JEZ! Please, no! Not dear Noam again!
I do agree that the "West" fails to learn. This is because we are not taught.
Thanks for the references.
moonlite, there is more to the post than Noam, I assure you 
That's really scary
well, i'm going over this info, but...what's upwith this new peace pact? That's what I hear, a peace pact.
Political vs. Military Solutions to Terrorism
The war against international terrorism and its sponsors is a war unlike any we have ever known. There is no battlefield, no clash of armies. It is a war fought in the shadows and recesses of the world. Terrorism breeds among the hopeless and the alienated, in societies where democracy and economic opportunity are out of reach for most people. Military power alone will not end this scourge of mankind. Victory will require extensive international cooperation in the intelligence, economic, diplomatic, law enforcement and humanitarian fields. It will require a seamless network of cooperation between America and her allies (Hagel, 2003).
In this section we will discuss how terrorist organizations have successfully employed a number of political strategies to gain popular support, and compare these efforts to the largely non-political strategies employed by the Bush administration in its attempts to counter terrorism. We will also look at the overall threat of terrorism as compared to crime, and weigh the respective resources applied to each.
From September 14 to 17, 2001, Gallup surveyed individuals in 14 foreign countries on whether they thought that the United States should attack the country (or countries) serving as a base for the 9/11 terrorists... of those surveyed “only Israel and India supported a military attack” (Downing, 2006:441). This poll reflected both the unpopularity of the military approach to terrorism, as well as the prevailing conventional wisdom against it. President Bush’s (2001c) argument that al-Qaeda hates “freedom...life...education...health care” is seen for the oversimplification that it is:
It is nonsense to claim that Al Qaeda and its sympathizers have no morality and simply want to annihilate Western civilization...Even bin Laden has never preached destruction of Western culture or else, as he has taunted, “Why didn’t we attack Sweden?” At every turn, bin Laden has sought moral justification for Al Qaeda’s actions and demands (Atran, 2006:136).
“There are two interpretations currently on offer in Iraq, that of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
(who argued that Islam mandates terror), and that of Grand Aytollah Ali al-Sistani (who says Islam does no such thing and is compatible with democracy)” (Lowry, 2006:25). If we are to believe President Bush (2002 b), then the “terrorist parasites who threaten their countries and our own” are obviously of the first variety. And this is truly all we need to concern ourselves with. After all, what does one do with parasites? One exterminates them. Parasites have no political cause for their circumstances, no justification for their actions, and no place among decent human beings. One does not need the consent or cooperation of the international community to do away with parasites, for they are worthless and meaningless. It’s not important to understand why they are terrorists, or what oppression or desperation has brought them to the
Not sure, Maszka, what exactly you advocate. But, following your suppositions, the downtrodden need extermination.
I agree with you in that it is our earth's current, most popular mentality. But WOW! It's SO wrong. To say, "The war against international terrorism and its sponsors is a war unlike any we have ever known," means that...
People of our earth have finally gone so crazy, that we can do nothing but facilitate "international" war on everybody.
I have written on this subject. I say, 'there is no person alive, who neither starves nor steals.'
I do not think nor emote such survival is "what it's all about." Sounds like we disagree.
My dear friend moonlite,
I have no idea how you drew that analysis from what I wrote. I've expressed nor implied anything of the sort.
Hi guys. I just checked in to see what you two were going on about that got you to the top of the recent comments frame. And I have to disagree with you on one thing, John.
You state that "If we are to believe President Bush (2002 b), then the “terrorist parasites who threaten their countries and our own” - and then you go on to say that we have to eradicate them just as one does parasites. Well, first off, I don't know of anyone - not even my not so faithful Republican friends - who still believes ANYTHING that comes out of Bush's mouth. You apparently, but nobody I know. My Repug friends have even taken lately to saying that 'everyone in Washington lies and steals' so that they can avoid having to deal with the obvious truth that maybe everyone does, but their former demi-god is one of the worst.
Further, I would suggest there is no such thing as a worldwide terror organization. I'd be willing to bet that all the jihadi's breathing today number less than the made men in NY and NJ organized crime, or than the Crips in California, and I'm sure we could run them to death in the deserts with two Harleys per terrorist. I'm entirely sure that there are less of them than there are M-13 gang members in Mexico. So what makes the Arabs any different than just plain gangsters? Not violence, surely. Not international capabilities - the "Mafia" would have them beat there. What then?
They're a convenient 'target' because they are hidden and come from cultures most of us understand poorly if at all, they seem to be so medieval or primitive to us that many westerners are repulsed by some of their customs, and most Americans need to have some heinous enemy out there if they're to support wild out of control spending and war profiteering and fascist destruction of the constitution - and these guys fit that bill. THERE sir is your worldwide terrorists - plain old sociopathic criminals and religious fanatics about whom we know so little that we let our government turn them into boogey men.
One more thing, if you're old enough to remember or educated enough to have some historical awareness - do you recall the "International Communist Conspiracy" to take over the world that led to the "domino theory"? Mortal enemies of the US way of life they were, ah yes. Yet we had enough nukes even then to remove Moscow and Bejing and Hanoi and Budapest and you name the city, and any other town with over 20k little commie people in it, and never fired off the first missile. So apparently the 'threat' wasn't so real after all.
Now China is our biggest trade partner, owns a couple hundred trillion of US debt, and is sucking up all our jobs, Russia has more oil than any other country and NO debt, and we're pissing about shooting at some dirty little tribal guys in the desert and bankrupting the nation to do it too.
To me it looks like some kind of Bait and Switch game but based on your statement about parasites, we shou
I was quoting George Bush's statement from 2002 regarding “ the terrorist parasites who threaten their countries and our own.” This is not my statement nor do I agree with it...
The entire excerpt is taken out of my book,Terrorism and the Bush Doctrine, in which I argue many of the very points that you make in your comment. I'm not advocating Bush or his war on terror. Far from it. Sorry for any confusion.
John
OK John. I had read your statement a few times, and my original understanding stayed in my mind. In light of your reply, I re-read it and have decided I must have mis-read you the first evening.
So I apologize. I would appear that I was preaching to the choir, as we say. My misunderstanding. You have no confusion to apologize for, but I do. Please accept my apology.
No problem. It happens.
John and Nostra,
I still do not understand these things as they are explained.
Most people say the Iraq war is a farce. Some say 9/11 was a farce.
It is a fact, that some Muslims have traditionally been regretful of how America treats its people, its women. Also, there have been movements to stop the Westernization of the Arab regions.
Personally, it seems the West is more of the mind to enter into other cultures in order to make more consumerism.
Here in the States, we have so many illiterate, so many homeless, so many abused. Why point to others?
Right now, I'm past caring about "the war." We women want our homes safe and our beings taken seriously. Lemme know if world leaders give a crap about us.
War only takes away sanity.
Thank you, men, though, for your efforts of diplomacy. it freshens the air a bit.
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