I really don’t get the title of this piece in Forbes magazine - Forbes.com: Rice plans no apology in 9/11 testimony. Why should Condoleezza Rice apologize for 9/11? As far as I remember, she was not the one who drove the planes into the buildings or incited the people who did. I think this is ridiculous to expect either the Clinton admin or the Bush admin to apologize for 9/11, since I don’t believe either of them caused this or are responsible for it.
Posted by shanti at April 7, 2004 1:51 PMTrackBack URL for this entry:
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I think in the U.S., you now have a culture where “chance” cannot exist, or that some human action can lessen or heighten the effect of chance. So, if there is a chance that 19 middle-class Arab men can take ordinarily harmless boxcutters onto a plane, and smash them into the economic and political capitals of the country, then there MUST be some action that can be taken to reduce the liklihood of that happening.
In a country that is so overprotective that it needs to intsall V-chips in televisions, the idea that someone has to apologize for 9-11 is not that much of a stretch. Of course, expecting Arab nations to apologize for promoting a culture that gave rise to the hijackers is too much. We have to be sensitive to the “AraB Street”
Posted by: KXB at April 8, 2004 11:32 AM
Exactly my point, KXB. I would probably think that CAIR being an association of apologists for Muslims and Arabs might have a lot more to apologize for 9/11 than do any administration officials. Sometimes, things happen - just because hindsight is 20/20 doesn’t mean these things could have been prevented at that point in time.
Posted by: Shanti at April 8, 2004 11:53 AM
It’s something deeper than an apology. If it had been something as simple as saying they’re sorry for the events on that tragic day.. and not being able to prevent them…that’s one thing.
No, no one in The White House plowed a plane into the towers.
It’s the events after that that dishonors these people.
Hiding evidence, information, misdirection on many levels, attempts to destroy other people, simple neglect and not taking responsibility on their watch is in my humble opinion criminal. Their attempts to blame anything or anyone is just sad.
The buck has to stop somewhere.
Posted by: Tish at April 14, 2004 1:34 PM
Tish, hiding what evidence? attempts to destroy which people? Blaming anything and anyone? Did we run around trying to blame Clinton for the USS Cole bombing? The first WTC bombing? Khobar towers? No!
The only people who have personal responsibility towards these crimes are the people who committed them. No one, I repeat no one in America believed something like 9/11 could happen on America’s soil, so I can forgive the President for not being able to foresee the future.
Think about it this way - if 9/11 didn’t happen and the 19 guys who planned it were all apprehended before the deed. Wouldn’t ACLU be the first in line to defend the “poor, innocent Arabs” who are being persecuted by the eevil Republicans? If Bush declared war on Taliban/Al Qaeda and Bin Laden before 9/11, wouldn’t we be in the streets screaming “no blood for oil”? That was how it was then - I really don’t see why anyone would have reacted differently under the circumstances.
Posted by: Shanti at April 14, 2004 2:02 PM
This comment is slightly tangential to the post but an interesting take on the recent Bush speech can be found here:
http://users.rcn.com/scottstirling/2004/04/13.html#a94
Posted by: Dilip at April 14, 2004 6:37 PM