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I make a mean hangman's noose, if I do say so myself, and will be glad to fashion one each for Bush and Cheney, should the World Court just give the word...
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Posted: |
Mar 23, 2003 - 3:06 AM
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By: |
JohnSWalsh
(Member)
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This is a notoriously left-wing daily that is normally not supportive of the Colonials across the Atlantic. ******************************************************************Tony Parsons Daily Mirror September 11, 2002 One year ago, the world witnessed a unique kind of broadcasting the mass murder of thousands, live on television. As a lesson in the pitiless cruelty of the human race, September 11 was up there with Pol Pot's Mountain of Skulls in Cambodia, or the skeletal bodies stacked like garbage in the Nazi concentration camps. An unspeakable act so cruel, so calculated and so utterly merciless that surely the world could agree on onething nobody deserves thisfate. Surely there could be consensus: The victims were truly innocent, the perpetrators truly evil. But to the world's eternal shame, 9/11 is increasingly seen as America's comeuppance. Incredibly, anti-Americanism has increased over the last year. There has always been a simmering resentment to the USA in this country; too loud, too rich, too full of themselves, and so much happier than Europeans - but it has become an epidemic. And it seems incredible to me. More than that, itturns my stomach. America is this country's greatest friend and our staunchest ally. We are bonded to the US by culture, language and blood. A little over half a century ago, around half a million Americans died for our freedoms, as well as their own. Have we forgotten so soon? On September 11, 2001, thousands of ordinary men, women and children - not just Americans, but from dozens of countries, were butchered by a small group of religious fanatics. Are we so quick to betray them? What touched the heart about those who died in the Twin Towers and on the planes, was that we recognized them. Young fathers and mothers, somebody's son and somebody's daughter, husbands, wives, and children, some unborn. And these people brought it on themselves? Their nation is to blame for their meticulously planned slaughter?These days you don't have to be some dust-encrusted nut job in Kabul or Karachi or Finsbury Park to see America as the Great Satan. The anti-American alliance is made up of self-loathing liberals who blame the Americans for every ill in the Third World, and conservatives suffering from power-envy, bitter that the world's only superpower can do what it likes without having to ask permission. The truth is that America has behaved with enormous restraint since September 11. Remember, remember - Remember the gut-wrenching tapes of weeping men phoning their wives to say, "I love you," before they were burned alive. Remember those people leaping to their deaths from the top of burning skyscrapers. Remember the hundreds of firemen buried alive. Remember the smiling face of that beautiful little girl who was on one of the planes with h er mum. Remember, remember - And realize that America has never retaliated for 9/11 in anything like the way it could have. So a few al-Qaeda tourists got locked up without a trial in Camp X-ray? Pass the Kleenex. So some Afghan wedding receptions were shot up after they merrily fired their semi-automatics in a sky full of American planes? A shame, but maybe next time they should stick to confetti. AMERICA could have turned a large chunk of the world into a parking lot. That it didn't is a sign of strength. American voices are already being raised against attacking Iraq - that's what a democracy is for. How many in the Islamic world will have a minute's silence for the slaughtered innocents of 9/11? How many Islamic leaders will have the guts to say that the mass murder of 9/11 was an abomination? When the news of 9/11 broke on the West Bank, those freedom-loving Palestinians were dancing in the street. America watched all of that - and didn't push the button. We should thank the stars that America is the most powerful nation in the world. I still find it incredible that 9/11 did not provoke all-out war. Not a "war on terrorism." A real war. The fundamentalist dudes are talking about "opening the gates of hell," if America attacks Iraq. Well, America could have opened the gates of hell like you wouldn't believe. The US is the most militarily powerful nation that ever strode the face of the earth. The campaign in Afghanistan may have been less than perfect and the planned war on Iraq may be misconceived. But don't blame America for not bringing peace and light to these wretched countries. How many democracies are there in the Middle East, or in the Muslim world? You can count them on the fingers of one hand - assuming you haven't had any chopped off for minor shoplifting. I love America, yet America is hated. I guess that makes me Bush's poodle. But I would rather be a dog in New York City than a Prince in Riyadh. Above all, America is hated because it is what every country wants to be - rich, free, strong, open, optimistic. Not ground down by the past, or religion, or some caste system. America is the best friend this country ever had and we should start remembering that. Or do you really think the USA is the root of all evil? Tell it to the loved ones of the men and women who leaped to their death from the burning towers. Tell it to the nursing mothers whose husbands died on one of the hijacked planes, or were ripped apart in a collapsing skyscraper. And tell it to the hundreds of young widows whose husbands worked for the New York Fire Department. To our shame, George Bush gets a worse press than Saddam Hussein. Once we were told that Saddam gassed the Kurds, tortured his own people and set up rape-camps in Kuwait. Now we are told he likes Quality Street. Save me the range center, Oh Mighty One! Remember, remember, September 11 -One of the greatest atrocities in human history was committed against America. No, do more than remember. Never forget.
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Posted: |
Mar 23, 2003 - 3:34 AM
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By: |
JohnSWalsh
(Member)
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Peter Freundlich, freelance journalist for the New York. -- All right, let me see if I understand the logic of this correctly. We are going to ignore the United Nations in order to make clear to Saddam Hussein that the United Nations cannot be ignored. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Right off the bat, this guy gets it wrong. Bush isn't interested in the UN being ignored; he's interested in Saddam living up to the UN-mediated cease-fire agreements that keep Saddam from having WMD. That the UN isn't living up to the deal IT brokered is the Alice In Wonderland-like thing, here. To wit: "We will force you to live up these agreements by making agreements to which you will agree under threat of us making up more agreements to which you will agree under penalty of sanctions some of our members will violate." XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX We're going to wage war to preserve the UN's ability to avert war. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Show of hands--who here heard Bush say "We are going to Iraq in order to save the UN from collapsing due to its own lies?" Hmmm, didn't think anyone did.... XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX The paramount principle is that the UN's word must be taken seriously, and if we have to subvert its word to guarantee that it is, then by gum, we will. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Which word was that: that Saddam must disarm, that 15-0 we agree there should be harsh consequences if it doesn't disarm after 4 years of not disarming, or we will use the UN security council to PREVENT the previous mandate from being enforced? XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Peace is too important not to take up arms to defend. Am I getting this right? XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX You got that part right. Any high school history student can tell you sometimes you have to go to war to maintain peace. Sorry that's too complicated for this guy's black and white view of the world. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Further, if the only way to bring democracy to Iraq is to vitiate the democracy of the Security Council, then we are honor- bound to do that too, because democracy, as we define it, is too important to be stopped by a little thing like democracy as they define it. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Even this guy must know this is a load. The UN security council is made up of a handful of nations at any one point, and it gets to decide on matters of troop comittment--not the whole UN membership. Plus,there are several permanent members, whose votes are "more equal than others," so to speak. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Also, in dealing with a man who brooks no dissension at home, we cannot afford dissension among ourselves. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX What is he babbling about here? There was no dissention allowed in the UN these past 12 years? Really? Who prevented it? The problem is the UN loves dissention, and babbling on and on while Rome burns. What it lacks is the ability to step up to the plate and DO naything, not "dissention." XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX We must speak with one voice against Saddam Hussein's failure to allow opposing voices to be heard. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX This guy is in love with his own voice and his little word games. Saddam's failure isn't in not allowing opposing voices; it's in chopping off women's heads when they're found guilty of prostitution; it's torturing children in front of their parents. People like this guy think that everyone who disagrees with what he says is somehow trying to prevent him from saying it. I must have missed the part where Bush took control of the presses (whoops, that's a socialist trick, ala Stalin and Hussein). XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX We are sending our gathered might to the Persian Gulf to make the point that might does not make right, as Saddam Hussein seems to think it does. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX This guy simply makes stuff up. When did anyone ever say "We're going to Iraq to prove that we should be weak and never use weapons"? When did Bush even pretend to be a pacifist? XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX And we are twisting the arms of the opposition until it agrees to let us oust a regime that twists the arms of the opposition. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Arm twisiting? You mean like threatening to keep entire NATIONS out of the EU because of a single LETTER???? XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX We cannot leave in power a dictator who ignores his own people. And if our people, and people elsewhere in the world, fail to understand that, then we have no choice but to ignore them. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Notice how he had to add "and people elsewhere"--must've gotten a look at those US polls. Saddam doesn't ignore his people; he actively kills them. The latest whine of the left is that Bush isn't listening to his people. Any adult knows that a President (or any human) can't please everyone. Bush is listening to certain people--the ones with intelligence that shows that if we don't stop Saddam now 9-11 is going to look like a picnic. Hey--why aren't the anti-war folks listening to the tortured of Iraq? Not a single "Saddam--Step Down!" sign. Plenty of anti-Israel signs, though. (I guess Israelis shouldn't be listened to--what do they know about dictators, anyway?) And why don't they listen to the "human shields" and the UPI, which today reported this: A group of American anti-war demonstrators who came to Iraq with Japanese human shield volunteers made it across the border today with 14 hours of uncensored video, all shot without Iraqi government minders present. Kenneth Joseph, a young American pastor with the Assyrian Church of the East, told UPI the trip "had shocked me back to reality." Some of the Iraqis he interviewed on camera "told me they would commit suicide if American bombing didn't start. They were willing to see their homes demolished to gain their freedom from Saddam's bloody tyranny. They convinced me that Saddam was a monster the likes of which the world had not seen since Stalin and Hitler. He and his sons are sick sadists. Their tales of slow torture and killing made me ill, such as people put in a huge shredder for plastic products, feet first so they could hear their screams as bodies got chewed up from foot to head." XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Listen. Don't misunderstand. I think it is a good thing that the members of the Bush administration seem to have been reading Lewis Carroll. I only wish someone had pointed out that "Alice in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass" are meditations on paradox and puzzle and illogic and on the strangeness of things, not templates for foreign policy. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX What this guy knows about foreign policy could fit in a thimble with room to spare. His writing reflects a post-modern sensibility that certainly has no place in the REAL world. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX It is amusing for the Mad Hatter to say something like, `We must make war on him because he is a threat to peace,' but not amusing for someone who actually commands an army to say that. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX More po-mo bilge. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX As a collector of laughable arguments, XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX I think he means "writer" in stead of collector. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX I'd be enjoying all this were it not for the fact that I know--we all know--that lives are going to be lost in what amounts to a freak, circular reasoning accident. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Unlike the logical progression of Saddam Hussein's intentions, and those of the terror network he supplies.
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