Newsgroups: alt.fan.noam-chomsky
Sent: Thursday, September 11, 2003 12:01 PM
Subject: Symbols of government.

I was watching 60 minutes last night. The entire show focussed, in documentary format, on Bush's experience during the minutes, hours and days following the 9-11 attacks. Interesting and often riveting show, even if it glossed over those shaky early hours (remember that phone call to--was it Giuliani?--from the oval office? -- 60 minutes left it on the cutting room floor.)

Among the bits that really stays with me, aside from the horror and the still mind-boggling images of destruction and death, is a brief passage in interview with Condoleeza Rice. I'm going to have to paraphrase here, but my recollection should be fairly accurate, and it's a brief quote. "They" of course refers to the hijacker terrorists:

"They were attacking symbols of government."

It's clear the terrorists were targetting symbols of power. (A terrorist motivation not often discussed in the media which marches in step with Bush's initial assessment that they were attacking freedom.) The people working in the WTC were not elected to their positions, nor were they appointed by someone who was, nor are they generally in the employ of the US government.

Perhaps the statement was taken out of its original context. She may have been referring to the planes targetted at Washington, DC. However, that's not the impression I had.

On the other hand, in another sense I agree with her statement. The division of church and state is ever more clear than the division of corporation and state. Perhaps the IMF, WTO and World Bank are future targets?

p.