Face The Nation 9-10

Today I was watching Face the Nation on CBS and the final 5 minutes is always Bob Schieffer orated on something, usually the topic of the program. Today, of course, was on 9/11 and how safe the nation is. At the end he told how when he was speaking after 9/11 and mentioning the heroes, some stood up and said couldn't the hijackers be considered heroes- they were willing to die for a cause. Bob Schieffer reason that they were not heroes because they killed innocent people. While I agree they should not be considered heroes, I disagree with Bob Schieffer on why.

I disagree for three reasons. The first being that if that is the criteria, then al those people who flew in WWII could not be considered heroes. Carpet bombing certainly killed many civilians and many of them were children. I am certain some of them were pregnant women. In modern war it is virtually impossible not to kill civilians. Our weapons are too powerful.

The second reason is that there is no such thing as innocent civilians( excepting people under say 10 years old) in today’s world. I nations economy is as important as it's armed forces. The end of the cold war was basically a race to see who would go bankrupt first - the US or the USSR. Given that then we are all a part of the war machine. All soldiers in our own way.

The third reason is that we are a democracy. In theory, at least, we are the government and therefore responsible for it and the actions of the armed forces. That being the case we are all legitimate targets.

The reason I believe that they should not be considered heroes is because they were mercenaries. They did not die just to advance the beliefs or to save other people. They did it because by doing it they would automatically go to their version of heaven. The only differences with paying them money are that people will do more really stupid things for beliefs and it is a lot cheaper.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt - We have nothing to fear but fear itself.
The Republican Party - Fear everything

American Motto - Old - Land of the Free Home of the Brave
New - Land of the spied upon Home of the Chicken