My World Perspective---For What's It's Worth
If the US had lost WWII or become Communist dominated, how many bombs would it take to quell the "underground" fight for freedom and democracy, including religious freedom? How close would we have to approach "third-world" status before the American democratic fires could be extinguished? Well, I don't think it would be feasible to attempt to entinguish those fires, and it would take a far mightier power than has ever existed even to "control" them---perhaps even consuming that very power itself in the effort.(I heard on "showtime" news TV today that the average per capita GNP of Afghanistan is about $700---or maybe it was per capita income,I forgot,but the point is made.)In the real world there are numerous equally passionate causes championed by no less human people than ourselves. There are various degrees to which those causes interact with American ideology, interests and foreign policy. We Americans see ourselves as a collage of humanity, held together by a common respect for individuality, respect for life and the pursuit of worldly "happiness", and a "live and let live" ideology.In most cases that outlook serves us well in our relationship with other countries and cultures; sometimes it does not.
Such an approach is easy to take when you live in a country at/near the "top of the heap" economically. Much less so when you are near the bottom of the economic heap, and /or one culture is in conflict with another and cannot be disengaged. A case in point is American culture and our reliance on MidEast oil and our cultural ties with Israel.Regardless of ones views or side taken on the associated issues, the need for defensive deterrent against all manner of antagonists including terrorists is paramount. I believe attention to both offensive (primarily intelligence) and defenive efforts are needed. In some very specific cases military intervention with conventional or special forces to apprehend or eliminate this or that terrorist threat might be appropriate, however that should be the exception instead of the rule.This is because those responses are usually in response to a successful terrorist act in retaliation motivated mostly by revenge and not very effective in either eliminating or defending against future attack. For example a successful raid that eliminated Bin Laden is unlikely to reduce any terrorist activity;in fact making him a martyr could likely increase the number of extremist muslim terrorists willing to become terrorist martyrs themselves.Looked at another way suppose a terrorist killed "George the Bastard", do you think that would in any way reduce American resolve, quite the contrary.
I don't believe you can totally eliminate all terrorist activity by people willing to sacrifice their own lives, but you can make it much more difficult to inflict the type of catastrophic damage at WTC and the Pentagon.From what we know,current relatively porous intelligence and airport security has either been rather effective in keeping firearms and explosives off US airlines,or terrorists have realized that such activities are relatively ineffective at realizing their aims.In either case that is good news, because it indicates that increased security measures have the potential for being more effective.With current lessons that commercial aircraft represent potent terrorist missiles,it is much more unlikely that they will be able to commandeer control of aircraft from pilots---not impossible,but more unlikely.And certainly if trained anti-terrorist people are on-board I feel the potential would be acceptably low.That does not mean that commercial planes could not be crashed by various other means,or private aircraft could not become missiles of lower damage potential,or a host of other terrorist acts could not be committed,but at least the current scenario appears to be reasonably preventable.If the threat increases then we will have to exchange more personal freedoms for increased security,but at the moment it appears to me that a lot can be accomplished without the proposed reduction in personal liberties.I hope that will be enough.Simplistically, I'm willing to take that chance.
One last comment: As to the cry for American unity and to rally around the president, the office of President has the authority and responsibility to respond for our country in such emergency situations,so he undeniably gets to call the shots.But as to blind support for the leadership of our treasonous bastard fascist administration, forget that. They perverted American values to get to office, and I trust them as far as I could toss them.I watch, evaluate,and question like a hawk.
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When you get tired of the usual US media tunnel-vision,here are a few websites I usually find refreshing:
You might want to support this effort below from another website:
Although our leaders are under tremendous pressure to act in the
aftermath of the terrible events of Sept. 11th, it's important to
let them know that we support justice, not escalating violence,
which would only play into the terrorists' hands.
I hope you'll join me in signing an online statement of support
for "Justice, not Terror" at:
http://www.moveon.org/justice/
Thank you. Your participation could really make a difference --
it's vital that we all speak up now, before it's too late.
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Bill's SoapBox: My Comments on Other Issues:
American TunnelVision--The MidEast;A Comment
USA is World's Leading Terorist Country