error of wanting to fight at all costs, without regard to who will be injured or whether fighting will accomplish the objective in the first place. How convenient for you to label those arguing for caution as "Pacifists." How long before they are simply "traitors?" Speaking of eroding freedoms...]
Michael Savage (NewsMax.com): We now know which countries sponsor, support, and harbor terrorists. They are Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Sudan, and Libya. It is time for the United States to declare war against these powers and to immediately strike against the tyranny that reins on their shores. [An interesting leap from harboring terrorism to "the reign of tyranny." It would be hard to demonstrate that terrorists actually rule those countries, so perhaps the point is that if we assume that the countries can be on our potential target list, then we'll be able to eliminate a few regimes that are not as cooperative as they are supposed to be with the NWO? Just a hypothesis...after all, the internal logic is hardly obvious.]
- Heritage foundation Op-Ed: War wasn't declared on the United States on Sept. 11. It was declared long ago by those who believe that the United States, which spreads such dangerous notions as freedom and democracy, is a "great satan." We just didn't want to face it. [Freedom and democracy. A logical thing to try to blow up. Ah yes, the connection is very clear.]
The mainstream press is also, of course, unanimous. This following summary complied by a London paper is illustrative:
QUOTE
New York Post
The daily tabloid is among the most vociferous in its call for swift retribution...Further back, the opinion and editorial pages effectively prepare the nation for war.
Columnist Neil Kressel says that even if Bin Laden is captured "his organisation, al-Qaeda, operates decentralised cells in trouble spots throughout the world, probably including Afghanistan, Sudan, Pakistan, Chechnya, Egypt, Tunisia and elsewhere. In a sense, we will be fighting world war."
Leader: "Time to clean house," says the Post. It argues that America must ignore the rest of the world and press ahead with finding and wiping out the perpetrators of Tuesday's atrocity, accepting that civilian casualties are inevitable...
New York Daily News
The Daily News also takes a forceful tone, welcoming the help of other countries but declaring that America must be allowed to stand alone. "We would like to fight alongside the Europeans, the Israelis, the moderate Arab states, the Russians; even the Chinese. If they want to join, they'll be welcome. But empty words of sympathy aren't needed at this point. Action is."
"When this war intensifies and inevitably gets bloody some of our presumed friends may decide their interests diverge with ours. It has happened before. So, in the end, we must be ready to go it alone."
Repeating its call for action against states that harbour terrorists, the paper concludes: "In this new age, which they have brought upon themselves, the rogue states of the world will have to choose: If they are not against terrorism, they are for it. They will be held accountable; their lives will be made unlivable. We must make the price of harboring terrorists impossible to bear. In this war, there are no sidelines."
New York Times
The more conservative broadsheet described the mood of the nation as one preparing
for war. "The marble halls of Washington resounded with talk of war,"
it said.
UNQUOTE
The Wall Street Journal conveniently tugged on the WWII heartstrings plus the demon-image of Hitler to stir up sympathy for the "war," with this Op-Ed headline on the 12th: "We Beat Hitler, We Can Vanquish This Foe, Too" by Mark Helprin.
And the Washington Post's Robert Kagan had this to say:
One can only hope that America can respond to yesterday's monstrous attack on
American soil -- an attack far more awful than Pearl Harbor --with the same
moral clarity and courage as our grandfathers did. Not by asking what we have
done to bring on the wrath of inhuman murderers. Not by figuring out ways to
reason with, or try to appease those who have spilled our blood. Not by engaging
in an extended legal effort to arraign, try and convict killers, as if they
were criminals and not warriors. But by doing the only thing we now can do:
Go to war with those who have launched this awful war against us. Over the past
few years there has been a nostalgic celebration of "The Greatest Generation"
-- the generation that fought for America and for humanity in the Second World
War. There's no need for nostalgia now. That challenge is before us again. The
question today is whether this generation of Americans is made of the same stuff.
Please let us make no mistake this time: We are at war now. We have suffered
the first, devastating strike. Certainly, it is not the last. The only question
is whether we will now take this war seriously, as seriously as any war we have
ever fought, whether we will conduct it with the intensity and perseverance
it requires. Let's not be daunted by the mysterious and partially hidden identity
of our attackers. It will soon become obvious that only a few terrorist organizations
are capable of carrying out such a massive and coordinated strike. We should
pour the resources necessary into a global effort to hunt them down and capture
or kill them. It will become apparent that those organizations could not have
operated without the assistance of some governments, governments with a long
record of hostility to the United States and an equally long record of support
for terrorism. We should now immediately begin building up our conventional
military forces to prepare for what will inevitably and rapidly escalate into
confrontation and quite possibly war with one or more of those powers.
Well, it can't really be better expressed than that, now can it. Two criminal attacks and it is a "war against America." Therefore we should respond in kind, and in our outrage over the slaughter of civilians we should accept the fact - maybe even desire it - that some of "their" civilians will be slaughtered. And furthermore this is our chance to do what our ancestors did when they defeated Hitler, and, by the way, as we all know, there can be no question whatsoever about the fact that the Americans were the great "liberators" of Europe (despite Tehran and Yalta, despite our alliance with the Soviets, despite the orders to American generals in Germany at the end of the war to FORBID the passage of Germans from East to West in an attempt to flee Bolshevism before the country was carved up by its new masters, despite Dresden, despite Hiroshima, despite Roosevelt's knowledge of Pearl Harbor - what a great historical period to want to imitate!). Oh yeah, and Israel sure will appreciate the sympathy from our having declared bloodthirsty "war" on all terrorists and their countries - which are, strangely enough, all Arab. What an extremely neat and clean package, this response to the WTC and Pentagon attacks. It almost reads like a screenplay.
What is most under attack, and remains so even to this very moment, is the possibility of a sane response, a Catholic one.
1. A just and measured response is either "treasonous" or it stinks of “pacifism.”
2. The notion that the criminals should be caught, tried, and convicted, like others are treated when we are not "at war," and even as the "actors" on the stage of the NWO are treated (a la Milosevic and his "trial") is thought to be appeasement and compromise. And the suggestion is conveniently dispensed with because, of course, we are at war (how quickly we forget).
3. The suggestion that we, as a nation, take this unique opportunity to examine our collective conscience about how we "run" the world, and how we behave as a nation in the eyes of God, is a non-starter, and it too borders on treason "during this grave time of national crisis!"
No, the "great stereopticon," as Weaver called the Press, has done its duty. There will be no debate about our country's behavior. There will be no discussion about whether or not we earned God's wrath due to any number of public and official sins. There will be no contemplation of behaving like civilized people while we go to war, purportedly to defend civilization.
And what a captive audience we are:
- a poll which ran just a couple of days after the attacks indicated that 9 of 10 Americans consider this an act of war, and 7 of the 10 favor retaliatory strikes. Not bringing the criminals to justice, mind you, but retaliatory measures as if we had been invaded by Soviet paratroops. Currently CNN shows 53% of Americans want a massive mobilization against Afghanistan. They know more than we do, obviously, about Afghanistan's guilt.
- Typical of some of the more extreme letters to neo-conservative "alternative" media websites such as WorldNetDaily, NewsMax, and FrontPageMag:
QUOTE
President George Bush can end this problem once and for all. Nuke every Islamic
nation there is. If this country doesn't destroy those nations completely and
immediately, we will be considered weak and this will happen again.
Nuke 'em and nuke 'em now!
UNQUOTE
and
QUOTE
Let this be a lesson to all the Jew-hating and Anti-Israel posters-both right
and left-who regularly pollute this board: THESE ARABS ARE BEASTS! THEY ARE
SAVAGES! THEY ARE NOT HUMAN BEINGS! We can no longer deny these obvious facts:
ALL of the Arab-American population must be put under heavy surveillance; the
few who are civilized like Abdul will be let go. All others should be hassled
and harrased, whether at airports, employment etc. All the Hamas support groups
and front organizations must be shut down, all Arab non-citizens should be forcibly
deported (including graduate students and the like) or put in camps similar
to those set up for the Japanese during World War II: they pose a far greater
threat and their loyalty is indeed in question. And of course we must shell
and bomb all the guilty countries: Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and so on down the
line. This IS war: lets finally fight it!
UNQUOTE
The antidote to such savage lust for revenge is not to be found in mainstream circles. Though where it is found, my what a breath of fresh air it provides! Hear one Samuel Francis, a lone (and therefore largely unpublished) voice of sanity:
QUOTE
Let us hear no more about how the "terrorists" have "declared
war on America." Any nation that allows a criminal chief executive to use
its military power to slaughter civilians in unprovoked and legally unauthorized
attacks for his own personal political purposes can expect whatever the "terrorists"
dish out to it. If, as President Bush told us this week, we should make no distinction
between those who harbor terrorists and those who commit terrorist acts, neither
can any distinction be made between those who tolerate the murderous policies
of a criminal in power and the criminal himself.
The blunt and quite ugly truth is that the United States has been at war for
years - that it started the war in the name of "spreading democracy,"
"building nations," "waging peace," "stopping aggression,"
"enforcing human rights," and all the other pious lies that warmongers
always invoke to mask the truth, and that it continued the war simply to save
a crook from political ruin. What is new is merely that this week, for the first
time, the war we started came home - and all of a sudden, Americans don't seem
to care for it so much.
UNQUOTE
Some thoughts on Duty.
With the exception of Sam Francis' pithy comment, these issues will not be reflected upon by those in the mainstream. We as Catholics, therefore, should give serious thought to our obligation to proclaim the truth from the rooftops - and that more vigorously than ever. Despite the fact that 99 out of 100 people have closed their ears to sane speech due to the din of the war-mongering media and government, there is always that 1 out of 100 that is stirred to critical thought as a result of Tuesday's events...particularly when those events are put into perspective for him by a sane voice. And that 1 out of 100 can become 2 million out of 200 million. And when we have reached that many, then we'll be a force to be reckoned with.
So network, dear Catholics, network like you've never networked before. DO NOT give in to the FALSE Patriotism, the "Now's not the time to criticize" silliness. If ever there was a time to think critically about where this country is heading and what it is doing, NOW IS THE TIME. Now is the time to assert that Truth and only Truth is the criteria by which things should be judged in this life, as in the next. Now is the time to demand that the government help to reform the people rather than corrupt them. Now is the time to demand that the government help to right the wrongs in the world rather than support and create them. Now is the time to address the fundamental contradiction at the root of American and all pluralist societies, which says that any truth is valid, even while we're being told that the truth of militant Islam is "a little too true" to fit nicely into a pluralist society, just as the Catholics were told that they didn't fit into pluralist society some 200 years ago.
Now is the time to start the next Crusade! Do not be reduced to a bundle of nerves by the constant intrusive, inappropriate, inexcusable coverage by the media of the great sadness of victims' families! Turn off the box and clear your mind. Examine the problems in our society, so perfectly illustrated by the destruction of two symbols of American arrogance, and mankind's pride. Let us work together to articulate the answers, and to proclaim those answers to an unwilling world. If indeed the entire world is in the hands of our enemies, let us never forget that we have an entire world therefore to conquer!
It's late, and Part III, IV, and V still need doing. But this is your dose for now.
Next time, some thoughts on International Jewry, the Official Story, and "Islam vs. the West."
Until then, pray, think, network, and keep your head down.
Cristus regnat!
God rest the souls of the victims, and God grant this nation the grace to examine
its own behavior in the light of the Divine and Natural Law.
Note: For readers of the following special analysis, what should be borne in
mind at all times is that what is at stake in the world today is not physical
lives and deaths, but the Eternal verities such as Justice, Reason, Supernatural
Truth and the like. It's not a matter of a body count. It's a matter of Right
and Wrong.
********
"When statesmen forsake their own private conscience for sake of their public duties, they lead their country by a short route to chaos." - St. Sir Thomas More, in "A Man for All Seasons"
"Until now, we have had no experience of what the U.S.Government has so often inflicted on others. Now, at least, we have an inkling of what it feels like." - Joe Sobran
+++
Readers are thanked for their patience in waiting for a Part II which we can only hope will prove to have been worth the wait.
Since Tuesday things in the American mind have become worse, rather than better. Confusion and bloodthirst reigns supreme, now, in this country, and there is no sign of either those twin plagues going away any time soon.
So, we're pleased to present these further thoughts in the hopes, nay with a plea, for sanity and clear-headedness in this time of unprecedented confusion.
Some further thoughts on Sanity.
Justice vs. Revenge
There is now an unprecedented thirst for blood in this country. The common people, the pundits all across the political spectrum, the politicians, the press generally - all are calling for "war" and "war now!" The question as to who is to be bombed into the 22nd century or what exactly will be accomplished by so doing is still, largely, irrelevant.
Catholics used to use phrases and terms like "just war," "chivalry," "non-combatants," and the "Peace of God and the Truce of God." Of course, those were in the good old days - days really good, and so very, very old at this point that for most they are not even a distant memory. But in man's frantic search for the relics of antiquity (Dead Sea Scrolls, Atlantis, and a host of other questionably relevant "treasures" of the past), perhaps the medieval laws governing combat should be among the things "resurrected."
"So many innocent lives lost!" goes the cry which supposedly justifies not just justice but revenge. "Nuke the bastards! Who cares if civilian lives are lost!" goes the response. Well, the point about innocent lives is at best an imprecision. Only God knows if they were innocent in the most Catholic sense of the term. Of course, the spin-masters do not use words in their Catholic sense. But it should be noted that Serbian civilian casualties are always that – “civilian casualties.” While American non-combatants are “innocents!” – and the more innocent they were, the more murderous the attacks and thus the more revenge is justified.
If the WTC attacks were truly the result of anti-American terrorism (and not the Mossad or the U.S. Govt…it's possible!), then the angst-filled aggressor should have attacked a military target in an act of open, and honorable, warfare. That the attacks were not honorable nor open makes, to some extent, the WTC victims “innocent” – innocent of involvement in a military conflict. But we normally refer to that type of innocence and the innocence of a “non-combatant.” In this vein one could even argue that the attack on the Pentagon was an attack on a legitimate military target. This is not to undervalue the lives of the men and women who serve in the country's armed forces. But it is to say that those who maintain the American military machine, which has bombed - just to casually name the ones that come to mind immediately - Iraq, Serbia, and the Sudan in the last three years, must perhaps be prepared to make "the supreme sacrifice in defense of the Constitution" which they promised to make, even if bombing those and a host of other targets has NOTHING to do with defending the Constitution - and therefore our White House and State and Defense Dept. officials are guilty of CRIMINAL imprudence and negligence for placing American lives in harm's way to spread "American values" around the reluctant globe and force them upon unwilling populations.
There can be no doubt that most of what SHOULD motivate the anger and sadness of American citizens over these attacks is the loss of civilian (vs. innocent) life in what may very well be the first skirmish in a far greater and more bloody war.
But "let he who has not sinned cast the first stone" - or drop the first bomb. Loss of civilian life as a result of wartime operations is certainly not an area in which the U.S. has distinguished itself - and we cannot act surprised, shocked, and horribly offended at the thought that non-combatants often perish in the battles of modern war. We might even be able to claim the distinct honor of having taught the world a lesson on that score, a lesson which evidently Tuesday's attackers took to heart. Sherman sure taught the South a lesson as he burned a wide swath through Georgia; Dresden, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Belgrade, Baghdad, and countless other cities were unfortunate results of the style of warfare which this savage excuse for an honorable military man had ushered in at the end of America's Civil War. One might even remember the callous reaction to the death of Khadaffi's daughter as a result of the Lybia bombing - "them's the breaks," we may remember the Americans saying. Not to mention Madeleine Albright's sensitive reaction (on May 12, 1996) to comments by Lesley Stahl of CBS that 500,000 Iraqi children were killed by US sanctions in an attempt to get Saddam: "We think the price is worth it." Well, that's easy to say if it's not our children. And if we've lost all civilized sense of what is and is not allowable in a conflict. Perhaps we as a people now have a better sense of how it might feel to loose relatives and friends...relatives and friends who are being asked to pay the ultimate price in a war which they didn't intend to fight, but which their government may well have provoked.
The dismay over the attacker's audacity in transcending all moral limits in knocking down two buildings filled with civilians, dismay so cogently expressed by Tony Blair on 14 Sep - these "hideous and foul" events showed that there were no longer any moral limits on their methods of killing or the number of victims... - is a little hard to cope with in light of the West's conscious abandonment of the medieval "rules of war." The notion that war is a necessary and even honorable thing in defense of the rights of a nation (or even the rights of God!) and therefore MUST be waged honorably, is a notion that we have willingly, purposefully, and knowingly discarded. It shouldn't come as a surprise to us that - just like the poor family store which is forced to cut wages, stiff employees, and decrease quality and customer service in order to keep up with the economic imperialism practiced by the local WalMart - other nations or individuals resort to less-than-honorable means of combat when provoked thereto by a nation that has long since itself dispensed with those honorable means.
Which brings to mind something else Americans would do well to contemplate
in the wake of the WTC and the Pentagon With the exception of the Civil War,
we haven't really ever been exposed to bloodshed on American soil, and certainly
not at the hand of a foreign power - at least since 1812. We have never been
"occupied" or had our country invaded by "peacekeepers."
But for others it is a way of life. Macedonians, Serbians, Iraqis have; and
that at the hands of the U.S. or its international front, NATO. Which is not
to say that Macedonia, Serbia, or Iraq are flawless countries with populations
that have a spotless track record. We can hear the response now - "they
deserve it!" Well, what's good for the goose is good for the gander, and
if we're capable of sitting in judgment of just what kind of punishment these
various populations may or may not deserve, it may then be a classic sign of
American hubris that we cannot conceive of someone claiming the right to sit
in judgment of us - whether they truly have that right or not. But ultimately
the guilt or innocence of the victim populations - ours, or those
that are victims of American military might - is not the point. The point is
that the weeping and wailing that surrounds this event, justifiably called horrific
and shocking, must ring just a bit hollow for those who live through warfare
on a daily basis. Belgrade in June of 1999 looked a lot like Manhattan, and
yet American sympathy for the war being waged on Belgrade against those attempting
to defend themselves from Marxist and Muslim aggression in the form of the terrorist
(though US-backed) KLA was non-existent. Not to mention the scenes from Palestine
which are eerily similar to Washington D.C. But more on that later.
If we lived in a sane country, then, we'd be shocked and appalled at the slaughter
of non-combatants, and we'd live by the rules - the violation of which is the
source of our anger - by ensuring, as best as reasonably possible, that our
response avoided the very crime which provoked our ire. But, as we said in the
last issue, this degree of introspection and logical consistence is not part
of the American character today. The American mind
prides itself on being anti-dogmatic, which is to say, that no Truth above the
frail and fleeting world in which humans live and work exists or can be known
with certainty to exist. Truth, for Americans, is made by circumstances and
necessity. It's NOT true that we cannot bomb Serbia into oblivion "to weaken
the Serbian spirit," as General Clark explained back in 1999, but it IS
true that we will NOT accept the commission of an act of war against ourselves
which claims civilian lives. This inconsistency - simply put, a "double
standard" - is so characteristic of the American mentality as to be almost
gut-wrenching should we stop to consider it too seriously and too intently.
The "Amen Corner."
Lest some readers think that we are over doing our assessment of the blood lust which has taken over the American people and leadership, just a few samplings should serve to illustrate our point. We also should note that in a good many of these press samplings, there are the predictable references to all kinds of things that should give the discriminating reader pause. Some of these include: sentimental reference to WWII and the "Greatest Generation," comparisons of the "terrorist foe" to Hitler, and the association of these attacks on the WTC and the Pentagon with "attacks on America and the world's commitment to freedom." The comparisons get sillier, broader, and more meaningless as the days roll by. Which is something that should alert all of us that rational thought and clear and concise thinking is NOT the order of the day. Clearly, we are being subjected to a barrage of psycho babble designed to throw us into a full scale war with someone whom we can't even identify. The consistency of the message being broadcast by "folks" (as our President says) across the political spectrum is either amazing (what a coincidence!) or eminently predictable. Too much consistency by the puppets can mean only that there is someone pulling the strings.
(quotes follow the colons...THIS IS A LONG, THOROUGH SUMMARY. IF AND WHEN THE READER HAS HAD ENOUGH, HE IS INVITED TO SKIP PAST THE PRESS SAMPLING AND CONTINUE READING...)
- The President: This enemy attacked not just our people but all freedom-loving people everywhere in the world...We will rally the world...This will be a monumental struggle of good versus evil, but good will prevail. [Is the "good" the ruthless financial might embodied by the WTC or the callous force of arms employed by the Pentagon for the advancement of the U.S.'s diplomatic agenda?]
...and again at the national "prayer" service: In every generation, the world has produced enemies of human freedom...They have attacked America because we are freedom's home and defender. And the commitment of our fathers is now the calling of our time... Our responsibility to history is already clear...To answer these attacks and rid the world of evil. [Rid the world of evil! Well now, does that require Congressional authorization? What it does require is a Constitutional Amendment, because the 1st amendment guarantees that in this great nation good and evil are whatever you want them to be. And it is of course perfectly evident that we were attacked because we defend freedom. Of course. The freedom of every nation to follow America's lead and do whatever she wants them too. The Palestinians were, no doubt, very impressed with our attempt to rid the world of evil and defend freedom by walking our of a U.N.-sponsored conference which threatened to condemn Zionism and Racism.]
- Colin Powell: this was an assault not just on America but on civilization. [If this is true it was an attack on civilization, it was an attack on Jewish civilization, and an attack on the twin pillars of money and physical force...two things which the Jews have used against the Christian world for centuries. That is a civilization NOT worth defending. It would be hard to demonstrate otherwise, i.e., that it was an attack on Apple Pie and Motherhood, which is what America USED TO stand for.]
- German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder: "They were not only attacks on the people in the United States, our friends in America, but also against the entire civilized world, against our own freedom, against our own values, values which we share with the American people." [One wonders what values the WTC and Pentagon are supposed to represent?]
- Hilary on the Senate floor: We also stand united behind our resolve -- as this resolution so clearly states -- to recover and rebuild in the aftermath of these tragic acts. You know, New York was not an accidental choice for these madmen, these terrorists, and these instruments of evil. They deliberately chose to strike at a city, which is a global city -- it is the city of the Twenty First century, it epitomizes who we are as Americans. And so this in a very real sense was an attack on America, on our values, on our power, and on who we are as a people. [Answer us this, dear obnoxious Senator from New York: If NYC is a GLOBAL city, why is this being billed as an ATTACK ON AMERICA? Do Americans really want the instruments of global power in their country (WTC, U.N., etc.), and if so, has world domination gotten itself so ingrained into the American mind that it is now part of our character? If so, it is part of our character well worth expunging, even if to do so required pain and suffering. An "attack on our power" - most certainly. But is it a legitimate power in the first place?]
- Kissinger and McCain have both called this "an act of war," and Kissinger was talking about retaliatory attacks even before there was (and is) ANY idea of where or whom to attack.
- Fox news used this neat phrase in a recent broadcast: "the fallen pillars of liberty, trade, and defense." One wonders if the victims of U.S. military might and/or imperialist capitalism have the impression that they are the twin pillars of liberty.
Meanwhile, the neo-conservative establishment, which is substantially Jewish (not a trivial fact), fell in step with an overwhelming show of support for letting loose the dogs of war, and a consistent line about how much this would help America to sympathize with poor Israel:
- the FrontPageMag.com headline of Thursday or Friday suggested that our government's ban on government sponsored assassinations be revoked. This would be an impressive display of defense of the rule of law. In Catholic circles assassination is referred to as murder, but god forbid we Catholic have any influence in politics.
- Cal Thomas: It brings into clear focus the state of war that has existed for some time between America and those who oppose our values and way of life. [This "way of life" business is such a joke. What possible connection is there between the WTC and the average American way of life?]
- Geo. Will: The acrid and unexpungeable odor of terrorism, which has hung over Israel for many years, is now a fact of American life. Yesterday morning Americans were drawn into the world that Israelis live in every day...The terrorists' targets yesterday were symbols not just of American power but also its virtues. The twin towers of the World Trade Center are, like Manhattan itself, architectural expressions of the vigor of American civilization. The Pentagon is a symbol of America's ability and determination to project and defend democratic values. These targets have drawn, like gathered lightning, the anger of the enemies of civilization. Those enemies are always out there. [These remarks are mind-blowing in their ignorance. It is touching that we are reminded of the plight of the Israelis in light of what they did and continue to do to the Palestinians with the blessing of that "symbol" which is supposed to represent "America's ability and determination to project and defend democratic values." Which is altogether another tragically humorous statement, unless the projection of democracy is routinely and ironically carried out without regard for whether the people upon whom this democracy is being imposed want it in the first place.]
- Bill Buckley: We handled the problem of kamikaze-minded warriors by dropping an atom bomb on the source of that infestation. There is no corresponding target for the holy warriors in Palestine and elsewhere in that part of the world. When it is not possible to reason with holy warriors, it is necessary to immobilize them or crush them...But the broader perspective is indispensable, and it tells us to seek to honor the memory of Tuesday's innocents by standing resolutely by the principles that made their country the object of the special odium of Osama bin Laden. [What principles were those, Bill? Why does no one, not even a mental giant like yourself, enunciate exactly what those are? Is it because those principles are the same hypocritical principles which give us the right to impose our will by financial and military might and then convince ourselves that because we have the power it must be the right thing to do? Dropping an atom bomb is indeed a wonderfully civilized way to defend civilization.]
- Thomas Friedman (from Jerusalem): It pits us - the world's only superpower and quintessential symbol of liberal, free-market, Western values - against all the super-empowered angry men and women out there. Many of these super-empowered angry people hail from failing states in the Muslim and third world. They do not share our values, they resent America's influence over their lives, politics and children, not to mention our support for Israel, and they often blame America for the failure of their societies to master modernity. [Here we are given some clarity. Liberal (i.e., anti-truth), free-market (i.e., cheat and advertise the poor consumer out of his money, all under the blessing of law!) values. Notice that "free-market" is being used as an adjective by this master of language, as if a value (which we Catholics would recognize as having some connection to the terms Truth, Beauty, Goodness...from which flow the Virtues of Faith, Hope, Charity, Justice, Fortitude, Temperance, and Chastity) could be somehow explained in a free-market context. Are there unfree-market values? What Talmudic, mind-numbing rot. And another thing: what's wrong with someone resenting "America's influence over their lives, politics and children"?]
- David Horowitz (FrontPageMagazine.com September 11, 2001): The destruction of the World Trade Center, the attack on the Pentagon, the revelation to all the world that even the White House is vulnerable, should be a wake up call to Americans. This country is at war, and we are far behind in securing our citizens' safety and preparing for our defense. America is in denial that much of the world hates us, and will continue to hate us. Because we are prosperous, and democratic and free. [Again, more clarity. What we are defending is PROSPERITY - though no one attempted to take away our houses, land, or personal belongings the way banks, credit card companies, and Israeli bulldozers do; DEMOCRACY - though the voter turn-out at national elections borders on 50% and less than half of those think it does any good (which it doesn't); and FREEDOM - which no agency impedes more that our federal government, unless you are attempting to spread pornographic filth, further open America's already leaking borders, abort children, further remove Almighty God from schools and Government, or advance the sinister agenda of something warped and corrupt (name your evil: lesbianism/homosexuality; no-fault divorce; pedophilia; gay "marriage," immodest and scandalous fashion, etc.). What a wonderful creed to rally to!]
Craig McMillan: Nothing short of the fortitude and determination shown by our parents and grandparents, followed by their uncompromising insistence of total surrender by America's enemies, can suffice for us. [Perhaps Craig thinks that total surrender will ultimately produce something other than what it produced from Germany's complete humiliation in WWI?]
Joseph Farah: Bush, in fact, asserted he would hold any nation harboring the terrorists accountable for their actions. Israel has been coaxed and bullied by the U.S. to do precisely the opposite. Now the U.S. administration says it is outraged and is determined to "punish" those responsible for "the attack on freedom." I'm glad to hear it. And, far be it for me to question the sudden good judgment being shown in Washington. But it's illustrative of what I have been saying for the last year. The U.S. has been asking Israel to maintain an untenable course of inaction. In fact, Washington has helped to ensure that terrorism would spread beyond the Middle East to the shores of the U.S. through its shaky, equivocal, timid, impotent, weak, half-way measures in the face of Israel's constant battle with terror. [Well, how remorseful we all feel for not having seen the writing on the wall, Mr. Zionist(?)Arab(?)Christian(?). What a shame it is that we didn't encourage Israel to annihilate the Palestinians in one swoop, thereby obviating the need for them to try to explain to the international community just why a land that was occupied by Arabs for 900 years was suddenly turned into a war zone to make room for the (once-) Chosen People to occupy the (no-longer-) Promised Land. Could it be that this attack is an unprecedented opportunity for Israel to embark on the course of action which they have so much desired, but lacked the support to do? More on that later too...]
Tom Ambrose: The charred body parts of Tuesday's victims aren't even buried and I've already begun to hear the pacifism of columnists and others: "Violence begets violence." "This should be a measured response." I don't think so. Tell me again: How many men, women and children died this time? Thousands? Most likely. Tens of thousands? Possibly. When are we ever going to learn? Appeasement does not work! It never has. It never will. The Israelis, God bless them, offered Arafat nearly everything he wanted - his response was to murder more Israelis. The U.S. has ignored China's ongoing and appalling violations of human rights and so China has continued to abuse millions of their own people and some of ours. History is replete with such examples. [One point of clarification, Tom. Pacifism is the error of refusing to fight when one is warranted. Militarism (or in your case being just plain wrong) is the error of wanting to fight at all costs, without regard to who will be injured or whether fighting will accomplish the objective in the first place. How convenient for you to label those arguing for caution as "Pacifists." How long before they are simply "traitors?" Speaking of eroding freedoms...]
Michael Savage (NewsMax.com): We now know which countries sponsor, support, and harbor terrorists. They are Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Sudan, and Libya. It is time for the United States to declare war against these powers and to immediately strike against the tyranny that reins on their shores. [An interesting leap from harboring terrorism to "the reign of tyranny." It would be hard to demonstrate that terrorists actually rule those countries, so perhaps the point is that if we assume that the countries can be on our potential target list, then we'll be able to eliminate a few regimes that are not as cooperative as they are supposed to be with the NWO? Just a hypothesis...after all, the internal logic is hardly obvious.]
- Heritage foundation Op-Ed: War wasn't declared on the United States on Sept. 11. It was declared long ago by those who believe that the United States, which spreads such dangerous notions as freedom and democracy, is a "great satan." We just didn't want to face it. [Freedom and democracy. A logical thing to try to blow up. Ah yes, the connection is very clear.]
The mainstream press is also, of course, unanimous. This following summary complied by a London paper is illustrative:
QUOTE
New York Post
The daily tabloid is among the most vociferous in its call for swift retribution...Further back, the opinion and editorial pages effectively prepare the nation for war.
Columnist Neil Kressel says that even if Bin Laden is captured "his organisation, al-Qaeda, operates decentralised cells in trouble spots throughout the world, probably including Afghanistan, Sudan, Pakistan, Chechnya, Egypt, Tunisia and elsewhere. In a sense, we will be fighting world war."
Leader: "Time to clean house," says the Post. It argues that America must ignore the rest of the world and press ahead with finding and wiping out the perpetrators of Tuesday's atrocity, accepting that civilian casualties are inevitable...
New York Daily News
The Daily News also takes a forceful tone, welcoming the help of other countries but declaring that America must be allowed to stand alone. "We would like to fight alongside the Europeans, the Israelis, the moderate Arab states, the Russians; even the Chinese. If they want to join, they'll be welcome. But empty words of sympathy aren't needed at this point. Action is."
"When this war intensifies and inevitably gets bloody some of our presumed friends may decide their interests diverge with ours. It has happened before. So, in the end, we must be ready to go it alone."
Repeating its call for action against states that harbour terrorists, the paper concludes: "In this new age, which they have brought upon themselves, the rogue states of the world will have to choose: If they are not against terrorism, they are for it. They will be held accountable; their lives will be made unlivable. We must make the price of harboring terrorists impossible to bear. In this war, there are no sidelines."
New York Times
The more conservative broadsheet described the mood of the nation as one preparing
for war. "The marble halls of Washington resounded with talk of war,"
it said.
UNQUOTE
The Wall Street Journal conveniently tugged on the WWII heartstrings plus the demon-image of Hitler to stir up sympathy for the "war," with this Op-Ed headline on the 12th: "We Beat Hitler, We Can Vanquish This Foe, Too" by Mark Helprin.
And the Washington Post's Robert Kagan had this to say:
One can only hope that America can respond to yesterday's monstrous attack on
American soil -- an attack far more awful than Pearl Harbor --with the same
moral clarity and courage as our grandfathers did. Not by asking what we have
done to bring on the wrath of inhuman murderers. Not by figuring out ways to
reason with, or try to appease those who have spilled our blood. Not by engaging
in an extended legal effort to arraign, try and convict killers, as if they
were criminals and not warriors. But by doing the only thing we now can do:
Go to war with those who have launched this awful war against us. Over the past
few years there has been a nostalgic celebration of "The Greatest Generation"
-- the generation that fought for America and for humanity in the Second World
War. There's no need for nostalgia now. That challenge is before us again. The
question today is whether this generation of Americans is made of the same stuff.
Please let us make no mistake this time: We are at war now. We have suffered
the first, devastating strike. Certainly, it is not the last. The only question
is whether we will now take this war seriously, as seriously as any war we have
ever fought, whether we will conduct it with the intensity and perseverance
it requires. Let's not be daunted by the mysterious and partially hidden identity
of our attackers. It will soon become obvious that only a few terrorist organizations
are capable of carrying out such a massive and coordinated strike. We should
pour the resources necessary into a global effort to hunt them down and capture
or kill them. It will become apparent that those organizations could not have
operated without the assistance of some governments, governments with a long
record of hostility to the United States and an equally long record of support
for terrorism. We should now immediately begin building up our conventional
military forces to prepare for what will inevitably and rapidly escalate into
confrontation and quite possibly war with one or more of those powers.
Well, it can't really be better expressed than that, now can it. Two criminal attacks and it is a "war against America." Therefore we should respond in kind, and in our outrage over the slaughter of civilians we should accept the fact - maybe even desire it - that some of "their" civilians will be slaughtered. And furthermore this is our chance to do what our ancestors did when they defeated Hitler, and, by the way, as we all know, there can be no question whatsoever about the fact that the Americans were the great "liberators" of Europe (despite Tehran and Yalta, despite our alliance with the Soviets, despite the orders to American generals in Germany at the end of the war to FORBID the passage of Germans from East to West in an attempt to flee Bolshevism before the country was carved up by its new masters, despite Dresden, despite Hiroshima, despite Roosevelt's knowledge of Pearl Harbor - what a great historical period to want to imitate!). Oh yeah, and Israel sure will appreciate the sympathy from our having declared bloodthirsty "war" on all terrorists and their countries - which are, strangely enough, all Arab. What an extremely neat and clean package, this response to the WTC and Pentagon attacks. It almost reads like a screenplay.
What is most under attack, and remains so even to this very moment, is the possibility of a sane response, a Catholic one.
1. A just and measured response is either "treasonous" or it stinks of “pacifism.”
2. The notion that the criminals should be caught, tried, and convicted, like others are treated when we are not "at war," and even as the "actors" on the stage of the NWO are treated (a la Milosevic and his "trial") is thought to be appeasement and compromise. And the suggestion is conveniently dispensed with because, of course, we are at war (how quickly we forget).
3. The suggestion that we, as a nation, take this unique opportunity to examine our collective conscience about how we "run" the world, and how we behave as a nation in the eyes of God, is a non-starter, and it too borders on treason "during this grave time of national crisis!"
No, the "great stereopticon," as Weaver called the Press, has done its duty. There will be no debate about our country's behavior. There will be no discussion about whether or not we earned God's wrath due to any number of public and official sins. There will be no contemplation of behaving like civilized people while we go to war, purportedly to defend civilization.
And what a captive audience we are:
- a poll which ran just a couple of days after the attacks indicated that 9 of 10 Americans consider this an act of war, and 7 of the 10 favor retaliatory strikes. Not bringing the criminals to justice, mind you, but retaliatory measures as if we had been invaded by Soviet paratroops. Currently CNN shows 53% of Americans want a massive mobilization against Afghanistan. They know more than we do, obviously, about Afghanistan's guilt.
- Typical of some of the more extreme letters to neo-conservative "alternative" media websites such as WorldNetDaily, NewsMax, and FrontPageMag:
QUOTE
President George Bush can end this problem once and for all. Nuke every Islamic
nation there is. If this country doesn't destroy those nations completely and
immediately, we will be considered weak and this will happen again.
Nuke 'em and nuke 'em now!
UNQUOTE
and
QUOTE
Let this be a lesson to all the Jew-hating and Anti-Israel posters-both right
and left-who regularly pollute this board: THESE ARABS ARE BEASTS! THEY ARE
SAVAGES! THEY ARE NOT HUMAN BEINGS! We can no longer deny these obvious facts:
ALL of the Arab-American population must be put under heavy surveillance; the
few who are civilized like Abdul will be let go. All others should be hassled
and harrased, whether at airports, employment etc. All the Hamas support groups
and front organizations must be shut down, all Arab non-citizens should be forcibly
deported (including graduate students and the like) or put in camps similar
to those set up for the Japanese during World War II: they pose a far greater
threat and their loyalty is indeed in question. And of course we must shell
and bomb all the guilty countries: Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and so on down the
line. This IS war: lets finally fight it!
UNQUOTE
The antidote to such savage lust for revenge is not to be found in mainstream circles. Though where it is found, my what a breath of fresh air it provides! Hear one Samuel Francis, a lone (and therefore largely unpublished) voice of sanity:
QUOTE
Let us hear no more about how the "terrorists" have "declared
war on America." Any nation that allows a criminal chief executive to use
its military power to slaughter civilians in unprovoked and legally unauthorized
attacks for his own personal political purposes can expect whatever the "terrorists"
dish out to it. If, as President Bush told us this week, we should make no distinction
between those who harbor terrorists and those who commit terrorist acts, neither
can any distinction be made between those who tolerate the murderous policies
of a criminal in power and the criminal himself.
The blunt and quite ugly truth is that the United States has been at war for
years - that it started the war in the name of "spreading democracy,"
"building nations," "waging peace," "stopping aggression,"
"enforcing human rights," and all the other pious lies that warmongers
always invoke to mask the truth, and that it continued the war simply to save
a crook from political ruin. What is new is merely that this week, for the first
time, the war we started came home - and all of a sudden, Americans don't seem
to care for it so much.
UNQUOTE
Some thoughts on Duty.
With the exception of Sam Francis' pithy comment, these issues will not be reflected upon by those in the mainstream. We as Catholics, therefore, should give serious thought to our obligation to proclaim the truth from the rooftops - and that more vigorously than ever. Despite the fact that 99 out of 100 people have closed their ears to sane speech due to the din of the war-mongering media and government, there is always that 1 out of 100 that is stirred to critical thought as a result of Tuesday's events...particularly when those events are put into perspective for him by a sane voice. And that 1 out of 100 can become 2 million out of 200 million. And when we have reached that many, then we'll be a force to be reckoned with.
So network, dear Catholics, network like you've never networked before. DO NOT give in to the FALSE Patriotism, the "Now's not the time to criticize" silliness. If ever there was a time to think critically about where this country is heading and what it is doing, NOW IS THE TIME. Now is the time to assert that Truth and only Truth is the criteria by which things should be judged in this life, as in the next. Now is the time to demand that the government help to reform the people rather than corrupt them. Now is the time to demand that the government help to right the wrongs in the world rather than support and create them. Now is the time to address the fundamental contradiction at the root of American and all pluralist societies, which says that any truth is valid, even while we're being told that the truth of militant Islam is "a little too true" to fit nicely into a pluralist society, just as the Catholics were told that they didn't fit into pluralist society some 200 years ago.
Now is the time to start the next Crusade! Do not be reduced to a bundle of nerves by the constant intrusive, inappropriate, inexcusable coverage by the media of the great sadness of victims' families! Turn off the box and clear your mind. Examine the problems in our society, so perfectly illustrated by the destruction of two symbols of American arrogance, and mankind's pride. Let us work together to articulate the answers, and to proclaim those answers to an unwilling world. If indeed the entire world is in the hands of our enemies, let us never forget that we have an entire world therefore to conquer!
It's late, and Part III, IV, and V still need doing. But this is your dose for now.
Next time, some thoughts on International Jewry, the Official Story, and "Islam vs. the West."
Until then, pray, think, network, and keep your head down.
Cristus regnat!
God rest the souls of the victims, and God grant this nation the grace to examine
its own behavior in the light of the Divine and Natural Law.
