Many 9/11 Tribute Programs.....but

[VHG]

As the 9/11 date (or 11/9 as we in the UK know it) comes round there seems to be dozens of TV programs on at the moment about 9/11 and its aftermath.

It is of course right we feel sorry for the people involved in 9/11 and their families who still survive.

However, because of the number of TV channels and video cameras available in that country, giving more visibility of the attack, there is a danger of giving the USA more sympathy than perhaps other countries.

Some of us are old enough to remember the Vietnam war, where America used two awful chemicals on the people Vietnam.

One was Napalm, which stuck to people's bodies and burned them. More here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napalm#Military_use

The other was Agent Orange, a chemical used to remove the leaves from trees so the enemy could not hide under them. More here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_Orange

The use of this chemical has caused untold misery to hundreds of thousands of people in Vietnam since the end of the war.

Here is an article on the BBC web site today talking about the effects of Agent Orange on the people of Vietnam (a TV program is shown on BBC1 London tonight).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-23632245

So while you watch the TV programs about 9/11 just remember the death and misery the USA caused to a country the other side of the world (and now condemns Syria for the use of chemicals in War!).

Sometimes you read what you sow.

[naomi24]

That's the point. Things have moved on. I fail to see how the attacks on the Twin Towers can be justified in any way whatsoever.

[DrFilth]

morning bernie
.........................................................


if you think this thread has gone out of sync think how a using force in another country can go wrong

[Octavius]

Are you saying VHG, that there is an element of over-sympathy to the USA for 9/11 due to the extent of available video footage and cameras in the modern era, and endless documentaries on televison. And that this has led to a saturation and 'cover up' of past crimes by the US military?

I think the imagery from 9/11 is staggering, and cannot compare with the past, but there are a few images that remain forever in the mind, and the litttle viatnamese girl (Kim Phuc) running away from the napalm is one of them, as is the footage of hiroshima and atom bomb testing in the pacific.

I agree that there is a glut of documentaries covering 9/11 from all angles of 'affectedness' but this doesn't really detract from the kowledge - and visual evidence - that all countries have some tragic acts of aggression in their back catalogues.

[DrFilth]

in 2011, it was estimated that a single Tomahawk cruise missile costs US$1,410,000.

think of all the food and water, blankets etc you could buy with the money of just one cruise missile

[jim360]

Then again, think of how hard it is to try to topple an evil dictatorial regime by throwing blankets at them. Both weapons and relief efforts are, realistically, needed.

[DrFilth]

jim sarin has been used but who used it ?

[emmie]

the 3,000 people in the Twin towers were as innocent as the people you have depicted, they did nothing wrong, didn't bomb anyone, are you saying that because our government got involved in Iraq, Afghanistan the 52 dead and hundreds injured in London were to blame in some way, seems a poor way to think if so.

[jake-the-peg]

3,000 innocents died in 9/11

Over 100,000 civillians died in the subsequent Iraq war

There seems to be a rather significant asymetry of concern here

[B00]

JtP, just because we're horrified and appalled by the former, it doesn't mean we condone the latter!

[ludwig]

Perhaps all the steel supporting structure etc in the twin towers was secretly removed by the US government prior to the attacks so the buildings would collapse more easily.

It's not as crazy as it sounds. ..oh hang on a minute, yes it is.

[emmie]

jtp, and the Syrians go on killing one another, as do the Afghanis, be it terrorist or not, and indeed much of the Middle East and beyond, their tribal, faith is having the effect of this split, and as one chap suggested that genocide will follow in Syria if the west does nothing. so if we intervene which i am dead set against, then what, mass killing anyway, a country riven by war, what a mess this is. So called Arab spring wasn't worth the words was it.

[keyplus90]

////So while you watch the TV programs about 9/11 just remember the death and misery the USA caused to a country the other side of the world////

I am sure you are joking. Otherwise you must know that we are not supposed to talk about the "other side of the world". And by the way you forgot to mention two atomic bombs fired by the same nation that killed millions. Apparently those two bombs stopped the war a bit earlier. What a joke....

[sandyRoe]

And we shouldn't forget the first recorded use of weapons of mass destruction, the atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

[emmie]

i agree, however we also shouldn't forget the millions of innocents who died at the hands of their own governments. Russia, China, to name just two.

[jake-the-peg]

B00

I would suggest that it's not a matter of condoning

It seems to me a matter of indifference to most people

9/11 is a continual theme told an retold to express the horror and outrage - yes we're all aware that lots of people died in the following wars but nobody in the west seems really interested in telling *that* story.

It almost seems that they don't matter to most people because they were foreigners.

Even worse that somehow Iraqis 'started it' by 9/11 - although I'd hope that is limited to a few very dim people by now

[emmie]

had the planned land war with the Japanese gone ahead the casualties would have been catastrophic on all sides, the Japanese were not going to fold in, their predications of Japanese losses amounted to millions. They were not going to surrender, their defence of their homeland was paramount. The debate on the dropping of these bombs will rage on and on, but in truth it saved millions of deaths on all sides.

[janbee]

The head office of my company was based in the South Tower and many of my friends and colleagues were murdered that day. Yes, the USA, and MANY other countries, have all done wrong but none of that can or should, ever excuse what happened on Sept 11th 2001. It wasn't just the World Trade Centre, it was The WORLD'S trade centre. People from all over the world were murdered that day.

[jake-the-peg]

Ther are certain difficulties with that argument

It assumes the necessity for an invasion of Japan to end the war - I think there's a relatively strong argument to support that but its not overwhelming.

Secondly it really only justifies the first use in Hiroshima

The use of the second one is generally justified with some very weak arguments like - 'we had to prove we had more than one'

I think in any case it rather ignores the mindset at the time - I dont think it was a mindset of doing the minimum to win the war, to limit civillian casulties. I think it was a mindset of an absolute and overwhelming victory to 'bomb them back to the stone age'.

[janbee]

Many countries have blood on their grubby paws over the decades nay, centuries BUT that does not mean we should EVER condone what happened on Sept 11th 2001... NEVER EVER condone it.