US after 9/11: None the wiser

sify.com ^ | Friday, 01 August , 2003, 12:33 | B Raman

[Angelus Errare]

I'm not at all surprised, Pakistani unemployment combined with a non-existent education system and a general public that is heavily bombarded with jihadi propaganda (courtesy once again of our "friends" the Saudis) and as such provides both the global (al-Qaeda) and the local organizations with a robust base from which to recruit from.

[sarasmom]

I think perhaps your premise is wrong.
Terrorism is and has been a "real" threat in Europe prior to the 1970s.
The nature of the threat bears marked similarity to the "mafia" and other viscious organised crime syndicates.
Couching "terrorists" as dedicated fundamentalist religious fanatics is a fairly new "concept" by organised crime.
Think cults, not societies.
Think of criminal, despotic "cultists" heads of state gaining power over entire nations, as relative to hoodlums gaining power in the City of Chicago.
Realise that France continues to be a associate member of NATO, although they are forbidden to assume full membership parity.
The UN should realistically be loosely viewed as the convention of the "Dons".
Europe started off as tough on crime,but then their societies elected the terrorist criminals to power.
That was soooo much more humane(not to mention lucrative) than the brutal, shoot on sight, tried and convicted in abstentia, responce to murderous terrorists(organised crime) criminals.
It was fairly easy for Europeans to slide into subserviance to (terrorist) criminals.
After all, an entire generation of dillitentes survived and prospered under the terms of the "Cold War".They contributed little to the worldwide "war" of the giants.
They happily fed off the scarce leavings of the Battle of the Titans.They are accustomed to eating bile, and calling it ambrosia.
Now, they are singulary unprepared to accept an invitation to join the real world.
IMHO.

[Concentrate]

It's a pathetic situation. There are many threats to Western-Judeo-Christian society from within and without. In the end, however, we will win.

[Mr. Mojo]

[Destro]

my premise is as close to the truth as one dares goes. Who pulled the trigger? Who asked the trigger to be pulled?

[Concentrate]

You are my favorite poster on FR. You have more dignity and knowledge than anyone I've ever seen post here. Coming from me, it's not much of a compliment, but there you have it.

Keep up the good work!

[ALOHA RONNIE]

...Thank you for your CLARITY and your CHARITY, Concentrate.

...I love your Namesake, something most Americans need to do a lot more of in this new Time of War..?

GOD Speed......

[sarasmom]

As one dares go?
ROTFLMAO!
The "trigger" got pulled on 91101.
GWB masterfully threaded his (our) responce through the proverbial eye of the needle.
I am a cold war veteran.
GWB has just barely enough "gravitas" for me, and "my kind" to allow our collective blood pressure ratings to reach almost critical mass, before he acted decisively.
God bless him, history will show he staved off the full scale, thermo nuclear war, based solely on the majority of semi-rational citizens having doubts that the time was not yet,and the trust that he would unleash hell when the timing was right.
Dont sleep peacefully tonight.
I am not even close to being close to being "placated" or "appeased".

[Destro]

Your "response" avoids answering the author's questions.

They are hard to answer unless you ponder them thoughtfully.

The dog turned and bit the hand that fed it.

[sarasmom]

I apologise for not having the mental capacity to immediately understand the "question" posed by the author.
Perhaps you would deign to lower yourself to my level, and re-phrase the "author's question" to a level my poor mind could possibly be expected to comprehend?
I would be forever gratefull for the opportunity!

[Destro]

The Indian gent writes better English than I do. He did it well the first time around.

[marron]

It was fairly easy for Europeans to slide into subserviance to (terrorist) criminals. After all, an entire generation of dillitentes survived and prospered under the terms of the "Cold War".They contributed little to the worldwide "war" of the giants.

You have put your finger on a key fact. The Western and Southern Europeans never had to fight for their freedom, they are free today thanks to no effort of their own, at no cost to themselves. Consequently they have no idea of the cost paid in terms of blood, and they have a very distorted idea of what the Cold War was.

I noticed this during the run-up to the Iraq war, when commentators would propose a Cold War "containment" of Iraq similar to the static "containment" that supposedly worked so well against the Soviets.

Leaving aside the fact that these people opposed the Cold War at the time, there is the fact that there was nothing static about it, and nothing bloodless. The "Cold" war was fought on every continent, and millions of people died fighting it on all sides. The fact that US soldiers didn't normally fire directly on Soviet soldiers doesn't change the equation, nor does it make the war's victims any less dead.

For fifty years we lived under the threat of nuclear war, financed an enormous military force, and for fifty years third world armies and civilians slaughtered one another as proxies for the West and the Soviets. European freedom came at a tremendous cost in blood, its just that the Europeans didn't have to pay it. This explains their utter cluelessness on the matter, this also explains their utter uselessness in the face of any mortal threat.

We will be lucky to get rear-echelon people from Europe in our effort to internationalize the war in Iraq. We shouldn't expect any of them to send actual combat troops. The Euros forgot how to use their weapons a long time ago, and considering their track record, maybe its for the best.