I try not to post about political stuff on here as it just causes arguments but this is a very important issue for me...
I moved to Los Angeles on August 2nd 2001.
Great timing, huh?
On September 11th, I was due to visit my new university (CSULA in East Los Angeles) for the first time to sort out my health insurance and check out the campus so that I would be completely ready for term starting in a few weeks.
My room-mate was attending Santa Monica College and we lived in Hollywood so she would leave for class very early. I heard her go at about 6am and I stayed in bed for a while. Then the phone rang. She told me to not go anywhere near Downtown LA and to put the TV on.
I did, just in time to see the second plane hit.
9/11 traumatised me, largely because I saw it happen. It was not my first exposure to terrorism; growing up in a major UK city in the 1980s meant that I could not fear terrorism and live a normal life so I had learned to accept that if something happened, so be it.
Of course, my room-mate who was already showing signs of mental illness went completely over the edge. I am sure that did not help.
But I never feared terrorism; I continued to live my life. I avoided the London bombings because I was due to be in the city that day but I was not well and decided to postpone my trip.
Now the US government are saying they have finally got Bin Laden.
I am actually glad he is dead. Terrible for a former-Buddhist to say, I know... But he was the figurehead and he ordered the attacks so he should be punished. War crimes tribunals, etc, are all very well but they do not have the same effect as shooting someone in the face.
But now, of course, he will become a martyr to the cause.
I got the news on Twitter about an hour and a half ago (yeah I am a saddo; I check Twitter as soon as I wake up). I had a browse through the comments of others and many were following the same pattern - it's all over, let's bring our troops home, peace at last.
Wake up.
This is just the start.
This will get much worse before it gets better. Killing Bin Laden will just give more of these kids a reason to want to fight against the West. And many of them are only kids.
I have a Bachelors and a Masters degree in American Studies. One of the strongest images from my time writing about all this was video footage of a young teenager waving a gun and shouting "DEATH TO THE AMERICANS!" He was wearing a Chicago Bulls jersey...
I can see there being many more terrorist attacks and more limitations placed on travellers. This will just make their resolution stronger.
Again, don't get me wrong; I do believe Bin Laden needed to be removed but they also need to take out all of the other powerful members and then defeat the masses in battle and (hopefully) prove to disaffected youths that this is not the answer to their problems. But how realistic is that?
I don't see an end to this in my lifetime.
Other nations were trying to overpower and colonise Vietnam for a thousand years. The US tried and had to withdraw because they could not commit troops for the next thousand years.
War creates more disaffected youths who believe that fighting the world super-powers is the only solution to their problems. They cannot match them in combat and so terrorism is implemented to get their point across. This prompts more wars.
The answer?
Communication, education, negotiation.
Is this ever going to happen?
No.
Go read some W.D. Ehrhart.
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