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Posted October 18, 2001
Get It Over With
[Regarding Scott McConnell's column of October 9:]
Your article, "The Push for a Wider War," was interesting and informative. However, I believe it is somewhat academic in nature.
I live near Philadelphia and there where a lot of young families who lost husbands and wives in the sneak attack on our country. This is not an academic issue.
I agree that not all Muslims hate the U.S. and Christians/Jews, but unfortunately this is the image that we see – watching various groups around the world burning flags, chanting "death to America." It gets old, I believe we are tired of it.
I think you forgot one important point in your article, the moderate and "real" Muslims of the world who are not extremists must take back their religion from the hard liners. If they do not, then there may be no alternative but to move forward with the inevitable war against Islam that your article talks about.
If it must be them against us, I would prefer to get it over with and end it, one way or the other.
Scott McConnell replies:
I
of course feel as angry as you do
about the attacks, and feel we need
to avenge them. But if one of our
goals is to help moderate Muslims
take back their religion from the
extremists who have hijacked it
(and killed thousands of innocents)
it will take some time, and we have
to fight smart. All out war against
three or four large Muslim countries
– even were it admissible on ethical
grounds (and I don't think it is)
would simply not work. We would
have no allies, our troops would
be bogged down forever, and the
terrorist threat to the American
homeland would likely increase.
There is a large part of that world now sitting on the fence; that may be hard to take if you are close to the 6000 who were killed, but easier to understand if our TV every night showed starving Iraqis and Palestinian children getting shot (as their TV does). In the longer term we have more cards than the Islamic hard-liners who have no vision of the future; but we need to play them wisely. We wouldn't have beaten Hitler without alliance with the likes of Stalin, and wouldn't have beaten communism by starting a nuclear war in 1947. By the way, I don't take "academic" as a criticism; in this case, blind rage isn't very useful.
Mad Bomber
[Regarding, "Tony Blair: the Mad Bomber of Kabul," October 8, by "Emmanuel Goldstein":]
"Tony Blair: The Mad Bomber of Kabul"? How do you figure? It's not like there were British people who died in the attacks on Sept. 11. I mean, what's he thinking, trying to defend his people from more of such attacks which will surely come if we don't stop bin Laden now?
I know you've heard that argument before, such as after the first WTC attack, after the Khobar tower attack, and after the attacks on our embassies in Africa. Of course, not doing anything helped us so much by allowing them to do it again!
So, I ask you: What should we do to stop these terrorist attacks? I'm not asking what's the wonderful way to a hippie lifestyle, I'm asking how can we gain security from these terrorist. 6,000 innocent Americans died. More American children died on that day from those cowardly attacks than Afghans have died in the last week from American bombing.
"Emmanuel Goldstein" replies:
While I have no problem with the Americans doing what they like in reaction to this attack on their soil – this is not a British concern. This was American soil and every British person there, as with every foreign national, was under the protection of American laws.
Tell It Like It Is
[Regarding Nebojsa Malic's column of October 11, "Arrogance of Power":]
Well Done, Nebojsa Malic!
You tell it like it is. Keep up the good work! I jeszcze, nasze Slowianskie – Bog Zaplac!
Paskha
On CNN the latest story on the bombing of Afghanistan is that the US will stop the bombing this Saturday [September 13], which is a big holy day for Islam.
I seem to remember that during the 78-day bombing campaign of Serbia against Milosevic the US did not even relent the bombing, let alone stop bombing on Paskha (Orthodox Easter) – bombing at night, when millions of Orthodox Serbs were out in the streets celebrating the holiest day of the year, the Resurrection of our Lord.
Reshuffling
...In last few days there was a reshuffling of the oil company deck between Shell, Texaco and Saudi Arabian Oil. Saudi got a couple of US companies (a first), Motiva and Equilon, one could say ostensibly to quell their beating hearts. Or to buy off their support. Take your choice. It's all about the oil.
FCB
[Regarding Lloyd G.'s letter of October 12, "Irony":]
... [In] reply to the guy that said the Marines were defeated in Vietnam – not true. We were defeated in Vietnam because of Fat Cat Bureaucrats in Washington who didn't realize that we didn't belong there. We "lost" because the military was not allowed to run things but rather the same FCB who had no idea of what they were doing or at what cost – not cost monetarily but in people – both American and Vietnamese.
The Constitution
For your cause, I sent this note and ... [Steve Kubby's guest editorial of October 13, "It's the Constitution, Stupid"] to my entire mailing list.
When I saw this website's name I flinched. It was an involuntary presumptuous reaction. I'm glad I continued to read on. It is not your typical left-wing bipartisan anti-republican or anything conservative rhetoric. Far from it!
The
War we prevent ... may be the next
civil war – when "laws
and regulations" hastily passed
as a knee jerk reaction to the recent
terrorism becomes focused and applied
with a vengeance upon Americans
at home who naively presume it is
still their right to dissent against
prevailing sentiment and government
ideology.
I am convinced that this may be
the actual strategic intent of the
Taliban's initiatives: they will
destroy us by simply "allowing"
us to tear ourselves apart! The
amount of terrorist "tactics"
needed for them to drive us into
a panicky state now, is minuscule.
After 3-4 Anthrax "terrorist
suspected" cases, we are already
begging to be put under martial
law. Once that is achieved, and
all of our abilities to control
and check our own government's powers
are smoothly eliminated, who will
be able to stand up and defend Liberty
– or individual rights and freedoms?
How many of you have read a 1934
book called The
Road To Serfdom, by F.A.
Hayek? Probably not enough of
you to know that our greatest enemy
does not reside in another country
or under another ideology – but
resides right here – within our
highest offices and seats of power....
Unlike George
Orwell's sci-fi prophecy –
it was not written as a piece of
fiction. It was an academic analysis
of where America was most likely
headed – if it maintained the policies
that became prevalent during World
War II. It is ringing uncannily
true these days.
...I believe this site and this
concept is of paramount importance
to our future as a democratic republic
and that our greatest battle will
be fought not to eliminate terrorism
– but to preserve America's Constitutional
liberty. It becomes a case of priorities.
If we don't protect and preserve
the Constitution – then what are
we fighting for anyway?
~ Mermaid W.