Some advisors seek sweeping U.S. response-Disagreement is emerging among President Bush' advisors

The Miami Herald ^ | 9-18-01 | Warren P. Strobel

[onehipdad]

Thirty years ago I was majoring in East Asian Languages & Lit. at Indiana University. Earlier this evening I pulled out one of my college tomes to give my wife some background on Islam. I remembered the author well, Joseph M. Kitagawa and came across this gem, one of the first guiding principles Muhammad gave the people of Medina just after his arrival as ruler of the city:
"A believer will not slay a believer for an infidel, nor will he aid an infidel against a believer. The security [given by God's community] is collective. The protection granted by the least of believers involves [all] in the duty." (Religions of the East, by J.M. Kitagawa, Westminster Press 1968)

Now, how much can we really expect from any Muslim nation?

[TKEman]

Yes, the train, so to speak, has already left the station, and nothing can be done about it. Justice must be done. I just urge caution and some restraint to start out with. We need to think carefully about what we do, in order to not kick off a major war. Or at least keep the war as localized and contained as possible.

[Anonymous2]

powell was the command side instigator of ending the war before it was over; ie, kill saddam. as for powell's qualifications, i won't debate that here and now, but specifically regarding powell's affirmative action stance, pro-abortion stance and anti-school choice regarding vouchers, i can't see why he is part of this administration, but for affirmative action and his cfr ties.

[financeprof]

Powell IMHO, is starting to look just a little too cautious.

"Starting" my eye. The guy has been a cautious RAMF for way too long. He was bleating for a continuation of sanctions in 91 rather than advocating throwing Saddam out of Kuwait by force. He was the one who recommended pulling the plug after 100 hours of ground war because of some TV pics about the "Road of Death" (vastly exaggerated, as it turned out), thereby letting substantial number of Rep Gds to escape their well-deserved destruction. He is also evidently captured by the State Dept. mindset. If Bush chooses to follow Powell's advice over that of Rumsfeld (and presumably Cheney) whatever we do will be worse than doing nothing. We will give legitimacy to terrorist states--governments that the State Dept. itself deems to be terrorist supporters--that will be included in a phony "coalition" in a phony "war" against terrorism.

We need a small, hard coalition, not a broad coalition encompassing those nations that want to protect their option to support terrorism in the future.

[Fred25]

TKEman: Well, I think we need to think about our moves carefully about all this. I urge caution and restraint on all I talk to about this issue. Justice must be done. And the war clouds that are gathering are justified. However, the danger regarding this matter is very serious, and extreme, to say the least. We could touch off a World War if we overreact.

Fred: I agree. If I weren’t so old, I’d be downright worried. I’ve been practicing my “duck and cover” exercises that I was taught in school in the early ‘50s. It’s easy for me to get down on the floor really fast, but it’s darned difficult to get back up again.

[TKEman]

Well, we should all be worried about how things develop. Pakistan could easily go up in flames. While I'm extremely worried about all this, I see no other way. Bin Laden decided the issue of peace or war. Now it's up to us to put aside our differences and support our men and women in harm's way.

Nice to see you posting here again!

[Coop]

You've got plenty of opinions on this topic, all reflecting unfavorably on the Administration. Anything to back them up?

[MadameAxe]

I was hearing reports last night that, according to Israeli (sp?) intelligence, it was Saddam Hussein rather than Bin Laden who was responsible for the attacks. But today I haven't see anything about it, and I haven't had much time to spend online. Either of you know what's up with that?

Nice to see you Fred.

[TKEman]

I heard that too. It might be that he was involved in a minor way in the whole thing. We are entering dangerous waters.

[Fred25]

I really don’t know what’s going on. I think we are all being carried along by “fate” (whatever that is). What frightens me the most is that some of this stuff is predicted in the Bible and the Koran. I think the general Jewish interpretation is that God will help Israel be victorious. They will defeat the Arabs, and the Gentiles will just sort of be on the sidelines after the battles.

A couple of non-radical Arabs told me back in the ‘80s that in their Koranic version, God will help them defeat the “wayward” Jews. Interestingly, the non-radical interpretation of the Koran version has many of the Gentiles uniting with the Arabs, and during the battle of Armageddon (which is a desert area of Israel), Jesus will return to earth to help the Arabs and the Gentiles defeat the wayward Jews. Of course we are all faced with the “self-fulfilling prophesy” situation, in which some Jews, Arabs, and Christians will try to force those old “prophecies” to come true, because they believe the prophecies are supposed to come true.

What many Christians believe is that all the world will be involved with the last battles, and Jesus will finally return and straighten everything out. But in the meantime, all three religions predict some bad times for the whole world during the various clashes, which might last for years.

I don’t mention these things to suggest that “supernatural” events might take place. I mention them only to provide some background information about what many of the combatants believe.