Fw: Seeing ourselves as others see us

[Alan Stewart]

Dear Friends

Here is another posting by my friend Tom Atlee, a great champion of our
human spirit, which you may find illuminating, inspiring and helpful.

Good to converse, with love

Alan
Adelaide

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom Atlee" <cii at igc.org>
To: "undisclosed list" <cii at igc.org>
Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2001 2:03 PM
Subject: Seeing ourselves as others see us


> Dear friends,
>
> There's a famous poem that prays:  Would that God would give us the gift
to
> see ourselves as others see us.
>
> We can't understand the events of 9/11 without seeing the U.S. through the
> eyes of the terrorists involved and of those who sympathize with them.  We
> are locked in a strange and compelling story with these people -- and many
> more of them are waiting to walk onto its dramatic stage.  To the extent
we
> are unwilling to wake up to that story, we will continue to play our
> provocative role -- and they will continue to play out theirs.  And this
> story, which does not serve either them or us, really, will go on and on
> and on until we destroy each other, each with our own special power.
> Because we can kill this or that character, but the story has a life of
its
> own and will go on -- unless we step out of it or change it.  This means
we
> have to realize the life-degrading role we've been playing.  And in order
> to do that, we have to know what the story is.
>
> A quick summary is provided by today's New York Times:  "In the Arab and
> wider Muslim worlds..., bitter political grievances abound, among them:
the
> United States' support of Israel; its troop presence in the "holy land" of
> the Arabian peninsula; its military encirclement and economic
strangulation
> of Iraq; and its alliances with governments across the Middle East and
Asia
> that are widely perceived as corrupt."  These and other issues are
> described in the commentaries below.  I hope when you finish them, you
will
> have a better sense of the story we are in with these people, and what
> directions we should be going to create a better story we can all survive
> in.
>
> I hear there are study circles being formed soon to learn about
> "terrorism".  I will tell you more as soon as I have more information.
(In
> the meantime, if you wish, you can read about study circles at
> http://www.co-intelligence.org/P-studycircles.html )
>
> I believe that, as soon as we can, we need to free up some of our
attention
> from the dramatic stories of suffering Americans to understand the
dramatic
> stories of suffering Muslims.  I know it will be hard, for we have been
hit
> hard and the pain and disturbance are still pounding within us.  But
things
> are moving fast out there in the larger world, and where they go will
> increase or decrease the very real suffering we all face in the months
> ahead.
>
> And I feel called, as well, to better understand what we might notice and
> do, which could lead to a better world by 9/11/2011....
>
> Below you'll find
> a) some very informative background articles
> b) an empathic call for us to connect with our humanity
> c) an overview of bin Laden's frame of reference, what it means, and how
> our misunderstanding it could be disastrous
> d) a long series of questions from Belgium asking that we see ourselves
> from the outside
> e) how Deepok Chopra's son experienced both sides of this tragedy and
> f) an inquiry into the value of American lives and the lives of those who
> starve.
>
> Can we open to this?
>
> Coheartedly,
>
> Tom
>
> _ _ _ _
>
> ENLIGHTENING HISTORICAL BACKGROUND (thanks to John Atlee)
>
> http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=archive&s=fisk_wtc_19980921
> Talks with Osama bin Laden
> by Robert Fisk
>
> http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=archive&s=hiro_wtc_19990215
> The Cost of an Afghan 'Victory'
> by Dilip Hiro
>
> _ _ _ _ _ _
>
> From
> A World Out of Touch With Itself:
> Where the Violence Comes From
>
> by Rabbi Michael Lerner
> Editor, TIKKUN Magazine
> RabbiLerner at tikkun.org
>
> What is it in the way that we are living, organizing our societies, and
> treating each other that makes violence seem plausible to so many
> people?
>
> We don't feel personally responsible when an American corporation runs a
> sweat shop in the Phillipines or crushes efforts of workers to organize in
> Singapore. We don't see ourselves implicated when the U.S. refuses to
> consider the plight of Palestinian refugees or uses the excuse of fighting
> drugs to support repression in Colombia or other parts of Central
> America. We don't even see the symbolism when terrorists attack America's
> military center and our trade center--we talk of them as buildings, though
> others see them as centers of the forces that are causing the world so
> much pain.
> Most Americans will feel puzzled by any reference to this "larger
picture."
> It seems baffling to imagine that somehow we are part of a world system
> which is slowly destroying the life support system of the planet, and
> quickly transferring the wealth of the world into our own pockets.
>
> We have narrowed our own attention to "getting through" or "doing well" in
> our own personal lives, and who has time to focus on all the rest of this?
>
> When people have learned to treat each other as means to our own ends, to
> not feel the pain of those who are suffering, we end up creating a world
in
> which these kinds of terrible acts of violence become more common. And as
> we've learned from the current phase of the Israel-Palestinian struggle,
> responding to terror with more violence, rather than asking ourselves what
> we could do to change the conditions that generated it in the first place,
> will only ensure more violence in the future.
>
> This is a world out of touch with itself, filled with people who have
> forgotten how to recognize and respond to the sacred in each other because
> we are so used to looking at others from the standpoint of what they can
do
> for us, how we can use them toward our own ends. We should pray for the
> victims and the families of those who have been hurt or murdered in these
> crazy acts.
>
> We should also pray that America does not return to "business as
> usual," but rather turns to a period of reflection, coming back into touch
> with our common humanity, asking ourselves how our institutions can best
> embody our highest values. We may need a global day of atonement and
> repentance dedicated to finding a way to turn the direction of our society
> at every level, a return to the notion that every human life is sacred,
that
> "the bottom line" should be the creation of a world of love and caring,
and
> that the best way to prevent these kinds of acts is not to turn ourselves
> into a police state, but turn ourselves into a society in which social
> justice, love, and compassion are so prevalent that violence becomes only
a
> distant memory.
>
> _ _ _ _ _ _ _
>
> http://www.iht.com/articles/32719.htm
>
> William Pfaff
> International Herald Tribune
> Monday, September 17, 2001
>
> PARIS - The calls for war that have come from Washington since Tuesday's
> catastrophes - for "war" against terrorism, against evil, against enemies
> of civilization - answer the psychological demands of the hour, the
> leaders' need to seem to lead. But they are wrong. Without tangible
> content, they fall short. They cannot satisfy. They risk actions that will
> make things worse, blows that hit people who had nothing to do with these
> attacks, thus adding to the numbers of those who hate the United States
and
> are willing to die to do it harm.
>
> The riposte of a civilized nation, one that believes in good, in human
> society and does oppose evil, has to be narrowly focused and, above all,
> intelligent.
>
> Missiles are blunt weapons. These terrorists are smart enough to make
> others bear the price for what they have done, and to exploit the results.
>
> A maddened U.S. response that hurts still others is what they want: It
will
> fuel the hatred that already fires the self-righteousness about their
> criminal acts against the innocent.
>
> What the United States needs is cold reconsideration of how it has arrived
> at this pass. It needs, even more, to foresee disasters that may lie in
the
> future.
>
> Osama bin Laden, peremptorily but plausibly accused of responsibility for
> the attacks, is in a position of power today because of past U.S. policies
> that focused on the short term and were indifferent to the future. The
> United States does not need more of that.
>
> Mr. bin Laden is the product of revolutionary and anti-American forces in
> the Islamic world that remain, for the most part, subterranean but which
> exist in his own country, Saudi Arabia. They are the same forces that
> produced a revolutionary and anti-American upheaval in Iran.
>
> The fact that the Saudi monarchy is the most important U.S. ally in the
> Arab world has disguised from most Americans how fragile it is. Mr. bin
> Laden belongs to a generation of well-educated younger members of the
Saudi
> ruling elite and its mercantile middle class who consider the monarchy's
> accommodation to the U.S. alliance a great betrayal.
>
> They are faithful to the source of Saudi identity, the 18th-century
Wahhabi
> Muslim reform movement, which holds that all changes or accretions to
Islam
> since the 9th century are illegitimate and must be expunged. This
doctrine,
> conceived among austere desert Arabs, is the official religion of an
> enormously rich state, in which many of the ruling figures' private lives
> blatantly contradict the Wahhabi condemnation of luxury and ostentation.
> The psychological, as well as social, tensions this has produced over the
> last 50 years in the consciences and psychologies of the new generation,
> the sons and grandsons of the desert Wahhabis, may easily be imagined.
>
> The Saudi elite has appeased the alienated generation by subsidizing
> radical Wahhabi movements abroad. Saudi Arabia paid for the Mujahidin of
> the Afghan resistance. It subsidizes the Taleban. It paid for the
Mujahidin
> who fought in Bosnia, and now it subsidizes Wahhabi movements in Central
> Asia and Africa.
>
> Yet Saudi Arabia's own tortured compromise between alliance with the
United
> States - capital of materialism - and its professed Islamic
fundamentalism,
> to which the Saudi masses are attached, must one day collapse, just as the
> Shah's regime in Iran collapsed.
>
> Mr. bin Laden, 44, an engineer by training, is a committed Wahhabi Muslim
> whose first political engagement was at the side of the CIA in fighting
the
> 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
>
> Like many of the Mujahidin, he refused demobilization when Russia
abandoned
> the Afghan war. He had a new war to fight, to save his own country, and
his
> religion, from the United States.
>
> Mr. bin Laden hates the United States because he believes that America is
> an enemy of Islam and has polluted the Islamic holy places. Washington
took
> advantage of the Gulf War in 1991 to obtain Saudi acquiescence in
permanent
> U.S. bases inside Saudi Arabia.
>
> Mr. bin Laden's cause is an Arabia free of foreign soldiers, purged of
> "infidel" influence, under fundamentalist Wahhabi rule. He wants to
> "destroy" the United States because it is, to him, what it was to the
> Iranian revolutionaries: a source of literal evil in today's world.
>
> Clearly, the United States needs to deal with Mr. bin Laden's terrorist
> organization, but that is essentially a police and intelligence problem.
>
> Long-term United States interests cannot afford a "war" that risks
toppling
> Saudi Arabia and other conservative Islamic regimes into alliance with the
> radical movements already powerful in Iran, Sudan, Algeria, and
influential
> in Egypt, Pakistan, the Balkans, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and
> sub-Saharan Africa. That, though, is the risk.
>
> Los Angeles Times Syndicate.
> _ _ _ _ _
>
>
> from "SEEKING UNCOMMON GROUND"
> by "Anthony Judge" <judge at uia.be>
> Union of International Associations, based in Brussels, Belgium
>
>
> Some questions on the occasion of the abhorrent and horrendous
> attacks on 11th September 2001:
>
>
> CHALLENGES TO CIVILIZATION
>
> Is the real challenge for civilization one of exacting punitive measures
> on the perpetrators of a crime or is it one of recognizing and correcting
> the patterns of our individual and collective behaviour that
> engendered that crime?
>
> How can the horror of the millions of innocent people who die
> prematurely around the world (or who live horrendous daily lives of
> degrading impoverishment and injustice) be adequately recognized in
> the face of the legitimate media focus on the horror of the recent
> suicidal attacks causing the deaths of thousands of innocent people?
>
> To what degree was the call upon the international community to
> commemorate the tragic death of thousands a regrettable insult to the
> far greater numbers whose tragic deaths in recent years have gone
> uncommemorated and unremembered? Where are the international
> memorials to the killing fields of Cambodia, Rwanda and Srebrenica,
> and the disappearances in Latin America?
>
> Who sympathizes with the condition of those in distant countries and
> slums whose suffering goes unbroadcast by the media?
>
>
> UNHELPFUL INSIGHTS
>
> One American commentator asserted that the "World Trade Center
> was the center of western civilization" (James Rubin, Former US
> Assistant Secretary of State, BBC, 11 September 2001). If this is how
> western civilization is to be characterized, is it beyond belief that
> some groups might consider this a mark of an ungodly civilization
> lacking any core spiritual values -- other than those associated with
> material profit?
>
> In seeking to label the horrendous attacks as "evil" acts against
> "western civilization" and "freedom", does this not further obscure
> the larger evil of the failure of modern civilization to effectively
> address the conditions of millions of people in the world -- and the
> fact that it is significantly dependent, for what it offers to the few, on
> the continuing deprivation of the many?
>
>
> UBIQUITY OF "TERRORISM"
>
> Is it not the tragedy of modern civilization that no fundamental
> transformation of socio-political reality -- including the independence
> of USA, Israel and many developing countries --  has been achieved
> in history without attacks that have been labelled by those in power
> as "terrorism" and "evil"?
>
> How many modern states have been headed by people who could be
> legitimately described as having engaged in terrorist activity?  What
> then is the nature of the "entire western world" of which "terrorists"
> are the "enemies" (Tony Blair, 14 September 2001)
>
> How many modern states have sanctioned or supported terrorism in
> one form or another -- at least in the eyes of others?
>
> Is it not the case that any group that feels excluded will find a way to
> punish those who have left it behind? For those with no other
> options, is terrorism not one of the few acts in which they can engage
> in a hostile modern civilization -- especially when they have nothing to
> lose but their lives?
>
>
> BELIEF-CENTERED EXCLUSIVITY
>
> The President of the USA assumes that "God" is necessarily
> exclusively on the side of the American people (and the right-minded
> of the world) in their response to the "evil" nature of the attackers.
> The cultures with some sympathy for the attackers, and especially
> suicide bombers, assume that "Allah" is on their side in opposing the
> "evil" impact on their communities that they associate with aspects of
> American policy and "western civilization" -- they label the USA and
> Israel as "Big Satan" and "Little Satan" respectively. Are there more
> fruitful ways to understand such a situation and what resources are
> devoted to this?
>
> Does "western civilization", or the preferred religion of the current
> president of the USA,  have an absolute monopoly on the definition of
> "good" and "evil"?  How is provision made for perspectives that are
> radically different from those he defines as "good"?
>
> What strategic dangers for the future of civilization are likely to result
> from an alliance between countries that perceive themselves to be
> blessed by a unique God-given innocence that justifies their self-
> righteousness under all foreseeable circumstances?
>
>
> CONTRADICTIONS
>
> How is it that a "peace-loving country", acclaimed as the "home of
> freedom and democracy", is so well-served by the conflicts around the
> world that it exacerbates through massive arms sales to its own
> commercial advantage?
>
> How is it that the "home of freedom and democracy" (George Bush,
> 13th September 2001) trains people for activities perceived elsewhere
> as "terrorism", has a reputation for political assassination, openly
> manufactures instruments of torture for profit, and prides itself on its
> arms industry -- and yet is astounded at some of the "irrational"
> reactions and hatred that this evokes?
>
>
> MISAPPROPRIATION OF INSIGHTS
>
> What questionable initiatives can be disguised by strategies
> purportedly undertaken in response to "terrorism"?
>
> What constrains efforts by those in power to extend the operational
> definition of "terrorism" to include elimination of dissent and
> opposition of any kind?
>
> To what extent does a hasty, vengeful response best serve the
> interests of some groups whose policies most need to be held in check
> in a civilized society?  What assurances are there that those warning
> of this will be heard?
>
> Is there a fundamental danger that American society will henceforth
> use its suffering from these horrendous attacks as an unquestionable
> justification for any future policies it chooses to follow -- following
the
> pattern of Israel in relation to the horror of the Holocaust?
>
> What are the dangers that legitimate international agendas in
> response to terrorism will be perfidiously manipulated to serve as a
> Trojan horse to advance particular strategic objectives that are totally
> contrary to the declared rationale of any such coalition?
>
>
> COMPREHENSION OF ALTERNATIVE PERSPECTIVES
>
> What civilized cause is served by labelling the unknown perpetrators
> of such acts as having "no regard for the sanctity or value of human
> life" (Tony Blair, 14th September 2001) -- when it may be precisely
> because of the value they attach to the lives of their compatriots in
> misery that they have engaged in such acts?
>
> Is it wise to assume that there is absolutely nothing of value to human
> civilization to be learnt from those who challenge the assumptions of
> western civilization and engage in such horrendous attacks in support
> of alternative perspectives?
>
>
> DISSIDENCE AND CIVILIZATION
>
> Is there a fundamental danger to civilized discourse of its becoming
> dominated by processes reminiscent of the witch-hunts of the
> McCarthy era against "un-American activity" -- during which dissent
> of any kind could be readily reframed as subversive of western
> civilization?
>
> How will permissible dissent be distinguished from inadmissible
> implicit support for what some may label as terrorist initiatives?
>
> Rather than signalling the need for expenditure of resources on a
> campaign of retribution to bring a few people to justice, should not
> these horrendous attacks primarily signal the need for expenditure on more
> fruitful approaches to disagreement between civilizations and value
> systems -- as implied by the theme of the current United Nations Year
> of Dialogue among Civilizations?
>
>
> CONSEQUENCES FOR CIVILIZATION
>
> What will the measures of retribution envisaged do to the quality of
> western civilization and the significance of the values it claims to
> uphold?
>
> What constraints are there on the proposed use of political
> assassination, and the secretive strategy of "targeted killings", as a
> means of removing all those who express any opposition to the
> dominant American view of civilization?  Will those opposing this
> strategy in any way also be considered legitimate targets?
>
>
> STRATEGIC COWARDICE
>
> Does labelling those who act in this way as "faceless cowards"
> obscure a reality that needs to be understood -- making a mockery of
> their anonymous military counterparts who release bombs and
> missiles from a secure distance? And what of the faceless corporate
> executives who deprive families of lands and livelihoods that they
> have had for generations?
>
> How are the "heroes" and "cowards" to be identified and
> distinguished in response to the suffering of millions around the
> world?
>
>
> APPROPRIATE RETRIBUTION
>
> Deepak Chopra (14 Sept 2001) asks: Why he and others did not feel
> equivalent anguish at previous horrors to which innocents have been
> exposed? What was the root cause of this evil? Can any military
> response make the slightest difference to this underlying cause? Is
> there not a deep wound at the heart of humanity? Who gave birth to
> the satanic technologies now being turned against us? If all of us are
> wounded, will revenge work? If you or I are having a single thought of
> hatred against anyone in the world, are we not contributing to the
> wounding of the world?
>
> How will it be possible to ensure that the treatment of the perpetrators
> does not simply transform them into martyrs -- empowering an even
> more savage and dangerous escalation of terrorism?
>
> To what extent will any retribution be justified by hard and
> incontrovertible evidence rather than by evidence that some might
> have reason to consider questionable -- as in the case of the US attack
> on the Khartoum pharmaceutical  factory after the East African
> bombings of US embassies?
>
> Does the mindset identifying civilization's "Public Enemy No. 1"
> constitute a displacement of blame to a safely distant, personified
> target of abhorrence -- thereby completely avoiding, through a
> scapegoating process, any uncomfortable questions and learnings
> about the weaknesses of modern society and its leadership?
>
>
> APPROPRIATE STRATEGY
>
> Why were those with access to the best intelligence resources, not
> alert to the fact that the core of the western financial system was so
> vulnerable? What other assumptions of this quality have been made
> by them? What level of irresponsibility does this imply in the
> strategies they advocate?
>
> What do the military successes of such attacks suggest
> about the quality of the strategic thinking associated with the "Star
> Wars" initiative?
>
> If a single individual with a paltry $300 million resources is the
> prime suspect as the cause of such havoc, what potential threats to
> civilized society should be suspected of the limited number of people
> in the world with billions of dollars of resources at their disposal?
>
> In adopting strategies of retribution normally condemned as
> inappropriate to a civilized state, at what point do states acquire
> characteristics of the "rogue states" that they seek to eliminate?
>
> Given the highly symbolic nature of the attacks, is it possible to
> envisage any riposte that would be equally symbolic in nature --
> reframing the challenge for both sides in a more fruitful manner?
>
>
> "WAR" AND OTHER METAPHORS
>
> In the "war on drugs" the pattern of denial fails to address the
> question of why people in "western civilization" (and in the "home of
> freedom and democracy") are so desperately dependent on drugs.
> Modern societies have failed significantly, after many years of
> sustained effort, in their strategy of "war against drugs" and have
> been forced to question the value of the "war" metaphor in this
> connection. What does this imply for the success of the proposed
> sustained "war against terrorism" -- which has already been underway
> for many years?
>
> Is the "war" metaphor necessary to the stability of American and
> Israeli societies dependent on an external enemy to provide a measure
> of reconciliation between their own internal contradictions?
>
> Will the "war against terrorism" by the coalition of the western world
> provide some faceless people in power with a new license to
> assassinate wherever consider they it to be appropriate?
>
> Is it the case that whilst western intelligence services have developed
> the capacity to "listen" to almost any conversation anywhere, they are
> effectively deaf in their incapacity to "hear" and comprehend the
> nature of what is being said about the desperate condition in which
> proud peoples find themselves?
>
> Some people are always open to temptation by products and services
> deplored by their own culture. Is it comprehensible that the "freedom"
> to install an American hamburger chain in Mecca may be as abhorred
> by some of Islamic culture as would be any effort to install a brothel in
> the White House?
>
> One of Christianity's founding myths is the action of Jesus in the
> Temple of Jerusalem in response to the "money changers". Is it not
> comprehensible that the poverty and suffering of millions may inspire
> some to attack what they perceive as the "money changers" in charge
> of trillions of dollars in the "temple" of western civilization? It might
be
> asked why this is perceived as justified by some and completely
> unjustified by others?
>
> To what extent does the insidious nature of international networks of
> terrorism parallel the insidious nature of international networks of
> unrestrained greed? Both have their hidden cells and faceless leaders.
> Will equivalent resources be allocated to rooting out the latter
> networks -- given the way they provoke the development of the
> former?
>
>
> QUALITY OF DISCOURSE
>
> In whose interest is it to simplify and polarize the discourse in
> response to this strategically symbolic attack -- notably in support of
> strategically primitive retribution attacks?
>
> Why is the quality of media discourse about such an attack
> lacking in any acknowledgement of the perspective of those with
> some understanding of the attackers -- thus exemplifying the reasons
> for which they presumably undertook the attack?
>
> If "those who are not with us must necessarily be considered
> against us" (Hillary Clinton, 12th September 2001), to what extent will
> those who fail to associate themselves whole-heartedly with acts of
> retribution themselves be subject to some form of punitive sanction?
>
> Does not the ultimate tragedy for civilization not lie in the total
> polarization of disagreement -- there can be "no more excuses; it is
> time to choose sides" (Bush, 14 September 2001)?
>
>
> FRUITFUL INITIATIVES
>
> What kind of civilization would respond to such attacks by
> galvanizing the immense resources of its "intelligence networks" to
> empower networks of people and groups everywhere to act more
> effectively in response to the sufferings of the world -- rather than to
> protect structures of privilege from the terrorist networks engendered
> and supported by such suffering?
>
> In a time of increasing "democratic deficit", what intelligence has been
> devoted to alternative democratic processes to reduce the incidence
> of such desperate measures?  To what extent is any significant
> attention accorded to recommendations to this end?
>
> Why is it that any initiative to discover new ways of framing
> intractable differences is itself condemned and marginalized?
>
> What pattern of denial encourages some to seek to stampede
> populations into particular beliefs from a moral highground that they
> define and occupy exclusively?
>
>
> FOR THE FUTURE
>
> How much more human sacrifice is required to ensure the further
> progress of civilization?
>
> How can we reorganize ourselves and find a design of a higher human
> order that will prevent such violence from occurring again -- or are we
> forced to accept that in time of neglect, violence, albeit unwelcome,
> must necessarily have its place?
>
> Any more questions?
> _ _ _ _ _ _ _
>
>
> DEEPAK CHOPRA'S SON, GOTHAM, OFFERS FIRSTHAND ACCOUNTS
>
> My name is Gotham Chopra, and I am Deepak's son. I work with Channel One
> News, an educational news broadcast that is seen in an estimated 12.5
> thousand secondary schools, as a TV reporter.
>
> On Tuesday, September 11th, 2001, at 8 am I boarded a flight in New York
> headed for Los Angeles. Shortly we rolled out onto the runway, lurched
back,
> fired down the runway, and soared into the sky. It must have been almost
> 8:30 AM when I looked over my shoulder and gazed out at the New York
skyline
> noting the clear view from Columbia University, my alma mater, all the way
> down to the World Trade Center. "What a beautiful day," I thought to
myself.
> "I wish I wasn't leaving."  I then closed my eyes and drifted off to
sleep.
>
> A little over 90 minutes later I awoke when the pilot's voice came over
the
> loudspeaker. "Ladies and gentlemen," he announced in a calm voice, "we are
> making an emergency landing in Cincinnati because of an apparent terrorist
> attack in the New York Area. Please stay calm."
>
> There was a nervous murmur throughout the cabin. The journalist in me
> demanded immediate information and I reached for the phone. I quickly ran
my
> credit card through the phone, waited for the dial tone, and dialed our
News
> Desk in Los Angeles. The phone cackled but when the other line picked up,
> there was no mistaking the panicked tone in one of my colleagues.
>
> "Are you okay?" she asked. "I am."  I asked for further information. "Two
> planes crashed into the World Trade Center. They've come down. They've
come
> down." The phone cut off and went dead. I frantically redialed. No luck. I
> tried my sister in Los Angeles. No luck.
>
> I slowly sat back in my chair and began to panic. I knew my father had
flown
> out of New York on a different flight about an hour before me. I knew my
> mother was on a flight originating in London destined for San Diego. I
tried
> to meditate and tell myself that everyone would be okay. Tears burned my
> eyes.
>
> When we touched down twenty minutes later, the pilot instructed us not to
> turn on our cell phones. He gave us instructions to immediately evacuate
the
> plane and follow the instructions of security personnel. We did. Finally
in
> the terminal, I reached for my phone and turned it on. There I stood
huddled
> with hundreds of other interrupted passengers and gazed up at the
> television. The fresh images of two smoldering stumps -- the remains of
the
> towers of the world trade center -- played on the screen. Finally I got in
> touch with my sister, Mallika, who was sobbing on the other end of the
> phone.
>
> "I'm okay, where's papa, where's mom?" Mallika supplied all of the answers
> -- everyone was safe. I placed my next call again to the office. I knew
that
> there was work at hand. Sure enough, I already had a car reserved and was
> destined back for New York. At the rental agency, there was a great
shortage
> of cars. People in line started shouting out their destinations and
everyone
> began carpooling. I joined two other men from the New York area and we
were
> off. Over the next 12 hours we listened closely to the radio as details of
> the terrorist attack emerged. Every five minutes the name of another
family
> member or friend popped into my head and I dialed the number frantically.
> Most New York numbers were jammed or out of service. One friend I was able
> to contact informed that a he was unable to contact a mutual friend of
ours.
> He worked in the 105th floor of one of the towers. He was scheduled to
> attend an 8:30 meeting. Someone from the meeting had called to say they
had
> survived the initial attack and were waiting for a rescue team. No one had
> heard from any of them since.
>
> Finally just after midnight we made it just to the edge of New York City,
in
> Fort Lee New Jersey.  There would be no crossing into Manhattan Island --
> all the bridges and tunnels had been sealed. I spent the night in New
Jersey
> unable to sleep much and by 6 am, I was dressed and ready to get in. The
> only way to get across was via the commuter train which was offering
limited
> services. As we pulled toward the station in Hoboken NJ, the trains slowed
> to a stop. There on the other side of the river they stood, like ashen
> smoking gravestones, the ruins of the twin towers. The train car was
silent
> and as everyone stood hushed and gazed out the window. A young woman
beside
> me began to whimper. Another man lowered his head into his hands and
muffled
> his sobs.
>
> Back in the city, people walked around in a daze. The streets were empty
of
> cars but full of wandering pedestrians, walking directly down the middle
of
> Broadway and Fifth Avenue. As we made our way downtown (I had already
hooked
> up with a TV crew) we noticed small cafes open and people filling the
> outside sidewalk seats. People sat mostly in silence gazing upwards at the
> thick plume of white smoke still snaking its way westward. At west 4th
> street, a group of kids played basketball. At one point the ball rolled
out
> of play. A young shirtless boy ran after the ball and bent down to pick it
> up. When he lifted his head he looked up at the air at the same thick
trail
> of smoke. He shook his head and wiped away something from his eyes --
> either sweat or tears -- and turned away.
>
> Walking home, I stopped and talked to a police officer. After chatting a
few
> minutes, the officer asked me if I would like to see ground zero. I agreed
> to stay just at the edge away from the workers. The pictures on television
> of the devastation caused by Tuesday's attack do the scene of the crime
> absolutely no justice. In real life it appears as if an asteroid has hit
the
> lower part of Manhattan. There are charred, twisting slabs of metal and
> concrete in every direction. It is unfathomable, unspeakable,
> incomprehensible. The tragedy today is in its infancy. For the thousand
who
> lost their lives, there are thousands more -- friends and family -- who
will
> never sleep a restful night. There are parents, children, siblings,
friends,
> and neighbors who walked out of their buildings one morning and have not
> returned. This is a national tragedy but also a very personal one.
>
> On Wednesday night while in cab returning from work to my apartment, I
> noticed the Muslim name of my driver. He noticed the tone of my skin in
the
> rear view mirror. He nodded at me. On the radio, the commentator was
> relaying a warning to all men of Middle Eastern and South Asian descent --
> to be wary of unwarranted violent reprisals from agitated residents of the
> city. The taxi driver again looked at me through the mirror and smiled
> ironically, "We love America. It is our home." He shook his head, "but I
> think we're fucked."
>
> *   *   *   *   *
>
> About a month ago, I rode up with two colleagues to the Northwest Frontier
> region of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan. We were covering a story on
> Islamic militancy training grounds based in Pakistani religious schools.
In
> the west they have widely been reported to be ground zero for the grooming
> of young Muslim boys into hostile anti-western terrorists. In Pakistan,
both
> the government and the men at the school hotly contested these claims,
> castigating the west for generating such racist propaganda. I traveled to
> this lost area with as little bias as possible -- but with a certain and
> undeniable fear in my heart.
>
> In the school itself, the chancellor was most kind and hospitable. He had
us
> tour the grounds of the school, meet teachers and some of the boys --
though
> at first we weren't allowed to talk to them. We were then escorted into
his
> private residence. The first thing I noticed on the center table was a
bowl
> of big yellow mangoes and a picture. The picture was of our host -- an
older
> Muslim Mullah wearing a traditional white turban and a stained orange
beard
> and his friend -- Osama Bin Laden, the number one man on the FBI's list of
> Most Wanted. I asked our host if we could interview him. He agreed but
> insisted first that we share mangoes with him. I agreed and he took out a
> long knife and proceeded to slice the fruit for me. We slurped and chatted
> for a while and finally were permitted to turn on the camera.
>
> I asked the Mullah a wide array of questions. "Did he hate the US? Why is
> there such Anti-Americanism in this part of the world? Should Americans be
> afraid?" He answered them all eloquently and without hostility. He talked
> about the history of the US and Afghanistan, how during the Cold War, they
> were allies, united fighting a war against the Soviets. "You gave us
weapons
> and trained our men. You built our roads, fed our people. Do you realize
> young man that your government helps to create and to fund the Taliban
> because it was their interest to use Guerilla warfare and terrorist
tactics
> against the Russians? You made us your friend."
>
> "But then your Cold War ended and you deserted us." At this point, there
was
> a hint of animosity in his voice. "Because it was no longer in your
selfish
> interest to have us as your allies, you abandoned us, left our people,
> hungry, and hateful. You turned your friends into foes because you used us
> like whores."
>
> There was a silence between us.
>
> Finally I asked him about the picture, about the nature of his
relationship
> with Mr. Bin Laden. "He's an old friend. And a good man." I shook my head.
> "Is he a terrorist?" "We don't call him that here." The Mullah made it
clear
> he was not interested in talking any more. We shook hands. I thanked him
for
> his hospitality.
>
> On the way out I thought about that hospitality. I knew that the Mullah
> himself had endorsed a fatwa, or religious order, by Bin Laden several
years
> ago urging Muslims to kill American civilians. But here was this man
cutting
> mangoes for us and being very gracious.
>
> "Today you are our guest. If we were not hospitable, we would be very
> ashamed. But in times of war, yes you would be an enemy and we may kill
you.
> Today a friend, tomorrow, inshallah (God willing), there will not be one."
>
> *   *   *   *   *
>
> Today Friday September 14, 2001, four days since the terrorist attack, it
> appears we may be on the threshold of war.  Our President has called it
the
> First World War of the 21st century. I am not sure whom we will be
fighting.
> I would like to go to my favorite café in the city -- a small Egyptian
place
> on the Lower East Side that I have been going to since college. The
waiters
> -- mostly young Middle Eastern guys who like to talk about basketball and
> soccer, who come and sit at your table and share a puff on the sweet
tobacco
> hookas they serve there -- they are my friends. But I'm not sure when it
> will open again, if it will open again. There's a Mosque next door that
has
> been closed since the attack.
>
> The weeks and months and perhaps even years ahead promise to be complex
and
> wary. Hopefully our leaders will be judicious, precise, and compassionate
in
> the difficult decisions that lay ahead. But it is each of us that now must
> rise up and be the true warriors in this difficult time. Does that mean
> seizing weapons and braving the threat of death out on a battlefield?
>
> Precisely not. Because the battlefield is invisible. The enemy is elusive.
> The web of evil too complex. Today there are no answers. It is too early
for
> solutions for remedies. For now we each have our stories -- where we were
on
> the day that the twin towers toppled. Each one is dramatic; each one is
> tragic. From this day forward, everyday I shall observe a quiet
remembrance
> for the victims of this calamity. Each one of us may choose our own way
how
> to memorialize this moment but I believe we are all obligated to reflect
for
> a moment, to care about our neighbor, to meditate for peace and tolerance
> because ultimately the only forces that can defeat such profound evil are
> compassion and hope.
>
> I ask everyone on this board to join my father and me in prayer for the
> healing of our wounded civilization (if we can call it that). Let us pray
> every day to our Gods remembering, as my dad has taught me since
childhood,
> that Christ was not a Christian, Mohammed was not a Mohammeden, Buddha was
> not a Buddhist, and Krishna was not a Hindu.
>
> Love, Gotham
>
> _ _ __ _
>
> COMPARISON OF DEATHS ON SEPT 11 - THAT ARE DAILY.
>
> by Larry Victor
>
>
> On September 11, approximately   5,000 human lives were lost due to the
> terrorist attacks on the USA.  Many more than 5,000 families were injured.
>
> We ask WHY do people hate the USA so much to die while killing thousands
of
> ordinary citizens?
>
> On September 11, approximately 24,000 human lives were lost from hunger,
> over the planet.  That is an unnecessary death every 3.6 seconds.  This is
> over 24,000 families injured.  Another 24,000 died on the day after,
> September 12, another 24,000 on the day before, September 10.
>
> This is 24,000 dead EVERY DAY, not just on September 11.  Nine MILLION
> persons die unnecessarily of hunger each year.
>
> See this url for statistics:
> http://www.freedonation.com/hunger/hunger_stats.php3
>
> Is it really so much more important that the deaths were concentrated in
> lower Manhattan and the Pentagon?  Yet the deaths due to hunger are also
> concentrated.  Look at the map at the following url:
>
> http://www.thehungersite.com/
>
> On this world map, each flash (every 3.6 seconds) simulates a death,
> usually a child, in pain from hunger.  Feel their pain. Feel the pain of
> their family.  Note that the deaths are also concentrated in certain
> regions of the world.  When you close the website, the deaths continue.
> They continue as your read this.
>
> We ask WHY do corporations permit hunger to continue when to stop hunger
> would hardly effect their profits?
>
> An estimated $13 Billion dollars each year is all that would be needed to
> feed the hungry.  Americans spend $18/year on pet food.  The government's
> enhanced budget to repair the damage on September 11th is $40 Billion.
>
> If there were no hungry on earth, would there be terrorists?
>
> Simply feeding the hungry would not solve world poverty, nor bring peace.
> More is needed.  This simple comparison attempts to demonstrate that
> poverty and suffering on Earth is NOT NECESSARY.
>
> I do not believe that the terrorists who attacked American on September 11
> were concerned about world hunger.  But for the American people to live as
> they do (and it hasn't been too well lately, for many), even in ignorance
> that their "having" causes many others to "not have", EACH DAY creates a
> collective disaster over the Earth, mostly against children, that is
> approximately five times the disaster Americans experienced on September
11.
>

*
*
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