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-----Original Message----- From: Brett Lawler [mailto:brettlawler@hotmail.com] Sent: Sunday, October 14, 2001 1:08 PM To: a_diekman@hotmail.com; BLawler875@aol.com; CHMARGAU@aol.com; chris_a_regnier@yahoo.com; cll@prodigy.net; ebass@ect.enron.com; John9375@aol.com; marilynmontano@hotmail.com; mcoombes6400@hotmail.com; mybulldog189@hotmail.com; Rachael_Harman@gabrobins.com; srhea@acm.org Subject: Fwd: Tom Clancy's Response Tom Clancy is cool. :) < <For Tom Clancy, the world's highest-paid fiction writer - whose <thrillers have sold 60 million copies and been turned into <blockbuster movies - the events of Tuesday hold a special poignancy. <In his best selling novel Debt Of Honor in 1994, he created a <scenario chillingly similar to the attacks; a Japanese pilot crashes <a 747 jet into the US Capitol buildings, killing the President and <most of his Cabinet. Here, Clancy explains why the mood of his <nation is now turning to revenge. < <*************** < <It was a friend of mine formerly of the Royal Navy who first pointed <out that the casualty count on this incident exceeds that of Pearl <Harbor. Yes, my country has taken a big and costly hit, and <somewhere, perhaps in South Asia, some people are exchanging <high-fives and having themselves a good laugh. < <And maybe they're entitled to it. Like Pearl Harbor, it was a well <planned and well executed black operation. But, you know, they've <made the same mistake that Japan made back in 1941. It's remarkable <to me that America is so hard for some people to understand. We are <the most open of books, after all. Our values and customs are <portrayed on TV and movie screens all over the world. Is the <character of my country so hard to grasp? < <Japan figured that they could defeat us not physically, but morally, <that America was not tough enough to defeat their death-seeking <warriors, that we would be unwilling to absorb the casualties. (In <this they were right: we didn't absorb all the casualties they tried <to inflict - but that was because we killed their samurai much more <efficiently than they were able to kill our men). An enemy willing <to die in the performance of his duty can indeed be a formidable <adversary, but, you see, we've dealt with such people before. They <die just like everyone else. < <Perhaps the American sort of patriotism, like the British sort, just <isn't bombastic enough for our enemies to notice. We don't parade <about thumping our chests and proclaiming how tough we are, whereas <other people like that sort of display. But they don't seem to grasp <the fact that they do it because they have to - they evidently need <to prove to themselves how formidable they are. < <Instead, our people, like yours, train and practice their craft <every day, out in the field at places like Fort Bragg, North <Carolina, and Fort Irwin, California. I've been to both places and <seen our people and how they train. The difference between a <civilian or a common ruffian and a soldier, you see, is training. < <A professional soldier is as serious about his work as a surgeon is <about his. Such people are not, in my experience, boastful. If you <ask what they can do, they will explain it to you, usually in quiet <tones, because they do not feel the need to prove anything. Off duty <they are like everyone else, watching football on TV and enjoying a <quiet beer with their pals. They read books, shop at the local <supermarkets, and mow the grass at home. They all enjoy a good <laugh. They make the best of friends. They look physically fit - and <indeed they are physically fit - because their job requires it, and <every day they do something tiresome in the field, working at some <more or less demanding field exercise, again and again and again <until every aspect of their job is as automatic as zipping one's <zipper is for us people in civilian life. < <But, you know, inside all of these people, such as the 82nd Airborne <at Fort Bragg, or the 75th Ranger Regiment at Fort Stewart, Georgia, <there burns a little flame. Not a big one; instead like the pilot <light in a gas stove. And when you put more gas there, the flame <gets bigger, enough to cook with. Inside every one of these people <is something else, something you have to look for - pride. They know <that they are good at their work, in the event they ever have to do <it for real. This doesn't happen very often, and indeed they do not <ordinarily lust to do it because it's a serious, nasty job. The job <is the taking of life. < <Military organizations exist for only one mission: killing people <and breaking things. This is not something to be undertaken lightly, <because life is a gift from God, and a lot of these people - kids, really - <can be found in church on Sunday mornings. But their larger purpose - the <reason these kids enlist, both in my country and in yours - is to preserve, <protect, and defend their nations and the citizens who live there. It's not <an easy job, but someone has to do it, and typically the hardest jobs <attract the best of us. Mostly they never have to kill anybody, and that's <okay with them. It's knowing that <they are able to do something difficult and dangerous that gives <them their pride. < <This purpose, defending their country, is something they don't talk <much about, but it's always there, and with it comes a quiet, steely look <in the eyes. Especially when something like this happens. That's <when their sense of self is insulted, and these are people who do <not bear insults well. They are protectors, and when those whom they <are sworn to protect are hurt, then comes the desire - the lust - to <perform their mission. Even then it's quiet. They will not riot or <pose before TV cameras or cry aloud for action, because that's not <their way. They are the point of the lance, the very breath of the <dragon, and at times like this they want to know the taste of blood. < <Their adversaries just don't appreciate what they are capable of. <It's something too divorced from their experience. This isn't like hosing <civilians with your machine-gun or setting off a bomb somewhere, or killing <unarmed people strapped and helpless inside a commercial <aircraft. This means facing professional warriors at a time and <place of their choosing, and that is something terrorists don't <really prepare for. The day of Pearl Harbor, the commander of the <Japanese navy told his staff not to exult too much, that all their <beautifully executed operation had accomplished was to awaken a <sleeping dragon and give it a dreadful purpose. < <Perhaps alone in his country, Isoroku Yamamoto, who had lived <briefly in America, knew what his enemy was capable of, and for that <reason, perhaps he was not surprised when the .50-caliber bullet from a <P-38 fighter entered his head and ended his life. < <Whoever initiated last week's operation is probably not quite as <appreciative of what he has begun as Yamamoto was. Because the <dragon is now fully awake, and its breath is too hot for men to <bear. America is now fully awake. Our quiet patriotism is a little <louder now, but it will not get too loud. Why spoil the surprise? < < < _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp
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