In the Name of God, the Nonexistent, At <http://www.reason.com/cy/cy092401.html>, Cathy Young wrote:
There are libertarians who say that it doesn't have to be that way. They argue that, if our government only withdrew from meddling in regions where we have no real interest, stop playing global policeman, and limited itself to providing for a national defense against foreign attack, we wouldn't be a terrorist target.
Alas, this is a myopic position. Aside from whether a 21st century democracy can survive in isolation, the sort of people who carried out this monstrous act hate us for much more than our foreign policy.
Note that their targets included not only the Pentagon and (apparently) Capitol Hill or the White House, but the World Trade Center - a symbol and a bastion of international capitalism, not of US military power.
I'd like to believe this -- it would make the struggle more heroic -- but I can't. As they say, all politics is local. I don't think most people in the Middle East care whether Americans are enjoying freedom & democracy any more than most Americans care whether people in the Middle East are (alas!). If they were really upset about capitalism they'd be bombing Swiss banks; instead, they probably keep their money in them. In fact, when was the last time terrorists struck Switzerland?* -- Paul *See <http://www.state.gov/www/global/terrorism/1999report/europe.html#Switzerland>. Mostly Kurds protesting against Greeks. Nothing to do with the Swiss. Nothing at all listed for 1995-1998, 2000: gopher://gopher.state.gov/00ftp:DOSFan:Gopher:03%20Publications%20-%20Major%20Reports:Patterns%20of%20Global%20Terrorism:1995%20PGT%20Report or: http://www.hri.org/docs/USSD-Terror/95/ http://www.state.gov/www/global/terrorism/1996Report/1996index.html http://www.state.gov/www/global/terrorism/1997Report/1997index.html http://www.state.gov/www/global/terrorism/1998Report/1998index.html http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/pgtrpt/2000/