Totally agree.
I think the best way to handle that would be to draw up a short-list of "least popular," terrorist-harboring rogue states and proceed directly to decapitation strikes using, say, small nukes, to take out their leadership and C&C. We cannot involve ourselves in minutiae of who-did-what-to-whom-and-can-you-prove-it in what is now a full-scale war. Listening to Colin Powell today, I believe that the adminstration will try to get as many states as possible to sign off before taking action, reprising George Bush Sr.'s strategy during the Gulf War. There are certainly trade-offs here, and I see a strong argument for swift, unilateral action, too. Either way, the key thing is to wipe out the threat once and for all. No more half measures—long-drawn out trials, the occasional token cruise missile, etc. The enemy must be brought to its knees and its leadership annihilated.
Simply vaporize it with one airburst.
I want to experience that same feeling that I had in my stomach as I watched the second plane slam into the WTC. I think watching Kabul disappear forever might do it.
Right now they seem thankfull . Right now they've sent us a message, that message simply translated in their words to ours and paraphrased is they want some .
They will soon dieth and be slain .
Cheese.
Religion is $#!+ .
Screw it. Do him anyway.
===============
"America has suffered a mighty blow, both in the loss of lives and property. At such sorrowful times, the leader of the most powerful nation on earth, is expected to respond in a measured voice - one of calculated reason and calm resolve."
"Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you."
"Bin Laden, you pissed on the wrong cowboy's boots today. We took measured steps in response to your acts of terror against us on foreign soil, in part out of respect to the countries on whose land these atrocious acts were committed."
"But, today starts a new era."
"We will not tolerate these acts of aggression and we will not tolerate those nations that aid and abet such acts. We will unleash our military power in full and mighty force."
"Tonight, I am putting you, the Taliban, and the nation of Afghanistan on notice. You have 72 hours to turn Bin Laden into American military authorities or we will launch a nuclear attack at your headquarters. This is not negotiable. Give him to us or become a giant glowing ash heap."
"After this launch, we will give you another 72 hours to turn over Bin Laden. If you fail to meet *this* deadline, we will launch a nuclear attack against Afghanistan and Iraq. If you fail to meet the next 72-hour deadline, we will launch an attack against Afghanistan, Iraq and Sudan. We will then continue to launch missile attacks against any other Arab nation that houses terrorists, including Palestine, until we get the retribution we seek."
"Don't think for a second that I'll run out of missiles before you run out of real estate. If you want your half of the world to turn into a giant 18-hole golf course, well, pardner, that can be arranged."
"If there are any counterattacks against us or any of our allies before or after Bin Laden is given to our military, we will strike regardless of deadlines."
"I do not care what the international community might think of me. I don't care what some weak-willed pansied journalists think of me. I don't care if it leads to my defeat in 2004 or my assassination. It's time for swift justice to prevail and I'm the man with the bombs. Your clock starts now."
"Let the world take notice. Don't mess with me and don't mess with America, unless you want the buttwhippin' of your short life. Thank you and God bless America."
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I'd want to put the fear of Allah into these jerks so bad that they'll either turn the guy in immediately to save themselves or dare us to nuke a place nobody cares about anyways. Either way, America will get a lot of the respect it has lost since 1991. After the first two deadlines have passed and three nukes have been launched clear across the world, I'll pretend I've been talked into having mercy on the rest.
Then, I'll wait for Ramadan and hit all the terrorist camps with smart bombs at the same time. We'll catch a lot of condemnation from the world stage but we'll have a much safer world and nobody would dare pick on us for two generations.
Some 2,403 U.S. servicemen and civilians died at Pear Harbor. In Hiroshima, the United States killed 118,661, and at Nagasaki we killed 73,884.)
This is an 80 - 1 ratio. If we have 20,000 dead then a similar response as to Pearl Harbor would be 1.6 MILLION.
BUMP
Well, you hit the World Trade Center, but you missed America. You hit the Pentagon, but you missed America. You used helpless American bodies, to take out other American bodies, but like a poor marksman, you STILL missed America.
Why? Because of something you guys will never understand. America isn't about a building or two, not about financial centers, not about military centers, America isn't about a place, America isn't even about a bunch of bodies. America is about an IDEA. An idea, that you can go someplace where you can earn as much as you can figure out how to, live for the most part, like you envisioned living, and pursue Happiness. (No guarantees that you'll reach it, but you can sure try!)
Go ahead and whine your terrorist whine, and chant your terrorist litany: "If you can not see my point, then feel my pain." This concept is alien to Americans. We live in a country where we don't have to see your point. But you're free to have one. We don't have to listen to your speech. But you're free to say one. Don't know where you got the strange idea that everyone has to agree with you. We don't agree with each other in this country, almost as a matter of pride. We're a collection of guys that don't agree, called States. We united our individual states to protect ourselves from tyranny in the world. Another idea, we made up on the spot. You CAN make it up as you go, when it's your country.
If you're free enough.
Yeah, we're fat, sloppy, easy-going goofs most of the time. That's an unfortunate image to project to the world, but it comes of feeling free and easy about the world you live in. It's unfortunate too, because people start to forget that when you attack Americans, they tend to fight like a cornered badger. The first we knew of the War of 1812, was when England burned Washington D.C. to the ground. Didn't turn out like England thought it was going to, and it's not going to turn out like you think, either. Sorry, but you're not the first bully on our shores, just the most recent.
No Marquis of Queensbury rules for Americans, either. We were the FIRST and so far, only country in the world to use nuclear weapons in anger. Horrific idea, nowadays? News for you bucko, it was back then too, but we used it anyway. Only had two of them in the whole world and we used 'em both. Grandpa Jones worked on the Manhattan Project. Told me once, that right up until they threw the switch, the physicists were still arguing over whether the Uranium alone would fission, or whether it would start a fissioning chain reaction that would eat everything. But they threw the switch anyway, because we had a War to win. Does that tell you something about American Resolve?
So who just declared War on us? It would be nice to point to some real estate, like the good old days. Unfortunately, we're probably at war with random camps, in far-flung places. Who think they're safe. Just like the Barbary Pirates did. Better start sleeping with one eye open.
There's a spirit that tends to take over people who come to this country, looking for opportunity, looking for liberty, looking for freedom. Even if they misuse it. The Marielistas that Castro emptied out of his prisons, were overjoyed to find out how much freedom there was. First thing they did when they hit our shores, was run out and buy guns. The ones that didn't end up dead, ended up in prisons. It was a big PITA then (especially in south Florida), but you're only the newest PITA, not the first.
You guys seem to be incapable of understanding that we don't live in America, America lives in US! American Spirit is what it's called. And killing a few thousand of us, or a few million of us, won't change it. Most of the time, it's a pretty happy-go-lucky kind of Spirit. Until we're crossed in a cowardly manner, then it becomes an entirely different kind of Spirit.
Wait until you see what we do with that Spirit, this time. Sleep tight, if you can. We're coming.