tp15.xml

tp15.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2003-02-24

Terrorists had declared war on the population of the United States. People in other parts of the world were seen laughing at our tragedy.

Today I remembered what happened to Nagasaki and Hiroshima on August days in 1945. These Japanese cities and its citizens were vaporized, burned, scarred, and contaminated by radio-active materials. U.S. military planes had dropped atomic bombs on these cities with horrific results. As a Christian teenager, this tragedy made me happy, because my relatives and friends would survive the war. As a sixteen year old, I considered these acts as life saving for the Japanese population, and life saving for our Armed Forces. Terrorism never entered my mind. Today, we have forgotten there are citizens of Nagasaki and Hiroshima suffering and dying from the radiation of those bombs.

I continued remembering: the incendiary bombings of Tokyo and other Japanese cities in 1945 by U.S. planes; seeing the ruins of World War II in Mainz and Frankfurt, Germany, in 1950, while on furlough in the U.S. Army; remembering radio reports of London and Coventry, England, on fire from German bombs in the early ë40s; in the mid 30s buying bubble gum War cards with a picture of a Shanghai trolley car, the instant it was blown up, showing bodies flying through the air; of German Stuka fighter bombers strafing people in the streets of Warsaw, Poland. I thought, "Isnt it horrible what these Japanese and Germans do to these people?" Terrorism never entered my mind.



And I remembered drawings in the New York Journal American, of naked Holocaust victims dying in gas chambers; when my father saw these pictures, he said they couldnt be true! Was he ever wrong! It seemed too horrible to be true to many people. No mention as a terrorist act!



There is one thing I observed that separates; excuse me, two things that separate the mentioned events into Terrorist Acts, and War:



Uniforms! The 9\11 "terrorists" did not wear uniforms. All the other acts were performed by uniformed men. Terrorism was never mentioned or thought of.


Government! The 9/11 "terrorists" did not have an official government as the source of their acts. The bombings and the Holocaust acts were backed by governments.


"Therefore", the tragedy of 9/11 is a Terrorist act; and the bombings were acts of War. "Wear the right wardrobe and you are loved!" is bent reasoning in my way of thinking.




Wearing casual clothes or uniforms, government or guerilla, government or anarchist, government or gang, on the surface can change a headline? It depends on whose side you are on, and in whose Court of Law the trial is being held. It is happening all the time!



Do the victims and their families, of the destructive events outside the U.S. by our armed forces, use the term "terrorist"; and do they have the anger and hatred that many of us have for what was done on 9/11? Do they think the tragedy of 9/11 was a terrorist act? I doubt that many would. They have their reasons. And we have ours.



I can almost hear them say on the other side of the World, "You lost five thousand, and you mourn; we hope you dont have to mourn for two million as we do; I hope you have the interest in the news of today and history of the past, to know that we suffer too; and on a larger scale."



Since 9/05/02, I would like to say, with many others, to the people outside the U.S., "We have a better understanding and feeling for the tragedies within your nations, whether they are by Nature, uniformed or poorly clad men. Our connection to you is forever closer."



The sooner we listen to each other, the better our World will be.