“Even now, as the international situation turns ever more perilous, we are largely preoccupied with the debate over how to build a fitting memorial to the victims of the attack, trying to solve the problem of how to reconstruct that devastated area of our city. No one is sorry that the Taliban regime has been ousted from power, but when I talk to my fellow New Yorkers these days, I hear little but disappointment in what our government has been up to. Only a small minority of New Yorkers voted for George W. Bush, and most of us tend to look at his policies with suspicion. He simply isn't democratic enough for us. He and his cabinet have not encouraged open debate of the issues facing the country. With talk of an invasion of Iraq now circulating in the press, increasing numbers of New Yorkers are becoming apprehensive. From the vantage point of ground zero, it looks like a global catastrophe in the making.

Not long ago, I received a poetry magazine in the mail with a cover that read: "USA OUT OF NYC." Not everyone would want to go that far, but in the past several weeks I've heard a number of my friends talk with great earnestness and enthusiasm about the possibility of New York seceding from the union and establishing itself as an independent city-state.

That will never happen, of course, but I do have one practical suggestion. Since President Bush has repeatedly told us how much he dislikes Washington, why doesn't he come live in New York? We know he has no great love for this place, but by moving to our city, he might learn something about the country he is trying to govern. He might learn, in spite of his reservations, that we are the true heartland.”

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=578&e=3&cid=578&u=/nm/20020910/ts_nm/iraq_usa_terror_dc “Report: U.S. Lacks Case for Iraqi Terror Link” Tue Sep 10, 7:13 AM ET

1. Names. WORTH center: how many tonight? How many tomorrow? Drivers? 243 E. Bluelick, between Sugar and West, on right/north side of road. Meet in Marbeck lot at 6. I can’t come tomorrow because of the service on campus, but they’ll be expecting you.

Missing Peace is in. I’ll get a revised schedule out, but for now, read 9-34 for Tuesday, Group A do responses/web sites (a couple did already). For next Thursday read 77-122, Group B responses.

2. For today: we’re almost at the anniversary of 9/11; it seems apropos to be having this discussion now, doesn’t it? As I said, we’ll take ten or fifteen minutes to give the groups a chance to plan things; you will each have ten minutes to state your position and explain and defend it, using the resources you found. Then each group will have, say, three minutes to respond to what the other groups have said. Then we’ll open things up for general discussion.