----- Original Message -----
From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Brin-L" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Sunday, September 16, 2001 11:04 AM
Subject: re: Attack revisited
>
> Dee again-
> The logic that the US has "done nothing wrong" at its purest is perhaps a
bit
> innocent in my view,
Someone wrote a list of things the US did wrong afterwards which adressed
it:
"The US, after all, has done many a nasty thing in its past. Think of the
Trail of Tears, Slavery, Internment, My Lai (sp?), etc."
Those of you who slavishly memorize every post, will know that JDG authored
both this list and "we've done nothing wrong." So, it is clear, since the
list came after "we've done nothing wrong" that he does agree that the US is
not perfect. What I took "we've done nothing wrong" is "nothing we have
done in the Middle East can in any way justify this action."
but as another poster so aptly pointed out- that does
> not justify or imply "looking for trouble". We have been lucky enough to
be
> able to live an ideally naive freedom, yet we say we know that "freedom is
> not free". After the shock, I think Nick's idea we need to understand
"why"
> is something worth examining (sorry if I am putting that too simply).
> Consider someone who is robbed- while we may initially seek revenge, don't
we
> look at how/why we were robbed and make sure the locks on the house are
> appropriate/put an alarm system in, etc? We don't all go buy a gun.
Perhaps
> Nick came "out of the gate" a bit more "logical" when most of the public
was
> still in the "reacting" stage.
>
Certainly. Maybe some of the misunderstanding was taking Nicks comments as
"what could we have done to antagonize that person who robbed us." I
certainly favor doing a plus-delta analysis; last week was just too soon for
it.
Dan M.
