My Argument Is That History Is Made

Note That There Was No Claim For These Attacks [on 9/11]. There Were No Demands. There Were No Statements. It Was A Silent Piece Of Terror.

These Actions Were Taken With The Support And Financing Of The United States. How Can You Say This Is Part Of U.s. Adherence To International Law And U.n. Resolutions? The Result Is A Kind Of Schizophrenic Picture Of The United States.

In The Islamic World, The U.s. Is Seen In Two Quite Different Ways. One View Recognizes What An Extraordinary Country The U.s. Is. Every Arab Or Muslim That I Know Is Tremendously Interested In The United States. Many Of Them Send Their Children Here For Education. Many Of Them Come Here For Vacations. They Do Business Here Or Get Their Training Here. The Other View Is Of The Official United States, The United States Of Armies And Interventions.

The Arab Rulers Are Basically Unpopular. They Are Supported By The United States Against The Wishes Of Their People. In All Of This Rather Heady Mixture Of Violence And Policies That Are Remarkably Unpopular Right Down To The Last Iota, It's Not Hard For Demagogues, Especially People Who Claim To Speak In The Name Of Religion, In This Case Islam, To Raise A Crusade Against The United States And Say That We Must Somehow Bring America Down.

Look At Situations As Contingent, Not As Inevitable, Look At Them As The Result Of A Series Of Historical Choices Made By Men And Women, As Facts Of Society Made By Human Beings, And Not As Natural Or God-given, Therefore Unchangeable, Permanent, Irreversible.