Before I say anything else, I would like to say my thoughts and prayers are
with the families of those injured and killed in the cowardly attacks today.
----- Original Message -----
From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Brin-L" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Tuesday, September 11, 2001 12:55 PM
Subject: Re: Attack
>
> Jeroen, let me be really clear on this. It seems reasonable to believe
> that some number of Americans well over 10,000 - quite possibly as high as
> 50,000 - innocent Americans were murdered by animals today for the "crime"
> of being Americans.
I think, as well as hope and pray, that this is a high figure. I saw an
interview with a man who walked down the stairs from the 60th floor of the
first tower that was hit. I think this means that most people below the
crash sites were able to exit before the buildings collapsed. Unless the
Pentagon has a very high death toll, the total number should be under
10,000. Still almost 100x Oklahoma City and horrid beyond belief, but it
was good that it took time for the towers to collapse.
> If we find out that another country was responsible
> for this assault, a nuclear retaliation would be appropriate and
> proportionate to what has just happened.
That is something I guess I don't agree with. I think if a dictatorship
aided and abetted the people responsible, removing that government and
including that countries leaders in a mass murder trial in the US would be
appropriate.. I think that the response of the head of the House
Intelligence Committee was very close to how I feel. He said we need to
have the patience to make sure we gather enough information to know we are
targeting the right group, and then have a response focused on that group.
If it is Ben Lauden, then it would seem appropriate to include the
government of Afghanistan in that focus. But, I don't think turning
Afghanistan to glass would be appropriate because I don't think the average
citizen had any idea that this would happen.
I understand and agree with the principal of not letting any government not
get away with killing thousands of Americans. If it is our ability to
determine that a government aided and abetted such an action, and if it in
our capacity to remove that government from power we should do it. (I don't
think the short list of countries that we could not remove from power when
necessary contains a candidate for those responsible.) My preferred
solution would be a trial of the leadership for crimes against humanity. If
they happened to die while being removed from power, then so be it.
Dan M.
Dan M.
