In article , "Tim W" wrote:

"Doug Miller" wrote in message
et...
In article , "Tim W"
wrote:

"Doug Miller" wrote in message
. ..
In article , "Tim W"
wrote:

A thought for you. Bin Laden and the terrorists who committed those
awful
crimes can only have wanted one thing - to provoke a war.

Nonsense. Bin Laden's own public statements demonstrate a considerably
different objective.

Okay Doug, What was the intention of the 9/11 terrorists? Do you seriously
think they weren't trying to provoke a war?

They've stated repeatedly that they wanted us to get out of Saudi Arabia and
stop supporting Israel. They've also stated repeatedly that they don't like
American culture; in particular, the way our entertainment industry glorifies
sex is especially offensive to Islamic culture. Further, they've stated
repeatedly that they want to see all of us dead.

Now what, in any of that, leads you to believe that they wanted to start a
war? Bin Laden has himself stated clearly that they attacked us again because
he thought we would *not* fight back.

Why is this concept so hard for you to grasp?

The nonsense is your own. Bin Laden was concerned with Israel-Palestine and
with foreign (US) troops in Saudi Arabia. When Bush characterised 9/11 as an
attack on freedom he was just plain wrong. Bin Laden wanted to draw the US
into a Middle Eastern War which they could not win.

This is completely false. Bin Laden wanted the U.S. to get out of Saudi
Arabia, and stop supporting Israel.

Exactly, by defeating the US in the Middle East. How else could it be done?

By continuing to perpetrate terror attacks against us, until we did what they
wanted -- just like they did with Spain a couple years ago.

The US government owed it to every one of those innocent dead not to do what the
terrorists wanted. They have all been betrayed, bigtime.

To suggest that we "owe" it to our innocent dead to not retaliate, to fail to
avenge their deaths, and have "betrayed" them by doing so is, to put it
mildly, bizarre.

Revenge is not the business of a civilised government,

Defense of our citizens is a constitutional responsibility of the government
of the United States.

Defence and revenge are very different things.

The best defense is to be strong enough that nobody will dare attack you. For
that to be credible, requires fighting back when attacked.


--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.