# 9/11: How We Shouldn't Have Responded **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 7, 2011, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-how-we-shouldnt-have-responded/595476 "2011-09-07T05:45:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![user\_hostile](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/user_hostile/32/474_2.png) [@user\_hostile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_hostile)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-how-we-shouldnt-have-responded/595476/61 "2011-09-08T03:39:15Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > The man is a published author and has got mostly positive reviews apparently: [http://www.amazon.com/Sparrowhawk-Book-One-Jack-Frake/dp/1931561214/ref=sr\_1\_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1315443989&sr=8-1](http://www.amazon.com/Sparrowhawk-Book-One-Jack-Frake/dp/1931561214/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1315443989&sr=8-1) Yes, and one reviewer gave this rave review: > [@](#): > > I will try to be as direct to the point as possible–this book masquerades as a novel when it is in fact a turgidly argued apologia for Libertarianism. The style is self-consciously trying to impress the reader with how “smart” the author is, and this, together with the didactic tone makes it an absurdly overlong political tract. At times the writing becomes laughably bad. From the opening page describing the protagonist’s motivation, “_The brevity and suddenness of this moment, which strikes without warning such souls as do not submit to the intrusive humdrum of their daily lives, signals its own importance, for its incandescent violence must make one passionately certain that one is a worthy crucible. Jack Frake was a boy of ten, and tonight he was such a crucible._” And we note the biography of the author, one known as Edward Cline: > [@](#): > > Edward Cline (1946 -) was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After graduating from high school (in which he learned nothing of value) and a stint in the Air Force, he pursued his ambition to become a novelist. His first detective novel, First Prize, was published in 1988 by Mysterious Press/Warner Books, and his first suspense novel, Whisper the Guns, was published in 1992 by The Atlantean Press. First Prize was republished in 2009 by Perfect Crime. The Sparrowhawk series of novels set in England and Virginia in the pre-Revolutionary period has garnered some critical acclaim (but not yet from the literary establishment) and universal appreciation from the reading public, including parents, teachers, students, scholars, and adult readers who believe that American history has been abandoned or is misrepresented by a government-dominated educational establishment. He writes regularly for such political and cultural blog sites as Rule of Reason and The Dougout. He is dedicated to Objectivism, or Ayn Rand’s philosophy of reason in all matters. I will Godwinize this thread by saying: “Edward Cline: The Objectivist movement’s Colonel Klink” ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-how-we-shouldnt-have-responded/595476/62 "2011-09-08T03:59:50Z")
Maybe General Burkhalter. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-how-we-shouldnt-have-responded/595476/63 "2011-09-08T04:41:02Z")
> [@user\_hostile](#): > > I will Godwinize this thread by saying: “Edward Cline: The Objectivist movement’s Colonel Klink” That seems insulting to Klink. Klink was an ineffectual, not especially nasty fellow; if Klink was the Nazi version of this fellow he’d be a wild eyed loony ranting about how the Jewish hordes need to be destroyed, constantly looking under his bed or in closets in case there are Jewish assassins hiding in there waiting to pounce. ---
**Author:** ![user\_hostile](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/user_hostile/32/474_2.png) [@user\_hostile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_hostile)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-how-we-shouldnt-have-responded/595476/64 "2011-09-08T04:52:45Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > That seems insulting to Klink. Klink was an ineffectual, not especially nasty fellow; if Klink was the Nazi version of this fellow he’d be a wild eyed loony ranting about how the Jewish hordes need to be destroyed, constantly looking under his bed or in closets in case there are Jewish assassins hiding in there waiting to pounce. Major Wolfgang Hochstetter, then? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-how-we-shouldnt-have-responded/595476/65 "2011-09-08T04:53:43Z")
While a libertarian, Cline apparently feels the government has some limited legitimate roles: issuing currency, establishing a uniform system of weights and measures, enforcing contracts, religious genocide, maintaining bridges and highways, etc. ---
**Author:** ![user\_hostile](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/user_hostile/32/474_2.png) [@user\_hostile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_hostile)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-how-we-shouldnt-have-responded/595476/66 "2011-09-08T05:12:23Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > While a libertarian, Cline apparently feels the government has some limited legitimate roles: issuing currency, establishing a uniform system of weights and measures, enforcing contracts, religious genocide, maintaining bridges and highways, etc. Ahh, that’s sweet. ---
**Author:** ![DeptfordX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DeptfordX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeptfordX)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-how-we-shouldnt-have-responded/595476/67 "2011-09-08T09:26:13Z")
Hmmm, now getting a 404 when attempting to access the article. ---
**Author:** ![Mince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@Mince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mince)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-how-we-shouldnt-have-responded/595476/68 "2011-09-08T09:50:15Z")
> [@DeptfordX](#): > > Hmmm, now getting a 404 when attempting to access the article. “Quote” the post, then copy and paste the URL directly. I don’t know why, but only about 50% of the posted links work for me. Might be a “hot-linking” issue with some of the host sites. ---
**Author:** ![DeptfordX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DeptfordX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeptfordX)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-how-we-shouldnt-have-responded/595476/69 "2011-09-08T10:12:40Z")
Their main website seems to be down now (at least for me) ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-how-we-shouldnt-have-responded/595476/70 "2011-09-08T10:25:41Z")
I’m getting 404’d by their site as well. So, um… yay? ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-how-we-shouldnt-have-responded/595476/71 "2011-09-08T10:49:32Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Irrelevant really, since this supposedly happens in an alternate history ten years ago, not in the future. Agreed. It’s pointless to debate minor tech points when the author has ignored our greatest weapon: Our culture. The terrorists have already lost, and they never had a chance. We’ll win with booze, sex, music, and porn; Not explosives. I hope all of you are doing your part for the war effort. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-how-we-shouldnt-have-responded/595476/72 "2011-09-08T10:49:50Z")
> [@DeptfordX](#): > > Their main website seems to be down now (at least for me) > [@Smapti](#): > > I’m getting 404’d by their site as well. > > So, um… yay? The jihadists got 'em!! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![DeptfordX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DeptfordX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeptfordX)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-how-we-shouldnt-have-responded/595476/73 "2011-09-08T12:11:30Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > The jihadists got 'em!! :eek: Can i be the first to say, I for one welcome our new Jihadi overlords. ---
**Author:** ![Mince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@Mince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mince)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-how-we-shouldnt-have-responded/595476/74 "2011-09-08T12:41:42Z")
> [@DeptfordX](#): > > Can i be the first to say, I for one welcome our new Jihadi overlords. I would like to remind them that as a trusted message board personality, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground terror caves. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-how-we-shouldnt-have-responded/595476/75 "2011-09-08T13:41:35Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > We should have nuked every other country in the world. There are muslim sects living in London too. That can not be allowed. We could have solved the problem once and for all. I’d bet you wouldn’t be so sanguine when they nuked Dearborn. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-how-we-shouldnt-have-responded/595476/76 "2011-09-08T14:20:48Z")
> [@](#): > > “The brevity and suddenness of this moment, which strikes without warning such souls as do not submit to the intrusive humdrum of their daily lives, signals its own importance, for its incandescent violence must make one passionately certain that one is a worthy crucible. Jack Frake was a boy of ten, and tonight he was such a crucible.” Good lord. That’s Bulwer-Lytton bad. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-how-we-shouldnt-have-responded/595476/77 "2011-09-08T16:26:24Z")
It’s two sentrences, though. Replace the period with a semicolon and you’ve got it. ---
**Author:** ![newcomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e5b9ba/32.png) [@newcomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcomer)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-how-we-shouldnt-have-responded/595476/78 "2011-09-08T16:49:16Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Sure. Yes, it’s lunatic idea; but it’s lunatic in a damn-the-consequences mad-science way you seldom get to see in the real world. Well, some would argue that the actual response from Bush Administration was “(..) lunatic in a damn-the-consequences mad-science way”. What I find funny about OP is that, in some strange way, fantasy response makes actual response mild by comparison. Yes, uneccesary wars, monitoring, phone tapping, reduction of liberties, contractors and what not, but, you see, it could have been worse. Much, much worse. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-how-we-shouldnt-have-responded/595476/79 "2011-09-08T18:30:22Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > It’s two sentrences, though. Replace the period with a semicolon and you’ve got it. I think you also need a run on sub-clause about the weather. Tradition. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-how-we-shouldnt-have-responded/595476/80 "2011-09-08T19:21:10Z")
> [@newcomer](#): > > Well, some would argue that the actual response from Bush Administration was “(..) lunatic in a damn-the-consequences mad-science way”. > > What I find funny about OP is that, in some strange way, fantasy response makes actual response mild by comparison. Yes, uneccesary wars, monitoring, phone tapping, reduction of liberties, contractors and what not, but, you see, it could have been worse. Much, much worse. Yeah, but the _real_ version lacks the satisfaction of eliminating an entire religion, President john Bolton, and telling the U.N. to go fuck itself. I don’t recall any mention of post 9/11 American casualties from military action or American economic hardship after nuking the capitals of OPEC nations - the author’s fantasy is remarkably free of downsides, or maybe he just skipped over them because they were boring and depressing. For that matter, aside from one passing reference there’s no mention of Indonesia, which by a considerable margin has the largest Muslim population in the world. I guess out of sight, out of mind. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-how-we-shouldnt-have-responded/595476.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-how-we-shouldnt-have-responded/595476.md?page=5)