OSAMA DELENDA EST
A few random and
occasionally cranky musings on life in the post-September 11th
world:
·
A ragged and
tattered U.S. flag is inspiring when it got that way in battle or as part of
some other heroic deed. It’s not so inspiring when it became shredded from being continually lashed to the antenna of your pickup truck
for three weeks through rain, dust, and
fast driving. If you’re going to display the flag, you really ought to
treat it with some respect.
·
A burning
question seems to be “are we going to stop our military operations during the
Muslim Holy month of Ramadan?” Some say that, if we bomb during Ramadan, it
might endanger the coalition against terrorism. To which I reply: What
coalition? Unlike the Gulf War, I haven’t seen a lot of Saudis or Qataris
putting their butts on the line here. If Indonesia, for example, wants to send
a few fighter-bombers or ground troops to help out, then maybe they can have a
say in the conduct of this war, but till then, maybe they ought to just shut
the heck up. Look, I know George Dubbya wants to build a coalition just like
his Daddy did, but let’s face it. Support of most of the Muslim countries
(other than Pakistan) has been, at best, lukewarm. Bombing during Ramadan may give
some wavering Muslim countries the excuse they need to stop supporting us, but
if they’re looking for an excuse in the first place, I say, forget ‘em. I mean,
really. Is Saudi Arabia going to tell us to pack up and leave with Saddam
Hussein still lurking just over the horizon? I tell you what, let’s offer a
deal: We’ll stop bombing during Ramadan if the terrorists agree to lay down
their arms and suspend all attacks between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
·
If you look
at the civilian casualty stories in much of the news media, you would think
that our planes never actually hit anything but Red Cross warehouses and
innocent farmers. The fact is, civilian casualties are inevitable in any war,
smart bombs or no smart bombs. If you refuse to fight because you might kill
civilians, then you might as well disband the military right now and move Osama
and his gang into the White House to start calling the shots. What makes America and its allies unique is
the fact that we care about civilian casualties at all and at least try to
avoid them. The fact that we don’t always succeed should not detract from the
fact that we make the effort.
·
I understand
that a number of businesses have been adversely affected by the attacks of
September 11th and their aftermath. But the number of things being
blamed on this has gotten ridiculous. For example, the marketing flacks at MGM
blamed the lackluster turnout for the film “Bandits” (a moderately fun film
with equally moderate audience numbers) on “the impact of terrorism on movie-going
habits”. What’s next? “Terrorists blew up my homework?”
·
While a
number of people have publicly deplored the practice of racial profiling,
legislation to ban the practice has apparently become another casualty of
September 11th. Congress’ proposed
“End Racial Profiling Act” seems to have died on the vine. Don’t want to
tie the hands of law enforcement, don’t you know. Actually, I think we should use more racial profiling. After the
terrorist actions of Timothy McVeigh and Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, I’ve totally
stopped trusting white people. Someone really needs to keep an eye on us.
·
Shortly after
September 11, the major news media seemed to have reached a tacit agreement
that they wouldn’t keep running and re-running the films of the planes being
crashed into the WTC. Too upsetting, they said. I think maybe we do need to
start running them again, to give us a reminder of exactly why we’re at war.
Maybe the networks could reach agreement to keep it to one time, per network,
per day, maybe at the end of the Nightly News. It’s said that the great Roman
orator Cato, during the period when Rome was at war with the ancient city-state
of Carthage, used to end every speech the same way. Whatever the topic of the
speech–taxes, foreign policy, the fact that you just couldn’t get good slaves
these days–Cato would always wind up by thundering “Carthago delenda est (Carthage must be destroyed)!” Maybe Cato
was just a tiresome blowhard. Or maybe he wanted to keep the citizens focused.
We need some of that focus now, I think. We need something to remind us of just
why “Osama delenda est.”
Dusty
Rhoades practices law in Aberdeen and lives in Carthage (the ones in North
Carolina).
OUR GRACIOUS HOST (BOOKS-N-BYTES)
COPYRIGHT 2001 BY JERRY D. RHOADES, JR.