Punish the guilty -- but don't blame religions, ethnic groups

{-- Not my chosen headline}

{From the original editor:}
TOP STORY: EDITOR'S NOTE: On Tuesday, as the magnitude of the tragedies that had just happened began to become clear, our contributor Matt Hogan filed a response, and we immediately provided a link to it.

By MATTHEW HOGAN
TMNS Contributor

{Arlington, VA} They said that all monuments were closed, but tourists ambled around the famous Iwo Jima memorial in Arlington, Virginia. Still, the sight of large groups of people crossing the bridge from the District
of Columbia, and the police closing the highway to the Pentagon, confirmed the crisis atmosphere created by the crash of the American Airlines plane into the Pentagon and the related sabotage-slaughter at the World Trade Center. At the nearby Fort Myer facility, I walked past as bereted troops in fatigues inspected each arrival.

Behind that, a plume of smoke came from one side of the headquarters of our Defense Department.

Verbal bombs are following. Everyone is calling the terrorists "cowards" or their actions "cowardly." Call it as you will: fanatic,evil, satanic, dastardly; it was many things, but it was not cowardly. One person, perhaps Orrin Hatch, has called them "cowards who would stop at nothing." The shortsightedness of that comment is
self-evident: it is the very opposite of cowardice to be stoppable by nothing.

On the streets in Arlington an old white guy is saying how we need to close the borders and keep the Muslims out. He lived in Saudi Arabia. I also spent considerable time in the Middle East and I don't worry about Muslims, just bad people who happen to be Muslims. (It also might be a good idea if in the long run we got our own explosives
out of the Middle East.) I fear there will be a backlash against ethnic and religious groups by vigilantes and mobs -- the same savage mentalities as the bombers themselves.

The media is fanning the flames of tyranny, trying to goad commentators to say that we must now change our whole lives for the sake of security. Rubbish. The people who tried to turn the Pentagon into the Square should not be allowed to turn the free and the brave into slaves of fear. Let's find the guilty and any sponsors and
breathe fiery judgment. Let's solve any underlying political issues that enable the guilty to circulate and recruit.

From New York I learn that my brother who works for local TV is OK while covering the event. My uncle used to work in the World Trade Center but died a few years ago. Many people we know must at least know someone who works there. It is conceivable that tens of thousands are dead. (I am not an architect, but why should the whole building collapse when the top is hit?)

{No, I wasn't then or now considering a conspiracy; just curious.}

I do agree the likely suspect is Osama bin-Laden. The method is familiar -- multiple attacks, no claim of responsibility, a level of intelligent organization. The targets dealt with American world power and foreign power which usually don't bother militia type groups. The fact that they chose the Pentagon is revealing as well. Palestinians don't have much grudge against the American military, but the Osama people do because of U.S. military presence in Saudi Arabia.

Another questionable comment is that this is unprecedented in America. Not really. The British occupied New York in the Revolution and the rebels burned a good part of it. In the War of 1812, the British burned Washington. In the Civil War, the Yankees burned Atlanta. As deliberate targeting of civilians in American history goes, however, this is nonetheless a doozy.

Find the guilty. Kill them, preferably after due process; punish their sponsors. Don't be blaming religions and ethnic groups. Realize that they are not cowards. Also realize that intentionally killing civilians is nothing that odd for people {who regard themselves} at war: we razed Japan, killing hundreds of thousands.

"There is no morality in war," is the quote of the American pilot who dropped the A-bomb and never lost a night's sleep. And the attackers of New York and Washington obviously feel the same.