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A forward I recieved.
Posted By: Zarniwoop, on host 213.1.171.70
Date: Sunday, September 16, 2001, at 10:11:20

No words. Just read it.

>Subject: A interesting view


>
>By Michael Moore, the guy who does those radical TV shows about corporate
>America.
>
>
>Death, Downtown
>
>
>Dear friends,
>
>
>I was supposed to fly today on the 4:30 PM American Airlines flight from
>LAX to JFK. But tonight I find myself stuck in L.A. with an incredible
>range of emotions over what has happened on the island where I work and
>live in New York City.
>
>
>My wife and I spent the first hours of the day -- after being awakened by
>phone calls from our parents at 6:40am PT -- trying to contact our
daughter
>at school in New York and our friend JoAnn who works near the World Trade
>Center.
>
>
>I called JoAnn at her office. As someone picked up, the first tower
>imploded, and the person answering the phone screamed and ran out, leaving
>me no clue as to whether or not she or JoAnn would live.
>
>
>It was a sick, horrible, frightening day.
>
>
>On December 27, 1985 I found myself caught in the middle of a terrorist
>incident at the Vienna airport -- which left 30 people dead, both there
and
>at the Rome airport. (The machine-gunning of passengers in each city was
>timed to occur at the same moment.)
>
>
>I do not feel like discussing that event tonight because it still brings
up
>too much despair and confusion as to how and why I got to live a fluke, a
>mistake, a few feet on the tarmac, and I am still here, there but for the
>grace of
>
>
>Safe. Secure. I'm an American, living in America. I like my illusions. I
>walk through a metal detector, I put my carry-ons through an x-ray
machine,
>and I know all will be well.
>
>
>Here's a short list of my experiences lately with airport security:
>
>
>* At the Newark Airport, the plane is late at boarding everyone. The
>counter can't find my seat. So I am told to just "go ahead and get on" --
>without a ticket!
>
>
>* At Detroit Metro Airport, I don't want to put the lunch I just bought at
>the deli through the x-ray machine so, as I pass through the metal
>detector, I hand the sack to the guard through the space between the
>detector and the x-ray machine. I tell him "It's just a sandwich." He
>believes me and doesn't bother to check. The sack has gone through neither
>security device.
>
>
>* At LaGuardia in New York, I check a piece of luggage, but decide to
catch
>a later plane. The first plane leaves without me, but with my bag -- no
one
>knowing what is in it.
>
>
>* Back in Detroit, I take my time getting off the commuter plane. By the
>time I have come down its stairs, the bus that takes the passengers to the
>terminal has left -- without me. I am alone on the tarmac, free to wander
>wherever I want. So I do. Eventually, I flag down a pick-up truck and an
>airplane mechanic gives me a ride the rest of the way to the terminal.
>
>
>* I have brought knives, razors; and once, my traveling companion brought
a
>hammer and chisel. No one stopped us.
>
>
>Of course, I have gotten away with all of this because the airlines
>consider my safety SO important, they pay rent-a-cops $5.75 an hour to
make
>sure the bad guys don't get on my plane. That is what my life is worth --
>less than the cost of an oil change.
>
>
>Too harsh, you say? Well, chew on this: a first-year pilot on American
>Eagle (the commuter arm of American Airlines) receives around $15,000 a
>year in annual pay.
>
>
>That's right -- $15,000 for the person who has your life in his hands.
>Until recently, Continental Express paid a little over $13,000 a year.
>There was one guy, an American Eagle pilot, who had four kids so he went
>down to the welfare office and applied for food stamps -- and he was
>eligible!
>
>
>Someone on welfare is flying my plane? Is this for real? Yes, it is.
>
>
>So spare me the talk about all the precautions the airlines and the FAA is
>taking. They, like all businesses, are concerned about one thing -- the
>bottom line and the profit margin.
>
>
>Four teams of 3-5 people were all able to penetrate airport security on
the
>same morning at 3 different airports and pull off this heinous act? My
only
>response is -- that's all?
>
>
>Well, the pundits are in full diarrhea mode, gushing on about the
>"terrorist threat" and today's scariest dude on planet earth -- Osama bin
>Laden. Hey, who knows, maybe he did it. But, something just doesn't add
up.
>
>
>Am I being asked to believe that this guy who sleeps in a tent in a desert
>has been training pilots to fly our most modern, sophisticated jumbo jets
>with such pinpoint accuracy that they are able to hit these three targets
>without anyone wondering why these planes were so far off path?
>
>
>Or am I being asked to believe that there were four religious/political
>fanatics who JUST HAPPENED to be skilled airline pilots who JUST HAPPENED
>to want to kill themselves today?
>
>
>Maybe you can find one jumbo jet pilot willing to die for the cause -- but
>FOUR? Ok, maybe you can -- I don't know.
>
>
>What I do know is that all day long I have heard everything about this bin
>Laden guy except this one fact -- WE created the monster known as Osama
bin
>Laden!
>
>
>Where did he go to terrorist school? At the CIA!
>
>
>Don't take my word for it -- I saw a piece on MSNBC last year that laid it
>all out. When the Soviet Union occupied Afghanistan, the CIA trained him
>and his buddies in how to commits acts of terrorism against the Soviet
>forces. It worked! The Soviets turned and ran. Bin Laden was grateful for
>what we taught him and thought it might be fun to use those same
techniques
>against us.
>
>
>We abhor terrorism -- unless we're the ones doing the terrorizing.
>
>
>We paid and trained and armed a group of terrorists in Nicaragua in the
>1980s who killed over 30,000 civilians. That was OUR work. You and me.
>Thirty thousand murdered civilians and who the hell even remembers!
>
>
>We fund a lot of oppressive regimes that have killed a lot of innocent
>people, and we never let the human suffering THAT causes to interrupt our
>day one single bit.
>
>
>We have orphaned so many children, tens of thousands around the world,
with
>our taxpayer-funded terrorism (in Chile, in Vietnam, in Gaza, in Salvador)
>that I suppose we shouldn't be too surprised when those orphans grow up
and
>are a little whacked in the head from the horror we have helped cause.
>
>
>Yet, our recent domestic terrorism bombings have not been conducted by a
>guy from the desert but rather by our own citizens: a couple of
ex-military
>guys who hated the federal government.
>
>
>From the first minutes of today's events, I never heard that possibility
>suggested. Why is that?
>
>
>Maybe it's because the A-rabs are much better foils. A key ingredient in
>getting Americans whipped into a frenzy against a new enemy is the
>all-important race card. It's much easier to get us to hate when the
object
>of our hatred doesn't look like us.
>
>
>Congressmen and Senators spent the day calling for more money for the
>military; one Senator on CNN even said he didn't want to hear any more
talk
>about more money for education or health care -- we should have only one
>priority: our self-defense.
>
>
>Will we ever get to the point that we realize we will be more secure when
>the rest of the world isn't living in poverty so we can have nice running
>shoes?
>
>
>In just 8 months, Bush gets the whole world back to hating us again. He
>withdraws from the Kyoto agreement, walks us out of the Durban conference
>on racism, insists on restarting the arms race -- you name it, and Baby
>Bush has blown it all.
>
>
>The Senators and Congressmen tonight broke out in a spontaneous version of
>"God Bless America." They're not a bad group of singers!
>
>
>Yes, God, please do bless us.
>
>
>Many families have been devastated tonight. This just is not right. They
>did not deserve to die. If someone did this to get back at Bush, then they
>did so by killing thousands of people who DID NOT VOTE for him! Boston,
New
>York, DC, and the planes' destination of California -- these were places
>that voted AGAINST Bush!
>
>
>Why kill them? Why kill anyone? Such insanity
>
>
>Let's mourn, let's grieve, and when it's appropriate let's examine our
>contribution to the unsafe world we live in.
>
>
>It doesn't have to be like this
>
>
>Yours,
>
>
>Michael Moore

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