Zone/911 - 26 October 2001

Fri Oct 26 11:53:01 CDT 2001

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Zone/911 - Pynchonian Echoes in the Current Situation - 26 October 2001
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"A "suitcase nuclear bomb" being detonated by a "potential enemy" in
Washington, DC in a sneak attack? Film director Stanley Kubrick suggested
just such a scenario in 1994."
http://retrofuture.com/kubrick.html

"[...]The U.S. Army, in an unprecedented alliance with Hollywood and a
major university, is providing funding and technical advice for video games
that aim to hone the skills of the next-generation of military field
commanders.  [...] The institute was formed in 1999 with a $45 million
grant from the Army as a partnership among academics, video game makers and
creative talent in Hollywood to design advanced ''virtual reality'' and
simulation training systems for the military. Late last month, in the wake
of the Sept. 11 hijacked jetliner attacks on the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon, the institute gathered a number of notable Hollywood writers and
directors for a brainstorming session to imagine possible ways in which its
enemies might attack the United States.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2820284,00.html?chkpt=zdnnp1tp02

* * *

"Vice President Dick Cheney said Thursday that homeland security is not a
temporary measure for the current crisis, but "will become permanent in
American life."  "I think of it as the new normalcy,'' Cheney said. [...] "
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20011025/us/attacks_cheney_2.html

"[...] Kenneth L. Connor of the Family Research Council said, "It's
important that government protect its citizens. But that shouldn't be a
pretext for growing government." Business Week adds the "restive Right
fears that Bush will agree to hike funding for safety-net programs and
build new bureaucracies such as the Office of Homeland Security."
Conservatives also "fret that Bush will sell them out on the House's $100
billion economic stimulus package by tilting toward the Dems and ignoring
demands for capital-gains tax cuts and business breaks."
http://www.drudgereport.com/flash1.htm

"Citibank is leading a fight by American banks to gut the
anti-moneylaundering laws currently being considered in Congress-laws that
could significantly change the way banks do business for their wealthiest
clients.[...]"
http://inthesetimes.com/issue/25/25/news2.shtml

"US federal crime investigators are probing an alleged $100m fraud by an
investment company that had its offices in the World Trade Center and
exploited the September 11 terrorist attacks on the buildings to divert
attention from the crime. The US Attorney-General's Office and the US
Postal Inspection Service are looking into the disappearance of three or
four managers from First Equity Enterprises, the sales and accounting arm
of Evergreen International Spot Trading, a foreign exchange broker for
private investors. First Equity offices in were destroyed on September 11
but no employees were killed, according to Evergreen. The company ceased
operating on September 24. Investigators are trying to locate $106m held by
Equity on behalf of investors. [...]"
http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT3DX7FY8TC&live=tr
ue&tagid=IXLB0PYY8CC

"The Bush administration today reversed an 11th-hour Clinton administration
ruling on mining policy, making it easier for companies to mine for gold,
copper, zinc and lead on public lands. It also issued a legal opinion that
could clear the way for a Nevada company to dig an open-pit gold mine in a
part of the California desert considered sacred by a local Indian
tribe.[...] Environmentalists said the move gutted regulations protecting
public lands and stood as a stark example of what they said was a Bush
administration tilt toward industry at the expense of the environment.
[...]"
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/26/politics/26MINE.html

* * *

"U.S. jets struck Kabul on Friday, rocking the capital city with huge
explosions and blasting a Red Cross compound for a second time this month.
[...] During late night bombing Thursday, three children were killed - two
from one family living in the northwest area of the city and a third from
the east part of town, officials at the Wazir Akbar Khan Hospital said. The
United States has repeatedly said it is not targeting civilians and regrets
any loss of life.[...] One of the blasts struck a compound of the
International Committee of the Red Cross, according to security guard Abdul
Shakour. He said warehouses used to store humanitarian supplies were
damaged and stocks of rice, beans, blankets and oil were on fire. The
compound was hit during an attack Oct. 16. Following the attack, bright
orange flames roared through the ICRC warehouse as the ICRC's Afghan staff
stood and watched helplessly. "This is the second time our warehouses have
been hit," ICRC worker Abdul Rashid said as he watched the flames. "Of
course I am sad. We had special programs over the next several days to
distribute these items to the disabled people." [...] During a sermon at a
Kabul mosque Friday, the Muslim holy day, an Islamic cleric said the
"infidel hit our nation, even on Friday. They are very unkind to our
people." He urged the faithful to be patient because "we will win." [...]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20011026/aponline104331_000.htm

* * *

"[...] One of the most intriguing metaphors I have heard used in the last
few days is that this enemy of the United States will be found in their
holes, smoked out, and when they run and are visible, destroyed. This may
well work for groundhogs, trench and maybe even guerilla warfare, but it is
not a useful metaphor for this situation. And neither is the image that we
will need to destroy the village to save it, by which the population that
gives refuge to our enemies is guilty by association and therefore a
legitimate target. In both instances the metaphor that guides our action
misleads us because it is not connected to the reality. In more specific
terms, this is not a struggle to be conceived of in geographic terms, in
terms of physical spaces and places, that if located can be destroyed,
thereby ridding us of the problem. Quite frankly our biggest and most
visible weapon systems are mostly useless. We need a new metaphor, and
though I generally do not like medical metaphors to describe conflict, the
image of a virus comes to mind because of its ability to enter unperceived,
flow with a system, and harm it from within. This is the genius of people
like Osama Ben Laden. He understood the power of a free and open system,
and has used it to his benefit. The enemy is not located in a territory. It
has entered our system. And you do not fight this kind of enemy by shooting
at it. You respond by strengthening the capacity of the system to prevent
the virus and strengthen its immunity. It is an ironic fact that our
greatest threat is not in Afghanistan, but in our own backyard. We surely
are not going to bomb Travelocity, Hertz Rental Car, or an Airline training
school in Florida. We must change metaphors and move beyond the reaction
that we can duke it out with the bad guy, or we run the very serious risk
of creating the environment that sustains and reproduces the virus we wish
to prevent. [...] Let us take up the practical challenges of this reality
perhaps best described in the Cure of Troy an epic poem by Seamus Heaney no
foreigner to the grip of the cycles of terror. Let us give birth to the
unexpected.

So hope for a great sea-change
On the far side of revenge.

Believe that a farther shore
Is reachable from here.

Believe in miracles
And cures and healing wells."
http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/behindthenews/analysis5.html

* * *

http://www.touristguy.com/

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Zone/911 is an occasional enewsletter published by
www.Online-Journalist.com. It seeks shards of  the shattered geopolitical
crystal palace loosely linked by tangential threads that lead, eventually
and sometimes in very roundabout ways, to the works of Thomas Ruggles
Pynchon. Article excerpts appear without prior authorization of their
originating publications under established "fair use" principles. The
Editor encourages readers to click on the enclosed urls and read excerpted
articles in their entirety, monitor a broad spectrum of information
sources, and use their brains to integrate their own understanding of the
post-911 Situation. Feedback:  bozo at online-journalist.com.
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