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Subject: 
Re: How many things need to stack up before we throw this jerk out?
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.debate
Date: 
Mon, 14 Jul 2003 02:53:59 GMT
Viewed: 
425 times
  
In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Mike Petrucelli wrote:
  
   No, Mike, I mean as in protecting oil fields so that they may be marketed to us and the world freely.

Well that is about the only thing we have accomplished thus far, except for the “world freely” part.

   Or deposing tyrannts who fund/and or harbor terrorists to the US.

Right so after Afganistan, Saudi Arabia was the only country that we can actually prove did that.


We know Saudis perpetrated it; whether they were government sponsored or not is unclear. I tend to think not. OBL is a criminal in Saudi Arabia, and the Wahabi sect of Islam is just as dangerous to their way of life as it is to ours.

  
  
  
  
   That’s a good answer for anyone that is not obsessed with Israel. Me, I don’t give a damn if the Palestinians and the Israelis engage in a mutual genocide pact. I mean, it would be sad -- but at the end of the day I’d rather make fewer enemies by not taking sides.

Good example. Do you doubt for 1 second that if we withdrew support of Israel and the Arabs decided to launch an all-out assault her, she wouldn’t nuke the living crap out of them?

Which would end the conflict.

And possibly Israel as well. Are you really so willing to accept a middle eastern limited (hopefully) nuclear war as a potential scenario?

Well given that there are more Isralies and Palestinians living in peace in the U.S. than there are fighting each other in the middle east, who cares. If they kill each other then there won’t be a problem will there.

  
  
   And your isolationist policy would bring such a conflict about, and a nuclear one at that! Our support of Israel actually is a stabilizing effect over there.

No it is simply prolonging a war. The U.S. actually gives more to the Palestinians than it does to the Isralies.

Say again?

We give more monetary aid to Palestinians than we give weapons to the Isralies.

   I need a cite for that assertion. Actually, it is Israel herself who has prolonged the conflict due to her restraint of not wiping out the Palestinians long ago...

Or vice versa.

We can agree to disagree here, but I am still waiting for a cite to your assertion about US aid to Palestinians compared to Israel.
  
  
  
  
   I’d rather a thousand instances of my uncertainty, nay-saying, doubt, and inaction than the actual results of your psycho-apocalyptic-Xtian-manifest-destiny nonsense.


You attitude is the wet dream of a terrorists.

No it is the fear mongers version of what the “wet dream of terrorits” is.

What does that mean?

I mean the U.S. propaganda mass media make the public think they are in danger so they can control them, fear mongers.


What are you talking about here? US government propaganda, or mass media propaganda, or are they in concert together? And who is doing the controlling-- the US government or the mass media?

  
  
  
   Inaction enboldens terrorism; uncertainty strengthens terrorist resolve; doubt leads to capitulation. Your path would lead us to ruin.

Do you honestly swallow all that propaganda? You do realize that it is far more likely that the Government let the 9/11 attacks succed so they have a scapegoat for stealing our rights via the patriot act right?

Who is swallowing what propaganda?!! You are talking crazy!

Oh yeah thats it I am just crazy. Look at actions not words. Bush and company keep saying they are fighting for freedom and liberty and yet they are trying to push through stuff like Patriot Act which goes against both. Why do you think they keep saying just go on about your daliy routine? Maybe so we don’t see what big brother is doing?

If it is the Patriot Act that has your undies in a bunch, then I respectfully submit that that is another debate topic, although a good one: How does a free society protect itself against terrorism while preserving free rights for all. It is a very difficult question to answer I will freely admit, and I don’t necessarily defend the Patriot Act myself.

  
   But don’t believe me; consult an expert, someone who has dealt with more terrorism than anyone. Ask virtually any Israeli.
  
   You would rather absorb a nuclear attack rather than pre-emptively trying to disarm those who would attack us in such a manner? Fine.

That wouldn’t happen (or at worst only happen once) you know. Because then we would flatten half the world (without using nukes) in retaliation. That would make the whole problem go away.

Let’s suppose that the attack on 9-11 was actually a nuclear bomb denotation. How would we have reacted differently than we did?

We probably would have wiped out most of the middle east.

I think you are just plain wrong in that assessment.

  
   Your response doesn’t make any sense.

   Of course people would be whining about the innoccent lives, even though they didn’t care how badly they were suffering before hand.

   I guess we just agree to disagree on that issue. But I’ll say this-- I’d bet my LEGO collection that your POV isn’t shared by the overwhelming majority of Americans-- right or left.

We are the most powerful nation on the earth. What is so wrong with wielding that power to spread the concepts of freedom and liberty?

Nothing. The problem is we are not doing that. I mean you see how free Afganistan and Iraq are right now don’t you. Sure they are better off now but they are still not free.

Dude, what more can we do for those countries??? You can only lead a horse to water!

Oh gee I don’t know how about actually educating them about what democracy is and such.


What do you suppose we are doing over there? It is not as if there aren’t 1,000s of Iraqi expatriots who have been educated in the US and know all about freedom and democracy. Afganistan might be a different story though...

  
  
  
   We didn’t invent them; they are inalienable rights for everyone. It would be evil to allow others to suffer under the tyranny of oppression while burying our collective head in the sands of indifference.

The problem is we need a consistent foreign policy regardless of what that policy is.


The problem is that the enemy isn’t even a country. How does one formulate a foreign policy based on groups or individuals? One doesn’t, by definition. But you serve notice to countries who *do* harbor and/or sponsor terrorists. We never would have attacked Iraq had SH simply left the country. All we wanted was him-- his head on a platter.

Why? The only thing he did differnt than many other “evil dictators” that we don’t care about is possess oil.

You are correct that if he didn’t control a vast percentage of the world’s oil fields, we wouldn’t have cared as much. We need that oil. The Iraqi people need the money we pay them for that oil. It is actually in both our interests that that flow continues.

  
   He refused and we did what we had to do to depose him and his corrupt government, and nothing more. Once a stable democracy is up and running in Iraq, we will leave.

I would belive that if we were actually trying to educate the people rather than simply control and/or contain them. Really that is only a few levels above what Saddam was doing.

You are mistaken as to what our mission is in that country.

   Anyways all of it is a scam, much like the whole Y2K “problem” was. It is a method of keeping people in a state of fear. Not so much that they don’t go about their daily routine, but enough to keep most of them from asking questions. It is population control so the masses do not threaten those in power. Actions speak far louder than words, you just have to pay attention. The greatest threat to our country comes from our government not some mysterious phantom “terrorists.” We are no safer from terrorist attack today than we were 3 years ago but we are far more susceptible to blatant violation of the constitution by government agencies and police.

Well, you are certainly entitled to your opinion, but it sounds like paranoia and conspiracy theories to me.

JOHN



Message has 1 Reply:
  Re: How many things need to stack up before we throw this jerk out?
 
(...) And yet the Saudi government has done nothing. (...) Yeah cause dictatorships are a "way of life" we actually care about protecting. (...) So what is the basis of your disagreement. (...) Yeah its only been cited practiclly every time the (...) (21 years ago, 14-Jul-03, to lugnet.off-topic.debate, FTX)

Message is in Reply To:
  Re: How many things need to stack up before we throw this jerk out?
 
(...) Well that is about the only thing we have accomplished thus far, except for the "world freely" part. (...) Right so after Afganistan, Saudi Arabia was the only country that we can actually prove did that. (...) Well given that there are more (...) (21 years ago, 13-Jul-03, to lugnet.off-topic.debate, FTX)

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