Posted on 07/21/2002 6:10:37 AM PDT by Gemflint
I agree that the word "heartland" was used with purpose, and I also agree with TLBShow that "heartland" can be equated with "food".
The use of the word "heartland" is extremely disturbing since you would think that the natural targets for terror would be the parasite centers (cities), where the population is dense. Maybe they figured out that bombing our parasite centers would ultimately have a beneficial effect for the United States, in the long run.
See article about geneticly-engineered algae that give off hydrogen. Take an algae pond, put transparent cover over it, extract hydrogen. Use excess algae as fish food in adjoining fish farm ponds
Holy moly, it is about 59 here, northeast of San Francisco. I am thinking, sooner or later, we are going to have it out with these scum bags.
That leaves the other half scattered over thousands of miles of boondocks and "heatland cities", many of which a lot of blue zoners could never even find on a map. Supposed 9/11 had happened in Fargo, Boise or El Paso, would the outcry have been the same?
Had a connection between the OKC bombing and ME terrorists been established in the media and in the Gov't, would there have been the same outcome in terms of militarization (put aside the X42 factor) of forces?
My point is this. IMO, a great portion of blue zoners don't give a damn about fly-over country and would marginalize in their minds, any attacks there, and not give as wholehearted support for a war on terror as they do because it (9/11) happened in the heart of their "land"
Al Qeada's primary financing came from honey, heroin, the stock market, counterfeiting, hostage-taking (the number one source of terrorist funding worldwide, a close match with drug money for top place), charities, the hawala system, and a multitude of schemes carried out by its operatives involving everything from check kiting to forgery.
The PLO, on the other hand, gets a lot of money from oil since the oil producing states would rather have the palestinians in Israel's hair than in theirs.
Oil is a minor part of the problem when it comes to the funding of terrorism- but it is a HUGE part fo the problem in that it twists the way oil-dependent nations deal with countries in the middle east. Instead of acting forcefully when people mess with us, we have to worry about the 'feelings' of those nearby nations which have a say in how much oil the US or its trading partners can buy. We wouldn't have to worry about any country's 'feelings' if our people were not worried about the occasional oil crunch, becuase it is the American politicians' need please the constituency on economics that makes them so sensitive to the oil market- not the oil itself. All politics IS local. Americans think only of their wallets and purses, but are too stupid to realize that the taxes made neccessary by the American desire for economic 'security' and a safety net have a bigger adverse effect on our wallets and national economic success than the price of oil ever could.
even more importantly...
heartland=our best baseball towns
heartland=the country's soul and oasis of common sense in an otherwise pusswhipped country.
But look at it this way- hitting the heartland would be the absolute worst thing a country like Iran could ever do. That's the one place where people won't weep and ask "why do they hate us?" It is the one part of the country that could cheerfully vote to nuke an entire country and then go barbeque a mess of pork steaks, boil up a pot of sweetcorn, ice down some beer, sit down and enjoy the show, and then get up the next morning to go to work, without shedding a single tear.
Thank you for the additional information. What ever the source of their money, we need to where possible stop it, or at least slow it down. It will not be easy, but it is not impossible.
I do think your statement that "Americans think only of their wallets.." is a little much. Certainly some are only concern with what it will cost them, but not all. And certainly the men and women on the front lines today who put their life on the line are not thinking only of their wallets. When the crunch comes, the American people will be willing to pay the price to put an end to these terroist thugs.
As for why they hate us, I don't care. Let them hate me as much as they want, but when they turn their hate into action and American citizens begin to die, I want them to pay a very heavy price even if it means more taxes.
Oklahoma City is in the American Heartland.
They may have found that alright....
Pray tell, how does one nuke a religion?
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