Posted on 05/12/2004 9:28:30 AM PDT by .cnI redruM
The Roman Emperor Domitian ruled with an iron hand. He beat down all opposition and brutalized his enemies with an 'aw shucks' grin on his face. His trademark slogan was 'Oderint dum metuent' which can be loosely translated to 'Let them hate me as long as they fear me.'
He made this statement after his son Titus put Jerusalem to the torch and a very large number of its inhabitants to the gladius. It was Domitian's way of saying that he practised terrorism for the simple reason that it worked.
It worked in the 1st Century AD and it works like a charm today. When Al Quaida told it's fixers to shorten Nicholas Berg by a head, they claimed anger as their motive. This propaganda belies the realpolitik behind this act of primevil butchery.
Al Quaida butchered Berg for the same reason that pimps slap their hookers. There were a few Americans out there that just didn't seem obsequious enough over the prison abuse scandal and it was time for Al Quaida to administer discipline.
The thugs who shot Berg wanted Edward Kennedy, John F. Kerry and every member of the appeasement establishment to see what they were capable of and take another shot of cowardice. They need to make sure Rep Murtha loadly decries the unwinnability of Iraq from the top of the towers (the one's still standing at least). This is their way of running a campaign add on behalf of Mr. Kerry.
Yes, they tell America to come home. It's time to allow our national testicles to retract back up into the abdominal cavity of out body politic. Just retreat back across the ocean because we lack the spirit to handle the likes of Al Quaida.
Terrorism, for the likes of Al Quaida, is a very straightforward form of campaign speech. it tells Howard Dean and those of his despicable ilk, the extent to which they will allow America to operate. It's the Arab method of sending a message or as Nate Dawg would say "Time to regulate."
The terrorists are no more angry at us after Abu Ghraib than they were before. The beheading of Nichalos Berg was a chess move to them. A diplomatic communique. The cowards among us heard it loud and clear.
Al Quaida has succeeded well at Mau-Mauing a gathering of weak and effeminate flak-catchers. The incident asks us all a simple and contemptuous question. "Who's your Daddy?"
He made this statement after his son Titus put Jerusalem to the torch and a very large number of its inhabitants to the gladius. It was Domitian's way of saying that he practised terrorism for the simple reason that it worked.
God why don't people know their Roman history! This is just stupid, Titus (the sacker of Jerusalem) was the OLDER brother of Domitian, and emperor after their father Vespasian before Domitian.
The American people aren't that dumb and can tell the difference between making someone masturbate and cutting off their head.
If anything, George will benefit in the longer term by the sexually perverted prisoner thing: no one (save perhaps the bent one himself) will accuse George W. Bush of condoning such a thing, but they will be reminded of another president who was just perverted enough to condone it, who was president when the young soldiers who carried out these things were forming their moral values.
Bad timing for clintoon and his memories, no matter how much spin he tries to put on it, it will just refresh the memories of Monica...
I certainly HOPE that the "Iraqi prisoners" have a new fear in the back of their heads...who knows...maybe a blade of a knife...
Something tells me that come June 1st...there will be a FEW prisoners...who would welcome dogs barking, hoods and another exciting round of TWISTER in the nude...once the new Iraqi prison guards are put into place...
This is where I think your analysis is incorrect, or at least where these Islamic mutants are dead wrong -- in two ways:
1. The United States is not the same as Spain or France. We are one of the few Western countries in which this kind of atrocity will be met with stronger public support -- not less -- for a violent, disproportionate response by the U.S. military.
2. If they are looking out for their own interests, they are doing this all backwards. A Republican in the White House is the best thing that could possibly happen to someone like al-Zarqawi, because a GOP president is hampered by hostile media exposure in ways that a Democratic president never would be. Whereas the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners by the U.S. military is met by calls for the defense secretary's resignation in this administration, a Democratic president who ordered a nuclear strike in Fallujah would be praised in the media for his "strong leadership." Whenever the U.S. feels a need to do things like round up Japanese citizens in prison camps, drop atomic bombs on cities in Japan, send hundreds of thousands of soldiers to wage an idiotic, pointless war in Vietnam, etc. -- we're usually smart enough to use a Democrat to protect ourselves from leftist opposition.
Shot? He was decapitated.
Not that a Dem president would ever actually DO anything.
History Police:
Vespsian (Reign: A.D. 69-79) was the father of both Titus (Reign: A.D. 79-81) and Domintian (Reign: AD 81–AD 96).
Titus was the older brother of Domitian. Domitian acscended to the Imperial throne after the death of his older brother Titus.
We say to the Defense Secretary that his talk can induce a grieving mother to laughter! . . . Where was this false courage of yours when the explosion in Beirut took place in 1983? . . . You [were] turned into scattered pits and pieces at that time; 241 mainly marine soldiers were killed. And where was this courage of yours when two explosions made you leave Aden in less than twenty-four hours! But your most disgraceful case was in Somalia; where—after vigorous propaganda about the power of the USA and its post–Cold War leadership of the new world order—you moved tens of thousands of an international force, including twenty-eight thousand American soldiers, into Somalia. However, when tens of your soldiers were killed in minor battles and one American pilot was dragged in the streets of Mogadishu you left the area carrying disappointment, humiliation, defeat and your dead with you. . . . You have been disgraced by Allah and you withdrew. The extent of your impotence and weaknesses became very clear.-- Bin Laden
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