Some perspective on the task before us and those in charge.–Ed
The situation in New York (and I’m sure Washington) is as under control as humanly possible. While you should
certainly contribute to those organizations providing relief efforts, we have or are getting the physical and human resources
needed to do the job.
At some point, we’ll probably need more trained personnel to pick through the rubble and relieve our firemen who are under incredible physical and mental strain, but I’m sure we’ll get that when we need it.
Understand that this is a very localized disaster. Outside of the dust and ash, 99.9% of this city is untouched. The other .1% got annihilated, but after some cleanup, this city is perfectly functional.
Most of the closings you are hearing about are just precautions and actions taken to facilitate emergency personnel getting in and out of the disaster zone.
I have complete, and I mean complete confidence in the ability of the Federal government to appropriately handle those who did this.
It would be difficult to imagine a better, more experienced team for something like this than the one that’s already in there. The people who ran the Gulf War are the ones who are going to be handling this.
Cheney, Powell, plenty of people underneath them who went through the Gulf experience. They know what to do diplomatically. They know what to do behind the scenes. They know better than to kneejerk.
Are you worried about the guy on top? So he can’t give great speeches. Neither could his daddy; he somehow managed to talk well enough to win the Gulf War.
How many Presidents of the United States can just call Daddy for experienced advice?
If you want to get a good feel for how these guys operate, I suggest you pick up The Commanders by Bob Woodward.
Not that I expect anything like Desert Storm to occur, not at all. What needs to be done is tiny in comparison. Ironically, it will be difficult precisely because the foe is so tiny and hard to find.
This is not a real national crisis, folks. This isn’t the Nazis, this isn’t the Soviets, hell, it’s not even the Iraqis. This is more like shooting a pack of rabid dogs. A very small pack of rabid dogs. Rabid dogs can be very annoying and deadly to those they bite, but hardly a threat to national survival.
Many have used the term “Pearl Harbor,” including myself, and it’s true in any death count, but that’s it. Pearl Harbor meant an industrialized nation of almost a hundred million people with a good army, navy and air force whacked us. What does Mr. Bin Laden have in comparison?
You want to talk about fanaticism? Just who invented the idea of crashing planes into the enemy in the first place? Who defended island after island to the last man again and again and again? Who committed suicide by the thousands rather than give up? Now that’s a fanatical enemy! They walked the walk. What does Mr. Bin Laden, or for that matter, every Islamic terrorist group combined, have in comparison?
Most importantly, for those of you who think these terrorists represent a completely hopeless case of fanaticism, just what do you think the average American would have called Japan and the Japanese in 1944 or 1945 (and no, Hiroshima and Nagasaki didn’t make them give up; it just gave them a facing-saving excuse)?
And just what is that nation of hopelessly fanatical lunatics doing now?
There’s reason for hope.
Be the first to comment