What symbols?

The attack on the Twin Towers on 9/11/01 was an attack not only in the
physical sense, but it was also an attack on a quintessential symbol of
America. This is clear not only from what Osama Bin Ladin himself said in
his latest video, accepting responsibility for the attack, but also from the
fact that he chose to attack the WTC twice, the first time not so
successfully. In his mind the Twin Towers represented the symbols of
American business and power.
But, in my mind the Twin Towers represented something else, the sheer
dynamism that has catapulted the US forward as the most affluent society in
the world, and of its people who have transformed the culture of the world.
That dynamism is the basis for the unique development of capitalism, and
although many suffered from exploitation in the process, overall the journey
was worthwhile and necessary. Only a free market in a liberal democracy,
that allows dissent and the organization of interest groups, such as Unions,
could have achieved this. Attempts to develop alternative means of
organizing society, such as Nazism, Communism or Socialism have been abject
failures, ending in massive bloodshed, war and suffering.
The Bush approach to the Middle East diverges from those of previous
Presidents in that he puts the need for reformation of Arab society first.
This will guide his policies in his second Administration. He believes that
Islam and democracy are not incompatible, even though there are few
examples, such as Turkey, but as they say the exception proves the rule.
Also, he believes that freedom and industriousness, his twin towers, are
universal characteristics, and that once the Arabs are freed from repressive
regimes they will prefer to take the peaceful road rather than the violent
road of anti-Western terrorism. Let us hope that he is right.
Two possible examples loom ahead for him, Iraq, where the US is engaged in
combat to defeat the insurgency against Western influence, and Palestine,
where the impending death of Yasir Arafat opens the possibility of a
reformation of the PA, as envisaged under Bush's Road Map Plan. However,
this will not be easy, the meeting today in Gaza of all the Palestinian
groups to agree on a period of calm is a deceptively civil gathering.
Before it, Hamas announced portentously that they will not agree to a
ceasefire with Israel. And although they also announced that they want to
be included in an overall joint committee to share power in governing the
PA, they do not recognize the PA itself! So it is unlikely that this
particular horse will trot, and initiative will last no more than the 40
days of the mourning for Arafat. If Sharon goes ahead with the Disengagement
Plan from Gaza without consultation with the PA authorities, it is likely
that this will only advance the clash between the PA and the Islamist
resistance forces. So there will likely be some kind of civil war in Gaza
in the following months to fill the vacuum left by both Arafat and the IDF.
Until now the Arabs have only developed the ability to destroy the symbols
of America, but they have not produced equivalent symbols of their own.