Dear all,
It was with disbelief and great sadness that I watched the events of today
unfolding on the television. Somehow it didn't seem real - I mean obviously
it was real but somehow just too unbelievable to take it all in. It is only
now, some 9 hours later, that it is really hitting home having read through
the emails from members of this list, many of whom are American. Sorry if
this seems callous. It's not meant to be, just that actually conversing
with you guys on here makes it all the more real and "close-to-home".
Firstly, my heartfelt condolences to everyone who may have lost family or
friends in this deplorable attack. I've seen reports of many terrorist
attacks on many targets, but no one attack I've seen has reaped such damage,
and killed & injured so many innocent people. Words cannot express the
sadness I felt as I watched images of people in the floors above the impact
area calling for help from the windows of the WTC. Worse still was watching
many of these people jumping from the windows of the upper floors.
I was particularly sickened by one thing I saw today. The Palestinians
celebrating in the streets over the deaths of thousands of innocent American
citizens left me with a feeling of hatred I have never felt before and never
wish to feel again. These people are the scum of the earth, maybe even
worse than the people who have planned and carried out the attacks.
Regarding the response to this attack, like many others on here my first
response was to wish that we nuke the hell out of whoever did this. This
reaction is one born of anger and such a response, I believe, can only serve
to further the terrorist's course of action. If this attack had been
perpetrated by a country, this would be an act of war and America (with the
support of every free, democratic country in the world, I'm sure) should
respond in kind. The difficult part here is how to respond to what would
seem to be the actions of an extremist or fundamentalist group ? Countries
are easy to respond to, these groups are not so. A carefully considered,
well planned, and acutely executed response is what is needed here - even if
it takes some time to bring about. As one UK newscaster said today
(paraphrasing as I can't remember the exact words) "the USA needs to respond
in such a way as to destroy the perpetrators of this action, whilst still
keeping the moral high ground". A tough challenge indeed, and I hope we in
the rest of the world can help and support the USA in achieving this.
As the day here draws to a close, I go to bed worried about what exactly
tomorrow will bring. I sincerely hope that this is not the start of WWIII
as was suggested earlier. Today's actions can result in two possible
scenarios as I see it. Depending on the response of America and the rest of
the world we will either destroy the world completely in a matter of weeks
or days by descending into nuclear war, or we will strategically and with
surgical precision remove the terrorist factions from the surface of this
planet. Sorry if this seems a little extreme, but this could well be the
turning point for our entire world. This could be our chance to eradicate
these sort of terrorist acts from our society - many nations who may have
been indifferent to the terrorist attacks on America in the past will be
turning against the terrorists after today's activities. We as a world need
to make sure we make something good come out of the destruction and
devastation of today, for the sake of those who died.
With sincerest feelings for everyone involved, and hope for a peaceful
future,
Jon Mitchell
PS: Sorry if this a bit jumbled. I'm still in shock here too, and I'm
thousands of miles away.
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