The Conservative Edge

Today marks the anniversary of the World Trade Center attack on September 11, 2001. I watched some of the programs on the History Channel that chronicled both the events leading up to the attack, and the subsequent rescue and cleanup efforts. As I viewed the devastation, I thought that similar feelings must have gripped our nation after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. We were justified in reacting with full force against imperialist Japan; it seems that America should also be justified in retaliation against the terrorist regime responsible for attacking the Trade Center on two occasions.

But there are some who insist that the party responsible for flying two planes into the Trade Center buildings was none other than the United States government. The conspiracy theorists claim that the Bush administration contrived an elaborate plan to destroy the financial heart of America. This was supposedly done to allow the administration to enact surveillance laws that would enable the government to exert control over the American people, and also give cause for the invasion of Iraq.

But that theory is hard to accept. There are lots of folks who try to present evidence of flight number discrepancies, or suggest that undercover personnel planted explosives in the Trade Center. But it remains clear that terrorists wanted to destroy the symbols of American capitalism. The first attempt was in 1993, when a massive bomb was detonated underneath the Trade Center. Fortunately, the tower survived the blast, and the damage was quickly repaired. There have been no conspiracy theories developed to explain the first attack; why should we think it strange or unlikely that the same terrorist group would make a second strike to complete their mission of destruction?

Remember also that there is quite a difference in the way that Democratic and Republican administrations use force. Republican presidents have, generally, used military force against foreign regimes and countries. Ronald Reagan, for instance, invaded the island of Grenada to rescue American students who had been taken hostage. Reagan was also intent on standing up to Soviet aggression. The first George Bush built a coalition to kick Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait. The second George Bush invaded Iraq to depose Saddam once and for all.

But Democratic presidents have been more forceful here at home. Bill Clinton blew the chance to apprehend Osama Bin Laden, and admitted as much in a television interview. Democrats always take a weak position of appeasement with foreign thugs. But domestically, Democrats turn into tigers when they get a chance to show off government’s power. The standoff at Waco, Texas in the early years of the Clinton administration was the most egregious and unlawful use of force ever exhibited by any occupant of the White House. Conspiracy theorists fret about Bush’s use of wiretaps, but he never sent tanks into an American city to kill American citizens the way that Clinton did at Waco.

Clinton could have ordered the FBI to quietly nab David Koresh, the leader of the Branch Davidians, at some local coffee shop or gas station. But because the Branch Davidians had stockpiled some weapons in anticipation of the Apocalypse, Clinton decided that a show of force was necessary. Any individual or group of people that bear arms are seen by Democrats and liberals as a threat to government authority. Clinton was determined that he would show the Davidians who was boss. He sent tanks and other armed personnel to confront, and ultimately destroy, the Davidians and their compound. A situation that could have been defused peacefully turned into a tragedy. And without Waco, there might not have been a bombing in Oklahoma City.

If conspiracy theorists want to see a real abuse of power by the government, they should focus on the tragedy at Waco. Meanwhile, I will continue to mourn the loss of American lives on September 11, 2001, and remember that it was the obsessive hatred of a terrorist organization that destroyed those two gleaming towers.