Posted on 09/20/2001 11:01:22 AM PDT by Jean S
Bookmarked and a bump for future reference.
Yes. Recommended reading on that theme: Among the Believers: An Islamic Journey.
Bears repeating. My God, the hypocrisy of these people is nothing short of astonishing.
The paleo crew (Chronicles, Lew Rockwell, Antiwar.com) is wrong about a lot of things -- maybe about most things --, but the neo navy (National Review, Weekly Standard, Commentary, on down to the New Republic) is too overconfident, too eager for war, and too enamoured of the big guns.
The wise course would be between the two fleets, and that seems to be where President Bush is sailing.
The hosts can be given a series of ongoing ultimatums: to surrender suspects, demolish camps, and cease monetary support or face the month-by-month, systematic destruction of their military assets, banks, and communications.
This is the essence of the solution to our problem. You'll never completely eliminate the suicidal crazy with a grudge against someone (or everyone) else. Hence there will always be some terrorism. However, the existence of large terrorist organizations able to simultaneously hijack multiple aircraft thousands of miles from their main base and kill thousands of innocents in a single day is entirely a phenomenon of state sponsorship or protection. Eliminate the protection, the money, the weapons, the training camps, the communications infrastructure, the provision of false documents, etc., and you will eliminate groups like Bin Laden's.
If the governments that support terrorism (Algeria, Libya, Sudan, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, North Korea & others) don't cease to provide such support, then I favor the World War II solution - invade their countries, destroy their governments and kill (not imprison, kill) the leaders responsible. Do this a few times, and the rest will fall into line. Those that survive may not like us, but who cares? Such actions will put an end to state sponsored terrorism for at least a generation.
Terrorism is a tumor with tentacles...
Remember, they initially got here utilizing our legal visas from our unsuspecting immigration system. They trained their pilots in our schools and using our flight simulators. The killers used 3 of our commercial aircraft to destroy the same real estate that a TU-160 Blackjack bomber would be required for, and which would have been unable to enter U.S. airspace undetected. They timed their mission extremely closely and selected large, symbolic, media-spectacular targets in our seats of finance and military power. All the active participants died (willingly), so no one could be directly questioned or held.
Because of this level of genius and cunning, I would submit that these folks are extremely formidable. They are not the paunchy pashas who rule Kuwait, nor the illiterate peasants on the Afghani hillsides. They are led by a man of wealth, with an advanced degree in Engineering, who (if he is truly responsible) has made good on his promise to, at least partially, bring America to its knees (witness the stock market, airline & travel industries' slide, and the impact on international markets).
Take them lightly at your (and our) ultimate peril.
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