I don't seek to be a source of news here, and if you are rolling the political blogs, you are aware of news almost as fast as I am. Another terrorist attack occurred today in India, and many people were killed. At this moment, FoxNews reports it as 137 dead.
The libs still don't get the importance of fighting terrorism. It is an evil and uncivil method of making changes to the world. Many innocent people die, and the world weeps because it is unnecessary. Yes, in fighting terrorism, our bravest citizens die. I know that, you know that, but most importantly, THEY know that and are willing and have gratitude for the opportunity to serve.
Terrorism must be countered. Terrorists learn from each other. The official line at the moment is that there is no knowledge about who is responsible. It is highly likely that this was the work of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) who have fought for the independence of Sri Lanka for decades. Maybe not...maybe it was al-Quada, or some to this point unknown radical group. One thing I will tell you for certain is that they have learned from al-Quada.
There are several hallmarks of an al-Quada operation. Intense reconnaissance of the targets, transportation modes as a target, multiple, simultaneous attacks on a single venue(In this case, seven different trains)and Improvised Explosive Devices that inflict as many casualties as possible. Whoever this is, they have studied the successful operations of al-Quada and have taken to imitation.
We can't stop. We must counter this ongoing threat every day with as much rage and anger and violence as we can gather.
There is a post today on Ellie's Political Hottspot about the suicide gas explosion yesterday in NYC. Ellie talks about a state of fear, and how politics and the current administration has instilled too much fear in the minds and hearts of Americans. I think that we are not fearful enough. I think that we don't appreciate terrorism for what it is, and how it can destroy the quality of life of entire nations. It is a good thing, because we are protected by valiant warriors and dedicated people who spend their lives attempting to eliminate and mitigate threats to the United States. It is bad because of the same reasons. Despite the fear many feel, it does not taste as sour as the people of Israel must endure. Imagine knowing that anytime you go for a cup of coffee that you might die. Imagine having to eyeball every person on every bus and in ever store and at every church and school and grocery store because they might be trying to kill perfect strangers en masse.
Fear is a strong motivator. Fear terrorism, and then look inside for the fortitude to fight it, and to conquer it.
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Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Another Terrorist Attack - And the Libs Still Don't Get It
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6 Posts From Readers:
the attack in India is very real and very scary. Occaisionally when my metrocard is running low on money I take the train. and one of these days there could be a blast and I could die just as happened in India.
first of all, I believe in fighting terrorism. I think it's a very good idea to get these people off the streets, just like the criminals and gangs in our own country. However, I don't believe in fear. I think fear is something that restricts people. people are put on a leash by it and they allow someone else to pull that leash. I want osama caught just as much as any far right wing republican who watches fox five, rush limbaugh, bill o'reilly, to name a few. I was in NY when 9/11 happened. I was actually in long island, probably one of the only people going into the city that day. Many of my friends out on Long Island lost relatives that worked in Canter Fitzgerald in the top of the building. 9/11 was very real for me and I wanted Osama bin Laden to pay for what he did. However I still didn't endorse the War in Iraq. back to the topic, I believe terrorism is real and horrible and should be countered. But I don't think that the Bush Administration is going about it in the best way possible.
so...you're probably now thinking what do I suggest. well, first off: eliminate gitmo and other prisons in which detainies are tortured and held without rights. Hold people who are guilty or suspected, okay. but as humans they deserve rights. also, I think we are wasting time and resources in Iraq. Saddam didn't attack us. Why are we there? (I'd like to hear your take on that by the way...) the government is taking away our civil liberties and saying that they are being taken away because of the war on terror. But, I don't see any results. I'm supposed to have faith in my government? well, that was lost completely when we invaded Iraq.
you said yourself that fear is a strong motivator, and it is. It motivates people to do things they never would do under regular circumstances. Would you stand for gitmo if there was no war on terror? would you stand for your phone being tapped, journalism being restricted (and i'm not just talking about swift, I'm talking about rather retiring, people refusing to say outright that cheney shot someone, etc.) would you stand for that if this wasn't war time?
thanks for mentioning me...I feel honored! :) I walked by park avenue today and they had 62nd street cordoned off. a lady that works on my floor said that they were picking up debris today. it's really scary to think I could have been walking past when that exploded. thank god I was late too late to walk! (more fear, ughh its everywhere)
This has gone on long enough...the israel issue I'll take up with you later. :)
Wow Ellie, a rather lengthy reply, but a good one.
The first question you actually asked me was about the war in Iraq. I fully support the war in Iraq, and here is why. First, let me say that no one ever substantively claimed that Iraq was responsible for 9/11. A few comments here and there that may have been not as precise as they should have been, but In the big picture, no one ever claimed that.
Now, Iraq was an evil country. I won't go into the murders of the Kurds, because that is common knowledge. I will say that he used chemical weapons. Chemical weapons were found in Desert Storm. He didn't use them because of our nucs...no other reason. Forget all of the information that is on the media. Read the excerpts from theNational Intelligence Estimate from 2002, declassified in 2003. ALL 15 of the U.S. Intelligence agencies said Saddam had WMD and was producing them. Even Bill Clinton said on a Larry King interview(can't remember the exact date, sorry) that the world changedin 2001, and Bush had to approach things differently. The bottom line is that the informationt hat the President was given said that Iraw had WMD.
Carlos the Jackal? Abu Nidal? Two of the worlds most notorious terrorists were given safe haven in Iraq. A few clicks on google will give you all of that. Iraq funded radical groups in Palestine. Iran is the largest offender, but Iraq did it too. These groups, such as the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, desire the elimination of Israel. There is no manner of compromise or pacifism or appeasement that will stop their attacks. Isrrael just gave up the Gaza, and look what happened.
Iraq has invaded its neighbors twice, refused to comply with UN sanctions that resulted in the deaths of innocents, and refused to comply under threat of war. He also attempted the assasination of President G.W. Bush on a post presidency visit to Kuwait.
So, tie this together. He supported terrorists, harbored terrorists that killed Americans, had WMD, and had waged war on us and neighbors. We couldn't wait any longer. We needed to remove this threat, preemptively, because we don't want to wait until we are on the defensive again.
I do not want journalism resticted, I want journalists to act responsibly (see post on similar topic on your site). Our phones are not tapped....computers mine for keywords, and if they are heard, then human eas listen. It isntl like there are 300 million NSA emplyees sitting around with headphones. It has been going on for almost 20 years, it didn't start with Bush.
I support Gitmo, and it didn't exist before we were at war.
Name one liberty that you have lost. Just one. Don't give me liberal paranoia, give me something that has actually deprived Ellie of the right to life, liverty, and the pursuit of happiness. Give me ONE example of your enduring intrusive and illegal activity. Give me ONE example of ANY American that has been unlawfully targets because of anything being done for terrorism.
I appreciate our discussions. I am glad that you have been safe in NYC, and I stand in awe of you yankees who endured and persevered. Remind me some day to tell you the difference between a yankee and a damn yankee...lol.
I should also say that a democratic government in Iraq could very well prevent us from having to fight others down the road. This was as much strategic as it was in response to 9/11. If radical countries are spending time and resources to influence a democracy next door, then they won't have as much time to support terrorism and hate us. Besides, have you actually looked at a map of Iraq/Iran/Afghanistan/Pakistan?
An interesting terrorist tactic was espoused by Carlos Marighella...It had the concept of "encirclement of the cities bythe countryside". If the rebels took over and won the rural areas around a city, then the government would be pressured to respond, andthe people would rebel. A tenuous connection to what we are doing, but if we have democratic type government all around Iran and Syria...they will eventually lose.
I am tired, that may not have been very articulate. I can amplify tomorrow if necessary......
It's getting kinda late and I need to get myself off line and focus on getting my work finished and getting some sleep. so i'll keep this short. I admit that Iraq was a bad country and that Saddam was a bad man. However, so is castro, chavez, etc. We can't just invade countries because they are bad. True something needed to be done, but why us? and why then?
as for bush correlating iraq and 9/11 there were I believe three incidents in which he said that saddam was responsible for 9/11 or something of that nature. one of my blogger friends posted a comment on it over at my place. I'll find it for you tomorrow and post it, I found it very interesting. because I msyelf didn't think that bush had put the two together, I thought he had merely put them in the same sentence a number of times.
you said that we dont' want to be on the defensive. In the history of America we have NEVER struck a country before being hit first. I'm not saying that we are defensive, we certainly have won may wars and are a superpower. however we were hit at pearl harbor, even the U.S.S. Maine. altough yellow journalism we still believed we were hit first. Not so with Iraq.
well, bush has deprived me of happiness because I enter the city in fear everyday! jk. During the '04 election there was someone who was sent to gitmo and john kerry got him out. he was just picked up off the streets and sent off to cuba without any notification to his family or anything. as far as they were concerned, he jsut disappeared off the face of the earth.
GO YANKEES!! oh right, not that kinda yankee. lol. great debating with you. I did start this out with this is going to be short...and I still have more to say. ah well tomorrow's another day. :)
You answered the why us question yourself. We are a superpower, argueably the sole remaining one. There is no one else who has the moral authority and the ability and the will to do what needs to be done. Not to bash the French, but twice last century they refused to defend their own country, and the US has to save it both times. I have posted about the Marines who did it in WWI, as they approached paris the French were in retreat and told the Marines to flee because the Germans were taking Paris. The Marine commander said, " Retreat hell, we just got here!" and proceeded to save Paris at a place called Belleau Wood. Marines were given th nickname "Teufel hunden", or Devildog, by the Germans for their ferocity in combat.
Yor hit the points, but you just can't quite connect them. We have acted before we were struck. The Balkans, Somalia, Haiti, Panama....history is full of examples where we intervened militarily in a situation and were not attacked. Even so, we were attacked on 9/11. Did Iraq initiate it? No. But we are not at war with a particular country...we are at war with radicals who wish to destroy the world as we know it and create the one they want. We were attacked first, and now must go on the offensive against these people who reside in many countries.
No, not the NY Yankees...carpetbagging yankees! Trust me, the punch line is funny, at least in the south, and it is all in fun. My patience for you yankees will be tested the last week of this month, as I will be in Chicago for a week. I am already dreading it just by the conversation with the guy who made my hotel reservations. If I ws that rude to my dog my momma would whip me. Oh well......
yes, we are a superpower, however I don't believe that our job is to put the whole world in line. our deficit is growing and there needs to be more domestic focus rather than focus on foreign policy. It'd be nice if we coudl save everyone and make everyone well-fed, unoppressed (is that even a word?), well you get my drift. We just don't have the capacity to take care of the entire planet. True we have the most resources of any nation, but we still dont' have that much of a capacity to help out every country. Leading me to the question, why Iraq? This is something that has bugged me for a while. I believe that we entered because of Bush's greed and that Halliburton got a nice fancy contract. also oil. but my point is, we're a super power and we have the capacity to help more than other countries, so why did we decide to give that help to Iraq? In Darfur there is mass genocide and violence. Yet we took money away from them. Why? Why aren't we helping the Sudan? why is Iraq special? There are poor people in the US. I pass by a few homeless people every day on teh way to work. I live near a park and a few used to live there. Why arent' they getting this money?!
I read an interesting article today in the Metro about terror. I'm gonna type it out and post it tomorrow. I'm too tired and they dont' have the latest issue on their website...
when I said that we haven't struck first ever before I meant in a major war. like WWII we were hit by Japan...etc.
you think chicago is rude...you should come to new york. actually I think we just got some rating of being the most courteous city in the world. except the survey didn't count littering, cell phones, or honking. the three things we new yorkers are great at! :)
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