As we come to the end of the Bush failure, I've been fascinated with his first, full-on catastrophe: 9/11. September 11 was a horrible day of death and destruction, as we all know. It was also a day of reckoning: any semblance that there would be peace, simply by virtue of the end--probably--of conventional warfare was clearly proven false.
Another string of thought going through my mind right now is, of course, the situation in Gaza. I have to say: I'm conflicted. I think that what Israel is doing is wrong on many levels, mainly collective punishment and the murdering of civilians. I don't think that Gaza has the manpower to achieve its stated goal of destroying Israel. But I still feel that, however wrongly Israel is acting, they still have a basis for this action, that they clearly believe. It may be incomprehensible--for perfectly legitimate reasons--to us. But I think that it's important that we at least try to understand the mindset.
So how are the two connected?
Read More