More on what our response should be

I used to work near the WTC, two blocks away on Maiden Lane across from the Fed. I can only guess that the building is covered with ash and debris. I had to pass through the WTC complex every morning and afternoon as I commuted on PATH from NJ and I remember the day in ’93 when the first attempt was made; people wondered if the buildings would have fallen over into the river.

As far as response, I think we need to be clear that justice, per American standards, should be served. Associated parties who provided planning, financial, and other support, need to pay for their actions. Does this mean a series of trials if we could arrest them? I don’t think so. I think trials would only serve these people by giving them a platform from which they could spew further hate and inspire further destruction. Many people have said this was an act of war and I agree. And one doesn’t conduct a war by arresting the other side.

Longer term, I think we need to look very closely at the living circumstances of other peoples and see why globalization is keeping them down and lifting us up. This difference is not true across the board–some developing countries are get lifted and we should try and understand why. Thomas Friedman has an excellent book on the topic, The Lexus and the Olive Tree.

Prevention of future events must be considered. We also, therefore, need to create an international apparatus that is dedicated to eradicating terrorist organizations globally, through reasonable and aboveboard means. This apparatus should have legal, financial, and political analysts and a military/police arm and work in conjunction with local authorities where possible. I may be cynical but I think this organization needs to be controlled and operated by Western governments and not by, say, the U.N. or it could never be effective. Of course there are also severe limits to how effective such an organization could be in any case and of course there is the not so little question of who guards the guards, to prevent abuse or misuse. War in this century is clearly different and we need to respond differently and develop tools that will prove effective.