October 25, 2006

The heck of it

    "The attack on the Taliban in Afghanistan in late 2001 not only took many lives, it turned the politics of the world upside down. The news that the leader of the coalition forces was the USA touched off a series of terrorist attacks in the USA using passenger jets. Two brought down the WTC in New York, one flew into the Pentagon and one crashed in Pennsylvania. President Bill Clinton was judged to have failed to prevent these attacks and George W Bush took over the reins of power from Clinton in September 2001."
(Piece of fiction freely adapted from a paragraph quoted here -- search for "page 99" and the quote follows that. Fiction, but assume for the moment that it has posed as nonfiction).
***

If something about this paragraph strikes you as wrong, I urge you not to waste your time trying to correct me.

Because my response might just be: "You claim that the attack on Afghanistan took place after the WTC attacks and not the other way around." (Inspired by this letter in the Hindustan Times today Oct 25. More that's inspired by this letter in another post I shall have up shortly).

Alternatively, or in addition, my response could be: "Why is the exact sequence so important? What difference does it make? Is getting the sequence right only meant for the heck of it?" (These questions inspired by comments here).

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not on timeline/chronology. I think confused is sincere with his independent condemnation approach. He is also wrong abt the sequence not being important.

Saw some painful sincere outreach you were attempting at sandeepweb ( first time Ive been there) thru some of the links you provided.

Commend the approach. Feel the same as you about the need for that dialog. May I suggest you take it up at the acorn (Nitin Pai)instead. You get a better crowd and may have more meaningful interaction.

The quality of debate esp on a recent post abt Islam was impressive, though it was mono-focused & lacked a bit in diversity.

http://acorn.nationalinterest.in/?p=2105

regards,
Jai

Suvendra Nath Dutta said...

I hate to add a non-sequitor to a conversation. That's not true, I love to add a non-sequitor to a conversation. Anyway, it certainly has been argued that Clinton's bombing of the Sudanese factory and Afghanisthan aggravated many and helped Al-Qaeda recruit for a suicide attack on the US.

Ok, end non-sequitor.

Anonymous said...

Jai,

My entire point was that the exact sequence might be used with those who argue in terms of backlashes and justifications. I don't. Of course, it is important to be historically correct. And that is fine. If I did not accept that, I wont have made that correction. But when some folks smell a conspiracy behind it...

But see, now we are being offered Afganistan and USA as a logical counterpoint... I wonder which one is Shiv Sena here and which one is Dawood? I wont hazard a guess, I am sure getting it right is very important.

Dilip D'Souza said...

Jai, thanks for the "sincere outreach", but I doubt you found your way there via links I provided!

You're right, I have no doubts about confused's sincerity.

Anonymous said...

1.--->My entire point was that the exact sequence might be used with those who argue in terms of backlashes and justifications. I don't. Of course, it is important to be historically correct <----

There is not really much daylight between you and Dilip on this. Ive found the two of you to be level headed and sensible ppl arguing different P.O.Vs Thanks for the clarification.

2.--->doubt you found your way there via links I provided!

Am corrected, I found my way there thru links on the pages you linked to.

Do recommend to try the debate at the acorn though, i sincerely feel there could be forward movement there. confused is one of the sensible ppl hanging out there.

3. Disclaimer:
I find slightly righty bloggers to be almost the only ones around who find something amiss with 'secularism' as it is played today in Indian politics. they have a point there. But for this I lean mostly left.

regards,
Jai

Sidhusaaheb said...

The Taliban and Osama were the US' own 'boys' at one point of time and they turned against it.

Mushie has faced assassination attempts from some, whom he and his generals once thought were their 'boys'.

Rajiv Gandhi was killed by the LTTE, whom his Mom had trained and equipped earlier.

Why don't those who run governments learn from history?