| A Reprint from the Sydney Morning Herald: Back |
| . |
| Letter from an American citizen to terrorists worldwide.
To you who participated in the cowardly attack on democracy on September 11, 2001. To you in any government or country who supported the attacks, remained silently aware of the impending attacks, or remain silent now with any knowledge of the attackers. To you ignorant souls who danced in the streets and shot bullets into the sky upon news of the atrocities, or who quietly smiled in your rotted hearts upon news of the atrocities. And to you who have participated in other attacks on humanity, or attempted to, or intend to: |
| This is war, but you have already
lost.
From your dark caves you may pound your chests and laugh together at the words of our political leaders, and leaders worldwide, who promise retaliation as they condemn your putrid actions, your soiled hearts, and your narrow minds. From the fog of your fear you may tell yourselves that some glory awaits you somewhere for such cowardice, and if you are particularly stupid you may actually believe it. |
| But I am one American citizen, not paid or consulted by any governing body, whose very power resides in the fact that I do still have a voice and it is heard. And, speaking on behalf of all other free citizens who can, do, and will speak very well for themselves, I promise you this: your vile acts will only strengthen us. |
| Are you so crude as to believe that the equivalent of stabbing thousands of unarmed innocents in their backs will garner you respectful attention? Civilized people across the world now view you as lower life forms than rats - something senseless, something to defend against not for the power of your intellect, but for the absolute lack of any. |
| Whatever zealous ends you are trying to draw
attention to, whatever your cause, no one will hear you now. And do you
think that by mass murdering, destroying monuments, or wobbling an
economy, you will demoralize a nation of free people, or the billions
worldwide striving for such freedom?
Do you think we will throw up our hands and say, "Enough of this pursuit of liberty, happiness, peace, knowledge, and prosperity, let the vicious and stupid cowards rule"? |
| You are tragically mistaken. We will mourn the innocent lives stolen, we will cherish our heroes who perished trying to save those lives, and we will work to better secure ourselves against you raging imbeciles. But we will also stand closer together, proud as ever of the principles of democracy that bind us. We will continue to strive for citizens of other countries seeking to maintain or establish democracy. |
| And have no doubt that, whether or not we voted
for them, whether or not we have agreed with their stance on other issues,
we will back our President and other officials one hundred per cent as
they lead our forces into the world's cracks and crevasses to expose all
you roaches.
This is war, but you have already lost. |
| The punishment you will endure, in this world and any beyond, is merely after-effect. For your cowardly attacks were not just against buildings full of innocent civilians, against an economic system based on an open society or a military defending that society, nor even against an entire nation. You attacked the essential principle of what it means to be human, namely, the right of every man and woman born on this earth to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. |
| This principle of freedom - not the economy, not the military, not fear of internal or external despots - is what holds this nation and democracies across the world together in power. |
| Your acts of ignorance, zealotry, and hatred,
multiplied one million times over, are still and forever utterly powerless
against such freedom. Brian Vaszily American citizen |