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Think of these things, whence you came, where you are going, and to whom you must account. -- Benjamin Franklin "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759. moggi, 9.21.2001 Although I have seen a lot of violence, and although I have seen terrorism first hand (IRA bombings) nothing prepares one for this violence. One man is capable of seeing this act as a justifiable event in a Holy War. It says something about his capacity to see himself, his followers and the human beings he killed, as living breathing people with families, lives and love. The best we can do is respond from our humanity and continue as we would if this had not happened. Sharing our sadness and offering some relief from the shock by doing what comes naturally. I think that we owe our children the truth - but we owe them the ability to let them feel safe, with some understanding that this is not the way the world should be. I refer to ' carrying on as if nothing has happened' only in the sense that this man, Bin Laden, has to understand that the pursuit of justice is hard and will continue - that many lives have been wrecked - and that our spirit is to grieve but also to limit the impact he can have on our way of life. I am not a pacifist but I am not a supporter of the death penalty for any reason. However, as we seem unable to curb this man's influence, and, as he persists in grooming his wealth to attack people; I am clear that he should be tried in a criminal court in his absence. If found guilty, then sentence will be carried out, and in the pursuit of finding him, nations who harbor him will find the policing of NATO and the US military very un-giving. Regretfully, I think that if normal authorities cannot get to him by law, and Kabul will not give him up, then there are others who may be able to kidnap him to bring him to justice - or failing that, they may get close enough to kill. But he will not be stopped otherwise. In all eventualities we must be prepared to undergo our own revolution if we are to stop terrorism whenever it occurs. This is a revolution not of political theory or dogma but a revolution in awareness. This may mean that we have to curtail our Fourth and First Amendment rights under the Constitution of the United States. It may mean that we have less privacy. But, with awareness, this may be the price we have to pay to save democracy and to lessen fear. I am fearful that we have been unable to curtail terrorist activities so far. I am fearful of bin Laden in that we have know for decades that this man is fighting a new kind of Holy War. He believes that the United States has used economic power as weapon to fight against Islam. This enables him to fight us outside the fundamental principles laid down in the Koran. I am also aware that we do not seem to be able to freeze his source of power - his money. The intelligence services dealing with terrorism seem unable to deal with him. And I am also suspicious that maybe certain countries and certain authorities may rather we did not limit him. I am afraid - I think of Bokassa, Sadam, Idi Amin ; all of whom were never brought under the Rule of Law - all of whom were never made accountable for the atrocities they perpetrated. Only the Serbian leader has been subject to justice - and this is because he was repudiated by his own people and government. Kabul does not intend to do that. I remember Nairobi , Dar es Salaam , Ethiopia, Somalia, and the Congo - numerous times when our security was threatened. I am also concerned that if we start a war with the countries that harbor him we are doing something very bad in that the populations are both innocent and unaware. They also live in extreme poverty which will only get worse if we are aggressive towards their governments. In Pakistan the Islamic community is split in allegiance …. And they have nuclear capabilities. Between us and those capabilities is a thin line of military government. And I am afraid. So, with incredible regret, I am forced into thinking that it may be better to kill him than live with him. And I hate having this thought with me. Because I value life and because I do not think assassination is justified. Nor do I think it is always effective. Good men and women die, and have died, because of bad men like Bin Laden being able to impose a reality on religious zealots. I am contradictory because I no longer trust governments to take care of this. I do not trust that it will be taken care of - and this man has pledged himself to a Holy War and his actions are valid within that context. That his followers believe themselves to be fighting a war of spirituality and values – dying in that war is to join God, Allah, for eternity. I have to accept my immorality because I doubt whether anything else can work. And I do not want to be part of an American "Holy War" against American Islam. ... Or ANY war against Islam. It is the person not the Faith. I am angry, hurt and tired. When the planes sliced through the buildings it feels like they took part of reality away with them. That the offices and the people that inhabited them became as if they no longer exist.... maybe we will never know all who were lost - only the names of the survivors, the dead that are found, and those who are recollected by the companies who employed them. But there are probably several thousand who will only be discovered to be MIA in the months to come.... (And yes, I meant Missing In Action) I have a lump in my chest of cold, hard emotion. I am not sentimental; I just feel this sense of outrage with the CIA and with Bin Laden for this happening. And it must be dealt with - and he must be stopped. The lump in my chest is not going away real soon. I hope this makes it clearer why I think that, as individuals, we have to go on as if nothing has happened. Because that is all we can do - and that is what Bin Laden thinks we will not do. He has tried to avenge the 70,000 Lebanese that died during the conflict with Israel. I do not want vengeance - I want justice ... for them and for me, and my adopted homeland. Soon I will feel less sad. I think it has just hit me that life will never be quite the same again. There are no chemical weapons, there are no biological weapons – that we know of – that are an actual immediate threat. We are physically safe for now. Bin Laden has done what he has worked for the last five years to accomplish. But we will never be quite as complacent or as honorable - the dirty little skirmishes of the Middle East have crossed our airways into our sky and things will never be quite the same. We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately. - Benjamin Franklin The North Atlantic Treaty Washington D.C. - 4 April 1949 The Parties to this Treaty reaffirm their faith in the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and their desire to live in peace with all peoples and all governments. They are determined to safeguard the freedom, common heritage and civilization of their peoples, founded on the principles of democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law. They seek to promote stability and well-being in the North Atlantic area. They are resolved to unite their efforts for collective defense and for the preservation of peace and security. They therefore agree to this North Atlantic Treaty : Article 5 The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defense recognized by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area. Any such armed attack and all measures taken as a result thereof shall immediately be reported to the Security Council. Such measures shall be terminated when the Security Council has taken the measures necessary to restore and maintain international peace and security (1). May the powers that can, keep us all safe. moggi, 9.21.2001 "I think vital religion has always suffered when orthodoxy is more regarded than virtue. The scriptures assure me that at the last day we shall not be examined on what we thought but what we did." – Benjamin Franklin [letter to his father, 1738]