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In the wake of America’s catastrophic attack by terrorists, a distressed Middle-East resident questioned the US media's use of "Islam" and "terror" used together. "Terror is a satanic act apart from religions, and must be damned by all people,” he said.
Many Americans are indeed learning that the Islamic faith is not inherently evil; throughout time, and throughout the world, there have been many extremists who misuse religion to effect their own means. We know that our own Judeo-Christian heritage has not been immune from committing atrocities in the name of God.
We are sympathetic to those populations throughout the globe who have been subjected to armed conflict for generations; they are born, live and die in terror. This time it is we Americans who reel in horror to see the unthinkable happen here on our soil.
It is hard for most of us to believe the evil incarnate that we witnessed on that black Tuesday. How could anyone harbor so much hate against us that he would spend years orchestrating a devastating blow, not just against Americans, but against world citizens -- Christians, Jews, Muslims and more -- who were peacefully attending their business, or simply touring one of the greatest cities of the face of the earth on that fateful morning?
It is prudent that we exercised discretion by not reacting with blind force against another country without exhaustive investigation and deliberation. Our retaliation must not resemble the original attack. The wrong of this terrorist act has been decried by world leaders -- allies and adversaries alike. America’s resolve, tempered by caution, has earned global respect. If you don’t believe it, visit this extraordinary web site: http://thankyou.fast-networks.net/
Assessing our Right to Know
We are the land of the free and the home of the brave but, sadly, with this new awareness of the danger in our midst and our resolve to root it out, one wonders how many of our own freedoms will we lose? How much freedom will Americans rush to give away in the interest of security? Or will we even be asked as our freedoms are taken away?
Following the collapse of the World Trade towers, radio hobbyists on the Internet soon found themselves at each others' throats, accusing each other of compromising national security by reporting frequencies and call signs overheard on scanners and shortwave receivers.
But is this concern legitimate? As the leading publication of such information, Monitoring Times has a lot at stake in the answer. The fact is, any agency utilizing communications in this technological era is well aware of our citizens’ ability to listen in. When the military and other federal agencies don’t want us to hear something, we can’t. They scramble it, move transmissions to satellite, you name it. It's that simple.
We believe in an open society, and we would mourn the loss of more freedoms than are absolutely necessary. Regrettably, the freedom to listen to the airwaves is sometimes misused for illegitimate ends. Our country would not bear such a burden of cumbersome legislation if it weren't for those who exploit their freedoms as far as the law will allow.
Freedom is best maintained by self-discipline. In our two decades of publication, Monitoring Times has never resorted to sensationalism to sell magazines nor, to our knowledge, divulged classified information. We consistently try to balance the public's right to know and the hobbyist's enjoyment in solving the mysteries of communications without compromising an on-going investigation or endangering law enforcement personnel.
What Does the Future Hold?
Although we see no present movement by the government to restrict our listening, we do see various agencies pressuring Congress to increase their ability to listen to us. The Justice and other departments have been asking for greater leeway in "wiretapping" (both wired and wireless), access to privacy codes, and Internet surveillance. Only time will tell if this increasing loss of privacy will target the criminals rather than our democracy.
Many of us fear that increased powers will be abused by administrative and law enforcement agencies. This concern is a major argument in the fight to retain the ability of the public and the media to monitor public safety communications. The more open our society remains, the less likely such potential abuse can go undetected and unchecked.
The sentiment has been repeated many times in the media that America lost its innocence through these terrorist attacks, and that the world will never again be the same. As agonizing and heart-rending as this event was, the truth is the world was already a different place. Wireless technology has freed us from the phone line; it's made it possible to call for help from underneath the rubble of a destroyed building, and to watch a disaster unfold in real time.
Technology has shrunk the world through computers and the Internet; it's made world economies interactive; it's made us more vulnerable and more dependent upon the rest of the world (as they are dependent upon us). And it has helped lead us toward a more global family; "Today, we are all Americans," said one French official.
This is a different world we live in, and we can't turn back the clock to a Cold War mentality of fear and paranoia. We pray and trust that America, this immigrant nation which has so often offered refuge to the victims of terror, will continue to stand for liberty and freedom now that we have become victims ourselves.
Monitoring Times wishes to acknowledge the outpouring of sympathy from well-wishers around the world. We join in our sorrow for the families who have been torn apart, in our admiration for those who participated in rescue efforts, and in our support for troops around the world who find themselves in a new kind of war.