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the events of September 11
are best understood not as
acts of war
-- which are committed by states --
but as crimes
A note by Richard Farr, 9/18/2001
It seems to me that the events of September 11 are best understood not as
acts of war -- which are committed by states -- but as crimes. And that
their target was not so much the United States as the very idea (shared by
nearly all the people of the world, and many at least of their governments)
of civil life under the rule of law. And that their perpetrators are not
"Islam" or "Afghanistan" but certain deeply corrupt individuals.
If this is so, we harm everyone, not least ourselves, by encouraging
indiscriminate "retaliation" in place of justice.
This is a great opportunity -- so far largely missed -- for the west to mend
fences with Islam, and help Moslems separate themselves from the
fundamentalists under whose influence millions of true Moslems so grievously
suffer. We are on the same side of the fence; after all, these terrible acts
are at least as offensive to the values espoused by the Prophet as they are
to Christian or western secular values.
It's a tempting time for our leaders to do the satisfying, cathartic thing.
But the task of giving our grandchildren a world in which terrorism is a
mere memory requires different, harder choices.
With these thoughts in mind, I urge you to read the petition at the link
below, consider signing it, and consider passing the link on to friends.
http://home.uchicago.edu/~dhpicker/petition
Richard Farr
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