I fully agree, Iwannaknow, except for your last sentence. IMHO Falwell and especially Robertson are guilty of enough real things so that we don’t need to make up additional hypothetical crimes. Such charges are unfair, one reason being that they cannot be refuted.
Mandelstam, I’m not sure where you pulled this little gem of a thought from, but you should probably stick it back there, as it doesn’t seem quite done yet. Because, quite frankly, I have no idea how any of what you said relates in any meaningful way to my post. The simple facts of the matter are that Bin Laden and crew thought that this attack would prove so disruptive and demoralizing to America, that we’d immediately pull out of the Middle East. Robertson, et al, would love to have the kind of power where they could order the wholesale slaughter of the “unbelievers.”
The point of the article that you linked to was that a “war on terrorism” is likely to be unwinnable and will cost lives here in the US and quite possibly our freedoms as well. Hmm. Sort of reminds me of the “Germans are better armed than we are” and the Anti-Soviet Union hysteria which was rampant in the US before WW II and in the years following it. Doesn’t mean a thing. We were able to catch up and pass the Germans before they ever became a threat to the US mainland, and the Soviet Union collapsed without ever dropping nuke one on the US. Truthfully, its a wonder these guys were ever able to pull this whole thing off to begin with. I mean, a successful terrorist operation is supposed to be pulled off with no one knowing who the supporting players were, and yet, in less than a freakin’ week, the FBI was able to round up, what, a hundred and fifty people who were involved in this operation? Cripes! Even a Bond villian isn’t that sloppy! To state that the US is going to be paralyzed by attacks on domestic soil or turned into some kind of police state this early in the game is simply armchair prophesying which serves no purpose.
Guinastasia, I know that the US has engaged in terrorism in the past, but that doesn’t mean we can’t learn from our mistakes. After all, we were the “geniuses” who put Saddam in power. Perhaps its hypocritical for us to denounce terrorism when we’ve used those tactics in the past, but I think that it’d be even worse if just blew this whole thing off like it was no big deal.
Hey, I agree with you! I think it’s even MORE important now than ever to own up to what we did in the past, admit we were wrong, and try to change it. I was merely pointing out to Sam that it was true that we have in the past.
I’m hoping more than anything that we do admit what we did was wrong-and try to go forward.
Noam Chomsky a liberal? BWAHAHAHAHA… you guys crack me up. Noam Chomsky is a lefty for sure, probably an anarchist, or at least a pretty libertarian species of socialist, but never a liberal. HEY CECIL, GET OVER HERE AND FIGHT SOME IGNORANCE.
I realize that a lot of you have been brought with the talk-radio distinctions of liberal/conservative, but trust me fellas (and notice how many of you ARE fellas) there is a whole lot more variety in the spectrum than liberal/conservative.
“…I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way – all of them who have tried to secularize America – I point the finger in their face and say, ‘You helped this happen’,” he said. Robertson said “I totally concur” when Falwell made his remarks…"
Emphasis mine. Retract those retractions. As for the Taliban comparison, not fair, Falwell and Robertson have no power (praise Jesus!), save the power to relieve weak willed people of their money. These morons get far too much attention, they are tantamount to the “radical Muslim clerics” who get media play here on every network, but only have a few thousand actual disciples.
Guinastasia: We have done wrong. Still waiting for OBL, or any follower, to say that one. As for your 30,000 casualty figure that is almost exactly the same figure as occurred during the Sandanista Rebellion. Please get outraged at the Sandanistas now.
Tuckerfan: The Master of Understatement: “But I think that everyone realizes that Bin Laden took things a little too far this time.”