"fascistic disposition" paragraph

[Otto]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Terrance" <lycidas2 at earthlink.net>
To: <MalignD at aol.com>
Cc: <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Friday, May 16, 2003 12:53 AM
Subject: Re: "fascistic disposition" paragraph


> "I was there and I haven't forgotten seeing the second plane hit the
> second tower, nor have I forgotten anything else.  it's never reminded
> me of bombs dropping."
>
> What did it remind you of?
>
> Never having seen a bomb fall in my life it didn't remind me of bombs
> falling either. In fact, when the first plane hit we joked about it.
> Yeah, we said, some asshole just flew a plane into the building. But
> after the second plane hit we all knew it was no accident. When the
> buildings went down we all felt we were under attack. Not exactly bombs,
> but an attack was under way. Our nation was under attack. Our children,
> our parents, our brothers and sisters were missing and dead. Our homes
> and churches were destroyed. Didn't remind me of bombs either. But
> again, I've never seen a bomb fall on my homeland.
>

You make the point perfectly clear. Prior to 9/11 Americans have never been
attacked in their homeland. This has changed everything, the world isn't the
same since then. Is it wrong to say that without 9/11 the Iraq-war wouldn't
have been possible? Furthermore is it wrong to say that 9/11 has been used
to legitimise that war, so that the majority of Americans has accepted it as
a "self-defined wartime necessity" of the war on terror like those "homeland
security"-measures are accepted?

But you must not take the term 'bomb' too literally here, the term
'buzzbomb' (V-1) for example technically doesn't mean a bomb but a
missile -- hitting the Twin Towers with a number of cruise missiles
comparable to the destructive power of those two airplanes would have had
the same effect in killing all those innocent people and altering the
landscape.

Otto