[Megan Fitzgerald]

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Posted below is an article published in The Guardian and written by =
Martin
Amis.
It's beautifully written and provides something of a different =
perspective
on the events of the past week.

=20
Tuesday September 18, 2001
The Guardian=20

It was the advent of the second plane, sharking in low over the Statue =
of
Liberty: that was the defining moment. Until then, America thought she =
was
witnessing nothing more serious than the worst aviation disaster in =
history;
now she had a sense of the fantastic vehemence ranged against her.=20
I have never seen a generically familiar object so transformed by =
effect.
That second plane looked eagerly alive, and galvanised with malice, and
wholly alien. For those thousands in the south tower, the second plane =
meant
the end of everything. For us, its glint was the worldflash of a coming
future.=20

Terrorism is political communication by other means. The message of
September 11 ran as follows: America, it is time you learned how =
implacably
you are hated. United Airlines Flight 175 was an Intercontinental =
Ballistic
Missile aimed at her innocence. That innocence, it was here being =
claimed,
was a luxurious and anachronistic delusion.=20

A week after the attack, one is free to taste the bile of its atrocious
ingenuity. It is already trite - but stringently necessary - to =
emphasise
that such a mise en sc=E8ne would have embarrassed a studio executive's
storyboard or a thriller-writer's notebook ("What happened today was =
not
credible," were the wooden words of Tom Clancy, the author of The Sum =
of All
Fears). And yet in broad daylight and full consciousness that outline =
became
established reality: a score or so of Stanley knives produced two =
million
tons of rubble.=20

Several lines of US policy were bankrupted by the events of last =
Tuesday,
among them national missile defence. Someone realised that the skies of
America were already teeming with missiles, each of them primed and =
cocked.=20

The plan was to capture four airliners - in the space of half an hour. =
All
four would be bound for the west coast, to ensure maximum fuel- load. =
The
first would crash into the north tower just as the working day hit full
stride. Then a pause of 15 minutes, to give the world time to gather =
round
its TV sets. With that attention secured, the second plane would crash =
into
the south tower, and in that instant America's youth would turn into =
age.=20

If the architect of this destruction was Osama bin Laden, who is a =
qualified
engineer, then he would certainly know something about the stress =
equations
of the World Trade Centre. He would also know something about the =
effects of
ignited fuel: at 500C (a third of the temperature actually attained), =
steel
loses 90% of its strength. He must have anticipated that one or both of =
the
towers would collapse. But no visionary cinematic genius could hope to
recreate the majestic abjection of that double surrender, with the =
scale of
the buildings conferring its own slow motion. It was well understood =
that an
edifice so demonstrably comprised of concrete and steel would also =
become an
unforgettable metaphor. This moment was the apotheosis of the =
postmodern era
- the era of images and perceptions. Wind conditions were also =
favourable;
within hours, Manhattan looked as though it had taken 10 megatons.=20

Meanwhile, a third plane would crash into the Pentagon, and a fourth =
would
crash into Camp David (the site of the first Arab-Israeli accord) or
possibly into the White House (though definitely not into Air Force =
One:
this rumour was designed to excuse Bush's meanderings on the day). The
fourth plane crashed, upside down, not into a landmark but into the
Pennsylvanian countryside, after what seems to have been heroic =
resistance
from the passengers. The fate of the fourth plane would normally have =
been
one of the stories of the year. But not this year. The fact that for =
the
first few days one struggled to find more than a mention of it gives =
some
idea of the size of the American defeat.=20

My wife's sister had just taken her children to school and was standing =
on
the corner of Fifth Avenue and Eleventh Street at 8.58 am, on the =
eleventh
day of the ninth month of 2001 (the duo-millennial anniversary of
Christianity). For a moment she imagined herself to be on a runway at
Kennedy Airport. She looked up to see the glistening underbelly of the =
767,
a matter of yards above her head. (Another witness described plane =
number
one as "driving" down Fifth Avenue - at 400mph.) There is a modest arch =
that
fronts Washington Square Park; American Airlines Flight 11 from Boston =
to
Los Angeles was flying so low that it had to climb to clear it.=20

We have all watched aeroplanes approach, or seem to approach, a large
building. We tense ourselves as the supposed impact nears, even though =
we
are sure that this is a parallax illusion, and that the plane will =
cruise
grandly on. My sister-in-law was right behind Flight 11. She urged it =
to
swerve, to turn into the plentiful blue sky. But the plane did not =
turn.
That afternoon her children would be bringing refreshments to the =
block-long
queue waiting to give blood at St Vincent's.=20

Now the second aircraft, and the terror revealed - the terror doubled, =
or
squared. We speak of "plane rage" - but it was the plane itself that =
was in
frenzy, one felt, as it gunned and steadied and then smeared itself =
into the
south tower. Even the flames and smoke were opulently evil, with their
vampiric reds and blacks. Murder-suicide from without was now =
duplicated
within to provide what was perhaps the day's most desolating spectacle. =
They
flailed and kicked as they came down. As if you could fend off that =
abysmal
drop. You too would flail and kick. You could no more help yourself =
than you
could stop your teeth from chattering at a certain intensity of cold. =
It is
a reflex. It is what human beings do when they fall.=20

The Pentagon is a symbol, and the WTC is, or was, a symbol, and an =
American
passenger jet is also a symbol - of indigenous mobility and zest, and =
of the
galaxy of glittering destinations. The bringers of Tuesday's terror =
were
morally "barbaric", inexpiably so, but they brought a demented
sophistication to their work. They took these great American artefacts =
and
pestled them to gether. Nor is it at all helpful to describe the =
attacks as
"cowardly". Terror always has its roots in hysteria and psychotic
insecurity; still, we should know our enemy. The firefighters were not
afraid to die for an idea. But the suicide killers belong in a =
different
psychic category, and their battle effectiveness has, on our side, no
equivalent. Clearly, they have contempt for life. Equally clearly, they =
have
contempt for death.=20

Their aim was to torture tens of thousands, and to terrify hundreds of
millions. In this, they have succeeded. The temperature of planetary =
fear
has been lifted towards the feverish; "the world hum", in Don DeLillo's
phrase, is now as audible as tinnitus. And yet the most durable legacy =
has
to do with the more distant future, and the disappearance of an =
illusion
about our loved ones, particularly our children. American parents will =
feel
this most acutely, but we will also feel it. The illusion is this. =
Mothers
and fathers need to feel that they can protect their children. They =
can't,
of course, and never could, but they need to feel that they can. What =
once
seemed more or less impossible - their pro-tection - now seems =
obviously and
palpably inconceivable. So from now on we will have to get by without =
that
need to feel.=20

Last Tuesday's date may not prove epochal; and it should be the =
immediate
task of the present administration to prevent it from becoming so. Bear =
in
mind: the attack could have been infinitely worse. On September 11 =
experts
from the Centres for Disease Control "rushed" to the scene to test its
atmosphere for biological and chemical weapons. They knew that these =
were a
possibility; and they will remain a possibility. There is also the
integrally insoluble hazard of America's inactive nuclear power =
stations (no
nuclear power station has ever been dismantled, anywhere). Equivalent
assaults on such targets could reduce enormous tracts of the country to
plutonium graveyards for tens of thousands of years. Then there is the
near-inevitable threat of terrorist nuclear weapons - directed, =
perhaps, at
a nuclear power station. One of the conceptual tasks to which Bush and =
his
advisers will not be equal is that the Tuesday Terror, for all its =
studious
viciousness, was a mere adumbration. We are still in the first circle.=20

It will also be horribly difficult and painful for Americans to absorb =
the
fact that they are hated, and hated intelligibly. How many of them =
know, for
example, that their government has destroyed at least 5% of the Iraqi
population? How many of them then transfer that figure to America (and =
come
up with 14m)? Various national characteristics - self-reliance, a =
fiercer
patriotism than any in western Europe, an assiduous geographical =
incuriosity
- have created a deficit of empathy for thesufferings of people far =
away.
Most crucially, and again most painfully, being right and being good =
support
the American self to an almost tautologous degree: Americans are good =
and
right by virtue of being American. Saul Bellow's word for this habit is
"angelisation". On the US-led side, then, we need not only a revolution =
in
consciousness but an adaptation of national character: the work, =
perhaps, of
a generation.=20

And on the other side? Weirdly, the world suddenly feels bipolar. All =
over
again the west confronts an irrationalist, agonistic, theocratic/ =
ideocratic
system which is essentially and unappeasably opposed to its existence. =
The
old enemy was a superpower; the new enemy isn't even a state. In the =
end,
the USSR was broken by its own contradictions and abnormalities, forced =
to
realise, in Martin Malia's words, that "there is no such thing as =
socialism,
and the Soviet Union built it". Then, too, socialism was a modernist, =
indeed
a futurist, experiment, whereas militant fundamentalism is convulsed in =
a
late-medieval phase of its evolution. We would have to sit through a
renaissance and a reformation, and then await an enlightenment. And =
we're
not going to do that.=20

What are we going to do? Violence must come; America must have =
catharsis. We
would hope that the response will be, above all, non-escalatory. It =
should
also mirror the original attack in that it should have the capacity to
astonish. A utopian example: the crippled and benighted people of
Afghanistan, hunkering down for a winter of famine, should not be =
bombarded
with cruise missiles; they should be bombarded with consignments of =
food,
firmly marked LENDLEASE - USA. More realistically, unless Pakistan can
actually deliver Bin Laden, the American retaliation is almost sure to
become elephantine. Then terror from above will replenish the source of =
all
terror from below: unhealed wounds. This is the familiar cycle so well
caught by the matter, and the title, of VS Naipaul's story, Tell Me Who =
to
Kill.=20

Our best destiny, as planetary cohabitants, is the development of what =
has
been called "species consciousness" - something over and above =
nationalisms,
blocs, religions, ethnicities. During this week of incredulous misery, =
I
have been trying to apply such a consciousness, and such a sensibility.
Thinking of the victims, the perpetrators, and the near future, I felt
species grief, then species shame, then species fear.=20

=A9 Martin Amis

This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are confidential and =
intended
solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are =
addressed.
If you have received this e-mail in error please notify the sender
immediately by return e-mail or telephone +61 (0) 2 9957 4233.

While this e-mail and any attachments have been cleared by Michels =
Warren
(Sydney) virus protection systems, the recipients should rely on their =
own
systems for detecting computer viruses or other materials that may =
corrupt
files or systems.

Opinions expressed in this e-mail and any attachment are not =
necessarily the
opinion of Michels Warren (Sydney).

************************************************************************=
****
************************************************************************=
****
*******************************************

=20
 =20

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<P><FONT SIZE=3D2>Posted below is an article published in The Guardian =
and written by Martin Amis.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=3D2>It's beautifully written and provides something of a =
different perspective on the events of the past week.</FONT>
</P>

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2>&nbsp;</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=3D2>Tuesday September 18, 2001</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=3D2>The Guardian </FONT>
</P>

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2>It was the advent of the second plane, sharking in =
low over the Statue of Liberty: that was the defining moment. Until =
then, America thought she was witnessing nothing more serious than the =
worst aviation disaster in history; now she had a sense of the =
fantastic vehemence ranged against her. </FONT></P>

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2>I have never seen a generically familiar object so =
transformed by effect. That second plane looked eagerly alive, and =
galvanised with malice, and wholly alien. For those thousands in the =
south tower, the second plane meant the end of everything. For us, its =
glint was the worldflash of a coming future. </FONT></P>

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2>Terrorism is political communication by other means. =
The message of September 11 ran as follows: America, it is time you =
learned how implacably you are hated. United Airlines Flight 175 was an =
Intercontinental Ballistic Missile aimed at her innocence. That =
innocence, it was here being claimed, was a luxurious and anachronistic =
delusion. </FONT></P>

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2>A week after the attack, one is free to taste the =
bile of its atrocious ingenuity. It is already trite - but stringently =
necessary - to emphasise that such a mise en sc=E8ne would have =
embarrassed a studio executive's storyboard or a thriller-writer's =
notebook (&quot;What happened today was not credible,&quot; were the =
wooden words of Tom Clancy, the author of The Sum of All Fears). And =
yet in broad daylight and full consciousness that outline became =
established reality: a score or so of Stanley knives produced two =
million tons of rubble. </FONT></P>

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2>Several lines of US policy were bankrupted by the =
events of last Tuesday, among them national missile defence. Someone =
realised that the skies of America were already teeming with missiles, =
each of them primed and cocked. </FONT></P>

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2>The plan was to capture four airliners - in the space =
of half an hour. All four would be bound for the west coast, to ensure =
maximum fuel- load. The first would crash into the north tower just as =
the working day hit full stride. Then a pause of 15 minutes, to give =
the world time to gather round its TV sets. With that attention =
secured, the second plane would crash into the south tower, and in that =
instant America's youth would turn into age. </FONT></P>

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2>If the architect of this destruction was Osama bin =
Laden, who is a qualified engineer, then he would certainly know =
something about the stress equations of the World Trade Centre. He =
would also know something about the effects of ignited fuel: at 500C (a =
third of the temperature actually attained), steel loses 90% of its =
strength. He must have anticipated that one or both of the towers would =
collapse. But no visionary cinematic genius could hope to recreate the =
majestic abjection of that double surrender, with the scale of the =
buildings conferring its own slow motion. It was well understood that =
an edifice so demonstrably comprised of concrete and steel would also =
become an unforgettable metaphor. This moment was the apotheosis of the =
postmodern era - the era of images and perceptions. Wind conditions =
were also favourable; within hours, Manhattan looked as though it had =
taken 10 megatons. </FONT></P>

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2>Meanwhile, a third plane would crash into the =
Pentagon, and a fourth would crash into Camp David (the site of the =
first Arab-Israeli accord) or possibly into the White House (though =
definitely not into Air Force One: this rumour was designed to excuse =
Bush's meanderings on the day). The fourth plane crashed, upside down, =
not into a landmark but into the Pennsylvanian countryside, after what =
seems to have been heroic resistance from the passengers. The fate of =
the fourth plane would normally have been one of the stories of the =
year. But not this year. The fact that for the first few days one =
struggled to find more than a mention of it gives some idea of the size =
of the American defeat. </FONT></P>

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2>My wife's sister had just taken her children to =
school and was standing on the corner of Fifth Avenue and Eleventh =
Street at 8.58 am, on the eleventh day of the ninth month of 2001 (the =
duo-millennial anniversary of Christianity). For a moment she imagined =
herself to be on a runway at Kennedy Airport. She looked up to see the =
glistening underbelly of the 767, a matter of yards above her head. =
(Another witness described plane number one as &quot;driving&quot; down =
Fifth Avenue - at 400mph.) There is a modest arch that fronts =
Washington Square Park; American Airlines Flight 11 from Boston to Los =
Angeles was flying so low that it had to climb to clear it. </FONT></P>

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2>We have all watched aeroplanes approach, or seem to =
approach, a large building. We tense ourselves as the supposed impact =
nears, even though we are sure that this is a parallax illusion, and =
that the plane will cruise grandly on. My sister-in-law was right =
behind Flight 11. She urged it to swerve, to turn into the plentiful =
blue sky. But the plane did not turn. That afternoon her children would =
be bringing refreshments to the block-long queue waiting to give blood =
at St Vincent's. </FONT></P>

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2>Now the second aircraft, and the terror revealed - =
the terror doubled, or squared. We speak of &quot;plane rage&quot; - =
but it was the plane itself that was in frenzy, one felt, as it gunned =
and steadied and then smeared itself into the south tower. Even the =
flames and smoke were opulently evil, with their vampiric reds and =
blacks. Murder-suicide from without was now duplicated within to =
provide what was perhaps the day's most desolating spectacle. They =
flailed and kicked as they came down. As if you could fend off that =
abysmal drop. You too would flail and kick. You could no more help =
yourself than you could stop your teeth from chattering at a certain =
intensity of cold. It is a reflex. It is what human beings do when they =
fall. </FONT></P>

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2>The Pentagon is a symbol, and the WTC is, or was, a =
symbol, and an American passenger jet is also a symbol - of indigenous =
mobility and zest, and of the galaxy of glittering destinations. The =
bringers of Tuesday's terror were morally &quot;barbaric&quot;, =
inexpiably so, but they brought a demented sophistication to their =
work. They took these great American artefacts and pestled them to =
gether. Nor is it at all helpful to describe the attacks as =
&quot;cowardly&quot;. Terror always has its roots in hysteria and =
psychotic insecurity; still, we should know our enemy. The firefighters =
were not afraid to die for an idea. But the suicide killers belong in a =
different psychic category, and their battle effectiveness has, on our =
side, no equivalent. Clearly, they have contempt for life. Equally =
clearly, they have contempt for death. </FONT></P>

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2>Their aim was to torture tens of thousands, and to =
terrify hundreds of millions. In this, they have succeeded. The =
temperature of planetary fear has been lifted towards the feverish; =
&quot;the world hum&quot;, in Don DeLillo's phrase, is now as audible =
as tinnitus. And yet the most durable legacy has to do with the more =
distant future, and the disappearance of an illusion about our loved =
ones, particularly our children. American parents will feel this most =
acutely, but we will also feel it. The illusion is this. Mothers and =
fathers need to feel that they can protect their children. They can't, =
of course, and never could, but they need to feel that they can. What =
once seemed more or less impossible - their pro-tection - now seems =
obviously and palpably inconceivable. So from now on we will have to =
get by without that need to feel. </FONT></P>

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2>Last Tuesday's date may not prove epochal; and it =
should be the immediate task of the present administration to prevent =
it from becoming so. Bear in mind: the attack could have been =
infinitely worse. On September 11 experts from the Centres for Disease =
Control &quot;rushed&quot; to the scene to test its atmosphere for =
biological and chemical weapons. They knew that these were a =
possibility; and they will remain a possibility. There is also the =
integrally insoluble hazard of America's inactive nuclear power =
stations (no nuclear power station has ever been dismantled, anywhere). =
Equivalent assaults on such targets could reduce enormous tracts of the =
country to plutonium graveyards for tens of thousands of years. Then =
there is the near-inevitable threat of terrorist nuclear weapons - =
directed, perhaps, at a nuclear power station. One of the conceptual =
tasks to which Bush and his advisers will not be equal is that the =
Tuesday Terror, for all its studious viciousness, was a mere =
adumbration. We are still in the first circle. </FONT></P>

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2>It will also be horribly difficult and painful for =
Americans to absorb the fact that they are hated, and hated =
intelligibly. How many of them know, for example, that their government =
has destroyed at least 5% of the Iraqi population? How many of them =
then transfer that figure to America (and come up with 14m)? Various =
national characteristics - self-reliance, a fiercer patriotism than any =
in western Europe, an assiduous geographical incuriosity - have created =
a deficit of empathy for thesufferings of people far away. Most =
crucially, and again most painfully, being right and being good support =
the American self to an almost tautologous degree: Americans are good =
and right by virtue of being American. Saul Bellow's word for this =
habit is &quot;angelisation&quot;. On the US-led side, then, we need =
not only a revolution in consciousness but an adaptation of national =
character: the work, perhaps, of a generation. </FONT></P>

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2>And on the other side? Weirdly, the world suddenly =
feels bipolar. All over again the west confronts an irrationalist, =
agonistic, theocratic/ ideocratic system which is essentially and =
unappeasably opposed to its existence. The old enemy was a superpower; =
the new enemy isn't even a state. In the end, the USSR was broken by =
its own contradictions and abnormalities, forced to realise, in Martin =
Malia's words, that &quot;there is no such thing as socialism, and the =
Soviet Union built it&quot;. Then, too, socialism was a modernist, =
indeed a futurist, experiment, whereas militant fundamentalism is =
convulsed in a late-medieval phase of its evolution. We would have to =
sit through a renaissance and a reformation, and then await an =
enlightenment. And we're not going to do that. </FONT></P>

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2>What are we going to do? Violence must come; America =
must have catharsis. We would hope that the response will be, above =
all, non-escalatory. It should also mirror the original attack in that =
it should have the capacity to astonish. A utopian example: the =
crippled and benighted people of Afghanistan, hunkering down for a =
winter of famine, should not be bombarded with cruise missiles; they =
should be bombarded with consignments of food, firmly marked LENDLEASE =
- USA. More realistically, unless Pakistan can actually deliver Bin =
Laden, the American retaliation is almost sure to become elephantine. =
Then terror from above will replenish the source of all terror from =
below: unhealed wounds. This is the familiar cycle so well caught by =
the matter, and the title, of VS Naipaul's story, Tell Me Who to Kill. =
</FONT></P>

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2>Our best destiny, as planetary cohabitants, is the =
development of what has been called &quot;species consciousness&quot; - =
something over and above nationalisms, blocs, religions, ethnicities. =
During this week of incredulous misery, I have been trying to apply =
such a consciousness, and such a sensibility. Thinking of the victims, =
the perpetrators, and the near future, I felt species grief, then =
species shame, then species fear. </FONT></P>

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2>=A9 Martin Amis</FONT>
</P>

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2>This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are =
confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or =
entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this e-mail in =
error please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail or =
telephone +61 (0) 2 9957 4233.</FONT></P>

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2>While this e-mail and any attachments have been =
cleared by Michels Warren (Sydney) virus protection systems, the =
recipients should rely on their own systems for detecting computer =
viruses or other materials that may corrupt files or =
systems.</FONT></P>

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2>Opinions expressed in this e-mail and any attachment =
are not necessarily the opinion of Michels Warren (Sydney).</FONT>
</P>

<P><FONT =
SIZE=3D2>***************************************************************=
************************************************************************=
************************************************************</FONT></P>

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2>&nbsp;</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=3D2>&nbsp;</FONT>=20
</P>

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