911 in memorium
There was a provocative and powerful essay in yesterday's UK Observer by novellist Martin Amis, examining the origins of Al-Qaeda, in America. He is more than a little unsympathetic to the Palestinian situation (and its origins), but in terms of a rationalist critique of fundamentalism in general, its a classic statement. He sees little hope for a rationalist moderate Islam, but somewhat contradicts himself when he argues that wahabist Islamism is in an endgame spasm. Might it not be that a rationalist Islam is slowly emerging and finding its voice, but has been temporarily sidelined by American (and its British puppet) foreign policy? Certainly, the huge American Muslim conference last week in Chicago bore little signs of a lunatic fringe, and every sign that Muslims in America are becoming a force of moderation on the whole..
Meanwhile, an article in the New York Times examines the merits/demerits of the buildings that are due to replace the World Trade Centre.
Like so many, I have my vivid memories of that day. I was working in an Ad Agency in Wimbledon. The Creative Director, a lady from Hong Kong, had a brother who was working in one of the Towers. He was one of the lucky ones.
While people of the left can sometimes be fairly accused on knee-jerk anti-Israel pro-Muslim attitudes, this is a day to be a little more nuanced. One can support the Palestinian cause while still condemning suicide bombing and Hamas political naivety, just as one can support Israel's right to exist while abhoring their recent ultimately futile actions in the Lebanon. In no one but the most self-hating fanatic's imagination is Mohammed Atta anything other than a figure of pure evil..
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5 comments:
Kingsley Amis is one of my all-time favorite writers. Never read Martin (his son, I think), but (i) I will read his essay, tell what I think and (ii) you're absolutely correct in pronouncing Atta as pure evil.
This is not the time to equivocate on such things.
America has never really had problems with its Muslim population. It's the converts who tend to be potential dangers, such as Adam Yahiye Gadahn. The debate in America has already gone past assimilation versus integration, it's Europe that has to deal with that. It's intriguing ccming from Amis rather than Pinter or Schama.
I have 9-11 fatigue.
really, wish I didn't but I do.
it was a huge tragedy. Unfortunately, it wasn't the biggest tragedy we have seen this century... (based on a foreign attack on sovereign soil).
I have war fatigue, and death fatigue, but as long as the day is long, i know that death is ever present.
I don't muslims in America or US pose a problem, there're Christian and Jews fundamentalists as well. The media coverage of Islam and Muslims in the west has is completely biased and muslims are labeled terrorist regardless.
By attacking Afghanistan and Iraq, thousands of muslims were killed (by and because of the US) and these two countries are as unstable as it can be.
Israel i think is worse than Hamas, they're better armed and 80% of their casualties are consistently civilians - they didn't mean it? Palestinians are evicted from their land (for the last 50 years) and replaced with people from Russia, US and Ethiopia while they languish in refugee camps. The US refuses even to criticize Israel and keeps Arab dictators who oppress their people in place, in fact, the US has been outsourcing torture to these countries (by sending suspects to Jordan and Egypt to be tortured).
Even those who would like to support the US, can't reconcile with these double standards. As a result public opinion in the muslim world from Morocco to Indonesia is hostile to the US and it's policies. They can't be all wrong.
Abdurahman,
it is not only muslims who are hostile to the US. I have yet to meet any European Christians who support them.
As for 911 - no mention of the Bush regime complicity in the crime? Forget the cranks and weirdos with their holograms and blue screen claims. The key piece of evidence is that all of the material eviddence was destroyed and the investigation was a white wash. US$600,000 versus US$40,000,000,000 for the Lewinsky investigation (as I recall).
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