The Palestinian Election
President Bush told the Palestinians, “You deserve democracy and the rule of law. You deserve an open society and a thriving economy.” The hope is that decent men and women in the Palestinian world can see an alternate to rule by martyrdom, suicide bombings and terror.
Can Palestinians do better than autocracy of the Maximum Leader in the Ramallah? Pollsters tell us that 60% of the Palestinian population approves of suicide attacks against Israeli civilians. President Bush has come to the conclusion that people who approve of suicide bombing need new leadership. Palestinians are taught from kindergarten to seek the extermination of Israelis and their Western, secular allies. These are the people who would be “voting” for new leadership.
It is irrelevant that President Bush may be asking the current crop of killers to step down. Palestinians widely endorse Arafat’s bloody campaign. His opposition comes from those who believe he is not militant enough in his terrorist tactics.
If elections were held, the leading candidates to reinvent Palestinian government would be The Joker and Sauron.
You may recall The Joker. He is a character out of Tim Burton’s “Batman.” The Joker cackled and used goofy weapons, but he was a serial killer and a heretic, not a clown. The Joker didn’t want to get rich. He went to museums just to defile artwork. He didn’t want to convert Batman to a life of crime. He tried to kill Batman and as many civilians as he could just for the joy it gave him. The Joker looked and sounded cartoonish. He had a black heart.
The fullest and best depiction of evil comes from the villain, Sauron, in the “Lord of the Rings.” Sauron wants to conquer Middle Earth, enslave its inhabitants and ruin everything of beauty. To accomplish this, he pours his malice and cruelty into a ring of power, which controls and corrupts all who touch it. Sauron is not the equivalent of communism or fascism. He is a totalitarian of the first order. His think tank is evilness. Sauron’s evil is real.
Both candidates promise “on a certain day, everything will be obliterated and instantaneously reconstructed. The new inhabitants will leave as if by magic carpet. The land they despoiled will be returned to the true believers. Justice will be dispensed to the victims. On that day, the presence of God shall again make itself felt.”
These candidates show us things that are rooted in basic moral precepts. Palestinians are at a crossroads. Are they eager to embrace The Joker or Sauron and see real evil? Do they wish a starring role on the broadcasts of al-Jazeera? When the dust settles the stark choice will be, shall the Palestinians repeat the past or commence a new sober society? Will they step back from the brink and walk away from terror and war? Will they take the chance to return to the world and the work of real nations?
Henry W. Hessing
Thursday, September 19, 2002
Tuesday, September 17, 2002
Rebuilding the World Trade Center
Rebuilding the WTC
The American public has been led by our government and the media to believe that the perpetrators of the evil act of 911 was organized and well financed by those who would strike again. Yes, they are capable, but not because they are well organized, or because they have unlimited funds. They are capable because we are allowing them to be so.
The evildoers are thugs. They deal in fear and terror, and they got our attention by murdering innocent civilians while destroying the most famous symbol of our capitalist society, the World Trade Center’s “Twin Towers”. The monsters that conceived, planned and carried out this affront to all humans got lucky, in the most perverse sense of the word. The buildings collapsed into a pile of rubble, changing the “skyline” known throughout the world. They gloat and celebrate death, destruction, and the elimination of our proud symbol.
Current plans for the former site of the World Trade Center Towers are a capitulation to terrorism, as none of the proposals matches the height and grandeur of the original buildings. We appear to be giving up, and this is why the murderers feel they are capable of another horrific event. We are telling them they have won. We are allowing them to think like victors. This is a mistake of monumental scale on our part, and we will pay for it with the lives of more of our citizens. Our course of action is clear. We should set aside some of the area as a memorial, and then use the remainder of the 16 acre site to construct a larger, more beautiful structure than the ones we lost.
History is our teacher. Persia attacked Athens 2500 years ago and destroyed the original Parthenon. After repelling the invaders and soundly defeating them, the Greeks decided to replace the ruined temple on a grander scale. Originally made of limestone, the leaders decreed that white marble, the finest building material available, would be used for the new structure. Artists immortalized Grecian heroes in magnificent sculptures, and these were incorporated into the finished product. The Parthenon became the greatest Greek temple ever constructed, generally accepted as the marker for the beginning of the Athenian Golden Age. The Greeks replaced grand with grander, and created a symbol to the rest of the world that they would survive and thrive.
The War of 1812 brought British warships to our shores. Enemy soldiers were successful in burning the Presidential Mansion. Our leaders repaired and enlarged the charred building, painted it, and today, The White House stands at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave as a symbol of American pride.
A fire burned our nation’s Capitol Building in 1850. Shortly thereafter, the country was torn by the Civil War. Yet, during this war, with limited funds, The Capitol was rebuilt and enlarged. President Lincoln’s resolve to rebuild the Capitol demonstrated confidence that the Union would be preserved.
The Athenians didn’t decide they were guilty of offending their enemy. They didn’t make a smaller temple. They didn’t leave a barren site to commemorate the men whom died fighting Persians. Our ancestors who rebuilt the White House and the Capitol didn’t either.
We must declare to the world that we, the American people, have chosen to keep building. We have not given up. Our culture shall achieve even greater heights, and our society will prosper and thrive. Our symbols will be rebuilt larger, stronger, and grander. Like the Athenians, we will use the attack of would-be conquerors to usher in a new Golden Age.
Robert W. Chalich
Henry W. Hessing
The American public has been led by our government and the media to believe that the perpetrators of the evil act of 911 was organized and well financed by those who would strike again. Yes, they are capable, but not because they are well organized, or because they have unlimited funds. They are capable because we are allowing them to be so.
The evildoers are thugs. They deal in fear and terror, and they got our attention by murdering innocent civilians while destroying the most famous symbol of our capitalist society, the World Trade Center’s “Twin Towers”. The monsters that conceived, planned and carried out this affront to all humans got lucky, in the most perverse sense of the word. The buildings collapsed into a pile of rubble, changing the “skyline” known throughout the world. They gloat and celebrate death, destruction, and the elimination of our proud symbol.
Current plans for the former site of the World Trade Center Towers are a capitulation to terrorism, as none of the proposals matches the height and grandeur of the original buildings. We appear to be giving up, and this is why the murderers feel they are capable of another horrific event. We are telling them they have won. We are allowing them to think like victors. This is a mistake of monumental scale on our part, and we will pay for it with the lives of more of our citizens. Our course of action is clear. We should set aside some of the area as a memorial, and then use the remainder of the 16 acre site to construct a larger, more beautiful structure than the ones we lost.
History is our teacher. Persia attacked Athens 2500 years ago and destroyed the original Parthenon. After repelling the invaders and soundly defeating them, the Greeks decided to replace the ruined temple on a grander scale. Originally made of limestone, the leaders decreed that white marble, the finest building material available, would be used for the new structure. Artists immortalized Grecian heroes in magnificent sculptures, and these were incorporated into the finished product. The Parthenon became the greatest Greek temple ever constructed, generally accepted as the marker for the beginning of the Athenian Golden Age. The Greeks replaced grand with grander, and created a symbol to the rest of the world that they would survive and thrive.
The War of 1812 brought British warships to our shores. Enemy soldiers were successful in burning the Presidential Mansion. Our leaders repaired and enlarged the charred building, painted it, and today, The White House stands at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave as a symbol of American pride.
A fire burned our nation’s Capitol Building in 1850. Shortly thereafter, the country was torn by the Civil War. Yet, during this war, with limited funds, The Capitol was rebuilt and enlarged. President Lincoln’s resolve to rebuild the Capitol demonstrated confidence that the Union would be preserved.
The Athenians didn’t decide they were guilty of offending their enemy. They didn’t make a smaller temple. They didn’t leave a barren site to commemorate the men whom died fighting Persians. Our ancestors who rebuilt the White House and the Capitol didn’t either.
We must declare to the world that we, the American people, have chosen to keep building. We have not given up. Our culture shall achieve even greater heights, and our society will prosper and thrive. Our symbols will be rebuilt larger, stronger, and grander. Like the Athenians, we will use the attack of would-be conquerors to usher in a new Golden Age.
Robert W. Chalich
Henry W. Hessing
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