wrote in message news:44f93f2f-f34e-4a0f-9b22-
On Jun 23, 4:22 am, "Robert Green" wrote:

stuff snipped

So, how is it then that during WWII, some Germans were found coming ashore
in civilian clothes and upon interrogation, it was learned they were bent on
sabotage. No sabotage had actually ocurred. Yet, within months they had
been tried by a military tribunal and most of them had been executed. And
that was under the patron saint of liberals, FDR. I seem to recall him
putting Japanese Americans into interment camps without even a hearing, let
alone a trial. Your fundemental* mistake here is treating the war on
terrorism as a criminal matter, rather than a war.

No, the exact reverse is true. There's a much more fundamental mistake.
The incident you describe was a *declared* war against a force of incredible
military power - power that no one nation on earth appeared able to resist.
Treating terrorists (or even Iraq) as if they had the military might of WWII
Germany or modern day Russia or China is the mistake. And a terribly
serious one.

Branding a terrorist attack a 'war' is doesn't make it one. It's not how
any other civilized country in the world has reacted to terrorism on their
soil. We didn't make war on the US midwest or Army veterans because Tim
McVeigh, an army vet living inthe midwest blew up the Murrah Building, did
we? It was the second most lethal terrorist attack on the US in history.
Ever ask yourself why the two events were treated so differently? The
answer is, for political advantage. To create a bogeyman that was even more
useful that the Cold War for funneling money to arms and war contractors in
exchange for campaign contributions.

To feed our need for revenge, we gave the terrorists a much greater victory
by elevating them to a combatant status usually reserved for enemies that
can deal truly lethal blows.

Country killing blows.

The kind of blow we've hit Iraq with.

Instead, we turned Osama Bin Laden into a god for Islamic radicals by
declaring him a public enemy, equal to our President in weight. We made
ourselves look foolish thereafter by being unable to even find him. It was
outrageously stupid to do that. Bush fed a tiny stinging insect whale's
milk and oh, how he did grow.

Some people say we had to fight, to show how strong we were and our resolve
to end terrorism. After nearly 10 years, we're no closer to victory in
Afghanistan than when we started and Karzai's looking to make a deal with
the Taliban. Raise your hand if you think that getting whipped by a bunch
of goat herders in rags is "looking strong."

Making a single, albeit terrible, terrorist act into a war is a serious
mistake and one we will pay dearly for when we are once again tasked with
fighting a credible enemy, not a bunch of religious zealot suicide bombers.
Our national readiness is at historic lows. Criminals have been allowed
into the military on waivers because they are so short handed. And yes, I
know the reports don't show how bad it is. You have to be on the inside,
watching officers leaving because they can't deal with lunacy of driving
around Iraq until they get blown up for what?

Just look at our war on drugs and what's happening in the Southwest.
Calling something a war doesn't make it one and usually does very little to
properly correct the problem. We've been fighting the war on drugs for
what, 40 years? It's a total failure. So will trying to turn a terrorist
problem into a war divert us from the things we REALLY need to do to protect
ourselves from further attack. Killing tens of thousands of innocent
Muslims isn't going to end the terrorism problem unless you are prepared to
kill ALL Muslims, peaceful or not. Well, are you?

We've wasted the lives of a lot of very, very good men and women, our
fathers and mothers, our sisters and brothers, our sons and daughters who
swore this oath and honored it until they drew their last breath:

"I am an American, fighting in the forces which guard my
country
and our way of life. I am prepared to give my life in
their defense."

How many more good lives will we throw away to avenge those who died in the
Towers? I'm hoping an end is finally in sight.

--
Bobby G.



* Spelling mnemonic: That Fun Dame is Mental! (You'll all thank me when
YOU start getting senile and need tricks to remember how to spell common
words like desperate: I always spell it desparate because the root word,
despair, has an "A" - so - "I'd be desperate if my wife made me go the the
oPERA." I've got a million more, mostly to do with Supreme Court precedents
like the Escobedo decision,

http://legal-dictionary.thefreedicti...do+v.+Illinois

about making statements to the cops without counsel present: "Esco, are
they beating you?")