My thoughts on 9/11 on this, the 5th anniversary…

People do like to simpify things and make them black and white. It seems that most people’s views on terrorism and Iraq etc. have been pushed into 2 camps. The first assumes that everyone including Islamic fundamentalists are rational people and there must be some rational explanation for why they want to kill us (e.g. Bush), and something we can change to satisfy them. The second views the whole situation as good vs. evil and thus assumes we can defeat them, because good (Bush?) always wins…in the movies.

The first camp forgets that Usama and his buddies were carrying out terrorist attacks before the US led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. There is little to negotiate with someone who believes religiously that the US is the great satan and that they will be rewarded with virgins in heaven for killing a US citizen. The second camp forgets that the US doesn’t have the moral high ground to be a world police force, and that acting unilaterally leaves other countries feeling humiliated.

I hate to sound like a defeatist but I can’t see how this situation is ever going to be solved, and I just trust God has a plan. Though we could try sending Chuck Norris to Afghanistan.