US vice president warns war might not be over in our lifetime

Ananova ^ | Sunday 21st October 2001 | Ananova

[Hoosier]

My apologies for using the little known 1984 by George Orwell as a basis for sarcasm. Also for indicating that the Soviet Union lasted a little over 70 years and resorted to becoming a deeply impoverished, debt-ridden/crime-ridden Russia that we have today. 70 + years of warring will do that to a nation regardless of ideology or wealth...

[Hoosier]

Historical trends clearly indicate that the American Empire will have to end. Whether we fade into history, go down in flames to end up on history's ash-heap or restore our birthright of a constitutional republic is up to us. Personally, I prefer the constitutional republic. However, it appears that those in Washington do not share my view.

[nopardons]

I left out several other USA wars, as well. Did you realy need a tome about it all ?

President G.H.W. Bush lost his second run, due to other things , NOT connected with the Gulf War. Do " Read my lipes ". and H. Ross Perot ring any bells ?

[nopardons]

Historical trends can't indicate / predict how long this nation will last . Neither do any of us know what form of governance it will have ; however , it will never revert to the way it was in the 18the and 19th centuries.It can't do so, because of our size , composition, technology , and what is going on in the world .

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

SEE POST 32, hehehe

[CheneyChick]

Thanks a lot!! I ordered some more red/white/blue M&M's! LOL....

[don-o]

please refer to the Holy Bible, Genesis through Revelations.

Revelations???

I thought it was from "Generations to Revolutions."

btw, there is no "ess" in Revelation.

The last book of the NT.

[Hoosier]

I beg to differ. Historical trends indicate that the greatest of nations and empires tends to endure for 500 - 600 years from their discovery or founding until their light is extinguished. As to reversion into a more primitive state, ever hear of the dark ages?

To the whole concept of trends, every nation spirals downward towards its demise. Every culture and society is twisted and turned into something other than what its original principles foresaw. The root causes are always the same and the end result is always the same. There may be different practices and technologies along the way but they offer no help in survival and generally only serve to hasten the demise simply because they are the byproducts of that nations/society's/culture's corruption.

[Loopy]

Not true. Your reading of history is horribly imprecise. There were 3 Punic Wars. Each was followed by relative peace. There were an number of separate wars between Greeks and Persians each followed by relative peace.

What Cheny is saying is that Orwell's Society has truly come to pass. War is peace. It will never end. It will be fought by small highly trained professionals. Occasional "buzzbombs" will kill some "proles". Read 1984 again and it will become as clear as day.

[Doctor Stochastic]

Permanent war. Fortress America. Worked for Sparta for years until Thebes came along.

[Loopy]

Worked for Rome too, until they started letting illegals remain in their borders, they professionalized their military to be more supportive of the government than the people, allowed their faith to be overtaken by other faiths, overtaxed their citizens etc, and so forth.

[freeeee]

Neither do any of us know what form of governance it will have ; however , it will never revert to the way it was in the 18the and 19th centuries.It can't do so, because of our size, composition, technology , and what is going on in the world .

This just in:

In a surprising moment of candor, nopardons pronounces the Republic dead. The new name for his own party, now that Republicans is obsolete, is a mystery.

[boris]

We need to create a "super-Mossad". Ruthless, relentless, cold, and brutal.

The real war will be a war of spies and assassins, and *I* certainly will not live to see its end.

We need to murder these bastards continually, in the dark, when they least expect it. Their families. Their friends. Their pet camels.

Whether we have the guts for it is another question.

--Boris

[wingnuts'nbolts]

No, I don't think the VP was using his lifetime as the time table for his comments. The difference between "before" and "now" is that "now" we are aware that the world is a very dangerous place and that we are the main target of these fanatical delusional Muslims. Make no mistake, the terrorists are everywhere, consumed by thier hatred and they mean to end our civilization and replace it with thier "Taliban" style religious government. They have no restraints on the evil lengths to which they will go.

Therefor, because they will not stop or be deterred from thier goal, we will be at war with terrorism, if we are serious about keeping our society and culture and goverment, for a very long time indeed.. It will not end soon, and even when it subsides, we will need to keep fighting because "it" is a hydra.

[nopardons]

You do need to brush up on your history. The " DARK AGES " weren't all that " dark " , and the vast majority of independent countries that were around back then, are still with us . Now, if you are referring to empires, that is a different story. Yet, the USA is NOT an " empire " ; rather, we are a REPRESENTAIVE REPUBLIC .

[nopardons]

This just in : freeeee is incapable of reading comprehension and nopardons has sent along a tutor, dictionary, and a phonics chart to HER fellow FREEPER .

[Hoosier]

The "dark Ages" were dark due to the lack of the light of truth. Religion, NOT God, does much to cloud men's minds.

As to the United States, it is a representative republic on paper only. It has all the trappings of empire in practice, yet on paper it retains the ideal of a representative republic.

We all desire the ideal as written. A constitutional republic as we were given is ,perhaps, the highest achievement of man in matters of government and politics. We have, however, squandered it away piecemeal because we didn't put the necessary effort into its' proper maintenance. We allowed the leviathan to grow to monstrous proportions so that now, not one single aspect of our lives remains untouched by its' machinations. And now, to show that the US has indeed achieved the status of empire, our Caesar has declared perpetual war. There is no defined enemy, no defined victory, no lawful declaration of war, no clear objectives, just a perpetual state of war. By this the empire proclaims its' health, its' strength and its' quest for global glory.