I write to you today with a heavy heart and deep feelings of sympathy for those lost in the September 11th, 2001 tragedies in New York City and Washington, D.C. I am possibly the only Hata based in NYC and as I write this we have passed the 24 hours mark and there is still at least one person I know personally, who worked in or near The World Trade Center who I am yet to hear from. With the inaccessibility of that area and the large number hospitalized, it may be impossible to know for certain for several days what happened to many people. At this time many people are frightened, angry, confused, and disillusioned.

To the Angry: I plead with you to control your anger and reserve judgment until the facts of this situation are known fully. We should not forget so soon the last terrorist attack on American soil, the 1995 bombing of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City. Then, same as now, the media rushed to judgment with dubious information, made innuendoes and blanket condemnations of “Arabs׆(I personally resent this term but will allow it for brevity) , and held Osama bin Laden responsible. As it would turn out the culprit was a blond-haired, blue-eyed, Apple Pie-eating, American. I also implore that you discourage your friends from espousing and/or engaging in activities that may lead to violence and property damage in the “Arab-American” communities in the U.S., as there will undoubtedly be some backlash. Already the Warhawks running the country have made it clear that they will have THEIR 'revenge' as Bush stated so belligerently, “we will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them”. Many of us will support these likely acts of indiscriminate aggression. Maybe it is man's seemingly instinctual desire for revenge or the fact that our 'brave' pilots are able to fly over places like Baghdad and drop bombs from 10,000 feet with little or no danger to themselves. This 'revenge' may be more or less bloody but one thing is for certain there will be no American cameras to cover the event up close or the aftermath of suffering. The question then must be raised, 'strike back at who and what', and more importantly, to what end? As I recall the last time the U.S. got 'revenge' for a terrorist act committed against it (bombing of U.S. embassies in Kenya & Tanzania) they bombed Afghanistan and a “chemical weapons” plant in Sudan which later turned out to be a much needed pharmaceutical and medicine plant. There were no apologies, no payments, and no re-evaluation of policy- only silence.

To the Confused and Disillusioned: I hope that this immense tragedy can be interpreted as a signal that it may be time to gain a better understanding of the world we live in, and not just through the eyes of the State Department. Through Playahata we try to bring you a mix of entertainment news - which most of us are far too concerned with- and current events, but it is of the utmost importance for all of you to seek the truth for yourselves, wherever that journey may lead. Through this whole ordeal my disbelief has been tempered by Understanding. The understanding that so many of us don't exhibit when we say things like, 'how could this happen here?', 'I don't understand why anybody would do this', and 'I no longer feel safe!'. Like the Columbine residents we seem to believe that we (American citizens) are somehow isolated and insulated from the problems of the world, even though the U.S. plays such a critical part in this 'Brave New World Order' with only one world Superpower. I find myself asking why this did not happen sooner and does not happen more frequently. While the media feeds you the official lines of various government agencies, and labels Osama bin Laden as our new antichrist, they forget to mention that guilty or innocent, he is their creation (and regardless of guilt or innocence he will undoubtedly be found guilty). When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan the CIA trained and supported Bin Laden to commit 'acts of terror' against the Soviets as a member of the Mujahadeen guerrillas. It is only when we (American government) no longer have use for men like him or can no longer fully control them that they become criminals of epic proportions, such as with some of our previous antichrist figures, Saddam Hussein and Manuel Noriega. This is no conspiracy theory! In all these cases this information is in the public record for anyone willing to do the research. THE HEINOUS ACTS OF SEPTEMBER 11th, 2001 WERE NO DOUBT ACTS OF TERRORISM, but so was our (government and citizens) financing and arming of the Contras who killed at least 30,000 civilians in Nicaragua, unilaterally declared blockades and embargoes in Cuba and Iraq, our 11 plus years of bombing Iraq, our support at different recent time periods for fascist and brutal regimes in much of South and Central America, East Timor, The Congo and a whole host of places that we (citizens) don't and won't think about unless in interferes with our Seinfeld repeat and Starbucks Café Lata. In all those cases the casualty numbers will dwarf whatever the final body count from this crime ten, hundreds, or thousands of times over. While you may not have agreed with many of these acts, for those who know or knew of them, they were committed in the name of the American people. Too often 'Terrorism' is defined in terms of who is committing it and against whom it is being committed. This continually brings the old saying to mind “Peace is NOT the absence of War, but the presence of Justice!”

To the frightened: I empathize. I too, am frightened at times like these. I live in NYC and intend to continue to live here for the foreseeable future. Every time I drive through the Lincoln or Holland Tunnel or ride public transportation I think of how easy it would be for someone to drive a truckload of explosives into one of those tunnels, or get on a subway train or bus with explosives strapped to their bodies. But what frightens me more is what type of freedoms we will be willing to give up in order to avert another situation like yesterday. Yes, security could and should be tighter at the nations airports, but as depressing as this may seem there is only so much that can be done to stop a suicide attack. Despite the angry words and media descriptions, the people responsible for this crime are by no means 'Cowards' at least by the conventional definition. They may be crazy, fanatical, callous, calculating, reactionary, patriarchal, cold hearted, mass murderers but obviously they do not fear their own death or injury, in fact they welcome it! If someone is willing to die for a 'cause' there is very little that bombing any nation will do to stop them. If nobody is willing to do deal with the roots of such insanity and barbarism then the only assurance to preventing acts like these in the future is to install cameras in everyone's homes and at every corner and stop light (they've already started this) and I know that is not the type of society I want to live in. While the events of September 11th, 2001 are both extremely, upsetting and scary I will not allow it to cause me live in fear, support irrational, knee-jerk laws alleged to prevent occurrences like these in the future, or to line up behind the empty rhetoric and jingoism coming from the nations 'leadership' and the media. I can already see an increasingly fervent, clamp down on freedom of opinion and expression domestically in the name of 'anti-terrorism' measures. We should all grieve (I certainly will), and we MUST all move on eventually; hopefully with a newfound interest in understanding the brutal world we live in and a desire for change in the near future. In the meantime I will be out donating blood and whatever else is needed, and keeping my phone line free- hoping for good news.

Released: September 2001

The views and opinions expressed herein by the author do not necessarily represent the opinions or position of Playahata.com.