"The Essence of True Humanity is Compassion."- Debbie Menon
Imagine the murder and death of non-Americans
It took a matter of weeks in 2001 after the launching of Operation Enduring Freedom for the toll of innocent civilians in Afghanistan to surpass that of those murdered on 9/11.
That was nine years ago. Comparing the civilian tolls now in 9/11, Iraq and Afghanistan is a calculation based on order of magnitude.
"We responded to the worst kind of depravity with the best of our humanity," said President Obama in his weekly presidential address marking 9/11 today.
Not True.
If civilians of all nations be considered human, the tragedy of 9/11 can be seen in one scale as business as usual, inhumanity waged ferociously.
And it didn't take long for American liberal and neocon intellectuals to get back to the business of war in 2001.
As Noam Chomsky wrote then: "(L)iberal intellectuals have lined up in support of the war machine in the familiar style -- discussed, for example, by Randolph Bourne in classic essays--and since they know they do not have the intellectual competence to deal with those who refuse to go along, resort to what comes natural to the educated classes: hysterical tantrums, lies, and abuse. Why become involved? There are more important things to do--such as continue to falsify their increasingly desperate claim that everyone is following them in their depraved subordination to power."
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