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12/31/01
Dear Robert Jensen,
I'm writing to thank you for the articles and essays you've written in the aftermath of 9/11. I live and work in the New York metro area and saw the North Tower collapse from a friend's window. The kneejerk calls for revenge and abrogation of international law in the immediate aftermath were appalling, and I took comfort in your brave words. Having lived in Texas for many years, I know such phrases aren't uttered without a price. These are hard times for progressives (and libertarians). The quick "success" of the Afghan bombing campaign made the left seem like doubters and naysayers, and I find myself abandoned on all sides by people I'm usually in accord with. Jacob Weisberg in Slate writes that "there is no antiwar movement"; Christopher Hitchens adroitly paints progressives as unrealistic ninnies that don't live in the real world. Susan Sontag's New Yorker piece (which I recently reread, and which seems quite sane and moderate) is routinely held up as a "traitorous" screed. As I believe you've said, it's difficult to formulate an alternative to the Bush/Pentagon plan that speaks to people. I've argued that it's a police matter, to be pursued through increased intelligence and economic pressure on our Saudi "allies," but that usually falls on deaf ears. I'm not a pacifist, but neither am I in favor of rolling out our huge military machine, across sovereign borders, every time we get angry or scared. I think William Safire's view that we can "civilize" the world at gunpoint is naive--talk about a ninny who doesn't live in the real world! That's precisely why 9/11 happened! Anyway, thanks again, and keep up the good work.
Best, Tom Moody