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Who Defended The Country?: A New Democracy Forum on Authoritarian versus Democratic Approaches to National Defense on 9/11
Through a minute-by-minute analysis of the phone calls, official reports, responses, and reported actions of passengers on two hijacked flights, United Airlines 93 (which crashed in Pennsylvania) and American Airlines 77 (which crashed into the Pentagon), Elaine Scarry offers a dramatic retelling of their fate and some startling conclusions. Leading off a provocative debate, she asks if the difficulty we had as a country in defending ourselves on September 11 suggests serious flaws in our national security. The need to act in'a matter of minutes' has been invoked to justify military arrangements increasingly outside the citizenry's control, yet the only successful defense on September 11 was carried out, after a vote, by the passengers themselves on hijacked Flight 93.
Arguments made at the time of the writing of the Constitution judged that the only plausible way to defend the home ground was to have actions measured against the norms of civilian the military had to be'held within a civil frame.' Scarry asks, have we strayed too far from this model? Does our authoritarian conception of national defense diminish our capacity to protect ourselves? Is it legal? Is it moral? Responding to her argument are nine prominent thinkers and writers from across the political spectrum, including Richard Falk, Ellen Willis, Admiral Eugene Carroll, and Antonia Chayes.
Arguments made at the time of the writing of the Constitution judged that the only plausible way to defend the home ground was to have actions measured against the norms of civilian the military had to be'held within a civil frame.' Scarry asks, have we strayed too far from this model? Does our authoritarian conception of national defense diminish our capacity to protect ourselves? Is it legal? Is it moral? Responding to her argument are nine prominent thinkers and writers from across the political spectrum, including Richard Falk, Ellen Willis, Admiral Eugene Carroll, and Antonia Chayes.
- GenresPolitics
124 pages, Paperback
First published May 15, 2003
26 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 16, 2024
A COLLECTION OF ESSAYS ABOUT THE BEST POST-9/11 DEFENSE
The editor of the lead essay in this collection, Elaine Scarry (born 1946), is a professor of English and American Literature and Language at Harvard University. This 2003 book begins with Scarry's essay, followed by nine brief essays, and concluded with a "Reply" by Scarry to the other contributors.
The Editor's Preface summarizes Scarry's essay, "She proposes an alternative security strategy--a more egalitarian, democratic, bottom-up approach to national defense, with greater reliance on the initiative of ordinary citizens... (9/11) demonstrated the failure of conventional, top-down security arrangements, which were unable even to protect the Defense Department." United Flight 93, by contrast, "was a success of citizen defense... (and) produced the only successful defense on that terrible day."
Scarry concludes her essay on the note, "in the long run other countries of the world will only agree to abstain from acquiring (nuclear weapons), or to give them up ... where they already have them, when and if the United States agrees to give them up. The process of persuading... will commence on the day we agree to restore within our own country a democratic form of self-defense." (Pg. 34)
Another essayist, however, says that "Sometimes democracy is not the answer... Indeed, after September 11, there may have been a real danger of mob action on airplanes. If you were of Middle Eastern descent and acted suspiciously, you were likely to find yourself targeted by passengers and crew." (Pg. 45)
A retired rear admiral of the U.S. Navy observed that the military budget for 2003 was increased by $48 billion, "while no significant additions were made to funds for the State Department to pursue diplomatic initiatives or initiate helpful foreign aid programs." (Pg. 73)
Scarry wrote in her closing essay, "The question is do we wish to carry out that work of reanimation, or do we wish instead to rely for protection on monarchic weapons, unchecked executive war-making, and our present, authoritarian, top-down military arrangements." (Pg. 93)
This is an interesting and thought-provoking collection about the future in the post-9/11 era.
The editor of the lead essay in this collection, Elaine Scarry (born 1946), is a professor of English and American Literature and Language at Harvard University. This 2003 book begins with Scarry's essay, followed by nine brief essays, and concluded with a "Reply" by Scarry to the other contributors.
The Editor's Preface summarizes Scarry's essay, "She proposes an alternative security strategy--a more egalitarian, democratic, bottom-up approach to national defense, with greater reliance on the initiative of ordinary citizens... (9/11) demonstrated the failure of conventional, top-down security arrangements, which were unable even to protect the Defense Department." United Flight 93, by contrast, "was a success of citizen defense... (and) produced the only successful defense on that terrible day."
Scarry concludes her essay on the note, "in the long run other countries of the world will only agree to abstain from acquiring (nuclear weapons), or to give them up ... where they already have them, when and if the United States agrees to give them up. The process of persuading... will commence on the day we agree to restore within our own country a democratic form of self-defense." (Pg. 34)
Another essayist, however, says that "Sometimes democracy is not the answer... Indeed, after September 11, there may have been a real danger of mob action on airplanes. If you were of Middle Eastern descent and acted suspiciously, you were likely to find yourself targeted by passengers and crew." (Pg. 45)
A retired rear admiral of the U.S. Navy observed that the military budget for 2003 was increased by $48 billion, "while no significant additions were made to funds for the State Department to pursue diplomatic initiatives or initiate helpful foreign aid programs." (Pg. 73)
Scarry wrote in her closing essay, "The question is do we wish to carry out that work of reanimation, or do we wish instead to rely for protection on monarchic weapons, unchecked executive war-making, and our present, authoritarian, top-down military arrangements." (Pg. 93)
This is an interesting and thought-provoking collection about the future in the post-9/11 era.
September 21, 2007
This book contains a short thesis about national defense in the U.S. made by Elaine Scarry, and several responses to her thesis made by several other people. Scarry's thesis is (very uncharacteristically) sloppily argued. The responses by the other people are either ass-kissing and therefore boring, or attacking, but even when they're attacking, you don't learn anything new.
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