[Dean's World] Dave Schuler: Have we over-reacted to 9/11?

[notify at powerblogs.com]

Posted by Dave Schuler:
Have we over-reacted to 9/11?
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1170089462.shtml


   You might want to take a look at [1]this op-ed in the LA Times
   dispassionately comparing the attacks on 9/11 (and our reactions to
   them) with historic parallels. Warning: take blood pressure medicine
   before reading.

   It seems to me that there are a number of possible interpretations of
   the data other than the one profferred by the professor--that we've
   over-reacted. John Donovan's is that [2]we've under-reacted. Another
   possibility is that the Soviet leadership did not value the lives of
   their citizens as we do (historically indisputable).

   Or, perhaps, he's using the wrong yardstick. We took far more civilian
   casualties on that day that we did in the incidents that precipitated
   our entry into World Wars I and II combined. We also took more than $1
   Trillion in physical and financial damages--again, far more than the
   precipitating incidents in World Wars I and II combined.

References

   1. http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-op-bell28jan28,0,7267967.story
   2. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/01/was_911_really.html