(SAN ANTONIO) Roger V. Gary, a candidate for the 2012 Libertarian nomination for President, has issued the following statement on the 10th anniversary of the September 11th,
2001 terrorist attacks:
“I join my fellow Texans and my fellow Americans in mourning the deaths and injuries suffered by so many Americans on September 11th of 2001.
“While we can take some satisfaction that the man responsible for this mass murder has received his due punishment, and congratulate those who imposed retribution upon him, that does not lessen the loss. Nothing ever can.
“To truly honor those who suffered, as well as those who brought justice to the planner of this act of barbarism, we must work to defeat the very premise behind that foul crime: that if one considers one’s goals to be noble or one’s cause to be correct, it doesn’t matter if the methods used are evil. It does matter! Evil methods are no more acceptable than evil goals.
“My statement when bin Laden paid the price for his crime still holds true: his anger at the United States Government for failing to withdraw from Saudi Arabia after the first Gulf War did not justify the murder of over 3,000 civilians. His supporters can no more claim it did than one could claim that Axis aggression was justified by Tojo’s desire for a vast Japanese sphere of influence; Hitler’s desire for a larger Reich; or Stalin’s desire to spread Communism.
“We will never have peace, we will never have Liberty, until the notion that evil methods are ever justified has been thoroughly and permanently rejected by individuals, groups, and governments alike.”
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Gary has been elected to local office in Texas, In 1993, he won a seat on San Antonio River Authority. Additionally, Gary has served on the Libertarian National Committee.
I was surprised when I first read this that he would so clearly endorse the official Bin Laden story. Even if he believes the story, it suggests he doesn’t know his audience.
I like the conclusion better: “We will never have peace, we will never have Liberty, until the notion that evil methods are ever justified has been thoroughly and permanently rejected by individuals, groups, and governments alike.”
I would include extrajudicial assassination among “evil methods.” War, other than in self-defense or for independence, is an evil method.
Collateral killing of innocent people is not justified by revenge against governments or by revenge against terrorists…regardless of whether those innocent people are Americans, Middle Easterners, Central Asians or others.
1 dfr, this is tonally off for me as well.
Mourning senseless death is fine. I’d say focus on the idea that the US should respond to attacks proportionately and with prudence. Vengeance can sometimes cause a nation to respond by lashing out rather than carefully, and sometimes forcefully, to protect its citizens.
9/11 is a time to remember that the threat of communism was handled with some restraint and some excesses. Vietnam was such an excess.
Let those who died on 9/11/01 not be the purpose for us to learn the lesson of Vietnam all over again. As a nation founded on the principles of peace and liberty not be corrupted by the impulse to lash out, and in the process bankrupt ourselves economically and morally…
“While we can take some satisfaction that the man responsible for this mass murder has received his due punishment, and congratulate those who imposed retribution upon him…”
This is an assertion never subject to verification even by what passes for ‘due process’ in US courts; and congratulations for a gangland style hit on someone who may, or may not, have been the actual bin Laden who may, or may not, have been more than, at most, an accessory after the fact. Illogical.
Sorry, this candidate needs to hit the books and is definitely not yet worthy of nomination by even the Republican Party.