2001-09-12 - 1:55 p.m.

The Big Boom

"Where were you when the terrorists attacked Washington, Grandpa?"

"Well, Billy, I was asleep."

"Oh."

I'd been awake for all of five minutes yesterday when I got a page. Right after the pager went off, my Mom called to make sure I was OK- after all, I do fly sometimes, right? She was the one who told me the WTC had collapsed.

I don't recall having any particular emotion. I was angry, but I had no one to be angry at. I felt like I should be afraid, but it would obviously be useless- I don't know what to be afraid of. All I know for sure is that things are going to change. The old methods of dealing with terrorism failed to prevent this attack, so we need to find new ones. Until we know what the new ones are, things will be deeply unsettled.

If this somehow happened without the backing of any nation, all we can do is escalate our intelligence gathering apparatus and hope to find justice.

However, it's hard to imagine how that could happen. Even if no government said, "Hey guys, how about you blow up the World Trade Center? Stop by for your free pamphlet," some government had to know that terrorist were working within their borders. That government failed to stop the attack. That government is guilty of complicity in the commission of an act of war against the United States.

We should identify that government, declare war on it, and conquer it. Not just bomb it, not just get rid of the current head of state, conquer it. Take it over, replace its government with ours, replace its schools with ours, and raise up its future generations to be good little Americans.

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