Christopher Hitchens revisits the essential moral point about the 9/11 terrorist attacks in this article for Slate.com. Like virtually everything the man writes, it is worth a read not only for the substance of his arguments but for the elegance of his prose. I'm linking it partly because it is always good for the public to be reminded that the Bosnian genocide was essentially an act of evil (as he does at the end of this piece); and also because I am grateful that even with the advanced cancer he is afflicted with, it is still possible to pass along a link to the "latest from Christopher Hitchens". I hope Mr. Hitchens would approve of my choice to describe cancer as something he is "afflicted with"; it may not be the most precise or apt choice of words, but I suspect he would prefer my choice to "suffers from."
I don't know Mr. Hitchens--I once stood a few feet away from him, at a show of support outside the Danish embassy in Washington, DC, but chose not to introduce myself or take up any of his time, and unfortuately that was the only opportunity I've ever had to speak to the man. But I have a great regard for him, and I know I am not alone in saying that my own political and ideological journey has been enriched, informed, and partially shaped by the force and pursuasiveness of his polemical journey. His cancer diagnosis is not "new news", but neither is my intellectual and ideological debt to the man. Consider this post my humble tip-of-the-hat from an aspiring historian and budding writer to a master of the craft.
1 comment:
If I could have an opportunity to kill other people without being criminally responsible for doing so, I still would NOT do it.
This is the difference between "us" and "them". Those who choose to kill and inflict pain on other people in revenge attacks or purely because of 1000 other reasons they can come up as an excuse -- are not healthy-minded; they are usually mentally unstable people, brainwashed to believe that spilling more blood will somehow resolve perceived problems they face.
American attack on Iraq was morally justified. US/NATO assistance to Libya rebels is also morally justified. US Bombing of Serbia was also morally justified. Why? It is because all those countries that were massacring and killing their own people or their neighbors. America only tried to stop the bloodshed, that's all. America was justified in each and every attack it undertook beyong its borders.
Al Qaeda, on the other hand, has no justification in any attacks. First of all, Al Qaeda tortured and killed thousands of Muslims; they rape Muslim children, etc. For Al Qaeda to use 9/11 as a justifiable attack is beyond comprehension. I am glad US destroyed this terror group and I applaud more US attacks on Al Qaeda and other terrorits.
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