The response from the left and right sides of politics to September 11 was polarised. Some commentators on the left coldly declared that America got what it deserved. That it got what it has been doing to other nations for years � that is: bombing the hell out of other countries that are not American. The reason the WTC was destroyed, said these critics, was because America invades other countries, kills innocent civilians, and undermines the sovereignty of foreign powres through tools like the CIA. Is it surprising, they ask, when some of the citizens of these foreign nations get sick of American meddling and decide to give Americanms a taste of their own medicine? As long as the American political machine denies its own actions in foreign countries the seeds will be planted for another terrorist attack, they argue.
Critics on the right have a simple answer. The 'bush doctrine' states that its America's right to invade any country to stop a suspected terrorist attack. One American senator went even further. Shortly after September 11 he thundered from the Senate that America should bomb the hell out of Afghanistan for harbouring the terrorists. Yet, this act would be little different from a moral point of view, than that of the terrorist act that brought the two towers down.
The right have simple-minded answers to difficult questions. Their primary response to September 11 has been to retreat into a 'fortress America' mindset. This way of thinking sees that everything is right with America and wrong with the rest of the world. And they hold up the American political system with its freedom of expression and civil rights as a shinning light to the rest of the world. Yet, this version of democracy doesn�t extend beyond American borders. At Guan-tanamo Bay a number of terrorist suspects are being detained. They have had no or limited access to lawyers and family and they are caged like animals. This is a very different picture to the one that appears in American films where suspects are always treated with respect and get at least get their one phone call. Yet, in this new world post September 11, non-American citizens appear to have no rights. They are guilty until proven innocent.
One fictional American TV series which has successfully dealt with the issue of detention is Enterprise. In the great tradition of the original Star Trek series the script writers dealt with issues that were happening in contemporary American society now, but put into a science fictional format. In the Enterprise episode, �Detained� we see people placed in detention indefinitely. They have no access to lawyers, or family members. They are caged like animals. The resemblances to the American political system�s treatment of suspected terrorists is more than uncomfortably close to the bone.
Since September 11 there has been a lot of talk from bothe sides of politics, right and left, but little light on the reasons for why the WTC centre was destroyed, why the attack was launched in the first place and why foreigners seem to hate America so much. Certainly, America did not deserve to have two of its major buildings destroyed, and over 3,000 people killed. However, the right shows a striking inability to even ask the hard questions. Of course Bin Laden was a fanatic who committed a shocking criminal act which is worthy of the title �crime against humanity�. But, we have to ask that if America always does do the right thing in regard to its dealings with foreign powers then why does it have enemies so hell bent on destroying it? As respected critic Noam Chomsky provocatively states, the only way to stop terrorism is to stop participating in it. America needs to ask itself some tough questions of its foreign policy, especially if it wants to prevent any more September 11s. I, for one, don�t want to spend another sleepless night filled with the REAL nightmare images of buildings falling down and people, or pieces of them, tumbling out of the sky.
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