Thoughts Following 9/11

11/8/2001: I've toned down a bit what I wrote last night. I'm not as shocked as I was then.
    All our modern history is, in my opinion, far better than was the ancient world. In the ancient world, "to the victor went the spoils". The winners of a war looted the vanquished, putting them to the sword or selling them into slavery. The women could count on being raped. Torture was an official instrument of the state. And warfare was chronic.