New York State of Mind

[jbor]

on 5/10/01 5:33 PM, The Great Quail at quail at libyrinth.com wrote:

> In 
> fact, one of the things that surprises me the most is how much people
> who count themselves liberals and Bush-haters are agreeing with the
> course of action taken so far by our current government. I have heard
> so many people start of a conversations with, "I can't believe I am
> saying this about Bush, but..." Even me -- and Lord knows, I really
> dislike Bushes junior and senior.

Yes, that's the general consensus elsewhere also. It's bin Laden and
extremist groups such as the Taliban who are trying to incite the Islamic
world to rise up in war against the U.S., not vice versa. Meanwhile, it's
the Taliban who are blocking humanitarian programs and agencies in
Afghanistan, not the West:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/la-092501un_wr.story?coll=la-ap
-topnews-headlines

(And in reply to Otto's point about Iraq, I suspect much the same situation
has prevailed under Saddam's rule there since those economic sanctions were
imposed, and I truly wonder how many of the 500,000 children who have died
were actually from the already persecuted minorities within his state:
Kurds, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Mandaeans etc.)

Careful diplomacy in the current situation has brought into effect a world
coalition against terrorism, and credit must go to the Bush administration
for engineering this *global* alliance in a time of enormous stress when
national emotion has been running very high. As well, Bush, Blair, Annan and
other world leaders have done a very good job to ensure that Muslim people
in Western nations are not being vilified and persecuted. And, if after
every possible effort has been made to convince the Afghan leaders to
present bin Laden so that he can be brought to account for his alleged role
in the attacks, and it becomes clear that the Taliban, by their flat refusal
to do so, are willingly harbouring a mass murderer, then I believe that a
military response is justified.

Meanwhile, it should come as no surprise that it's the voices of zealots
which have been loudest and most constant in the aftermath of the attacks.
Only a zealot could twist the attacks into an excuse to spew political
propaganda while the survivors were still being pulled from the rubble of
the WTC:

http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0109&msg=366&sort=author

That's Wed, 12 Sep 2001 12:55:23 -0700 (PDT) It is my sincere opinion that
opportunism of this type is truly disgusting. And I wonder: am I really
"free" to offer such an opinion here?
 
> And as an aside to the new List members who are undoubtedly wondering
> who the hell I am, I actually am a huge Pynchon fan, and M&D is my
> favorite of his novels. I am looking forward to getting into more
> literary discussions, but I am afraid I have to trouble the List
> first with this closing letter to this vicious circle.

Welcome back, old friend. We've only just embarked on a group reading of
_M&D_, and I for one would welcome your participation.

best