On Mon, 17 Sep 2001 07:45:56 -0700, Nick Taylor <ntaylor@xxxxxxx>
wrote:
snip...snip...
>
>FWIW, I have no good solutions. Our goals should be to bring an end to
>terrorist attacks, not just to gain revenge ... and every proposed course
>of action that I've seen only lead to a future increase in terrorist
>activities.
>
> -Nick T.
I second that, Nick.
An attack on Afghanistan, how justified it may be from the victims
point of view, is not the only way in which we have to tackle the
problem.
What has not been stressed so far is, that the
hijackers/kamikaze-murderers are only one of the parties involved in
last week's disaster. Of course they and their 'employers' must be
punished, but others who are also responsible for what has happened
should be forced to bear the consequences of those responsabilities:
- worldwide aviation companies, until now not willing to sacrifice
some of their profit for more security. They have not been prepared to
accept less chairs per plane as a consequence of effective separation
of cabin and cockpit, despite recommendations in that direction
- worldwide governmental institutions with the task to ensure safety
inside planes: they should have forced the aviation world to comply
with necessary safety mesaurements
- governmental institutions with the task to ensure security on
airfields, in particular for domestic flights.
- intelligence services which have not functioned properly and
obviously have done a lousy job and made a mess of their work
And then there is us all, citizens of the civilized world. Almost all
of us bear some responsability because of our vanity and haughtiness:
- we have come to think that it is normal to build airplanes with a
few hundred seats, and use them abundantly even when it is not at all
necessary (same applies for motoring, BTW). We even want to build
bigger planes now...
- we have also come to think that it is normal to build skyscrapers
over a hundred floors high, to show which power we have over 'the
world'.
- and we have also come to think that it is normal to 'protect' our
western wealth as a sort of property. We are simply not prepared to
share with poorer people elswehere on the same world - unless we can
take profit from it. With envy as a result to be expected...
Of course military action may turn out to be a proper way of
punishment for the people responsible for the attacks. But for all of
us another way of thinking is also necessary to prevent future
disasters...
Frank van Lindert
Utrecht NL.
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