Letters to the Editor
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Excellent article!
In the person of George W. Bush we have the perfect corollary to Osama bin Laden. Without Bush, bin Laden was just a two-bit thug trying to make a name for himself. With Bush he is a world-historical figure changing the way the Muslim world thinks and behaves. The same case can be made for Bush. Without bin Laden, Bush didn't know what to do with himself. With bin Laden, he's hoping he'll go down in history as a "monumental" president. Meanwhile, thousands of people die.
The caption on the news this morning read "9/11--the day America changed." Did America change? The media is complicit. The American public is addicted to soundbites and a good fight. The "War on Terrorism" is a media production and the genius of this administration has been in how they have exploited this weakness of the American people. I think Afghanistan changed more, Iraq changed more, the whole Muslim world changed more than America.
9/11 was a pin prick compared to the pounding we've given Iraq and Afghanistan and other nations throughout our disingenous history and almost always not for rational reasons but to further our own selfish ends. But most Americans are not clever enough to figure that out. They see "The Day America Changed" and eat that shit up like all the other dribble that comes out of their TV sets.
It's a farce.