Posted on 06/18/2004 7:17:24 PM PDT by Indy Pendance
BRUSSELS, June 18 (Xinhuanet) -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Friday night strongly condemned the beheading of US hostage Paul Johnson in Saudi Arabia by Islamic militants, saying he was "shocked" at the news.
Blair made the remarks when asked to comment on the issue at a press conference after the European Union summit, extending his "deep sympathy" to Johnson's family.
"The incident shows the nature of the people we are fighting," said Blair, the most staunch supporter of US President George W. Bush in the war on Iraq.
"The people are not the ones you can negotiate with," he said.
An Islamist website on Friday posted three photographs showing that Johnson was beheaded. A military group connected with al-Qaida said it slaughtered Johnson after the deadline it gave to the Saudi authorities expired.
The group issued a 72-hour ultimatum on Tuesday, threatening tokill Johnson unless the Saudi government release al-Qaida prisoners and all Westerners get out of the Arabian Peninsula.
Johnson, 49, was kidnapped on Saturday in the Saudi capital of Riyadh. An employee of Lockheed Martin, Johnson helped maintain the US-built Apache helicopter gunships for the Saudi military.
We need strong and personal retaliation against any terrorist who kills an innocent American. We need to end that terrorist's life, very painfully after he has witnessed the deaths of his family, wife, children, parents, brothers and sisters. We need to be less civilized. THIS THEY WILL UNDERSTAND.
The beheaders say it was a proportional response to what we did to the Iraqi prisoners. If it was truly a proportional response, shouldn’t they have dressed up the American prisoner in pantyhose and a bra and taken naughty photos of him to embarrass his family with?
It's an excuse. They didn't need a reason for Daniel Pearl.
Where has Bush waivered on the WOT? Name one issue on the WOT he's backed down from.
Welcome back to the Anglosphere, UK.
Border control.
Sheesh, a man's head was cut off today. Reality check.
Hey, you asked the question. It's a valid answer, isn't it? Aren't jihadis getting into the US through our porous borders, both north and south? Isn't the administration grossly negligent on this issue?
What does a person's head being cut off have to do with the validity of border control as a missing element in our WoT strategy?
Hmm, reminds me--who else has condemned this?
What does a person's head being cut off in Saudi Arabia have to do with border control?
Your post #5 above:
"Where has Bush waivered on the WOT? Name one issue on the WOT he's backed down from."
My answer: "Border control."
Do you or do you not agree that the Bush admin has been negligent on the border control aspect of the WoT? That is the question. The beheading is only related in that it is another aspect of the War on Terror. However, you did not ask "Where has Bush wavered on the WoT with respect to beheading(s)?"
Time to visibly fight back against the kind of people who do beheadings. Maybe you recall when some terrorists in Syria (as I recall) killed a Russian diplomat. Russia sent in KGB professionals who killed the terrorists and the families of the terrorists. That put a stop to it, very quickly.
I with you there, NV, but there are some things that will have to happen first. Americans will never accept the level of brutality necessary to win this war (or any war, for that matter) until things get worse than they are. When the beheadings start happening in Anytown, USA you might see a change of heart. Until then this will remain a sanitized, PC war (and you know how those end).
Bush never defined the borders as an issue on the WOT. Show me where he stated borders were. I know you all think it should be, but, where did the admin state borders were in the big scope on the terrorists attacks against our country? It's you zealots that think he should have addressed this issue, maybe he should have, but he didn't. And he's never waivered from his initial goals on the war on terror.
If borders are not part of the WoT, then why were they placed under the Department of Homeland Security, which was specifically created to handle the domestic aspect of the WoT? By the mathematical associative property, border control is an element of the WoT on a policy level by virtue of being placed under DHS. By common sense, it does little good to fix the "Terrorist Express" visa program if they can just walk in over the border without inspection.
President Bush, God bless him, is too civilized to really fight this war. His use of our wonderful military is not the only way America has available to fight back. Islamic militants want to use terror, I say give them back terror plus a lot more . Make it really hurt.
Listen, the issue is a beheading, not borders. Take your discussion of borders to another thread.
Sorry to say President Bush is whimpy on control of US borders.
Okay, on beheading then, I say for every one of these we randomly pull the names of 50 terrorists-in-custody out of a hat, chop each one into 50 pieces, sew together 50 composite bodies each with one piece of each of the terrorists, stuff the insides with pork, and drop them from 20,000 feet over Mecca. How's that do ya?
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