Message-ID: <32729882.1075852291200.JavaMail.evans@thyme> Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2001 06:55:03 -0700 (PDT) From: eric.bass@enron.com To: shanna.husser@enron.com, e-mail <.dad@enron.com>, e-mail <.mom@enron.com>, e-mail <.jason@enron.com> Subject: FW: Tom Clancy's Response Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-From: Bass, Eric X-To: Husser, Shanna , Dad (E-mail) , Mom (E-mail) , Jason Bass (E-mail) X-cc: X-bcc: X-Folder: \EBASS (Non-Privileged)\Sent Items X-Origin: BASS-E X-FileName: EBASS (Non-Privileged).pst -----Original Message----- From: Brett Lawler [mailto:brettlawler@hotmail.com] Sent: Sunday, October 14, 2001 1:08 PM To: a_diekman@hotmail.com; BLawler875@aol.com; CHMARGAU@aol.com; chris_a_regnier@yahoo.com; cll@prodigy.net; ebass@ect.enron.com; John9375@aol.com; marilynmontano@hotmail.com; mcoombes6400@hotmail.com; mybulldog189@hotmail.com; Rachael_Harman@gabrobins.com; srhea@acm.org Subject: Fwd: Tom Clancy's Response Tom Clancy is cool. :) > >For Tom Clancy, the world's highest-paid fiction writer - whose >thrillers have sold 60 million copies and been turned into >blockbuster movies - the events of Tuesday hold a special poignancy. >In his best selling novel Debt Of Honor in 1994, he created a >scenario chillingly similar to the attacks; a Japanese pilot crashes >a 747 jet into the US Capitol buildings, killing the President and >most of his Cabinet. Here, Clancy explains why the mood of his >nation is now turning to revenge. > >*************** > >It was a friend of mine formerly of the Royal Navy who first pointed >out that the casualty count on this incident exceeds that of Pearl >Harbor. Yes, my country has taken a big and costly hit, and >somewhere, perhaps in South Asia, some people are exchanging >high-fives and having themselves a good laugh. > >And maybe they're entitled to it. Like Pearl Harbor, it was a well >planned and well executed black operation. But, you know, they've >made the same mistake that Japan made back in 1941. It's remarkable >to me that America is so hard for some people to understand. We are >the most open of books, after all. Our values and customs are >portrayed on TV and movie screens all over the world. Is the >character of my country so hard to grasp? > >Japan figured that they could defeat us not physically, but morally, >that America was not tough enough to defeat their death-seeking >warriors, that we would be unwilling to absorb the casualties. (In >this they were right: we didn't absorb all the casualties they tried >to inflict - but that was because we killed their samurai much more >efficiently than they were able to kill our men). An enemy willing >to die in the performance of his duty can indeed be a formidable >adversary, but, you see, we've dealt with such people before. They >die just like everyone else. > >Perhaps the American sort of patriotism, like the British sort, just >isn't bombastic enough for our enemies to notice. We don't parade >about thumping our chests and proclaiming how tough we are, whereas >other people like that sort of display. But they don't seem to grasp >the fact that they do it because they have to - they evidently need >to prove to themselves how formidable they are. > >Instead, our people, like yours, train and practice their craft >every day, out in the field at places like Fort Bragg, North >Carolina, and Fort Irwin, California. I've been to both places and >seen our people and how they train. The difference between a >civilian or a common ruffian and a soldier, you see, is training. > >A professional soldier is as serious about his work as a surgeon is >about his. Such people are not, in my experience, boastful. If you >ask what they can do, they will explain it to you, usually in quiet >tones, because they do not feel the need to prove anything. Off duty >they are like everyone else, watching football on TV and enjoying a >quiet beer with their pals. They read books, shop at the local >supermarkets, and mow the grass at home. They all enjoy a good >laugh. They make the best of friends. They look physically fit - and >indeed they are physically fit - because their job requires it, and >every day they do something tiresome in the field, working at some >more or less demanding field exercise, again and again and again >until every aspect of their job is as automatic as zipping one's >zipper is for us people in civilian life. > >But, you know, inside all of these people, such as the 82nd Airborne >at Fort Bragg, or the 75th Ranger Regiment at Fort Stewart, Georgia, >there burns a little flame. Not a big one; instead like the pilot >light in a gas stove. And when you put more gas there, the flame >gets bigger, enough to cook with. Inside every one of these people >is something else, something you have to look for - pride. They know >that they are good at their work, in the event they ever have to do >it for real. This doesn't happen very often, and indeed they do not >ordinarily lust to do it because it's a serious, nasty job. The job >is the taking of life. > >Military organizations exist for only one mission: killing people >and breaking things. This is not something to be undertaken lightly, >because life is a gift from God, and a lot of these people - kids, really - >can be found in church on Sunday mornings. But their larger purpose - the >reason these kids enlist, both in my country and in yours - is to preserve, >protect, and defend their nations and the citizens who live there. It's not >an easy job, but someone has to do it, and typically the hardest jobs >attract the best of us. Mostly they never have to kill anybody, and that's >okay with them. It's knowing that >they are able to do something difficult and dangerous that gives >them their pride. > >This purpose, defending their country, is something they don't talk >much about, but it's always there, and with it comes a quiet, steely look >in the eyes. Especially when something like this happens. That's >when their sense of self is insulted, and these are people who do >not bear insults well. They are protectors, and when those whom they >are sworn to protect are hurt, then comes the desire - the lust - to >perform their mission. Even then it's quiet. They will not riot or >pose before TV cameras or cry aloud for action, because that's not >their way. They are the point of the lance, the very breath of the >dragon, and at times like this they want to know the taste of blood. > >Their adversaries just don't appreciate what they are capable of. >It's something too divorced from their experience. This isn't like hosing >civilians with your machine-gun or setting off a bomb somewhere, or killing >unarmed people strapped and helpless inside a commercial >aircraft. This means facing professional warriors at a time and >place of their choosing, and that is something terrorists don't >really prepare for. The day of Pearl Harbor, the commander of the >Japanese navy told his staff not to exult too much, that all their >beautifully executed operation had accomplished was to awaken a >sleeping dragon and give it a dreadful purpose. > >Perhaps alone in his country, Isoroku Yamamoto, who had lived >briefly in America, knew what his enemy was capable of, and for that >reason, perhaps he was not surprised when the .50-caliber bullet from a >P-38 fighter entered his head and ended his life. > >Whoever initiated last week's operation is probably not quite as >appreciative of what he has begun as Yamamoto was. Because the >dragon is now fully awake, and its breath is too hot for men to >bear. America is now fully awake. Our quiet patriotism is a little >louder now, but it will not get too loud. Why spoil the surprise? > > > _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp