[BibChr]

A good article by Zinn

On your homeworld, are "good" and "long" synonyms?

Dan

[Lexington Green]

"Pacifists are among the most immoral of men. They make no distinction between aggression and defense. Therefore, pacifism is one of the greatest allies an aggressor can have!" -- Patrick Henry

[arkfreepdom]

Kill'em in Afghanistan or kill'em in Ohio. I prefer collateral damage in someone else's country. These a**holes needed killing, and we are doing our best to prevent civilian deaths.

[Gimlet]

This is interesting. I heard Zinn on the radio shortly after 9/11. he sounded like such a genial and reflective man. He was speaking about his experience as a bombardier in the Second World War and how that is what was the second thing he thought about when he heard the news of the attacks (second that was to his horror and shock.). He said that how easy it was to forget that there are real people with real lives and families that get killed (he was referring to the Mohammed Atta and his gang) but also remembering his own service. I think that his war experience changed his life.

[muawiyah]

The problem with this guy's opinion is that they are still shooting at me and I want them to stop. All this guy offers are pious platitudes. When is he going to step out there between the AlQaeda bullets and my body?

Bet he's not willing to do that.

What kind of true pacifist just steps back from the conflict?

[11B3]

"Pacifism would do to nations what gun control does to individuals: leave them helpless before masked men with dark intentions. A.J. Armitage

What part of "You're either with us, or you're with the terrorists" don't you turn the other cheek, limp wristed, jellyfish understand? We had 8 long years of ineffective retaliation against this sort of terrorism, and now it has come home to roost. Face it - your pacifism is DEADLY. Our enemy only understands violence - he doesn't share your nice comfortable value/morality set. Sheesh. There's more of you leftists here today than usual.

[CatoRenasci]

Howard Zinn is a radical, a Marxist historian whose works seek to undermine America. He has made it clear in academic writings, that he views the propagation of his ideology as more important than historical accuracy.

He is the enemy.

[samtheman]

How can a war be truly just when it involves the daily killing of civilians, when it causes hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children to leave their homes to escape the bombs, when it may not find those who planned the September 11 attacks, and when it will multiply the ranks of people who are angry enough at this country to become terrorists themselves?

WWII involved the daily killing of civlians and caused people to leave their homes. Guess we should have let Hitler and Hirohito win.

[deport]

From another zinny article.......

Our security can only come by using our national wealth, not for guns, planes, bombs, but for the health and welfare of our people - for free medical care for everyone, education and housing guaranteed, decent wages and a clean environment for all. We can not be secure by limiting our liberties, as some of our political leaders are demanding, but only by expanding them.

[JmyBryan]

We ourselves are the expansionist power--troops in Saudi Arabia, bombings of Iraq, military bases all over the world, naval vessels on every sea--and that, along with Israel's expansion into the West Bank and Gaza Strip, has aroused anger.

Then why hasn't the US annexed Iraq, Somalia, Yugoslavia, N Korea, etc

The United States could have treated the September 11 attack as a horrific criminal act that calls for apprehending the culprits, using every device of intelligence and investigation possible. It could have gone to the United Nations to enlist the aid of other countries in the pursuit and apprehension of the terrorists.

We are

One-third of our military budget would annually provide clean water and sanitation facilities for the billion people in the world who have none.

For how long - we already provide a great deal of foreign aid to countries, and yet their poor continue to suffer

Once again - the US wins WWII and it seems to me that Germany and Japan are making it. Now that we have defeated the Soviet Union, again the defeated is still thriving. Why?

[TigersEye]

The phrase is so loose that President Truman, after the nuclear bomb obliterated the population of Hiroshima, could say: "The world will note that the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, a military base. That was because we wished in this first attack to avoid, insofar as possible, the killing of civilians."

And Truman was right. There weren't any 'civilians' in Hiroshima or Nagasaki. Both were major munitions manufacturing centers and military bases. In Japan, during WWII, every 'citizen' considered themselves a warrior prepared to fight and die for the Empereror. As a nation they were steadfastly ready to die to the last man and woman.

Dresden as well was a munitions manufacturing city and the people who make arms are as much of an asset as the machines and materials. We were at war with the whole of Germany. The only innocents in Dresden might have been some Jews that hadn't been sent to death camps yet.

There are a number of Ghandi quotes that I really like. One that is little known is, to paraphrase "The most horrible act the British ever perpetrated on Indians was to disarm them." Ghandi was cool. He backed and blessed an army that fought a bloody war to success.

There is hardly a point in this long essay that isn't incorrect, misinterpreted, mischaracterized or just plain muddled thinking. I salute the man for serving his country when called! But if his current point of view comes from guilt for having done that duty he is now serving himself and his country poorly indeed.

I am rarely proud of politicians but I'm proud as punch that George W. Bush says "There will be no negotiations." and means it. This 'war' isn't just about "getting the ones who did it". Or rounding up all the ones who are thinking about being terrorists. It is also about sending a message that can't be misunderstood.

[Moby Grape]

Howard Zinn is a master Zen Idiot.

[rebdov]

This article is bizarre. With the author's criteria no one would be allowed the right of self defense because innocents may be harmed. Rubbish. Everyone agrees war is horrible, but the alternative is worse. Allow Bin Laden to overrun the US? This article is so myopic in scope that reading it was painful.

[F.J. Mitchell]

The most irresponsible choice the United States,(the only entity on earth that has the resourses and the power to rid the world of terrorism) could make, is to offer up our 6,000 slain Americans as sacrificial offerings upon the altar in appeasement to the Godlette of terrorism.

The suffering by the innocent children, women and the elderly that will inevitibly result from this assault upon terrorism will be horrible, but will be merely an inconvenience in comparision to what turning the other cheek to terrorists will result in.

The line is drawn in the dirt before the holes in which the terrorist snakes cower. They may live in the darkness they crave, or die. The choice is their's.

I believe the sheep shall one day lie down by the lion, but until the lion has been defanged,de-clawed and developed an appetite for veggies, only the lion will get up. I believe the meek shall inherit the earth, but only after the aggressors are tamed.

Dying is no fun but it is less embarrassing than living under tyranny.

[Shermy]

This fellow is just another glib and arrogant anti-American propagandist. Almost every sentence relies upon a faulty premise or a selected "fact" from the media he claims is govt. controlled. If we wanted to inflict civilian casualties, clearly we've been doing a poor job of it compared to WWII. The UN? Ahem, Bin Laden called it criminal. I'm unclear, do we get out of the world, or give more money to it? I don't see poor Kenyans crashing planes into it. The "roots" of terrorism? Typical Western-lefty, still can't say and consider the word "religion." These terrorists aren't poor people. Should we be giving even more money to Saudi Arabia? We end sanctions on Iraq because of allegely dying babies. Will Saddam spend his extra money on child care?

In all, this fellow delivers a Oprahized version of the lefties' narcissistic vision of the world--that America is the center of it, and this American has the cure. The article's aim is to reaffirm anti-Americanism and deflect criticism and responsibility and reexamination of the Arab' world's own faults. Cearly the present crisis is a threat to the left's vision of the world.

[exnavy]

A pompous insignificant waste of good bandwidth, long winded to.

[RogueIsland]

How can a war be truly just when it involves the daily killing of civilians, when it causes hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children to leave their homes to escape the bombs

As much as Zinn may long for the day when armies massed upon the plains and did battle a la Napoleon or the Romans, prisitnely isolated from the civilian world, it ain't gonna happen. That day is done and gone (and come to think of it, it never really existed, except in tabletop miniature games). So long as modern combatants hide among civilians, civilians will die. An ugly truth is no less a truth for being unattractive and distasteful.

[SuziQ]

How can a war be truly just when it involves the daily killing of civilians, when it causes hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children to leave their homes to escape the bombs,

Hmmm. Kind of describes Britian during the bombings by the Luftwaffe doesn't it? I guess NO WAR could be considered justified by this guy.

Many people had already FLED the towns and cities of Afghanistan precisely BECAUSE of the brutality of the Taliban who bombed THEIR way into Kabul after the Russians were defeated. Many people are having to leave now because the Taliban placed military installations and supplies IN RESIDENTIAL AREAS, making those areas targets for bombs.

[oyez]

A few people die to save many. Civilization is protected. A bargan.

If my doctor says I have cancer and I will live a long and productive life if I loose no time in having it cut out. The long run, if I don't have the surgery I am going to long and painful death, I'm going to experiance the discomfort of having it it cut out.

Pacificsm is bad medicine.

[AAABEST]

Please visit my nonprofit website exposing the cancer racket

The "cancer racket" is the cancer of avowed leftists of this broke-dick authors ilk. I don't give two s**ts about his veteren status. I'm a veteren and he can ki$$ my a$$.

Note to Gimlet: Honest liberals (of the Alan Colmes sector) have opinions. Leftists (of the Hillary sector) like this scumbag don't just have opinions. They gear their lives and their talents toward the degradation of our society and the propagation of a dangerous agenda.

If they ever have their way (God forbid) they will be shi*ing upon us all. They don't need to have their intellectual mush bought in to by suckers who think they're just stating and "opinion". They need to be slapped down hard by those of us who know better, or at least should know better.

Get this through your heads as it is a fact of life.