Monday, September 11, 2006



The views expressed in the post below are purely my own and are not intended to offend. If you're still offended by something you read on here, go somewhere else. Ta.

As I queued up to pay for the new pair of shoes I'd just tried on, there were 2 elderly ladies ahead of me and the girl at the counter had disappeared into the backroom. She did appear, a few minutes later with a rather worried look on her face.

'A plane has crashed into the Empire State Building', she told them two old hags who started panicking as if the plane had infact struck the Treaty Center in Hounslow which is where we were. And it won't be surprising either as so many of them fly low above hounslow preparing to land at Heathrow.

Anyways, I paid for the shoes and got back to our store (Phones 4U, Hounslow) and told Chris, my manager what I'd heard. Since we only had restricted internet access, Chet, a colleague of mine, had to log on the Yahoo WAP site through his mobile phone and click on the 'Breaking News' bit.

'Its not the Empire State Building, its one of the two World Trade towers' he informed us. We talked about it for a couple of minutes wondering if it was a woman flying the jet / feeling sorry for those who must've died before we got back to work.

'Fuckin hell now another one's smashed into the other tower', shouted Chet, ignoring the customers on the shopfloor completely. Thats when I first realised that we may just be witnessing something on a massive scale. By the time the towers fell, everyone was numb and nothing would've surprised us anymore.

It wasn't until later that day when I got home that I actually saw the Twin Towers coming down on the telly. What a spectacular sight. Spectacular, not in a good way, but in a scary sort of way. Spectacular in the sense that nothing you'd ever have seen in Hollywood would surpass what the world saw that day. But more than that it was the sense that this is just the start of something massive. The first strike. Quite a few pants were shitted into.

I tried to get in touch with my then girlfriend, Alina, but the phone lines were jammed. Infact they remained jammed for the next couple of days, a period of utter frustration, panick as I tried everything I could, calling her friends, relatives, whoever I knew basically. (She survived, only just)

5 years on from that day and looking back at whats going on in the world right now, it certainly isn't a happy picture. Yes, Bush's policies may have succeeded in ensuring a similar attack hasn't taken place on US soil since 9/11, but just one glance at the home page of any news site would confirm that nowhere in the world is safe anymore. Terrorists have struck in Spain, London, Bali and all around the world, mainly attacking American interests but also those who have supported what is increasingly seen as US agression.

I'm not one of those who believe 'they hate our freedoms and strippers etc' - Aside from the fact that nobody hates strippers, there are stronger emotions at work here.

The decades of British and American intervention in the oil-rich Middle East hasn't helped. America's presence in Saudi Arabia (to safeguard their oil interests), their support of Israel's state terrorism and the abandonment of the 'Mujahideen' in Afghanistan at the end of the cold war are three of the biggest contributers to the Anti-american fire that sweeps the middle east and that resulted in the attacks on the WTC.

All of the reasons still exist. Both the US and UK failed to stop the murder of a large number of civilians in what most of the neutral world sees as Israel's disproportionate response to Hizbullah's capture of two IDF soldiers. Afghanistan has been abandoned again and the Taleban are returning. Iraq is at the brink of Civil war. Kashmiris have had their legitimate freedom struggle labelled as 'terrorism'. Innocent people die everywhere in the world in terrorist attacks on a daily basis.

A change in the US foreign policy may not change the aims of the hardcore extremists targetting world domination, but it will almost certainly stop creating new terrorists. How, you ask? Those muslims who may now sympathise with Al Qaeda types and are prone to extremism, will no longer have any reason to do so once they see that their greivances are being addressed and their conflicts, resolved in a just and fair manner. Al Qaeda's recruitment base will vanish. America is no longer the 'Great Satan', they will say. 'Look how they helped resolve the Palestenian issue! There's now two independent states living side by side in peace, all thanks to the US! Why hate them anymore?'

America, you have a role to play and it comes with being the only superpower in the world.

The murders need to stop, whether its jews, christians, muslims, scientologists, gayers, or midgets.

6 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

hi dan....

Good one. However i would like to express my view that what u call a legitimate freedom struggle of kashmiris is the result of Pakistans desire to usurp Kashmir from India. Everyone knows that. Do u call that freedom struggle?????

10:30  
Blogger Dirty Dan said...

Hi anon.

I hope you're not saying that the Kashmiris wouldn't have wanted to decide their own future via a 'plebiscite' as was promised to them?

10:40  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Usurp Kashmir".....there might be converse views on this issue on both sides of the border for the last 60 years....its been a matter of pakistani and indian ego....but for a moment can we stop using our traditional theories and idealogies and think about that innocent child that lost his/her father or that mother that lost her son in this senseless war. Afterall very few of us live in Kashmir and have to go thru the constant suffering of a slow painful war.Thats why it is so easy to make a claim over a land on the internet without ever visiting the place or experiencing the tears of innocent ordinary people over there.

Afterall they are not born to be killed and persecuted this way for our personal ego.

Egos of people who live in their plus bungalows in Clifton, Karachi and Greater Kailash, Delhi.

"Kashmir needs understanding"

Not claims of territorial integrity. You and me must rise above us and ask out damn governments to stop this bloodshed and talk with all the effected parties (Hindu & Muslim) in the search for lasting peace.

May Kashmir be the Heaven it was meant to be and
NOT the Hell Museum of human killing & hatred.

For me i dream of the day i visit Kashmir and see both Pakistani and Indian children playing fearlessly in its beautiful gardens. A land of Love and Peace. Hope it comes true in our lifetime.

Ameen....

09:57  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

hi...

well said ameen.... what made me say that its terrorism is the killing of innocent pple. a person i know of got killed in a bomb attack in kashimr and he was there to visit a temple.

i strongly believe that.... "killing innocent pple... for whatever reason it may be.. is terrorism... its not legitimate struggle for freedom"

and i have never heard of any peaceful protests for freedom in kashmir.

hope u see a day when there will b peace thru out the world... not jzt in kashmir...

ciao

15:03  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Anonymous I understand your point of view.

But terrorism is a child of war and hatred fuelled by the ill directed policies of both Indian & Pakistani govts.

No one is born terrorist, they take up arms due to the attrocities they feel that they or their families have suffered.

These men and women are ordinary ppl like you and me.

And every terrorist will have his own story to tell which makes him/her feel that his/her actions are right.

So it is very important to understand the root cause of terrorism and try to eradicate them. There is no point killing ppl in the pretext on eradicating terrorism as ultimately it would breed more terrorism.

Thats why Mr. Bush's policy has failed so miserably.

There are many instances where the Indian Armies action have been irresponsible and insensitive to the local ppl. So what do u call them..."legal terrorists".

To end this hatred govts & ppl across the border should be open to talks with these so called terrorists and make them understand that the past is past....we want a peaceful and enlightened future.

I know that this is easier said then done, but Love has its own language which maybe even a "terrorist" can understand.

I, like You hope and pray for a peaceful world...but atleast lets begin it from home.

And be a great example to the world.

22:34  
Blogger Dirty Dan said...

well said shahid.

12:59  

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