Chapter 25

I just posted the notes for chapter 25. Those were pure facts from what Zinn had written in the chapter. While reading this chapter however, i took great offense and was very taken back by some of the opinions of Zinn. Due to the fact that the war on terrorism is occuring as we speak and for that the knowledge of many Americans is great on this subject, I feel this is one of Zinn's weakest arguments. Coming from a military family with several of my relatives being over in Iraq, I strongly disagree with Zinn's argument in this chapter. As I was reading I continually had to stop when Zinn spoke of the wounded Afghans and ask myself "what about all of those who lost family members and loved ones in New York and the Pentagon?". Zinn skipped over the American heros from 9/11 and seemed to not focus on the harm done to America. While he condemns the U.S for bombing the Middle East, he seems to have a sense of approval for the terrorists and their acts and seems to show no condemnation towards them. The main duty of a government is to protect its citizens from their enemies. If no action had been taken towards the terrorists, their acts of terrorism would have continued. By declaring war, Bush was simply fulfilling his duty to protect the United States from harm. Zinn makes a point in this chapter that i feel dismisses many of the arguments he made in previous chapters. Throughout the book Zinn brings up the point that war should bring a nation together but says this result has continually not been shown. In this chapter however, Zinn seems raged that the Americans came together in supporting Bush during the war. This feeling also continues when he speaks of the American flags being hung in windows and the spread of nationalism within our country. The next point that caught my eyes was the "USA Patriot Act". Although I must say this Act was a bit extreme, I feel it was necessary. Let me put it this way: If this Act had not been put into place and one of the noncitizens commited an act of terrorism, Bush would have been scolded for not taking better precautions. America would have been furious with the government for letting another act occur. So while I believe the Act was quite extreme, it was completely necessary for the protection of the American citizens. Another point that I felt was controversial was the point of the 1,000-4,000 civilians dying in the Middle East. This is a WAR! People dying is a direct cause of war and can never be avoided. Once again Zinn points out the number of Afghans that died but what about the Americans that have been killed both from 9/11 and on the war front in the Middle East? Are they not important as well? My final point comes from the last statement made in reference to the lack of aid to other countries by America. For a lack of better words, that is not our problem. Why should the U.S be penalized or harmed because of the low status of other countries. In cross refernce to what Zinn says, America has put many acts into affect such as UNICEF and Water Relief Organizations to help the sanitation in many third world countries.