From an interview with Chalmers Johnson, historian and military expert:
The world’s balance of power didn’t change one iota on September 11th, 2001. The only way we could lose the power and influence we had at that time was through our own actions, and that’s what we did.
Instead of calling it a war on terrorism, we should have called it a national emergency. We should have gone after the terrorists as criminals, as organized crime, because of their attacks on innocent civilians. Tracked them down — we have the capacity to do that — arrested them, extradited them back to the United States, tried them in our courts, and executed them. Had we done that, we would have retained the support of virtually the entire rest of the world, including the Islamic world, as the victims on 9/11.
As always, Chalmers Johnson hits the nail not only on the head, but in the center of it. Perfect illo, too.
Posted by: Chuck Dupree (Belisarius) on May 12, 2007 3:52 AMOne of my first thoughts as 9/11 was happening was, "This is the worst possible administration to have in power during an event like this". I guessed that a narrow-minded, authoritarian, secretive and ideological Cheney/Chimp cabal would exploit their failure to secure the country as an excuse to launch whatever disastrous imperial adventure they already had in mind.
Posted by: Mike G on May 12, 2007 2:51 PM