One of the spinoffs from 9/11 has been a movement on the part of comic book companies to deal with what happened that day. After all, in mythical worlds where men can fly, move faster than lightning and save the planet from costumed madmen at least three times a month, you might have a hard time explaining why less than twenty mortal fanatics with box cutters and airplane tickets could achieve the unthinkable.

The results have been mixed, and met with both cheers and derision. No one can criticize them for trying to donate profits to charity, or speak loudly and firmly of the values we hold most dear. But some have said that they were guilty of trivializing the issue, or that their approach was inappropriate. I can see both sides of the argument: the sight of archvillain Doctor Doom weeping at Ground Zero was a bit much, but then so is Ground Zero, itself. And I contend that discussion - any sort of discussion - is ten times better than stark silence for fear of offending.

But, ironically enough, just as comic book companies were scrambling to tackle a real world issue in a meaningful manner, those in the real world have chosen to tackle 9/11 as though it were something from a comic book.

The message from on high as to why Al-Queda, the Taliban, et al hate us is because... we're the good guys. So naturally the bad guys hate us and wish us ill. And, since they're bad guys, they're not above doing bad things to us. In fact, they really groove off of it. Hence 9/11.

I suppose that's a good way to put it... if you think life is like your average superhero comic book. But as both a fan of that medium, and someone who pays attention to the media, I have to say that I'm just not buying it.

Life is simple in comic books. The villains are all on the same side, just like the heroes are. Everything is a straightforward question of good or evil, with no room inbetween for a grey area, or debate. America is Superman, and the West is the Justice League, all proudly standing tall against a Legion of Doom that stretches across the rest of the world. Everything we do is moral, just and right, and everything our enemies do is amoral, unjust and wrong. No exceptions.

In case you've been asleep for most of your life, the real world does not work that way.

Those arrayed "against" the West aren't always on the same side - or even on speaking terms - with one another, nor are they all utterly, totally evil. Those on "our side" aren't above spying on one another, or selling one another down the road to a moment's advancement, and they are not entirely good. Not everything we do is the sort of thing we like to talk about. Not everyone we support is worthy is mention. And when it comes to foreign policy... well, you know what they say about sausage.

In our time we have been both Superman and Darkseid; Captain America and the Red Skull. Why? Well, it's a rough game out there. There are rules and ideals, but sometimes the nice guys not only fail to score, but run the risk of being carried out on a stretcher. To survive, one must learn to high-stick creatively, and so we do.

These are the points that various folks in the anti-war camp have been bringing up. None of them are what you would call shocking revelations to anyone who's been paying attention. What's really shocking is how few of the American public are paying attention, or - worse - how few of them really care. The peace crowd gets it wrong by seeing these points as a reason to not counterattack those who attacked us, and then defend ourselves from further attack by hunting the bastards down, but the points themselves are hard to refute by anyone willing to be even-handed, or honest.

So, in that vein, let's be brutally honest. We weren't attacked on 9/11 because of our finer, nobler points. We weren't attacked because we love freedom, or because our enemies hate it. None of that simpleminded, childish drivel.

We were attacked because there were deadly, well-trained fanatics who were angry at us. And, unlike those who are angry but hold to certain precepts of civilized behavior, these people were willing to kill on a massive scale to make their point. And they're not the only ones out there who are like that, either, hence our War on Terror.

Were they right to be that angry at us? I don't think so, but therein lies the largest question of all: why did THEY think they were? What did we do to them - or what did they think we did to them - that was so terrible, so awful, that they felt justified in their actions? What on earth were they REALLY on about?

Those are questions we need to ask and have answered, and for real, this time. Maybe we'll discover that the fanatics had a real gripe - the sort of thing that, had it been done to us, we'd have lobbed cruise missiles at someone for. Maybe we'll discover that it was just the last, spasmodic gesture of a dying fanatic who wanted to end his life with some "meaning." Maybe the real answer's somewhere between those two points: it often is.

But one thing's for sure: we're not going to find those answers by mindlessly nodding along when the current architects of our foreign policy - some of whom were previously in charge of it as well - tell us that 9/11 happened because we were too good for our own good. That's comic book hero talk: the same sort of nonsense that might have gotten us in this mess to begin with. It's not going to get us out of it, and it sure as hell isn't going to keep us from getting back into it again, either. Some politicians might have done good for themselves by treating their constituents like little kids, but no good ever came to a nation by accepting that sort of obfuscation as reasonable behavior.

Some people will read what I've said here and accuse me of "hating" America. They can kiss my ass, and so can every person out there trying to coddle the American public with flimsy bedtime stories. If you love your country, then love it enough to do what any parent does when a child gives an answer to a serious question that sounds way too good to be true, or else smells more than a little fishy: you keep asking more questions until you get to the truth, however ugly, and deal with whatever comes out as best suits the situation.

Let's start asking some real questions - and demanding real answers - so that we'll be in a better position to confine this sort of horror to the place it best belongs: the pages of a comic book, never to intrude into real life ever again

"They knocked down two tall towers. In their memory, draft a covenant with your conscience, that we will create a world in which such things need not occur." - The Amazing Spider-Man" #36