I do agree with some of what you say, maybe even much, despite standing on the other side of the aisle. But some I profoundly disagree with.
Thank you for sharing your 9/11 experience. I am also from the city, but have a much more intimate connection to that day. I had three of your four first thoughts, plus quite a few more. Like you, I’m proud to say I did wonder how many innocent people would die in Afghanistan because of it, though I admit my sympathy level may have been quite a bit lower than yours. I did not wonder why it took so long for something like this to happen.
While our response did involve “killing countless numbers of people”, I am quite confident that that was a terribly unfortunate result of our attempt to oust the Taliban and (unsuccessfully) try to get Bin Laden. While it is true that “Afghanistan is still run by the Taleban”, for 20 years or so it was not. That means that the whole country had a taste of what modern civilization could be like, and a whole generation of girls got to go to school. One hopes that this might bode well for their future. Like many, I was in favor of the original invasion, still am, and was also in favor of getting out when we did. But I have come to question the last part. Perhaps we should have maintained the minimal presence there that kept the Taliban out and allowed a decent life for so many people. Maybe 20 more years would have been enough; I think many Afghanis agree.
As for a “thousand of their citizens being treated with the same kind of savagery and inhumanity that Israel's victims have been treated with for so long”, I profoundly disagree. While there are reasonable disagreements about how Israel has treated Palestinians, and there are two sides to it, there is no similarity between what the Hamas terrorists (and I think that word is perhaps even too kind for them) did that morning and the way Israelis have treated the Palestinians. I too grieve for the innocent Palestinians, especially the children, but I would be grieving a lot more, and maybe condemning Israel, if Oct 7 had not happened. Something had to be done, and unfortunately Israel is doing it.
somewhere there are five dancing _______s
I do agree with some of what you say, maybe even much, despite standing on the other side of the aisle. But some I profoundly disagree with.
Thank you for sharing your 9/11 experience. I am also from the city, but have a much more intimate connection to that day. I had three of your four first thoughts, plus quite a few more. Like you, I’m proud to say I did wonder how many innocent people would die in Afghanistan because of it, though I admit my sympathy level may have been quite a bit lower than yours. I did not wonder why it took so long for something like this to happen.
While our response did involve “killing countless numbers of people”, I am quite confident that that was a terribly unfortunate result of our attempt to oust the Taliban and (unsuccessfully) try to get Bin Laden. While it is true that “Afghanistan is still run by the Taleban”, for 20 years or so it was not. That means that the whole country had a taste of what modern civilization could be like, and a whole generation of girls got to go to school. One hopes that this might bode well for their future. Like many, I was in favor of the original invasion, still am, and was also in favor of getting out when we did. But I have come to question the last part. Perhaps we should have maintained the minimal presence there that kept the Taliban out and allowed a decent life for so many people. Maybe 20 more years would have been enough; I think many Afghanis agree.
As for a “thousand of their citizens being treated with the same kind of savagery and inhumanity that Israel's victims have been treated with for so long”, I profoundly disagree. While there are reasonable disagreements about how Israel has treated Palestinians, and there are two sides to it, there is no similarity between what the Hamas terrorists (and I think that word is perhaps even too kind for them) did that morning and the way Israelis have treated the Palestinians. I too grieve for the innocent Palestinians, especially the children, but I would be grieving a lot more, and maybe condemning Israel, if Oct 7 had not happened. Something had to be done, and unfortunately Israel is doing it.