The 11th of September (2)

No, it’s about oil. Look at everything that’s happened this past year through the eyes of an oilman and dollar signs will appear in your eyes. Saudi Arabia currently controls a huge amount of the world’s oil, so much so that the importance of having a regime friendly to the US there is more important than having one that will act justly towards it’s own people. If you can have both i.e. a regime that lets the US buy it’s oil and takes care of it’s people (Afghanistan under Hamid Karzai), that’s great and the US will have no problem with it. But if that last bit about those itty-bitty human rights can’t happen, then so be it. As long as no Americans get killed, go right ahead and start chopping off heads. We’ll just take your oil. It’s like walking into your neighbour’s garage, seeing him beat his wife in front of you and then just going ahead and borrowing his lawnmower anyway. You don’t have to do anything, but you should if you had an ounce of decency in you.

And that there is the problem. You see, one year and four days ago a bunch of maniacs forcibly took hold of four aeroplanes. They took hold of the machines and used them to their own evil ends. They crashed them into two of the biggest skyscrapers in New York City, The Capital of the World, the home of the United Nations. In doing this, they wanted to send out a message. I don’t care what their message is, so it didn’t work on me. It was futile as far as I’m concerned. But there were thousands and thousands of people in those skyscrapers and while so many got out in time, 2800 were still inside when they collapsed to the ground. It was too much, so much that the Pentagon attack and the loss of Flight 93 in Pennsylvania are often overlooked. It was a terrible loss, too much for any country to take, never mind one of the biggest. It made me feel sick and I switched off the news for a week afterwards out of sheer despair. And I’m not even American. I’m Irish; my country is a tiny, neutral state on the edge of Europe with a population of only half of New York. Ireland is in the unique position of being in the middle of “the West”, right between the US and the UK, friendly to both nations and yet not in the least bit under threat from this new evil. My sheer despair, in this cosy place, must amongst the citizens on the United States turn to utter disgust and uncontrollable hatred towards the people behind this. I literally can’t imagine because I’ve never had to deal with terrorism, murder, massacres; not even firearms. I can’t really relate to the actual loss, I can only imagine. So that’s what I do, I imagine; that’s what we all do in places like this.

The American populace have a lot of rage towards the people that did this. Because while I, in Ireland, have never faced terrorism I was always aware it could happen. Whereas last September, America discovered it wasn’t invincible. Anyone, right now, could put a nuclear bomb in a shipping container (only a tiny fraction of which are checked) and detonate it on arrival. Another attack is very, very possible. And that makes me sick, the fact that more people will die and that this war of ideologies will go on for years yet. And some day, the threat will get closer to me. After all, the other week a Swedish man nearly hijacked an Irish aeroplane flying from Stockholm to London. If the target is a US embassy, then it’s quite conceivable the terrorists could use any plane. Especially one on Europe’s busiest flight path; Dublin to London. The possibilities rushed through my head when I first thought of this. The US embassy in Dublin is in the centre of the city, no bigger than any other. But the Ambassador’s residence is clearly visible from the sky. American soil in the middle of a huge public park. It’s not too far-fetched to suggest it could be a target…

But that’s not the point of all of this. Someone needs to tell the American people how biased their media is; how utterly twisted and skewed the networks seem to be. The hurt, pain and loss felt by Americans at this time is being manipulated into hate towards Iraq; who despite what you may hear in the coming weeks had less to do with the attacks on New York and Washington than Saudi Arabia. A country with only two political parties and a system that lets the candidate who received less votes win the election can only lead to a stagnant political landscape, where change is inconceivable because “it’s worked for so long, why change?” Change must happen; America has to realise that isolationism can only lead to a new dark age, even in this highly connected world. It’s one of the greatest countries in the world; where hundreds of races came to from all over the world to build a new land that still thrives 200 years later. Now it has to come to terms with new realities. All I, like everyone else in the world, can do is hope it does.

FANatic

September 15, 2002

I always thought I was a real “thinker” but reading entries like this makes me realise how little I know and how much you know.I’d never be able to put an entry like this together.I thought Sept 11 was appalling naturally but the US media is desperate alright.I guess we wouldn’t be too objective if our country was blown up, so much easier to be cool calm and collected in our little neutral island

see! i couldn’t even articulate what I wanted to say in a note. note to self: go to bed godammit! and to bed I go. I’ll let His Jayness grapple with all these global issues!!

i know how patriotic i can get and nothing like that has hapened in Ireland in my lifetime. so many of us begrudge the British still today for things that happened years ago. So perhaps i’m hypocritical.But i still don’t agree with the way sept 11 has been treated.It was a tragedy. Because human beings died.Thats it. not becaue of who they were or who the people that killed them were. fab entry 🙂

I, again, agree wholeheartedly with you. Problem is, it doesn’t matter what I think. My gov’t likes to claim democracy,ect…but we’re no such thing. Maybe if a poor farmer could be president, we’d have a chance. But that is to no avail. Fear is a real hard thing to comprehend when you don’t know what or who to be afraid of…God save us all.

Caffy

September 17, 2002

In the words of a great (American) advertising slogan: true true. About 6 months ago when George Bush first started talking about going after Saddam Hussein I honestly thought there’s no way he’d be allowed. The full extent of his argument for military action is Saddam Hussein is a very bad man and bad men shouldn’t be allowed run countries. Even assuming that Bush’s motives were genuine (this.

…requires quite an active imagination), it’s still about as legitimate a reason for bombing Iraq as “I don’t like his moustache”. I dislike Saddam Hussein as much as anyone and I’m sure he’s an utterly tyrannical bastard, but the idea that one country can decide it doesn’t like another country’s leader and then waltz in and take them out is terrifying. And I’ve just remembered that this has…

…very little to do with what you wrote about. So apologies for the semi-rant.

Everything that was said above. Didn’t read the previous ones though, so off to do that in about 6 months. I am a lazy cow and have neglected my diary and my favourites and I promise to make it up to all of you just as soon as I get reconnected to the net, right now I’m paying ridiculous prices so… Hi. Who is this other person you were on about?

quick mid-entry note, Ireland is not Neutral, we let American planes refuel ere, and as far as I know two USAF C-130 cago planes are based at Shannon, and their crews are training there. Neutrality doesnt exist in this country, believe me on that. just makes me cranky when people say it is, or us the neutrality thingy as an excuse for rejecting nice. its bull.

Well Ireland has been dealing with terrorism for quite a while now, maybe not exactly on the same scale, but we still have the same kind of people on this Island, and that scares me.

I agree anyway with ya, the American media is a joke really, still, they’ve a right to be cranky after whats happened. And if the media is the only way to convice people that the West should topple one bad guy, then they should use it. Simple logic really. Many bad guys who use chemical weapons on their own people = bad.less = good. sorry if I pssed u off with any of dis, kev

No plane crashed into the Pentagon. It’s all a hoax.

RYN: Don’t mock the car, it’s got feelings too!! I’d write something about this entry but it’s just too deep and meaningful for this early, although I do agree..

I think that was a very intelligent entry, with many good points. But I also don’t like how you generalized everyone that lives in the U.S. as “America” this, or “it” needs to do that. Sure, American government is far from perfect, but Americans should not just be represented by politicians, or even the media. As a whole, the masses are stubborn and easily guided, but (cont)

it’s the individual that is a part of the masses. I know that we can’t make any intelligent decisions simply based upon the fact that a few people from a radical religious group that in NO WAY represents the whole religion (that’s like comparing the KKK to Christianity) hurt my country. But it’s also not fair to group everyone into a category of being led by the media and assuming they (cont)

aren’t educated enough to know the issues and stand up to something. Sure, our government needs a lot of work, it needs change. But so does every government, for all time. Nothing’s perfect. But I feel that as an individual I can make a difference, however small, and not be afraid of the consequences of speaking my min…and that’s a lot better than most places. So while I agree with you (cont)

on many levels, I would never categorize everyone in America as one mindless mass, or even a “thing” ruled by the media and politicians. Plus, did you see the last presidential race? There wasn’t a whole lot to pick from on either side 🙂 Our president might not be so smart, and our media manipulative, but I still believe “we the people” not “we the country” ~

The fellow I murdered in the dream was my younger brother, who I actually like. Anyway… I’ll be in Dublin next week. Probably free for drinks most nights after the play if you’re around. Dublin Fringe Festival, here I come! -Dave

carols great return has finally happened!!! college life- free internet, how cool is it all??? very i tell you!!!

That really is a crap joke. Mr. Ten.