America didn’t ask for terror

On Sept. 25 the Bangor Daily News published three op-ed commentaries that regurgitate the tired old rhetoric of the left that I have heard since the 1960s. I didn’t buy it then, and

I still don’t buy it now.

John Buell, Hugh Curran and Duncan Beaton, while of course denouncing the terror attacks, want us to accept that it is our fault. They argue that we are not sensitive to the plight of the Third World in general, and the Middle East in particular, and that we should think more globally.

They suggest that we need a Marshall Plan for the Third World, and that we need to mediate with the terrorists. They bring up Kyoto, economic injustice (this is right out of Karl Marx), corporate globalization (more Marxist rhetoric), and my favorite argument, our blind support for Israel, as factors that cause some to hate us so.

Apparently it is of no consequence that Israel was invaded by the entire Arab world in 1948, barely a country, and surrounded by enemies. Today only a couple of Arab states have recognized Israel’s right to exist. Israel is still in a state of war; we cannot abandon her.

It is not our fault that billions of people live in poverty, or under corrupt dictatorships. Is it just a coincidence that the richest countries in the world are all democracies and have market economies to one degree or another?

How is it our fault that we have educated our citizens and liberated our people, not perfectly and not fully, but certainly better than anywhere else in the world? Why are so many people trying to enter this country? Could it possibly be that we are the most open and tolerant society in the world, the land of opportunity?

Terrorism has no justification. The attacks of Sept. 11 were an act of war. This country must act to defend us in whatever way necessary for our security, and our way of life.

President Bush stated it clearly and correctly, “You are either with us, or you are with the terrorists.” It really is that simple. I also heard him say that this may create some unique opportunities for peace, that to me implies that he has a grasp on the bigger picture. They fear he will succeed and completely discredit their worn-out rhetoric.

It is ironic that the peaceniks are protesting without any clear understanding of what it is that we plan to do. Hopefully their agenda will follow the same path that President Bush articulated so well in his speech to Congress, “the unmarked grave of forgotten lies.”

Alfred J. Greenlaw is a resident of Orrington.