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Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s speech to the United Nations President George W. Bush’s speech at the National Day of Prayer and Remembrance President George W. Bush’s speech to the U.S. Congress and the American people Speech by British Prime Minister Tony Blair on terrorism His
finest hour: Tony Blair and the war, Secret tape suggests China-Bin Laden link, by Peter Finn (Washington Post) There
is no alternative to war, Even
pacifists must support this war, The
war: A road map, New
fears, new friends, The
Taliban’s bravest opponents, I was one of the Taliban’s torturers: I crucified people ( The Telegraph) Bin
Laden's clarity Make
the Middle East safe for Democracy, Bread
and bombs, bin
Laden said to own the Taliban, by Bob Woodward Handled
with care, Deserted:
Why Riyadh stiffs America, Cost
benefits: When to coddle bad regimes, |
"Now let us ponder exactly what the Americans are. America is free, very democratic and hugely successful. Americans speak our language and a dozen or so Americans write it much, much better than any of us. Americans make extremely good films and the cultivation and style of their best television programmes expose the vulgarity of the best of ours. Almost all the best universities in the world are American and, as a result, American intellectual life is the most vibrant and cultivated in the world. "People should think," David Halberstam, the writer, says from the blasted city of New York, "what the world would be like without the backdrop of American leadership with all its flaws over the past 60 years." Probably, I think, a bit like hell. "There is a lot wrong with America and terrible things have been
done in her name. But when the chips are down all the most important things
are right. On September 11 the chips went down." Why are Americans so united? They don't resemble one another even if you paint them! They speak all the languages of the world and form an astonishing mixture of civilizations. Some of them are nearly extinct, others are incompatible with one another, and in matters of religious beliefs, not even God can count how many they are. Still, the American tragedy turned three hundred million people into a hand put on the heart. Nobody rushed to accuse the White House, the army, the secret services that they are only a bunch of losers. Nobody rushed to empty their bank accounts. Nobody rushed on the streets nearby to gape about. The Americans volunteered to donate blood and to give a helping hand. After the first moments of panic, they raised the flag on the smoking ruins, putting on T-shirts, caps and ties in the colours of the national flag. They placed flags on buildings and cars as if in every place and on every car a minister or the president was passing. On every occasion they started singing their traditional song: "God Bless America!". Silent as a rock, I watched the charity concert broadcast on Saturday once, twice, three times, on different tv channels. There were Clint Eastwood, Willie Nelson, Robert de Niro, Julia Roberts, Cassius Clay, Jack Nicholson, Bruce Springsteen, Silvester Stalone, James Wood, and many others whom no film or producers could ever bring together. The American's solidarity spirit turned them into a choir. Actually, choir is not the word. What you could hear was the heavy artillery of the American soul. What neither George W. Bush, nor Bill Clinton, nor Colin Powell could say without facing the risk of stumbling over words and sounds, was being heard in a great and unmistakable way in this charity concert. I don't know how it happened that all this obsessive singing of America didn't sound croaky, nationalist, or ostentatious! It made you green with envy because you weren't able to sing for your country without running the risk of being considered chauvinist, ridiculous, or suspected of who-knows-what mean interests. I watched the live broadcast and the rerun of its rerun for hours listening to the story of the guy who went down one hundred floors with a woman in a wheelchair without knowing who she was, or of the Californian hockey player, who fought with the terrorists and prevented the plane from hitting a target that would have killed other hundreds of thousands of people. How on earth were they able to bow before a fellow human? Imperceptibly, with every word and musical note, the memory of some turned into a modern myth of tragic heroes. And with every phone call, millions and millions of dollars were put in a collection aimed at rewarding not a man or a family, but a spirit which nothing can buy. What on earth can unite the Americans in such a way? Their land? Their galloping history? Their economic power? Money? I tried for hours to find an answer, humming songs and murmuring phrases which risk of sounding like commonplaces. I thought things over, but I reached only one conclusion. Only freedom can work such miracles! "The complex political nature of the task is clear from the early bombing targets. They are carefully chosen military targets, intended to cripple command and control and air defenses but also to minimize Afghan civilian casualties. This is in direct moral contrast to the terrorist method, which seeks to kill as many civilians as possible as at the World Trade Center. Mr. Bush pointed out the extraordinary fact that the U.S. is airlifting food and medicine to the Afghan people at the same time it is bombing their Taliban rulers. The humanitarian effort also underscores that these strikes are not aimed at Islam but against bin Laden's perversion of that religion. "It should be obvious by now that the Taliban have earned whatever
fate they suffer. Mr. Bush gave them both a warning and weeks of time
to turn over al Qaeda's leaders. They refused. As recently as this weekend
they were holding Western aid workers, including two Americans, as hostages,
suggesting they'd be released if there were no military strike. Yesterday
the Taliban militia issued a statement of defiance through their Pakistan
ambassador, which only underscores that a vital aim of this war now must
be deposing their violent rule." |
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ENDURING
FREEDOM