John's post yesterday got me thinking.

This began as a comment, and grew from there.

All of this must be prefaced with the fact that no one knows definitively who planned and executed these acts, but it is increasingly looking like Osama bin Laden was heavily involved. That being said, I think it's important that we be able to separate the Taliban controlling Afghanistan and bin Laden and his followers from the people who have truly been destroyed by decades of complete misery there.

Unfortunately, it looks more and more that the inevitable military response from the US will not differentiate the two, which is exactly what those fuckers flying those planes did. They were convinced that they were destroying The Great Satan, no matter who died, and there's no negotating with that. I fully agree with a military response. I think those repsonsible, and those that assisted those responsible should pay with their lives.

But that mentality goes both ways. Those responsible, and their supporters, would argue that the US has financed terrorism in their countries for decades. To them it has been a lifetime of suffering under US-backed military power, and this is just a little taste of our own medicine. Does that mean US civilians must pay with their lives? In their eyes, obviously, yes. We, being US civilians, of course, have a much different opinion on the matter.

Is there a moral or ethical difference between destroying an unremarkable and unknown Third World office building with a US-made and fired cruise missle, and using planes to destroy the World Trade Center towers, which defined the New York skyline, represented global financial power, and was a place where tens of thousands of ALL types of people worked and visited every day? I personally don't know the answer to that question.

As a matter of killing practicality, a cruise missle has a "hands-off" surgical characteristic. Does that make it better? Does that make it "right?" What do you do if you have these motivations to wreak havoc on a group of people, and you don't have the backing of a military-industrial society capable of building a cruise missle? You use cars. Or trucks. Or boats. Or humans.

I don't know how to process this. I'm just thinking out loud here. I do know that the one thing everyone should do is talk about this tragedy and attempt to work towards a solution. To turn away and sink into blind hatred and vengeance is to disrespect the people that died, and their families and friends that will have to deal with this loss for the rest of their lives.