Paris: Deja Vu
After 9/11, we the American people never got the full story of what happened; we were simply to understand that it was done by 19 hijackers who were put up to it by Al Qaeda, led by Osama bin Laden. That was enough to get lots of young people to sign up for the military, many to be killed, and some to understand, years later, that their desire to fight for their country was being used to pull them into the military for purposes quite different from protecting people from terrorism. See Tomas Young's "last letter" as well as the website of Iraq Veterans against the War. Back home, citizens' rights in the US took a backseat to government surveillance for "national security."
Let the American people -- and, I hope, the French people -- not go that way this time. War and restrictions on rights are not the answer. May the French government investigate open-mindedly, find the true culprits (including planners) of this crime, bring them to justice, and treat French citizens with the respect due citizens: Tell them the truth, the whole truth, whatever they find. Only then, on the basis of complete and open information, can governments decide, with the consent of citizens, whether a military response is justified.
Let us send the French people our prayers, good wishes, other kinds of support we can think of -- but not mindless militarism.
It would break my hear to see France or the US respond to this attack with more misdirected violence.
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