Title of the Article: 9-11, by Noam Chomsky, Seven Stories Press, 2001.
Text source:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/onpolitics/elections/goretext121300.htm
Brief summary
The content of this website is simply collections of excerpt from Noam Chomsky’s book “9-11”. But from those quotes, we can still capture a clear-cut idea of his main theme that the United States was actually the leading terrorist state in the world.
Quotation
* It is entirely typical for the major media, and the intellectual classes generally, to line up in support of power at a time of crisis and try to mobilize the population for the same cause.
* The U.S. is the only country that was condemned for international terrorism by the World Court and that rejected a Security Council resolution calling on states to observe international law.
* We should not underestimate the capacity of well-run propaganda systems to drive people to irrational, murderous, and suicidal behavior.
* We need not stride resolutely toward catastrophe merely because those are the marching orders.
* Terrorism-as defined in official U.S. documents: “the calculated use of violence or threat of violence to attain goals that are political, religious, or ideological in nature. This is done through intimidation, coercion, or instilling fear.”
* Arundhati Roy-“ The Taliban’s response to U.S. demands for the extradition of bin Laden has been uncharacteristically reasonable: produce the evidence, then we’ll hand him over. President Bush’s response is that the demand is non-negotiable.”
Reflection
I have to confess that I have already read the Chinese version of the book “9-11”. Before this, Chomsky means nothing to me but only a name appears in my linguistic textbook. It was an amazing experience to discover this dissenter and his controversial political opinion against American terrorism. I am not sure if I could make a correct judgment about his notion since I don’t have full knowledge about the incidents he mentioned in the book. Political opinions were easily formed, especially from some radical statements (just take a look at our TV programs); while the truth, always demands more serious attitude. Despite his politic propensity, I think Noam Chomsky is a man with plenty of guts. After all, 9-11 is an unprecedented attack in American history. But Chomsky was not deterred by patriotism and proposed his belief, which remind us anything has at least two different views, sometimes more.
