Bush's Alarmism Gives Islamic Rebels What They Most Want

IHT - International Herald Tribune ^ | FR Post 02-02-02 | William Pfaff

[vannrox]

"...And such a belief, of course, is not in the least true. The Sept. 11 attacks took many lives but did no serious objective damage to the United States, as a nation..."

[zarf]

OK, that's it ladies and germs, everythings OK now. Let's move along. Go back to the porno theaters and have a good time, nothing to see here.

[nsmart]

There is something fake, or faintly Orwellian, in Washington's insistence that the threat is immense, that mobilization must be permanent, that the military budget be vastly increased, that civil liberties be restricted and that critics be chided as unpatriotic. ..

This is my feeling as well. When the nation will not allow us to protect ourselves with personal weapons, when the airport screeners take knitting needles from grandmothers and worry about offending middle eastern men buying one way tickets, I worry. I worry that hundreds of intelligence services paid for by yours and my tax dollars are feuding with each other rather than working in unison -- I say, save $40-50 billion a year, can the CIA and we may just start being loved around the world again.

[Chi-townChief]

You really have to wonder just how far Pfaff and Schroeder have their heads up their butts to come up with this kind of nonsense.

[JCG]

There is something fake, or faintly Orwellian, in Washington's insistence that the threat is immense, that mobilization must be permanent, that the military budget be vastly increased, that civil liberties be restricted and that critics be chided as unpatriotic. ..

This sounds like a pantload of Pfaff to me.  Of course the threat is immense.  When we went to war after Pearl Harbor the enemy numbered 160-million.  Now it could be anywhere from 120 million to 1.2-billion, depending on which way the winds of war blow.

But, of course, if we continue the delusion that we're just dealing with so many Methodists and Presbyterians  then we can be like Pfaff and not worry about it.

America's Fifth Column ... watch PBS documentary JIHAD! In America
Download 8 Mb zip file here (60 minute video)

[alloysteel]

Now nobody can say, with any shred of objectivity, that there is any redeeming social benefit to Iran, Iraq and North Korea, for the existing regimes to remain in power. Given, that if any kind of meaningful election is possible, that fact alone would not necessarily mean that these regimes could be turned out of office. Maybe a majority of the populations in these countries WANT the kind of government they have. But would we want to do business with them? The fact is, we still do some back door trading with Iran and Iraq, their oil for our goods and services intended to provide humanitarian aid to their civilian population. Only in the case of Iraq, most of this aid is diverted to the military uses. North Korea is, well, a stalking horse for China, in which the North Koreans express the rhetoric and probing actions, that China does not want to be seen doing themselves. Iran has the external trappings of a representative electoral republic, but it is clear that nothing is allowed in that country except at the permission or direction of the theocracy. And none of the three countries has expressed much love or respect for the US, for some time now.

[livius]

Oh, please! vannrox, I know you're posting this simply to show us what the readers of the Int HTB are sucking up, but, honestly, it's making me sick!

[nothingnew]

William Pfaff

Arsehole puffwad.

...puff?....hey, where's francisandbeans?!

FMCDH

[aculeus]

Another Eurowienie checks in.

The problem Herr Pfaff is not 911 it's preventing a much larger massacre.

Peddle your views in Europe. We have no interest.

[Green Knight]

There is something wrong here. The threat and the reaction don't match. The greed and corruption that went into the Enron affair is a bigger threat to the United States than Osama bin Laden will ever be, and I would think most Americans, in their hearts, know it. ...

The threat and the reaction don't match? We face a threat that snuffed out 3,000+ lives at once, and which seeks to extract a greater toll of life from us in the future, including targeting nuclear power plants! That doesn't deserve a serious reaction? Enron's a bigger threat than terrorism?!? What a crock. I'd say terrorists getting their hands on nukes and detonating them inside an American city is a greater threat than people getting screwed over, financially. I'd say rogue nations like Iraq and North Korea developing weapons of mass destruction, and with a willingness to use them, is a greater threat than rogue accountants. This buffoon needs to get his priorities straight.

And most Americans, in their hearts, know it.

At least that's what he tells himself, so he won't feel as if he's the only one with the same ridiculous opinion.

And how is treating terrorists as if they're our greatest challenge a bad thing and giving them what they want? As it's been shown in Afghanistan, the LAST thing terrorists want is for us to turn our full attention towards them.

[sinkspur]

I say, save $40-50 billion a year, can the CIA and we may just start being loved around the world again.

How about humming "Kumbaya" for us, dipwad.

Sheesh! I'm glad you're not responsible for anything important. Maybe you won't vote next time either.

The CIA, in case you haven't heard, is back to being the kind of cowboys they were originally intended to be.

And everybody except you likes it.

[Howlin]

The Sept. 11 attacks took many lives but did no serious objective damage to the United States, as a nation..."

Remember that when they need help; we'll just tell them that it just didn't do enough damage.

[69ConvertibleFirebird]

...when the airport screeners take knitting needles from grandmothers...

It makes perfect sense. What do you think would happen if Ganndma knitted an Afgan while up there in the air in a HUGE potential airplane-weapon, with hundreds of other passengers lives at stake?!?! What if she knitted multiple Afgans?!!! The HORROR!!!

So what if most airport screeners don't have high school degrees. They know what makes Afgans...

[Richard Kimball]

The greed and corruption that went into the Enron affair is a bigger threat to the United States than Osama bin Laden will ever be, and I would think most Americans, in their hearts, know it. ..

Los Angeles Times Syndicate. .

Well, this sums it up. Let's forget about real threats to our security and get back to Nixonizing a Republican President. All you have to do is look for the diversion and the source.

[liberalism=failure]

There is something fake, or faintly Orwellian, in Washington's insistence that the threat is immense...

But the threat IS immense If they were to have them, Islamic terrorists or an Islamic fanatic state could easily hit us with nukes and wipe out entire cities.

...that mobilization must be permanent...

mobilization does need to be permanent As long as there are such people and states that would do this we will have to be ready to stop them. Especially when the time comes that many of them have the wherewithall to create atomic bombs (it won't be long).

...that the military budget be vastly increased...

The military budget must be vastly increased because bombs, intelligance, technology et all, cost lots of money, so it must of course be paid for. We have a projected budget surplus--Better to spend it in defense of our country then let the worthless demoRATS waste it buying more votes from their greedy constituents.

that civil liberties be restricted

But civil liberties aren't being restricted all I see is it takes a little longer to get through the airport. Big whoop.

...and that critics be chided as unpatriotic...(ah the true gripe of the author revealed)

Damn eff-ing right, critics should be chided as unpatriotic--if you aren't gonna root for the home team then get out of the stadium. America was attacked, America has every moral right to defend itself. If you are an American and you disgree perhaps its time to choose another country.

Conclusion--Nothing Orwellian here. But I'll tell ya what, go look at political correctness in this country, there's Orwellian bad guys on that one times ten. So go after them and leave the good guys who protect this country and make it work alone.

[Shermy]

Disgusting. Shallow and self-serving. 911 was an extremely inconvenient fact for these types. Gets in the way of their thinking processes, which they don't want to change.

[zarf]

Uzi's for all airline passengers? I'll take a rowboat thank you.

[sam_paine]

William Pfaff
International Herald Tribune
PARIS - ...........

Consider the source. And stay over there, Pfaff!!!!

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

72 virgins? Won't they be peeved when they find out that Osama lied and what's waiting is more like.....