The essay I published in October, 2001, -- first called "I
Tried to Believe It" and later republished by Public Action
under the title "911 Terror: Muslims Suspend Laws of
Physics" -- has been updated, proofed, and illustrated. It
is now on line at
http://www.public-action.com/911/jmcm/physics_1.html through
the generosity of the webmasters at Public Action, with
proofreading and design help from other friends.
Of course, many things have transpired since that essay was
written, and I have learned more than I ever dreamed of
knowing about building construction and demolition, but in
revision, I tried to keep the essay within the original
limited intent.
We have learned, through the devices of our patriotic
military, that bin Laden did NOT hope to level the towers to
the ground, but only to knock off the top floors. Or at
least, so went the translation of a language we do not know
and could not hear from a figure we could not recognize on
an impossibly low-quality videotape discovered by chance.
Thus, given (on the one hand) the doubtful and demanding
technology of building implosion, and (on the other) the
accidental and perfect implosion of 1) the south tower, 2)
the north tower, and 3) Building 7, we must conclude we have
witnessed three of the most disastrous flukes in modern
times -- between breakfast and dinner of a single day, so to
speak.
Experts tell us it was the most surprising of events, and it
was the most anticipated. It was the most unforeseen, and
it was the most predictable. If I believed in the
remarkable improbabilities of that day, I would conclude
that God Is Not On Our Side. I would call on my countrymen
to make their peace with the world and pray forgiveness for
all America's transgressions, known and unknown, real or
imagined, intended or not.
However, America has not followed that path. Instead,
condemning those who inflict death in vengeance, America has
sought vengeance in the death of Taliban, Al Qaeda members,
and thousands of other incidental Muslims. Denouncing those
who kill civilians, America has bombed civilians and called
the deaths "collateral damage." America has defined
terrorism as an attempt to influence national policy by
violence: but is there a Muslim nation in the whole world
whose policies have not been influenced by America's
violence against Afghanistan?
In the final irony of the season, we have watched America
defend her unconquerable Liberty by stifling civil liberties
in every sphere of American life and installing martial law.
It should not surprise us that America launched into this
Age of Paradox, Oxymoron, and Irony with the paradoxical
events of September 11, 2001.
It was a terrible, tragic, horrific, and dreadful
catastrophe that gave America's leaders the cause they
needed to limit the American liberties they had always found
tiresome, to conduct the war they had been planning in any
case, -- and to try out their new weapons on live subjects.
What's not to like?
Make sure you see:
http://www.public-action.com/911/jmcm/physics_1.html
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