BillSaysThis

Religion’s misguided missiles

Richard Dawkins is professor of the public understanding of science, University of Oxford, and author of The Selfish Gene, wrote this Guardian Unlimited article that slices right to the heart of the suicide pilots last week:

“If death is final, a rational agent can be expected to value his life highly and be reluctant to risk it. This makes the world a safer place, just as a plane is safer if its hijacker wants to survive. At the other extreme, if a significant number of people convince themselves, or are convinced by their priests, that a martyr’s death is equivalent to pressing the hyperspace button and zooming through a wormhole to another universe, it can make the world a very dangerous place.”

Looking at how we may fight

Barton Gellman writes in the Washington Post that Images of Past Wars May Not Fit Present Foe. This article is one of the most insightful I’ve seen yet that explores the details of responding with force to last Tuesday’s events. The ending is ominous: there will be more attacks on US soil and no matter how much we stiffen up, not all will be caught and stopped. This will be a long, long campaign.

Key quote: “Peter Feaver, a Duke University political scientist, said the Bush administration appears to regard this conflict as the defining feature of the present international environment. ‘Like the Cold War, this is a realigning war, by which I mean that the United States is dividing the world into us versus them,’ he said.”

Saturday night’s movie: Space Cowboys

Looking for a distraction and maybe a few laughs, tuned in this Clint Eastwood-directed flick. Very few laughs indeed in Space Cowboys, where Eastwood and three buddies try to get into space 40 years after they blew their chance to be among the first astronauts. The main problem is this movie doesn’t know what it wants to be, so it isn’t very good at being anything. Is it a comedy about the four old farts trying to prove they can still hack it? A melodrama about love and death, heroes and villains? A spy/action story about saving the world from a nefarious Russian plot? Eastwood has made some great films as a director but you have to figure he’s getting just a little too old to play the hero. Donald Sutherland is wack as the geriatric lothario, Tommy Lee Jones is all over the place and probably suffers the most from lack of a center for his character, and James Garner is just along for a ride with his buddies with nothing much to do except smile weakly when called on.

The Last War

For the first part of Humankind’s existence, war was a simple matter: we want what you have, be it territory, goods (luxuries or basics), or productivity (that is, we win the war and now your people are our slaves). But as in most things Human, war evolved and so the desired thing was the other side’s mind. In What are we fighting for?, Steven Denbeste posits that this week’s events mark the opening bell of the last stage of the last war, a war which began in the Renaissance, a war between the forces of freedom and authoritarianism. The face of the side opposed to freedom has morphed over time, from Monarchy to Slavery to naked Authoritarianism and now what seems to be the last opponent, Theocracy. Freedom, regardless of the opponent, has never lost and though the road will be long and hard (the Cold War lasted 43 years, after all) Freedom will win again.

Denbeste makes some important points in this essay and I highly recommend you read it for yourself. He previously published several related essays, which I recommend as well: There is no such thing as a “civilian”, The mark of a fanatic, and Theory and Practice of Terrorism.

Some people are sick, others just wacky

A laugh is a good thing almost anytime but especially so this week, so I was glad to run across this Raelian press release. The Raelians are a way-out-there religious group who are pressing ahead with human cloning plans. Their tie in with the tragedy? In this press release they explain that “cloning technology … will make terrorist attacks inefficient in the future” by allowing complete replacement of adults including reasonably up todate memories. Ok, well, yeah, ya see.. [Call the guys with the funny white jackets.]

Why do I say the Raelians are out there? Here’s a snip from the quick summary (their name) of their religon: Life on Earth is not the result of random evolution or a supernatural ‘God’ but rather was planted here by extraterrestrial scientists (the word Elohim in Genesis, generally translated as God, actually means “those who came from the sky”) and now these aliens are going to return. To prepare the way, the aliens asked French journalist Rael to establish an embassy here on Earth for them. The embassy is to serve the same function as other earthly embassies, giving the aliens a safe haven to safely land at and from which they can treat on a neutral, non-discriminatory basis with all governments and peoples. Need more detail? You can purchase the books Rael has written, The Message given by Extra-Terrestrials, Let’s Welcome Our Fathers From Space, and Sensual Meditation.

Rebuilding

This is the right idea, as far as I’m concerned. The Pentagon is jumping to it, with a contract awarded to rebuild already (although I don’t quite get why it will take 11 years). WTC landlord Larry Silverstein says to help rebuilding the center although not necessarily exact replicas. Lot of debate on the ‘Net over the latter idea but I think the heart of the financial district is a place to have offices.

Attitudes towards NYC are changing

For many years many people from the American heartland looked at New York City as, literally, a den of iniquity and almost life on another planet. Growing up in its shadow, I never felt that way or particularly understood the attitude except that I felt those who held it were ignorant hicks (which is probably just as bad). But in the aftermath of 9/11, seeing not only the tragedy but the response to it as well, the ‘hicks’ are reconsidering their opinion. So maybe we’ll be more of a ‘one people’ than before, I can only hope.

Timing

September 11, 1922: British mandate for Palestine declared

September 11, 1978: Camp David summit underway

September 11, 1993: Rabin and Arafat announce Oslo accords

September 11, 2001: Terrorists strike WTC, Pentagon

Martyrdom: perversion of Islam or mainstream view?

Many commentators, Islamic and otherwise, have said that suicide bombers are a perversion of the Koran. If that’s true, then why is so prominent and presumably mainstream a cleric as the Chief Mufti of the Palestinean Authority extoll the glories of the bomber? Aluma Solnick in her paper The Joy of the Mothers of Palestinian ‘Martyrs’ explores some historical background that clearly establishes martyrdom as a longstanding heroic role in Islam.

Today’s book: Proudly Serving My Corporate Masters

Adam Barr spent ten years as a programmer at Microsoft before cashing out his options and writing this book. At MS he worked on Windows NT, an early interactive TV set-top box project, SoftImage Digital Studio, and, as best I can tell, NT/Win2K again at the end. This isn’t a bad book although I think you really want to know about the new hire interview process at the company to really enjoy it; there’s also a long involved portion on Barr’s travails at the SoftImage group which he holds up as reasonably typical of MS. A long interlude in which he describes his early teenage efforts at running a BBS and college internships follows, although I think either he or his editor lost interest/steam here. Finally he looks at the antitrust case and sides with his former employer but for good reasons and he gives his opinion on the company’s chance at continued world dominion (he says they’re spreading themselves too thin and forgetting what made the place great).

I read this book based on an interesting article he wrote for called Dr. Selfpub, Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Amazon.Com detailing his experience in getting the book published. The ‘selfpub’ he refers to is that the book is published through iUniverse, which means you can read the book online at no cost but only one page at a time, no downloading it in one fell swoop in, say, Acrobat format.

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.

Photos that show in piercing clarity what happened at the WTC

Grace Suh (link is to her page) shows the before and after:

Before, when we were young and innocent:

After, the towers are gone:

Thomas Friedman on the start of WWIII

Writing an op-ed piece in the NY Times, Thomas Friedman gives us an understanding of what may be ahead in a serious campaign against terrorists. Friedman has spent much of the last decade developing an understanding of the effects of economic and political globalization, much of which was published in the highly recommended (by me) The Lexus and the Olive Tree, and is a very credible voice; this piece was written in Jerusalem.

Friedman makes the point, which many others have as well, that these groups are incredibly difficult to infiltrate and track; this is largely possible only when local associates/rivals are willing to help. This is a factor in our government’s inability–not failure–to predict and prevent the attack.

Key quote:

“The people who planned Tuesday’s bombings combined world-class evil with world-class genius to devastating effect. And unless we are ready to put our best minds to work combating them–the World War III Manhattan project–in an equally daring, unconventional and unremitting fashion, we’re in trouble. Because while this may have been the first major battle of World War III, it may be the last one that involves only conventional, non-nuclear weapons.”

bin Laden Taliban commander-in-chief?

According to this UPI report from Aug. 30, the enemies of peace running Afghanistan within the last month appointed bin Laden as their military leader. This article covers a Russian Foreign Ministry official denouncing the action. “Bin Laden’s appointment confirmed that a center of international terrorism is being set up in Taliban-controlled territory.”

How we must respond

My answer: Hit quick, hit hard, accept that there will be unwanted casualties both on our side and among nearby civilians but that this is the price to begin a campaign to prevent as much as possible future events. Terrorists thrive on ambiguity and see hesitation as weakness. I am not willing to trade our safety for their demands.

Writing in the Jeruslam Post, Gerald M. Steinberg writes:

“In America and the other democracies around the world, as well as in Russia and China, the inhuman attacks in New York and Washington should leave no questions regarding the need for powerful and consistent action to uproot terrorism from its foundations. As the leader of the modern world civilization, and as a result, the primary terrorist target, the US is the only force that can lead the campaign to rid the world of this threat….No shelter for terrorism must be allowed to remain no quarter can be given, or the plague will resume with even greater fury.”

In the NY Times, William Safire writes:

“Lashing out on the basis of inadequate information is wrong, but in terror-wartime, waiting for absolute proof is dangerous. When we reasonably determine our attackers’ bases and camps, we must pulverize them–minimizing but accepting the risk of collateral damage–and act overtly or covertly to destabilize terror’s national hosts.”

Morning after

By now, on a September morning, the Sun is ususally shining, the sky blue and bright. Today, though, as if in sympathy with our grief, the sky is grey and drab, as if tears could fall any moment. Branches on the trees a drooping, too sad to stand up.

Magnitude

During the Civil War, at the Battle of Antietem, over 23,000 Americans died in a single day. To my absolute horror, disbelief, and disgust, today may have been worse. I feel like I’ve been pummeled, punched in the stomach, and stomped on.

Giving Blood

One of the main things we can do as individuals is give blood, so I tried to make an appointment to go this afternoon. Many people feel the same way and so the response I received was there are no appointments until the end of the week. This is the kind of response we should make.

Tears

There are no words to express my sadness and anger at the animals who perpetrated this horror. A friend said:

“A lot of people in the world think that the US is effect and bourgeouis and isn’t willing to fight. They’re going to find out now, the hard way.

I’m sure that the Taliban has been told through diplomatic channels already that the US wants bin Laden, wants him NOW and wants no more excuses or delays. I suspect they’ve got 24 hours before bombing starts. There will be no negotiation, no half measures, no conditions, nothing less accepted.

We have B-52’s at Diego Garcia which could launch an attack with six hours notice, and after Iraq and Serbia, everyone in the world knows how devastating a US air campaign can be.”

We watched the first two episodes of Band of Brothers last night and I think this is one not to be missed. I am not one of those currently caught up in the ‘Great Generation’ crap (perhaps because my dad was a couple of years too young to fight) but I do appreciate good storytelling, good acting, and well-paced direction which this mini-series certainly has. Band tells the story of Easy Company, E Company of the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, which saw WWII action from jumping in behind the German lines the night before D-Day through the end, the capture of Hilter’s bunker at Berchtesgarden.

Truly outstanding was the beginning scene of episode two showing the Company being flown to France and the parachute drops. While the Germans reportedly were taken by surprise on both timing and location, their troops did respond quickly and with lethal force, which Band shows unflinchingly. Highly reminiscent of the opening beach landing scene in Saving Private Ryan, which is not too surprising given that Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, along with author Stephen Ambrose, were the driving forces behind both efforts; in fact, in this episode we see the other side of the landing when Easy Company attacks a German position that is pounding the beach.

Since HBO generally repeats episodes of its series several times during the week, I encourage you to catch this if you missed it.