"For me, it's a no-brainer," said Mollie Ingebrand, a puppeteer from Minneapolis who plans to go to Vancouver with her lawyer husband and 2-year-old son
and you're posting here instead of suiting up for battle why?
I am to old and they won't take me. If they raise the age I am ready to go. I need a change anyway. But I am doing my part of perpetuating the American way. I am raising my kids to understand right and wrong and what freedom is.
No not necessarily but they are resistant to freedom.
Do we have to go and liberate every country that doesn't have freedom? What if they are happy and productive like that? Where will it stop as far as policing the world?
We do sometimes.
I know we do sometimes. Do we have to do it all the time?
That is fine because if that happens we will be on the right side.
Yeah, and many of us could be on the dead side. It may be right in our own minds, but does it make it right for others? The US government was set up with a system of checks and balances. That way one group couldn't become all powerful over the rest and dominate. Do you want us to dominate the world, assimilating everyone to our systems and beliefs, by force if necessary?
That is mostly anti-American propaganda.
It may be anti-American propaganda, but how hard are we making their jobs? The more material we give them to spin to their own way just feeds their anti-American machine. I think the more we work with people in a positive way, the more voices we'll have against anti-American propoganda and make it harder for them to write things against us.
You can't with people that don't want that.
Do you know that for sure? You would rather just go to war and sacrifice people instead of trying for a diplomatic solution. Trying to build a coalition that is on your side, trying to build evidence, trying to put non-violent pressure on people?
You have to wonder?
Yes, I have to wonder, since I'm no expert on world politics.
I suppose I could. Or I could join one already in existence. But don't you think that maybe such a force would get in the way rather than promote US interests?
That happens in war.It may be right in our own minds, but does it make it right for others? Lets see. People being able to rule themselves rather than having dictators do it. Sounds good to me and it does to everyone but the dictators.Do you want us to dominate the world, assimilating everyone to our systems and beliefs, by force if necessary? Since that belief is letting the people decide how to govern themselves, then yes. You seem to forget this part.
The fact is that you had a chance in the Gulf War...and chose not to go then, either. The fact is that what did or did not occur in 1991 is irrelevant to what I can and can't do today. Just like 99% of what you post, it is meaningless.You are full of answers but little conviction, and in spite of your educational qualities as a parent, hopefully your kids will be OK anyway, in spite of all of your "best" efforts. We can only hope your kids have done as well. It must have been hell having a damn idiot for a father.
Jethro, as far as the Iraq war, I was for getting Saddam out of there. I think we need to get out of there as best we can, and then move on. The sense I'm getting from people is that they want to just continue on going to war and hunting down everyone who opposes us. Maybe I'm wrong. I just don't want that.
I think we need to get out of there as best we can, and then move on. But how fast is that? I mean we don't want to leave and if Saddam is still alive have him retake control.The sense I'm getting from people is that they want to just continue on going to war and hunting down everyone who opposes us. Maybe I'm wrong. I just don't want that. Well, I don't think anyone wants war with France or Germany! But there are terrorist networks out there and they are getting support from some nations. I would prefer not to have war but I don't think we have much choice.
After reading some of the posts from the weekend their is an obvious differing of opinions. Bare with me for my regularly long winded posts so I'll beg your indulgence upfront. There's a few things I'd like to say that jump around a bit but I'll break em up in parts.
First of all I think we are too caught up in believing that anyone wants all out war or endless wars against different factions/nations etc. I don't believe anyone wants that. I think it comes down to a matter of opinion on how best to handle current threats today.
I think what some are missing is that there are different approaches in the war on terror. Every government or faction can and should be dealt with differently. Some have a genuine interest themselves in ridding their countries of terrorists so they're the easist and have common goals. Others also want the terrorist factions gone but are to weak internally to survive it. So they need aid, military help, and yes covert people on the ground to help them get rid of the terrorists quickly and quietly. Pakistan comes to mind. Others YES can be negotiated with, there's not many that fit this classification but some can through political/monetary pressure. Some cannot, some openly and willingly support terrorists. Most of those by coincidence happen to be run by ogilarchy's or strict religious rule. Gee what a suprise eh ?
I also think something so important should transcend political lines, My God we're talking literally about the future of the country. People think there's no way we could ever be brought down by terrorists. Perhaps not with an occupying force but in other ways. 9-11's impact on our economy not to mention psychi was HUGE. Ask someone in the travel industry what it did. Ask someone who's livelihood depends on tourists. It took a monstorous chunk. Now think if another happened, think how bad or worse it can be ?
Some say that it was our meddling etc. Perhaps that was part of it. Then how do those same people explain terrorist attacks against other nations ? Bali, the Philipenes, Africa, and countless cases in Europe. France has a problem with terrorists and I'd say they've been quite removed from the situation. What about all these other places ? Bad luck ? Of course not, countries all over the world have and are targets for terroists.
Here's something those who wish to explain why we were the ones attacked this time overlook IMO.
Many of theses doing these acts are YES doing so out of hatred obviously. Where did that hate come from ? Take a look at a Madrass, They are "schools" I use that term loosely. The schools are where the future Mullah's are taught. They are taken in usually quite young and usually from very poor families. They are given food, clothes and housing. They are taught the Koran 6-8 hours a day, followed by some "policitcal" instruction. They are taught from age 5 that the west and ANY nonbeliever is subhuman, literally. They are taught that any ill on their country is caused by not being Muslim enough due to "western" values creeping into their society. Therefore the other half of the population that wants change and to be part of the modern world are out of step with those in their own country.
Now, how do you negotiate and or reason with those who are taught to hate from a child that a whole race/ nation is bad ? You don't. Would or should we have negotiated with KKKmembers because they had hatred and some power to disrupt thing ? Glad we didn't. In our rush to be culturally sensative we're failing to see that these people are no different than the KKK, or the Facist brown shirts. Negotiating or appeasing them would be the same thing and the same result only more of it and that's EXACTLY what's happened around the world for decades. What you do is take on in the ways mentioned above the governments of those who encourage it, turn a blind eye to it or support it. That's the only way to end the Madrass and crazed Mullah's in the world. Some will survive but only in places with governments that refuse to deal with the issue. Thus making them easier to track and apply pressure to. It has very very very little to do with Coke and McDonalds being in Karachi and more to do with hatered taught since age 5, get rid of the Madrass, strip the Mullah's of their power and it goes away ar is at the least, reduced greatly.
Why is it more prevalant today ? It's really not, if you look at the last 20 years or so it(terrorism) has been increasing. And against the US too. Check this out.
I was just commenting on how much I liked it, and in spite of the few who say it's a "Pack of Lies", or words to that effect, I haven't seen any reasons why it isn't MOSTLY true.
Let's see...
I changed pollution laws for power and oil companies and made Texas the most polluted state in the Union.
I replaced Los Angeles with Houston as the most smog ridden city in America.
For example, consider the charge that Houston has overtaken Los Angeles as the smoggiest city in America. This, not to put too fine a point on it, is a lie. If we do what the Environmental Protection Agency does to determine whether a metropolitan area is in compliance with federal air quality standards--that is, tally up the number of violations at the designated "worst case" air quality monitor for each city--Houston violated federal ozone (smog) standards 11 times in 1995 (Bush's first year in office), 15 times in 1996, 12 times in 1997, 10 times in 1998, 18 times in 1999 and 14 times so far this year. L.A. violated federal smog standards 65 times in 1995, 62 times in 1996, 30 times in 1997, 57 times in 1998, 35 times in 1999 and 17 times so far this year. EPA then averages the number of violations over a three-year period to determine whether an area is in or out of compliance. By that official yardstick, over the most recent three-year window, L.A. averaged 36 violations--33 more than the law allows--while Houston averaged 14. Data to the contrary naming Houston as No. 1 in smog is simply cooked and its methodologies deemed inappropriate and misleading by the EPA.
Despite this moderate trend upward in Houston's noncompliance, pollution has not worsened in Houston under Bush. EPA data clearly shows that the emission of pollutants that contribute to smog have been trending downward in Texas since Bush became governor. Smog concentrations haven't changed much recently, however, because the summers in Houston have been getting hotter, while it's been cooler in L.A.
What about toxic pollution? Texas does indeed rank high on the list of states with the most toxic air, land and water emissions, but that's because Texas is where 60% of the nation's petrochemical companies happen to be, and they're the biggest sources of toxic emissions simply given their chemical-intensive nature.
First, the petrochemical industry was in Texas long before Bush assumed the governorship; it didn't follow him there. Second, those emissions--even according to the EPA--are well below the threshold of human health concern. Third, nobody's breaking the law. Fourth, those plants have to be somewhere--otherwise, there would be no gasoline, no home heating oil, no diesel fuel--and whatever state those plants call home would sit at the top of any "toxic pollution" list. And finally, toxic emissions from major industrial sources in Texas have dropped a whopping 40% over the past decade. link
Set record for most executions by any Governor in American history.
Sorry, but the governor of Texas has no right to execute or do a stay of execution. In other words, he could do nothing to execute more or less criminals under the laws of Texas.
I became president after losing the popular vote by over 500,000 votes, with the help of my fathers appointments to the Supreme Court.
As with many cases, the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Bush v. Gore answered more than one question with more than one count of the Justices. In answer to the question of the constitutionality of the non-existant standards during Florida's re-re-recounts, the Court ruled 7-2 in favor of Bush. In answer to the question of deadlines for conducting the count, the Court ruled 5-4 in favor of Bush. The 7-2 vote in particular was anything but partisan, considering that two traditionally leftist justices joined the court's two moderates and three conservatives
I attacked and took over two countries.
After we were first attacked ourselves on our soil in 1993 and again in 2001.
I set all-time record for biggest drop in the history of the stock market.
The NASDAQ peaked on March 10, 2000, S&P 500 peaked on March 24, 2000, Dow Jones peaked on January 14, 2000. President Bush took office in January of 2001. How did he effect the stock market before he was even elected to the office and where is the stock market today?
These are just a few examples of the blantant false partisan attacks on that list.
Here's something those who wish to explain why we were the ones attacked this time overlook IMO.
Many of theses doing these acts are YES doing so out of hatred obviously. Where did that hate come from ? Take a look at a Madrass, They are "schools" I use that term loosely. The schools are where the future Mullah's are taught. They are taken in usually quite young and usually from very poor families. They are given food, clothes and housing. They are taught the Koran 6-8 hours a day, followed by some "policitcal" instruction. They are taught from age 5 that the west and ANY nonbeliever is subhuman, literally. They are taught that any ill on their country is caused by not being Muslim enough due to "western" values creeping into their society. Therefore the other half of the population that wants change and to be part of the modern world are out of step with those in their own country.
Now, how do you negotiate and or reason with those who are taught to hate from a child that a whole race/ nation is bad ? You don't. Would or should we have negotiated with KKKmembers because they had hatred and some power to disrupt thing ? Glad we didn't. In our rush to be culturally sensative we're failing to see that these people are no different than the KKK, or the Facist brown shirts. Negotiating or appeasing them would be the same thing and the same result only more of it and that's EXACTLY what's happened around the world for decades. What you do is take on in the ways mentioned above the governments of those who encourage it, turn a blind eye to it or support it. That's the only way to end the Madrass and crazed Mullah's in the world. Some will survive but only in places with governments that refuse to deal with the issue. Thus making them easier to track and apply pressure to. It has very very very little to do with Coke and McDonalds being in Karachi and more to do with hatered taught since age 5, get rid of the Madrass, strip the Mullah's of their power and it goes away ar is at the least, reduced greatly.
Why is it more prevalant today ? It's really not, if you look at the last 20 years or so it(terrorism) has been increasing. And against the US too. Check this out.
Seems to me that we've had over 30 years of terrorism against the US and other countries. These are just a few. This approach has never been tried. It seems to me we've tried other approaches as well. People need to understand that in their minds we are weak in many ways. In the extremist pshchy in fact dare I say the Arab psychi, weakness is looked at as a sin, you saw those upset that the Iraqi's didn't put up a stronger fight. Our past actions was one of THE deciding factors in attacking. As you can see from the list below, in many cases the consequences were little, and in many cases we either didn't retaliate or di very little. The absolute and utter failiure of people to understand this mistake and to take agressive action is what brought us 9-11. We've been under attack for 30 years and nobody seemed to care. Little was done and in most cases we tried the appeasement method and hoped it would go away, it didn't, it grew and each administration left the other a growing problem becasue we failed to respond with anything other than some harsh words, some money thrown at a country and perhaps a cruise missle. It won't and will never work. Trying to understand terrorists and the radicals will get you nothing other than another 9-11. Trying not to upset them etc was tried, see the bottom list for that. It has nothing to do with poverty and opression other than their own. Many of the highjackers were middle class, well educated, well schooled and well traveled. Their hatred taught by the mullah's is why it happens. Your only other option is to do about what we have for 30 years, we can see how swell that worked.
I have list for strictly non U.S related acts of terror, I'll see if I can find it. The list is longer than the ones agaisnt us. It's not just a US problem nor are we the only targets, which completly debunks the idea that we were attacked strictly for our acts around the world. __________________________________________________________________ 7/28/1968 A Marxist group called the People's Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) begins the first in a series of hijackings of Israeli El Al airliners. For this mission, the group exchanges 48 Israeli hostages for 16 Arab prisoners in Israeli jails. Â Â
2/21/1970 PFLP terrorists blow up a Swissair 330 in midair shortly after leaving Geneva, killing 47.
Related Links: Information on the PFLP from the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise
9/6/1970 PFLP terrorists seize four airliners at the beginning of what would become known as "Black September." The hijackers demand the release of Palestinian prisoners in Germany, Switzerland, and Israel. They fly two planes to Dawson's Field in the Jordanian desert and blow up one in Cairo after releasing passengers and crew. On the fourth plane, the terrorists are overpowered and the plane returns to London. British authorities take Leila Khaled, who commanded the terrorist operation, into custody. The PFLP then demands Ms. Khaled's release and hijacks another plane bound for Beirut, landing a third plane at Dawson's Field. PFLP releases 255 hostages (retaining 56) and blow up the three planes. At the end of Black September, Great Britain releases Ms. Khaled and six other Palestinian guerrillas in exchange for the remaining hostages.
Related Links: Black September: Tough negotiations (BBC News) The Guerilla's Story (BBC News Story on Leila Khaled)
3/1/1971 A U.S. Senate office building sustains heavy damage from a bomb planted by the radical Weather Underground.
5/11/1972 The Red Army Faction (also known in its early years as the Baader-Meinhof Gang) carries out six separate bombing attacks aimed at U.S. Army personnel and a West German Supreme Court Justice. One bomb kills an Army officer and injures 12 other servicemen. A short time later, both Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof are captured and imprisoned.
Related Links: More from CNN - German fears over militant faction Information on the RAF from the Navy
9/5/1972 At the Olympics in Munich, Germany, eight Black September terrorists take nine Israeli athletes hostage and kill two others. They demand the release of 200 Palestinians in Israeli jails, as well as freedom for terrorists of the Japanese Red Army and the Red Army Faction. A Black September grenade kills the athletes during an unsuccessful rescue attempt. Five terrorists die in a shootout and three are captured.
Related Links: From the 1972 Olympic Web Site An Analysis of the Israeli Response to the Black September Attack The Munich Massacre - from the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise Information on the PLO from the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise
10/29/1972 Black September hijackers seize a Lufthansa flight from Beirut to Ankara, and gain the freedom of the three remaining Munich assailants.
3/1/1973 Black September terrorists take 10 hostages at the Saudi embassy in Khartoum, Sudan. The terrorists murder the U.S. ambassador and charge d'affaires, as well as a Belgian diplomat. They later surrender to authorities.
2/5/1974 Leftist radicals of the Symbionese Liberation Army kidnap newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst. In April, she totes a gun in a San Francisco bank robbery. In May, police kill six SLA members in a shootout. The FBI arrests Ms. Hearst in September 1975. She claims she only pretended to support the SLA to survive, but she must serve time in prison until President Carter pardons her in 1979.
Related Links: More information from The Crime Laboratory
4/13/1974 The New People's Army, the guerrilla arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines, kills three U.S. Navy personnel near Subic Bay Naval Base.
1/24/1975 At New York City's historic Fraunces Tavern, where in 1783 George Washington said farewell to his troops, a bomb by a doorway explodes during the lunch hour, killing four people and wounding 60. The Puerto Rican terrorist group FALN claims responsibility.
Related Links: White House in showdown with Congress in clemency case (along with a background on FALN)
1/28/1975 Weather Underground detonates a bomb at the U.S. State Department building.
8/4/1975 Five terrorists from the Japanese Red Army shoot their way into the American consulate on the ninth floor of a downtown office building in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. They wound four people and take 53 men, women, and children hostage, including American consul Robert Stebbins. Japanese officials bow to the attackers' demand for the release of five Japanese Red Army prisoners; after difficult negotiations, Libya agrees to accept the terrorists. After it ends, Mr. Stebbins declares of his captors: "I hope they might someday be people with whom I can sit down and have a cup of coffee and talk about politics."
6/27/1976 The days of coffee talk come to an end after four terrorists-two from the Palestinian terrorist group PFLP and two from the Red Army Faction-hijack an Air France flight from Tel Aviv to Paris, capturing 240. After refueling in Libya, they fly to Entebbe, Uganda, where dictator Idi Amin welcomes them and allows them to land. The terrorists demand the release of 54 colleagues who are jailed in six countries around the world and a $5 million ransom for the PFLP. They release all passengers with non-Israeli passports, reducing the number of hostages to 103. On July 1, Israeli commandos raid the terminal building, killing all four terrorists and rescuing all but two hostages who die in the crossfire. The raid at Entebbe becomes a rallying point for the fight against terrorism.
Related Links: Read more about "Operation Thunderbolt" (later renamed operation "Yonathan" after Yonathan Netyanahu who lost his life in the raid. Includes an "Entebbe Diary" by Maj. (Res.) Louis Williams
3/9/1977 A dozen Hanafi Muslim terrorists armed with long knives, pistols, and sawed-off shotguns seize 134 hostages in three buildings only blocks from the White House. One man is killed and 12 are wounded in the takeover of the Islamic Center, the international headquarters of B'nai Brith, and the District building, Washington's city hall. They surrender two days later after negotiations with ambassadors of Egypt, Iran, and Pakistan.
5/17/1977 The anti-American group GRAPO (translated as the October 1 Anti-Fascist Resistance Group) bombs the U.S. Cultural Center in Madrid on the day Vice President Walter Mondale arrives for an official visit.
3/16/1978 Red Brigades terrorists kidnap Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro and kill five of his bodyguards. They execute Moro and leave his bullet-riddled body in a car in downtown Rome.
2/14/1979 The U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan dies in a hail of gunfire from Afghan troops as others plot to rescue him from four kidnappers in a Kabul hotel room. Just as U.S. officials believed they had persuaded Afghan Interior Ministry officials not to storm the room, a gunshot was heard, spurring the spray of bullets.
6/20/1979 Serb nationalists hijack an American Airlines flight from New York to Chicago, seeking the release of a priest involved in a bombing of a Yugoslavian consular official's home in Chicago four years earlier. The hijackers fail and are taken into custody.
6/25/1979 NATO Allied Supreme Commander (and future Secretary of State) Alexander Haig barely escapes death when a bomb explodes just a few feet behind his chauffeur-driven Mercedes-Benz in Belgium. The Red Army Faction claims responsibility for the attack.
8/27/1979 The Irish Republican Army blows up the boat of Lord Mountbatten, killing the cousin of Queen Elizabeth II.
11/4/1979 In response to the Shah of Iran's admission to the United States for medical treatment and American refusals to extradite him, about 500 Iranians take over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. They hold 52 Americans as hostages. President Jimmy Carter applies economic pressure on Iran by halting Iranian oil imports and freezing Iranian assets in the United States. On April 24,1980, the Carter administration attempts a rescue mission that fails when three of the mission's eight helicopters are damaged in a sandstorm. After Ronald Reagan's election in November, successful negotiations begin and Iran releases the hostages shortly after President Reagan is inaugurated on January 20, 1981.
Related Links: Can Iran be Forgiven (Time.com) Iran Hostage Anniversary (CBS News) Six days of fear (BBC News)
12/2/1979 Puerto Rican terrorists kill two U.S. Navy sailors on a bus in Puerto Rico.
7/22/1980 Daoud Salahuddin (formerly David Belfield), an American Khomeini supporter, kills Ali Akbar Tabatabai, a press aide for Iran during the reign of Shah Reza Pahlavi and a strong critic of Ayatollah Khomeini's revolution, at his home in Bethesda, Md.
10/5/1980 Armenian terrorists claim responsibility for two bombings of Turkish interests in the United States, injuring one person near the Turkish consulate in Los Angeles.
3/7/1981 Colombian kidnappers kill American Chester Allen Bitterman, 28, after holding him for six weeks. Bitterman had worked for Wycliffe Bible Translators, and his assailants demand that Wycliffe close its Latin American branch. Wycliffe doesn't comply.
5/9/1981 The Irish Republican Army detonates a bomb at a North Sea oil factory during a visit by Queen Elizabeth. The bomb misses the queen's party.
5/13/1981 Turkish-born terrorist Mehmet Ali Agca shoots Pope John Paul II as he greets a crowd of thousands in St. Peter's Square. The pope survives and later visits with Mr. Agca for 20 minutes in a Rome prison to forgive him. Picture of Pope and Agca
Related Links: Pope Attacker Speaks Say He Almost Didn't Do It, But a Voice Urged Him on
8/31/1981 The Red Army Faction detonates a bomb inside a Volkswagen in a parking lot at the U.S. Air Force base in Ramstein, West Germany. The explosion injures two West Germans and 18 Americans and knocks down bystanders a hundred yards away. The blast is part of a series of incidents in response to German leftist Sigurd Debus's death by hunger strike at a Hamburg jail.
9/15/1981 The Red Army Faction attempts to kill the commanding general of U.S. forces in Europe, Army Gen. Frederick Kruesen. RAF terrorists fire two RPG-7 grenades at the general's car as he and his wife ride along a highway near Heidelberg. The Kruesens suffer minor injuries.
10/6/1981 Terrorists jump off a parade vehicle during an Egyptian parade, firing weapons and throwing grenades at the reviewing stand. They kill Egyptian President Anwar Sadat along with eight others and injure 20, including four American diplomats.
12/17/1981 The Red Brigades kidnap U.S. Army Brigadier General James Lee Dozier from his home in Verona, Italy. After 42 days, 10 Italian counter-terrorist agents free Dozier in a raid on a Red Brigades hideout.
6/1/1982 Terrorist bombs rip through four U.S. military installations in West Germany, including the U.S. Army headquarters in Frankfurt, as President Reagan prepares to tour Europe. The West German terrorist group Revolutionary Cells claims credit.
7/19/1982 David Dodge, the acting president of American University of Beirut, is kidnapped and held in Lebanon and then Iran. He is released a year later, and the Reagan administration gives credit to Syrian leader Hafez Assad, who told the Iranians that Mr. Dodge, as AUB president, had contributed to the culture of the Middle East.
8/21/1982 A bomb planted by Lebanese Marxists beneath the car of an American embassy employee in France explodes as technicians attempt to disarm it, killing one technician and injuring two.
4/18/1983 A man drives a van carrying 2,000 pounds of explosives into the front portion of the seven-story U.S. Embassy in Beirut, killing 63 (including 17 Americans) and injuring 120. Islamic Jihad claims responsibility.
9/16/1983 Puerto Rican terrorists strike the West Hartford, Conn., terminal of Wells Fargo Company, escaping with $7.2 million, one of the largest bank robberies in American history.
10/23/1983 In the early morning at the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, a truck loaded with compressed gas-enhanced explosives crashes through chain-link fences and barbed-wire entanglements. While guards open fire, the truck smashes through the doors of the four-story barracks and explodes, killing 241 U.S. servicemen as they sleep. Islamic Jihad claims responsibility. At almost the same time, a nearly identical suicide bombing attack kills 56 soldiers at the eight-story French military barracks in Beirut.
11/6/1983 A bomb explodes around 11 p.m. near the Senate chamber in the U.S. Capitol, blowing out the windows of the Republican cloakroom and throwing large chunks of plaster through the air. A group called the Armed Resistance Unit claims responsibility, saying it is protesting the invasion of Grenada and American involvement in Lebanon.
12/12/1983 Suicide terrorists ram a truckload of explosives into the American and French embassies in Kuwait. Five people, but no Americans, are killed at the U.S. embassy, since the driver hits a small administrative annex rather than the crowded chancellery building. The explosion at the French embassy blows a 30-foot hole in the wall around the compound, but kills no one. Analysts later blame the attacks on the banned Al-Dawa party, a radical Shiite group with ties to Iran.
12/31/1983 Puerto Rican terrorists carry out four simultaneous bombings of government targets in New York City, including city police headquarters, FBI offices, and a federal courthouse. One city detective loses a leg, one loses the fingers on his right hand, and another loses an eye. Some of the wounded later protest when President Clinton pardons FALN activists in 1999, claiming the pardons are intended to curry favor with Puerto Ricans to help Hillary Clinton's Senate race in New York.
Related Links: White House in showdown with Congress in clemency case (along with a background on FALN)
1/18/1984 Malcolm H. Kerr, president of the American University of Beirut, is slain by two gunmen as he steps off an elevator near his office. Islamic Jihad claims responsibility.
6/14/1985 Lebanese gunmen hijack TWA flight 847 bound from Athens to Rome with 104 Americans and 49 other passengers and force it to fly to Beirut, where they pick up more gunmen, and then to Algiers. The hijackers release passengers until the number is down to 39. They demand the release of 766 Lebanese prisoners being held in Israel. On the second day of the standoff, the plane returns to Beirut, and the hijackers kill U.S. Navy diver Robert Stethem and throw his body out on the runway. Israel releases 31 Lebanese prisoners, but insists the release is not related to the standoff. After 17 days in captivity, the hostages are transported to Damascus, Syria, and released.
Related Links: Information on the Hijacking from the Navy Information on Robert Stetham from the Navy
8/8/1985 The Red Army Faction detonates a car bomb at the U.S. Air Force base at Rhein-Main, West Germany, killing two and injuring 17. The night before, the assailants killed an off-duty U.S. serviceman, and they use his military identification to enter the base.
10/7/1985 Four heavily armed Palestinian terrorists from the Popular Liberation Front hijack the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro, carrying more than 400 passengers and crew, off Egypt. The terrorists demand that Israel release 50 Palestinian prisoners. They murder 69-year-old disabled American tourist Leon Klinghoffer and throw his body overboard with his wheelchair. After two days of tension, the hijackers surrender in exchange for a promise of safe passage. But when an Egyptian jet tries to fly them to freedom, U.S. Navy F-14 fighters intercept it and force it to land in Sicily, where Italian authorities take the terrorists into custody.
Related Links: Achille Lauro Information from Specialperations.com General Info on Terrorism and Counter Terrorism (from the Navy)
11/25/1985 As customers shop at a U.S. military post exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, a bomb hidden in a silver BMW parked about 250 yards away from the PX explodes, injuring 35 people, most of them Americans. 4/2/1986 A bomb explodes aboard a TWA jet in Greece, killing four people, but the plane lands safely. The timing device in the bomb was activated when a passenger sat on the seat it was placed under. 4/5/1986 An explosion rips through La Belle Disco in West Berlin, killing two American soldiers (and one other person) and injuring almost 230, including dozens of off-duty U.S. servicemen. President Reagan orders air strikes against Libya 10 days later as a "swift and effective retribution" for its role in the disco bombing.
4/24/1987 A remote-control bomb injures 16 U.S. servicemen in Greece in an attack by the group Revolutionary Organization 17 November, a Marxist-Leninist group known for lengthy ideological statements. The same group injures another 10 servicemen in Greece in another bus attack on Aug. 10.
10/26/1987 The communist New People's Army kills four Americans within 15 minutes near Clark Air Base.
12/26/1987 One U.S. serviceman is killed and nine others are injured when Catalan separatist groups in Spain launch hand grenades into a USO bar in Barcelona.
4/14/1988 Japanese suicide bomber Junzo Okudaira drives a car bomb into a USO club in Naples, Italy, killing a U.S. Navy enlisted woman and four others. A Japanese Red Army front group claims responsibility. Two days earlier, JRA member Yu Kikumura was arrested at a New Jersey Turnpike rest area with three powerful bombs and other explosives. Both attacks were planned in retaliation on the second anniversary of the U.S. bombing of Libya.
8/8/1988 A group calling itself the "Simon Bolivar Commandos" explodes a bomb as a motorcade carrying Secretary of State George Shultz passes on a highway outside the Bolivian capital city of La Paz. There are no injuries.
12/21/1988 Pan Am Flight 103 from London to New York explodes over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all 259 people on board (including 189 Americans) and 11 villagers on the ground. Crashing parts of the jet destroy 21 homes. In 1991 the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency charges two Libyan terrorists with the crime. On January 31, 2001, a former Libyan Arab Airlines official and suspected Libyan spy, Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, is convicted of mass murder for his role in the bombing. The other defendant, Lamen Khalifa Fhimah, is found not guilty and receives a hero's welcome upon his return to Libya.
Related Links: Coverage of the PanAm 103 Story from CNN
2/28/1989 Two Berkeley, Calif., bookstores are firebombed during the night to protest the sale of Iranian author Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses. Iranian authorities had issued a fatwa calling for Rushdie to be killed for disparaging Islam.
3/10/1989 A bomb explodes in a van driven by the wife of U. S. Navy Captain Will C. Rogers. She is unhurt. The attack is believed to be in retaliation for the July 1988 downing of an Iranian civil airliner by the USS Vincennes, commanded by Capt. Rogers.
3/17/1990 Narco-terrorists firebomb Drug Enforcement Agency offices in Fort Myers, Fla. Two months later the FBI rounds up Colombians employed by drug kingpin Pablo Escobar in Florida as they attempt to buy 24 stolen Stinger anti-aircraft missiles for an estimated $6 million dollars. Stinger missiles are capable of destroying the largest airliners.
9/26/1990 Gunmen kill the captain of President Corazon Aquino's guard, as well as two American employees of Ford Aerospace, in attacks that coincide with Vice President Dan Quayle's visit to the Philippines.
12/25/1991 The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics dissolves. The fall of the Soviet Union and the Eastern communist bloc leads to the dissolution of remaining "Red" terrorist groups, especially with the opening of Soviet and East German archives.
1/25/1993 Mir Amal Kansi, a Pakistani living in the United States since 1991, shoots two CIA employees, Lansing Bennet and Frank Darling, and wounds three others near the gate of the CIA's 258-acre headquarters in Langley, Va.
Related Links: Coverage of the CIA Shooting from CNN
2/26/1993 A minibus containing 1,100 pounds of explosives blows up in the garage beneath the World Trade Center complex. The blast kills six people, injures 1,000, and causes $300 million worth of damage. The towers are cleaned, repaired, and reopened in less than a month. Courts later convict six Middle Eastern men, including mastermind Ramzi Yousef. They claim to be retaliating against U.S. support for the Israeli government.
Related Links: Coverage of the WTC Bombing from CNN
3/8/1995 A gunman kills two employees of the U.S. consulate in Karachi, Pakistan-CIA communications technician Gary Durell and consulate secretary Jackie Van Landingham. No one claims responsibility, but analysts suggest it could be meant to cripple warming relations between the U.S. and Benazir Bhutto's government in Pakistan.
3/20/1995 Â Members of Japan's Aum Shinrikyo cult release sarin nerve gas in Tokyo's subway system. The attack kills twelve and renders thousands sick.
Related Links: Coverage of the Attack from the BBC Coverage of the Attack from the State Department
9/13/1995 A masked assailant fires a rocket-propelled grenade across a busy street during rush hour at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, destroying a copier and causing minor damage in a 6th-floor office in protest against American air strikes in Bosnia.
4/19/1995 A truck bomb explodes outside the Alfred R. Murrah Federal Office Building, collapsing walls and floors and killing 168 persons, including 19 children and one person who died in the rescue effort. Over 220 buildings sustain damage. Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols are later convicted in a plot to avenge the fiery end of the Branch Davidian standoff in Waco, Texas, exactly two years earlier. The government executes McVeigh in 2001.
6/25/1996 Terrorists drive a tanker truck loaded with at least 5,000 pounds of plastic explosives into the parking lot of Khobar Towers in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, a housing facility for U.S. and allied forces enforcing a no-fly zone over the southern portion of Iraq. Nineteen Americans are killed and almost 500 wounded as the explosion drills a crater 35 feet deep and rips the front off an apartment building. The Justice Department announces indictments of 13 members of Hezbollah on June 12, 2001.
11/12/1997 In Karachi, Pakistan, two gunmen murder four American auditors for Union Texas Petroleum Company just 36 hours after a jury in Fairfax, Va., found Pakistani Mir Amil Kansi guilty of the two CIA headquarters murders. Kansi was captured a few months before, on June 17, in Pakistan.
8/7/1998 More than 300 people are killed and more than 5,000 injured in simultaneous car bombings of the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The explosion rips apart the back of the Kenyan embassy, which was located at an intersection and had no security fence in front, although it had an eight-foot-high steel fence on the other three sides. The Tanzanian blast occurred within the embassy walls, meaning the car had passed through a security check. Authorities suspect Osama bin Laden's network is responsible.
8/20/1998 In response to the embassy bombings, President Clinton authorizes cruise-missile attacks on terrorist targets in Sudan and Afghanistan three days after his sworn testimony in the Monica Lewinsky investigation. Administration officials also freeze the assets of Saleh Idris, who owns the Sudanese factory that is bombed, claiming he has terrorist ties. In May 1998, facing legal action, the administration unfreezes the assets.
12/14/1999 Authorities arrest Algerian Ahmed Ressam as he tries to enter the United States from Canada at Port Angeles, Wash. They find more than 100 pounds of explosives in his car, foiling a plot to detonate a bomb at Los Angeles International Airport in the days before millennium celebrations on 1/1/2000. Three Algerians-Mr. Ressam, Abdel Ghani Meskini, and Mokhtar Haouari-are convicted in New York. Mr. Ressam testifies that he was trained at a camp in Afghanistan that American officials say is run by Osama bin Laden.
Related Links: Coverage of the Arrest from ABCNews.com Coverage from the BBC Additional Information from ABCNews.com
10/12/2000 In the port of Aden, Yemen, a pair of suicide bombers in a small boat pull alongside the U.S.S. Cole, an advanced Arleigh Burke-class destroyer carrying Aegis anti-missile weaponry. After taking a mooring line to a buoy to defuse suspicion, the bombers stand at attention as their small boat blows up, blasting a 40-foot-by-40-foot hole in the ship's hull, killing 17 American military personnel and injuring 39. U.S. officials suspect al-Qaeda, the network of Osama bin Laden, who speaks of the ship as having sailed "to its doom" along a course of "false arrogance, self-conceit, and strength."
Related Links: Navy Announces Results of Investigation Web Site Includes Background, Images and Other Information on the USS Cole Coverage from CNN.com Coverage from ABCNews.com
9/11/2001 Hijackers take over two large jetliners, both en route from Boston to Los Angeles, and fly them into the north and south towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, collapsing both towers and killing more than 5,000 people in the buildings and on the ground. Minutes later another hijacked jet smashes into the west side of the Pentagon. A fourth hijacked plane crashes in a field near Shanksville, Pa. Bin Laden's network is implicated. President George W. Bush, in a speech to Congress, says his administration will make no distinction between terrorists like bin Laden and the states that support them. Four weeks later, the bombing of Afghanistan begins.
but the governor of Texas has no right to execute or do a stay of execution. In other words, he could do nothing to execute more or less criminals under the laws of Texas.
actually, the Governor can issue a 30 day stay of execution...Bush did this...I believe it was only the one time though.
I stand corrected. According to the Texas Constitution, the Governor may commute a sentence onlyif the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles recommends it. If the Board does not recommend commutation, the Governor may grant only a one-time, 30-day reprievefrom execution.
of course, you wouldn't be trying to avoid that Bush was a bigtime advocate of killing as many people as possible on death row, would you? That he pushed for and got a change in the rules that sped up the process severely limiting the time for appeals and any discovery of any defense that might prove someone was not guilty....people like Jerry Lee Hogue, who was accused of killing a woman based on the testimony of two people...a couple, one of whom was discovered to have actually been the killer. Hogue's appeals were cut short by Bush's change in the rules and he was killed on March 11th, 1998.
You wouldn't be trying to avoid that sort of thing, would you?
You act like Bush had nothing to do with the process, when the truth is he was instrumental in insuring that he set the record for people killed under his watch.
I mean, to say that he couldn't execute or stay the execution of anyone certainly isn't telling the whole story about Texes, Governor Bush and the death penalty, is it?
That he pushed for and got a change in the rules that sped up the process severely limiting the time for appeals and any discovery of any defense that might prove someone was not guilty
Do you mean the same rules that are in place in about three-fourths of the states? The average inmate has had about 10 years of post-conviction judicial review prior to execution. The Texas governor's office has its own office of legal counsel and an 18-member parole board, both of which advise the governor on each individual death penalty case. If these cases were so bad, the federal court of appeals would have struck down the verdict.
Why don't you tell us how the system was better under under Bush’s Democrat predecessor, Ann Richards?
Here is a list of 7 people that had their death sentence carried out in Jan. of 2000:
Earl Carl Heiselbetz Jr., 48, who had been on death row since 1991 after being convicted of the abduction and murder of a woman and her 2-year-old daughter. Heiselbetz lived next door to the victims and stole a jar that contained $8 in change and the dead woman's purse.
Spencer Corey Goodman, 31, who had been on death row since 1992. He was sentenced to death for the abduction and murder of a woman in Houston.
David Hicks, 38, who had been on death row after being convicted of sexually assaulting and beating his 87-year-old grandmother to death in Teague. He had been on death row a decade.
Larry Keith Robison, 42, who went on a killing rampage in 1982 that left 5 people dead. Robison decapitated and sexually mutilated his male roommate and then killed four people at a neighboring house in Lake Worth. Robison was convicted in 1983.
Billy George Hughes Jr., 47, who had been on death row since being convicted of the 1976 shooting death of a state trooper in Bellville.
Glen Charles McGinnis, 27, who was convicted in 1992 of the robbery and murder of a female clerk at a laundry and cleaning store in Conroe.
James Walter Moreland, 40, who had been on death row since 1983 for stabbing a man to death in Dallas.
Nice people that you are trying to support.
You act like Bush had nothing to do with the process, when the truth is he was instrumental in insuring that he set the record for people killed under his watch.
If this were true, then good for him for riding the earth of people like the 7 listed. How many more lives were saved by getting rid of scum like this?
Do you mean the same rules that are in place in about three-fourths of the states? The average inmate has had about 10 years of post-conviction judicial review prior to execution. The Texas governor's office has its own office of legal counsel and an 18-member parole board, both of which advise the governor on each individual death penalty case.
so, It appears you didn't read the link to the whole story I provided you.
and why is it when someone points out something about Bush, instead of dealing with it, you guys always say something to the effect of "well, but that guy does it too!"
and why is it when someone points out something about Bush, instead of dealing with it, you guys always say something to the effect of "well, but that guy does it too!"
We deal with it and it shows the hypocrisy of "you guys" that choose to attack President Bush, but give everyone else a pass.
so, It appears you didn't read the link to the whole story I provided you.
Yeah, I read that article from a rock and roll magazine. They even have a link to President Bush's "CD Reviews & Discography" at the bottom of the page.
It contradicts it self several times and leaves out important data. While complaining about "a poor person" who "may sit in jail for months before being assigned a lawyer", they fail to mention that there is probably about 50 qualified people in the state who can represent them. While complaining about the "Indigent Defense Bill" veto, they fail to point out that the bill would have created a new layer of bureaucracy in the courts. The bill would have also required judges to release defendants who had not been assigned a lawyer within 20 days of requesting one. Once again, lack of competent lawyers arises.
"Some say that it was our meddling etc. Perhaps that was part of it. Then how do those same people explain terrorist attacks against other nations ? Bali, the Philipenes, Africa, and countless cases in Europe. France has a problem with terrorists and I'd say they've been quite removed from the situation. What about all these other places ? "
The bomb in Denpasar was a nightclub frequented by Westerners. In Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, they hit the the US embassy forgodsake. Even those bombings in Morocco seemed to have Western Culture as the secondary target. I don't think your run of the mill militant Islamsit makes a lot of distinctions. Americans, French, British, Canadians. We're all essentially infidels and they'll strike at whatever are vulnerable targets.
But I think the US is specially singled out. We've overthrown governments, and we're in the process of overthrowing some more. Maybe, in the sweep of history, that's been our activity in the region to them.
Now, I'm saying that once a wave of terrorism starts the terrorists have to be stopped. That's essential. But at some point, does not the United States have to "turn itself to face itself" as it were? Or, as Rush Limbaugh said yesterday, was the US just "minding its own business" and 9/11 just happened out of the blue?
The bomb in Denpasar was a nightclub frequented by Westerners. In Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, they hit the the US embassy forgodsake. Even those bombings in Morocco seemed to have Western Culture as the secondary target. I don't think your run of the mill militant Islamsit makes a lot of distinctions. Americans, French, British, Canadians. We're all essentially infidels and they'll strike at whatever are vulnerable targets.
Agreed, and that's the exact problem, you nailed it which is what I was getting at. What have the French and Canadiens done meddling wise ? Not much IMO, they've been pretty quiet. You are 100% correct in that they don't differentiate and an infidel is an infidel. Sure they take a little extra effort and joy when it's some dead Americans but other nastions that are targeted have done little in the way of doing anything to anger the terrorists, well other than the fact that they exist.
And there in a nutshell is their logic, it's based in racist zenophobic and zionistic beleifes since obviously merely being a westerner makes you a candidate to be killed. If a group was in the US targeting a certain race or religion would we negotiate with them ? Would we apply reasoning and do what we could to avoid angering them ? Of course not we didn't try to avoid upsetting the KKK because they're racsit dickheads. Why or how can you negotiate, appease or try to avoid confrontation with someone with the logic that you are subhuman and don't deserve to walk the earth ? Should you ? In short you will never nor should you nor can you, negotiate and or make peace with someone who wants you to cease to exist.
You can negotiate with other nations/governments. Pressure can be applied through diplomacy, aid, etc. And yes the threat of force if nessecary. And apply that pressure to the governments who are either turning a blind eye to terrorists, supporting it quietly or overtly doing so. Without that pressure and yes the real threat of force which they weren't worried about for many years will move many countries to take action against the terrorists within. Empty threats from the US or UN are simply that. Real and applied pressure will work and be healthier for everyone. In short, we won't have to go into every nation that harbors or supports terrorism, some can be dealt with via pressure, some are doing so on their own seeing what can happen to their own country when fanatics take over and some are rising up ie: Iran. The places that do require action will thanfully be less because of our current action and it's a very real fringe benefit that's either overlooked or intentionally not spoken about.
But I think the US is specially singled out. We've overthrown governments, and we're in the process of overthrowing some more. Maybe, in the sweep of history, that's been our activity in the region to them.
I agree we are singled out more but again, these other nations are attacked as well when they've done nothing of the sort. So the it's because we do this or that around the globe argument that I don't feel is as prevalant as we think it is as these other nations get attacked as well. Is it part of it ? Sure, absolutely. Now is that a bad thing ? Should we not go into Liberia because half the country is Muslim ? Should we have not gone into Somolia or the Balkans because of it ? In both cases it was to help nations with large Muslim populations. In the other nations ie: Saudi Arabia we are decreasing our presence even though we were helpin and helped them fight off Iraq once before, same with Kuwait. Yet in each case of us specifically helping these nations regardless of motive we helped. And they are upset, why ? Because we had the nerve to walk on the same ground because we are infidels and nonbeleivers. Yet we are the bad guy to some or should negotiate with that racist mentality. No way.
and why is it when someone points out something about Bush, instead of dealing with it, you guys always say something to the effect of "well, but that guy does it too!"
Because we learned it from Clinton. And it works, too. Everyone gets off the issue at hand and discusses someone or something else.
(AP) - Saddam Hussein's sons Odai and Qusai were believed to have been killed Tuesday in a raid by U.S. forces who surrounded the home of a cousin, a senior U.S. official said. Two other Iraqis also were killed. The official, a member of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad who spoke on condition of anonymity, said investigators were "awaiting positive DNA testing" to confirm the identities.
Hey Guys, sorry it's been so long since I've sent anything but a quick note to you individually. However things have been pretty hectic since the end of hostilities and the start of the real war. Despite what the assholes in the press like to say over and over about the Ba'ath Party and Feydaheen. 2) It isn't any worse than expected; 3) Things are getting better each day, and 4) The morale of the troops is A-1, except for the normal bitching and griping.
My brief love affair with the press, especially the guys who had the cajones to be embedded with the troops during the fighting, is probably over, especially since we are back being criticized by them same RolandHeadly types that used to hang around the Palestine Hotel drinking Baghdad Bob's whiskey and parroting his ridiculous B.S.
I'm in Baghdad now, since XXXXXX relocated here from Qatar. It looks, sounds and smells about the same but at least you can get Maker's Mark at the local OC. We came up in mid-June to help set up operation Scorpion and Sidewinder. It represents a major (and long overdue) shift in tactics. Instead of being sitting ducks for the ragheads we now are going after the worthless pieces of fecal matter. [OD NOTE: VERY understated!]
I'm no longer baby-sitting the pukes from CNN and the canned hams from the networks, but have a combat mission coordinating a bunch of A teams, seeking, finding and rooting out the mostly non-Iraqis that are well-armed, well-paid (in U.S. dollars) and always waiting to wail forthe press and then shoot some GI in the back in the midst of a crowd.
The only reason the GIs are pissed (not demoralized) is that they cannot touch, must less waste, those taunting bags of gas that scream in their faces and riot on cue when they spot a camera man from ABC, BBC, CBS, CNN or NBC. If they did, then they know the next nightly news will be about how chaotic things are and how much the Iraqi people hate us.
Some do. But the vast majority don't and more and more see that the GIs don't start anything, are by-and-large friendly, and very compassionate, especially to kids and old people. I saw a bunch of 19 year-olds fromthe 82nd Airborne not return fire coming from a mosque until they got a group of elderly civilians out of harm's way. So did the Iraqis.
A bunch of bad guys used a group of women and children as human shields.The GIs surrounded them and negotiated their surrender fifteen hours later and when they discovered a three year-old girl had been injured by the big tough guys throwing her down a flight of stairs, the GIs called in a MedVac helicopter to take her and her mother to the nearest field hospital. The Iraqis watched it all, and there hasn't been a problem inthat neighborhood since. How many such stories, and there are hundreds of them, never get reported in the fair and balanced press? You know, nada.
The civilians who have figured it out faster than anyone are the local teenagers.
They watch the GIs and try to talk to them and ask questions about America and Now wear wrap-around sunglasses, GAP T- shirts, Dockers (or even better Levis with the red tags) and Nikes (or Egyptian knock-offs, but with the "swoosh") and love to listen to AFN when the GIs play it on their radios.
They participate less and less in the demonstrations and help keep us informed when a wannabe bad-ass shows up in the neighborhood.
The younger kids are going back to school again, don't have to listen to some mullah rant about the Koran ten hours a day, and they get a hot meal.
They see the same GIs who man the corner checkpoint, helping clear the playground, install new swingsets and create soccer fields. I watched a bunch of kids playing baseball in one playground, under the supervision of a couple of GIs from Oklahoma. They weren't very good but were having fun, probably more than most Little Leaguers
The place is still a mess but most of it has been for years. But the Hospitals are open and are in the process of being brought into the 21stCentury. The MOs and visiting surgeons from home are teaching their docs new techniques and One American pharmaceutical company (you know, the kind that all the hippies like to scream about as greedy) donated enough medicine to stock 45 hospital pharmacies for a year.
Safe water is more available. Electricity has been restored to pre-war levels but saboteurs keep cutting the lines. And The old Ba'ath big shots are upset because they can't get fuel for their private generators. One actually complained to General McKeirnan, who told him it was a rough world.
The MPs are screening the 80,000 Iraqi police force and rehabbing the ones that weren't goons, shake-down artists or torturers like they did in East Berlin, Kosovo and Afghanistan. There are dual patrols of Iraqi cops and U.S./U.K./Polish MPs now in most of the larger cities. Basra has 3.5 million inhabitants. Mosul is a city of 2 million. Kirkuk has 1 million. How many and hundreds of other small towns have not had riots or shootings? The vast majority.
The six U.K. cops were killed in a small Shiite town by the ex-cops they were re-habbing. According to a Royal Marine colonel I talked to, the town now has about twenty permanent vacancies in its police force. Mick, he's a big potato eater from Belfast named XXXXX and knows how to handle terrorists after twenty years fighting with the IRA. He sends his regards and says he'd love to have you here. Thinks you'd make a great police chief, even though the cops would be more frightened of you than the local hoods (then he laughed)
I heard one doofus on MSNBC the other night talk about how "nearly 60" GIs have been killed since 01 May. The truth is that 21 GIs have been killed in combat, mostly from ambush, from 01 May through 30 June, Another 29 have been killed by accidents or other causes (two drowned while swimming in the Tigris).
The [MSNBC turd] is the same jerk who reported on the air that "dozens of GIs" were badly burned when two RPGs hit a truck belonging to an Engineer Battalion that was parked by a construction site. The truck was hit and burned, three GIs received minor injuries (including the driver who burnt his hand) and three warriors of Allah were promptly sent to enjoy their 72 slave girls in Paradise. Hell of a way to get laid.
A mosque in that shithole Fallujah blew up this morning while the local imam, a creep named Fahlil (who was one of the biggest local loudmouths that frequently appeared on CNN) was helping a Syrian Hamas member teach eight teenagers how to make belt bombs. Right away the local Feyhadeen propaganda group started wailing that the Americans hit it with a TOW missile (If they had there wouldn't have been any mosque left!) and the usual suspects took to the streets for CNN and BBC. One fool was dragging around a piece of tin with blood on it, claiming it was part of the missile.
The cameras rolled and the idiot started repeating his story, then one of my guys asked him in Arabic where he had left the rag he usually wore around his face that made him look like a girl. He was a local leader of the Feyhadeen. We took the clown in custody and were asked rather indignantly by the twit from BBC if we were trying to shut up "the poor man who had seen his mosque and friends blown up." I told the airy-fairy who the raghead was and if he knew Arabic (which he obviously didn't) he'd know he was a Palestinian. I suggested we take him down to the local jail and we'd lock him and his cameraman in a cell with the "poor man" and they could interview him until we took him to headquarters. They declined the invitation. Guess what played on the Bullshit Broadcasting System that evening? Did the Americans blow up a mosque? See the poor man who is still in a state of shock over losing his mosque and relatives? Yep. Our friend the Palestinian.
Our search and destroy missions are largely at night, free of reporters and generally terrifying to those brave warriors of Allah. The only thing that frightens them more is hearing the word "Gitmo". The word is out that a trip to Guantanimo Bay is not a Caribbean vacation and they usually start squealing like the little mice they are, when an interrogator mentions "Gitmo". No wonder the International Red Cross, the National Council of Churches and the French keep protesting about the place. They know it has proven to be very effective in keeping several hundred real fanatical psychopaths in check and very frankly would rather see them cut loose to go kill some more GIs or innocent Americans, just to make W. look bad.
We have about 200 really bad guys in custody now and probably will park them in the desert behind a triple roll of razor wire, backed up by a couple of Bradleys pointed their way, if they decide to riot. Maybe a few will get to Gitmo but most are human garbage that wouldn't take on your five-year old grandson face-to-face. The more we go after them and not vice-versa I think we will see the sniper attacks go down. Yeah, they'll get lucky now and then, but it's showtime, fellows.
Our first objective is to get the die-hards off the street (or make them too scared to come out in them) and destroy their caches of weapons (we have collected more than 227,000 A-47s and that is only the tip of the iceburg; Curly bought nearly a million of them from our pal Vladimir), then cut off their money supply, mostly from Syria and Lebanon. We must continue to get public services up and running, so the local families can get water, sewage and garbage service; electricity, public transportation; oil fields and refineries working and a dinar that won't halve in value every month.
It's going to be a long haul (remember it took 10-15 years in Japan and West Germany) but if we don't stick with it, nobody else will, and we'll have some other looney running the place again.
This place has greater potential than Saudi Arabia (bunch of goat-herders who struck black gold) or Iran (weird dudes who can't run a rug bazaar much less a major country).
Armageddon, here we come. Remember, it's located on the outskirts of Jerusalem.
Enough of that cheery speculation. The good news is that General Schoonmaker is going to appointed ChiefArmy and the old man is coming to Tampa to run the SpOps desk at CentComm. He's tops and will be getting his second star. To me it means that SpOps will be more predominant in future operations and after 18 years as a GB maybe I'll have a shot at a bird-level combat command. XXXXXXXXXX I told him after I spent four months changing the diapers of the media types, I wanted to go back to action. Hence, my current gig. As the movie quoted old General Patton, "God help me, I love it." I do. Nothing more satisfying than working with the BEST damn soldiers in the world, flushing real human poop down the drain and giving some folks a chance at trying freedom for a change. They may learn to like it and then my great-great-grandson won't have to worry about some maniac trying to destroy the planet.
My tour is over at the end of August, and I plan to return to XXXX, brief the old man, then head to XXXX and see my two sweethearts. I'd like to visit my parents in XXXX and my brother in XXXXX, before taking on a trip across the country. Just like any other family. It will charge my batteries before I end up back in some other shit ... er, interesting and challenging location. I hope to see most of you and ask for some advice, not support. I know I've had that all along. Thanks.
Now about that Maker's Mark. God Bless America Mark.
"War doesn't determine who wins, war determines who is left"
Rangel: U.S. Acted Illegally in Killing Uday and Qusay
The U.S. acted illegally when its soldiers attacked and killed Uday and Qusay Hussein, a leading Democratic congressman complained on Tuesday, before mocking the military maneuver that succeeded in eliminating the brutal duo.
"We have a law on the books that the United States should not be assassinating anybody," Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., told Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes."
"We tried to assassinate Castro and we paid dearly for it," Rangel contended. "And when you personalize the war and you say you're killing someone's kids, then they, in turn, think they can kill somebody."
When an incredulous Sean Hannity expressed dismay at Rangel's comments, the Harlem Democrat shot back: "How can you get so much satisfaction that two bums have been killed? We got bums all over the world and some in the United States."
Then Rangel mocked the U.S. military's success in killing the two Hussein heirs, saying, "I personally don't get any satisfaction that it takes 200,000 troops, 250,000 troops, to knock off two bums."
Right, Charlie, we should have mirandized Uday and Qusay. Perhaps a simple nock on the door and an announcement of "US TROOPS" would have done. Charlie is a sorry excuse for an elcted official. He fails to realize the signiffigance of it.
Qusay was far more trusted by his father and appeared to be his heir before the regime crumbled. In televised meetings with top security and military men, Qusay was seated next to his father, wearing well-tailored suits and dutifully noting his father's every word.
An exiled dissident told The Associated Press that only Qusay and Saddam's private secretary, Abid Hamid Mahmud al-Tikriti (search), who was captured in June, were kept informed of Saddam's whereabouts. Uday was thought to be too reckless to be trusted with such information.
Experts do not believe Qusay played a significant role in the Gulf War of 1991 (search). But he was a leading figure of terror in the conflict's aftermath, using mass executions and torture to crush the Shiite Muslim uprising after that war.
Qusay also helped engineer the destruction of the southern marshes in the 1990s, an action aimed at Shiite "Marsh Arabs" living there.
The marshes — roughly 3,200 square miles — had provided the necessities of life for tens of thousands of marsh dwellers for at least 1,000 years. The area was destroyed through a large-scale water diversion project intended to remove the ability of insurgents to hide there.
Qusay also oversaw Iraq's notorious detention centers and is believed to have initiated "prison cleansing" — a means of relieving severe overcrowding in jails with arbitrary killings.
Citing testimony from former Iraqi intelligence officers and other state employees, New York-based Human Rights Watch said several thousand inmates were executed at Iraq's prisons over the past several years.
Prisoners were often eliminated with a bullet to the head, but one witness told the London-based human rights group Indict that inmates were sometimes murdered by being dropped into shredding machines. Some prisoners went in head first and died quickly, while others were put in feet first and died screaming. The witness said that on at least one occasion, Qusay supervised shredding-machine murders.
On another occasion, a witness said, an inmate's foot was cut off in a prison torture room while Qusay was present.
"The amputation had been carried out with a power saw during his torture under the direct supervision of Qusay ," the witness told Indict.
He is beleived to have been the architecht of the crushing of the Shite uprising that left as many as 300,000 civilians dead.
And Uday who would show up at a wedding to rape the bride and shoot the groom if he protested.
As head of the Fedayeen Saddam (search) paramilitary force, Uday helped his father eliminate opponents and exert iron-fisted control over Iraq's 25 million people. The eldest of Saddam's five children, Uday was elected to parliament in 1999 with a reported 99 percent of the vote, but he rarely attended parliament sessions.
Iraqi exiles say Uday murdered at will and tortured with zeal, and routinely ordered his guards to snatch young women off the street so he could rape them. The London-based human-rights group Indict (search) said Uday ordered prisoners to be dropped into acid baths as punishment.
The Caligula-like Uday seemed proud of his reputation and called himself Abu Sarhan, an Arabic term for "wolf."
But his tendency toward erratic brutality even exasperated Saddam, who temporarily banished Uday to Switzerland after the younger Hussein killed one of his father's favorite bodyguards in 1988.
The bodyguard, a young man named Kamel Gegeo, arranged trysts for the Iraqi president — notably with one woman who later became Saddam's second wife. Worried that his father's relationship with the woman could threaten his own position as heir, Uday beat Gegeo to death with a club in full view of guests at a high-society party, according to some reports. Other reports said Uday killed Gegeo with an electric carving knife.
Uday had once been a strong candidate to succeed his father, but he was badly injured in 1996 in an assassination attempt by gunmen who opened fire as he drove his red Porsche through Baghdad. The attack left Uday with a bullet in his spine that forced him to walk with a cane. Younger brother Qusay was instead groomed to succeed Saddam, worsening already uneasy relations between the two brothers.
Uday owned Iraq's most widely circulated daily newspaper, Babil, which he used as a platform for regime propaganda, publishing signed editorials full of bombastic rhetoric. He also oversaw Al-Zawra, a weekly published by the journalists union that he headed, and owned the popular Youth TV.
Much of Uday's notoriety abroad stemmed from his position as head of the National Iraqi Olympic Committee (search), which was accused of torturing and jailing athletes.
The London-based human rights group Indict said the committee once made a group of track athletes crawl on newly poured asphalt while they were beaten and threw some of them off a bridge. Indict also said Uday ran a special prison for athletes who offended him. The International Olympic Committee in Lausanne, Switzerland, said earlier this year that it was investigating the allegations.
One defector told Indict that jailed soccer players were forced to kick a concrete ball after failing to reach the 1994 World Cup finals. Another defector said athletes were dragged through a gravel pit and then dunked in a sewage tank so infection would set in.
Army officers also were fair game for Uday's outbursts of violence. In 1983, Uday reportedly bashed an army officer unconscious when the man refused to allow Uday to dance with his wife. The officer later died. Uday also shot an army officer who did not salute him.
Things were hardly better on the family front, where relations between Uday and his uncles were especially bad. Uday reportedly divorced the daughter of one uncle, Barzan Ibrahim Hasan, in 1995 after she complained of being beaten. Uday shot and wounded another uncle, Watban Ibrahim Hasan. Both uncles were captured after the war and are in the custody of U.S. coalition forces.
While millions of Iraqis suffered dire poverty, Uday lived a life of fast cars, expensive liquor and easy women.
When U.S. troops captured his mansion in Baghdad, they found a personal zoo with lions and cheetahs, an underground parking garage for his collection of luxury cars, Cuban cigars with his name on the wrapper, and $1 million in fine wines, liquor — and even heroin.
My friend Hans is as much a lover of Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" as I am, and after Tony Blair's magnificent speech to the Joint Session of Congress, he e-mailed an off-the-cuff thought: Blair is playing Sam to the president's Frodo.
The game was on, and I posted the exchange at my website and discussed it on my radio program. The analogy was launched and the e-mails began to flow.
The exercise sought analogies to various LOTR figures in the individuals, institutions and nations involved in the defining conflict of our times – the struggle between the liberal democracies and Islamicist fascists. Many thought the U.S. military ought to be cast as Frodo – slow to anger, but diligent, deadly and successful in its prosecution of its mission. Others suggested the Ents as stand-ins for the troops.
Elrond – the eternally wise, long-lived background warrior was Reagan in one letter; Gandalf, another old warrior, brusque but focused, was Rumsfeld in another. Gollum, the misshapen, dangerous mutant, was in various missives, France, Chirac, or Bill Clinton. Wormtongue had bunches of nominees. Mine was Dominique de Villepin, who deserves it for ambushing Secretary of State Powell.
Bush also was nominated for a role as Aragorn, Gimli as Australia (down under, smaller than the others, but marvelous in a fight), and Boromir as either Putin or Hans Blix. Legolas was cast as Poland or other surprising allies from the old world. One wit suggested Hillary as Shelob, but if you are only a movie-goer, you won't get the humor in that. One thoughtful writer cast Israel as Faramir – who had been on the front lines long before the reinforcements arrived, and who had taken much abuse from people who did not understand the danger.
Bilbo was perhaps the easiest: George H.W. Bush, who got the story started, but didn't finish it. Canada reminded one writer of Pippin: "Often ridiculous, but in the end, a hobbit at heart," while I thought our neighbors to the north more like Theoden. A hard core LOTR reader came up with Radagast the Brown as Kofi Annan.
Oh yes: Condi Rice as Galadriel.
The e-mails keep coming, despite the essential silliness of such a game. What is remarkable, though, is how easy it is to explain the premise, and without any direction whatsoever, to anticipate the results.
The significance of that is the current conflict is understood by my audience – and I think by most people in the U.S. and the West, generally – to be one of good vs. evil, and starkly so. It is not an ambiguous, shadowy conflict, but a stark clash of diametrically opposed visions of how men and women ought to live. There can be no compromise, just as there could be no compromise in Tolkien's world, no matter how much some characters wished for compromise and an end to conflict.
Tony Blair was right: This isn't a war of civilizations and we are not fighting for Christianity. It is rather a struggle for the universal value of freedom, and for the essential human right of liberty. That was also the theme of Tolkien's books and why analogies to it are easy to produce and not difficult to grasp.
Incredibly there are some who are maneuvering within the conflict to increase their own power by questioning the motives of Bush, as opposed to his competence. The latter debate is a fair one in any democracy – critics are free to proclaim better ways of fighting the good fight. Would-be presidents can logically appeal to the population that they are better equipped to lead the war on terrorism.
Denying the fact of the conflict, however, is sheer recklessness. Increasingly the debate over "yellowcake" is getting closer and closer to this recklessness, reducing the threat that Saddam posed all so clearly to the region and the world, and substituting a demand that every detail of Bush's case be seen to have been completely airtight in retrospect. Incredibly, those pursuing this line of argument are generally allowed to escape the question of whether we are safer today than we were in February.
Although the case against Bush's decision to remove Saddam, never strong to begin with, is falling apart with each passing day, the damage will linger if any impression is left as to the level of certainty a president needs to launch pre-emptive action against serious threats. That is the recklessness of Dean and Kerry and Kennedy and the rest of the "show me" gang: Future presidents will remember this attempted inquisition and stay their hand for fear of not having a litigator's case upon which to stand in the dock at some later date.
Tolkien's world had villains and turncoats and perils galore, but it had no analogy for Howard Dean and those who share his perspective – political opportunists who will say anything to advance their profile and thus their campaigns. And it had no media covering the Fellowship. It also had a satisfactory ending. With an opposition like Dean, such an ending is not guaranteed.
The only thing I took away from that article was that maybe the policy does need to be changed. Obviously we're not going to stick to it and it's questionable if doing so is always the best thing in all cases. I certainly would have rather seen Hussein assassinated than embarking upon a whole war.
As far as takinng a plt. First of all when you're engaged you use whatever force you deem nessecary or availible. If you're the guy on the ground you don't want it to be a fair fight.
You have to remember they get tips like this from time to time. Many times they're wild goose chases or worse, an ambush.
They (the troops) weren't aware it was Uday and Qusay, they only were told it was a possible Baath party higher up puke. Nobody knew at the time if it really was them as they get tips all the time. Nobody really knew until after. They pulled up in 4 hummers. ordered the occupants out. 2 people emerged, the owner and his son. They went to clear the house and took fire, 4 soilders were wounded. They called for backup and it arrived. The house was reinforced and it had bullet proof glass. They surrounded the house and cleared the area and went house to house getting civilinas out and then called for some air. Alot of the troops I'm sure had to secure the perimeter and keep civis away. They launched some grenades into the place and incredibly They kept taking fire until they sent some TOW's into the joint and ended most of the resistance.
Now other than morons like Rangel the boobs in the press get to ask such brillant questions like " Do you think the force used was excessive?" Well Mr. Brave reporter go grab your weapon and head in for us next time and let us know, we'll use you as our donkey and you can be the first ot breach a home. I can only imiagine the ballyhooing if they got away. They wanted them captured too and less force used. Do these idiots have any idea what it's like ? They also don't seem to grasp the fact that we had ZERO way of knowing if it was or wasn't them.
A good reporter will try to pin someone down with about half the questions. Same question, just asked different ways.
I have no problem with that. Some of them ala Helen Thomas though are the ones I cringe at. I mean some of them are opinions or statements and nt really questions which are IMO a big difference I guess.
What are the procedures with "annonomouys" sources ? Especially in these times every other story it seems has "a high ranking official whos spoke on the condition of annonymoity" What is done to verify that ? How do we know the reporter isn't just misquoting or making it up. I mean if it's annonymous there's be no way to verify it would there ? What do the editors do or what should they do in those cases ?
The day the I learn the US starts stringing up innocent families out of vengance would be the day I left for Canada, too
"For me, it's a no-brainer," said Mollie Ingebrand, a puppeteer from Minneapolis who plans to go to Vancouver with her lawyer husband and 2-year-old son
They can do it, why can't we?
Because we don't want to be them. What's the point in fighting them if we're just going to become them?
They sugar coat it with "They're desperate people, they have nothing to live for, nothing to lose.....".
It's not sugar coating, it's human nature, and if you want to resolve this, you need to take that into consideration.
It's not sugar coating, it's human nature
Then it's in our nature to retaliate even more extremely.
and if you want to resolve this, you need to take that into consideration.
That's exactly why I'm considering this tit for tat policy.
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From Rick's link:
"For me, it's a no-brainer," said Mollie Ingebrand, a puppeteer from Minneapolis".
LOL
Dear God that's funny.
"No, please don't go. We need more puppeteers!".
Laugh if you want. I expected it.
That is mostly anti-American propaganda.
Sometimes wars end with a peace settlement and usually everyone comes out ahead when that happens. It's illogical to be opposed to such an option.
I have not heard of that option being placed on the table by Al Queda or the remaining radical Iraqis.
and you're posting here instead of suiting up for battle why?
I am to old and they won't take me. If they raise the age I am ready to go. I need a change anyway. But I am doing my part of perpetuating the American way. I am raising my kids to understand right and wrong and what freedom is.
you could always start a mercenary force ya know.
No not necessarily but they are resistant to freedom.
Do we have to go and liberate every country that doesn't have freedom? What if they are happy and productive like that? Where will it stop as far as policing the world?
We do sometimes.
I know we do sometimes. Do we have to do it all the time?
That is fine because if that happens we will be on the right side.
Yeah, and many of us could be on the dead side. It may be right in our own minds, but does it make it right for others? The US government was set up with a system of checks and balances. That way one group couldn't become all powerful over the rest and dominate. Do you want us to dominate the world, assimilating everyone to our systems and beliefs, by force if necessary?
That is mostly anti-American propaganda.
It may be anti-American propaganda, but how hard are we making their jobs? The more material we give them to spin to their own way just feeds their anti-American machine. I think the more we work with people in a positive way, the more voices we'll have against anti-American propoganda and make it harder for them to write things against us.
You can't with people that don't want that.
Do you know that for sure? You would rather just go to war and sacrifice people instead of trying for a diplomatic solution. Trying to build a coalition that is on your side, trying to build evidence, trying to put non-violent pressure on people?
You have to wonder?
Yes, I have to wonder, since I'm no expert on world politics.
you could always start a mercenary force ya know.
I suppose I could. Or I could join one already in existence. But don't you think that maybe such a force would get in the way rather than promote US interests?
yeah but if you're fighting for the same cause, what does it matter?
That happens in war.It may be right in our own minds, but does it make it right for others? Lets see. People being able to rule themselves rather than having dictators do it. Sounds good to me and it does to everyone but the dictators.Do you want us to dominate the world, assimilating everyone to our systems and beliefs, by force if necessary? Since that belief is letting the people decide how to govern themselves, then yes. You seem to forget this part.
The fact is that you had a chance in the Gulf War...and chose not to go then, either. The fact is that what did or did not occur in 1991 is irrelevant to what I can and can't do today. Just like 99% of what you post, it is meaningless.You are full of answers but little conviction, and in spite of your educational qualities as a parent, hopefully your kids will be OK anyway, in spite of all of your "best" efforts. We can only hope your kids have done as well. It must have been hell having a damn idiot for a father.
Jethro, as far as the Iraq war, I was for getting Saddam out of there. I think we need to get out of there as best we can, and then move on. The sense I'm getting from people is that they want to just continue on going to war and hunting down everyone who opposes us. Maybe I'm wrong. I just don't want that.
I think we need to get out of there as best we can, and then move on. But how fast is that? I mean we don't want to leave and if Saddam is still alive have him retake control.The sense I'm getting from people is that they want to just continue on going to war and hunting down everyone who opposes us. Maybe I'm wrong. I just don't want that. Well, I don't think anyone wants war with France or Germany! But there are terrorist networks out there and they are getting support from some nations. I would prefer not to have war but I don't think we have much choice.
My father had a Master's, and he was a teacher for 35 years.
No, idiot, I was referring to YOUR KIDS having an idiot for a father.
After reading some of the posts from the weekend their is an obvious differing of opinions. Bare with me for my regularly long winded posts so I'll beg your indulgence upfront. There's a few things I'd like to say that jump around a bit but I'll break em up in parts.
First of all I think we are too caught up in believing that anyone wants all out war or endless wars against different factions/nations etc. I don't believe anyone wants that. I think it comes down to a matter of opinion on how best to handle current threats today.
I think what some are missing is that there are different approaches in the war on terror. Every government or faction can and should be dealt with differently. Some have a genuine interest themselves in ridding their countries of terrorists so they're the easist and have common goals. Others also want the terrorist factions gone but are to weak internally to survive it. So they need aid, military help, and yes covert people on the ground to help them get rid of the terrorists quickly and quietly. Pakistan comes to mind. Others YES can be negotiated with, there's not many that fit this classification but some can through political/monetary pressure. Some cannot, some openly and willingly support terrorists. Most of those by coincidence happen to be run by ogilarchy's or strict religious rule. Gee what a suprise eh ?
I also think something so important should transcend political lines, My God we're talking literally about the future of the country. People think there's no way we could ever be brought down by terrorists. Perhaps not with an occupying force but in other ways. 9-11's impact on our economy not to mention psychi was HUGE. Ask someone in the travel industry what it did. Ask someone who's livelihood depends on tourists. It took a monstorous chunk. Now think if another happened, think how bad or worse it can be ?
Some say that it was our meddling etc. Perhaps that was part of it. Then how do those same people explain terrorist attacks against other nations ? Bali, the Philipenes, Africa, and countless cases in Europe. France has a problem with terrorists and I'd say they've been quite removed from the situation. What about all these other places ? Bad luck ? Of course not, countries all over the world have and are targets for terroists.
Here's something those who wish to explain why we were the ones attacked this time overlook IMO.
Many of theses doing these acts are YES doing so out of hatred obviously. Where did that hate come from ? Take a look at a Madrass, They are "schools" I use that term loosely. The schools are where the future Mullah's are taught. They are taken in usually quite young and usually from very poor families. They are given food, clothes and housing. They are taught the Koran 6-8 hours a day, followed by some "policitcal" instruction. They are taught from age 5 that the west and ANY nonbeliever is subhuman, literally. They are taught that any ill on their country is caused by not being Muslim enough due to "western" values creeping into their society. Therefore the other half of the population that wants change and to be part of the modern world are out of step with those in their own country.
Now, how do you negotiate and or reason with those who are taught to hate from a child that a whole race/ nation is bad ? You don't. Would or should we have negotiated with KKKmembers because they had hatred and some power to disrupt thing ? Glad we didn't. In our rush to be culturally sensative we're failing to see that these people are no different than the KKK, or the Facist brown shirts. Negotiating or appeasing them would be the same thing and the same result only more of it and that's EXACTLY what's happened around the world for decades. What you do is take on in the ways mentioned above the governments of those who encourage it, turn a blind eye to it or support it. That's the only way to end the Madrass and crazed Mullah's in the world. Some will survive but only in places with governments that refuse to deal with the issue. Thus making them easier to track and apply pressure to. It has very very very little to do with Coke and McDonalds being in Karachi and more to do with hatered taught since age 5, get rid of the Madrass, strip the Mullah's of their power and it goes away ar is at the least, reduced greatly.
Why is it more prevalant today ? It's really not, if you look at the last 20 years or so it(terrorism) has been increasing. And against the US too. Check this out.
I was just commenting on how much I liked it, and in spite of the few who say it's a "Pack of Lies", or words to that effect, I haven't seen any reasons why it isn't MOSTLY true.
Let's see...
I changed pollution laws for power and oil companies and made Texas the most polluted state in the Union.
I replaced Los Angeles with Houston as the most smog ridden city in America.
For example, consider the charge that Houston has overtaken Los Angeles as the smoggiest city in America. This, not to put too fine a point on it, is a lie. If we do what the Environmental Protection Agency does to determine whether a metropolitan area is in compliance with federal air quality standards--that is, tally up the number of violations at the designated "worst case" air quality monitor for each city--Houston violated federal ozone (smog) standards 11 times in 1995 (Bush's first year in office), 15 times in 1996, 12 times in 1997, 10 times in 1998, 18 times in 1999 and 14 times so far this year. L.A. violated federal smog standards 65 times in 1995, 62 times in 1996, 30 times in 1997, 57 times in 1998, 35 times in 1999 and 17 times so far this year. EPA then averages the number of violations over a three-year period to determine whether an area is in or out of compliance. By that official yardstick, over the most recent three-year window, L.A. averaged 36 violations--33 more than the law allows--while Houston averaged 14. Data to the contrary naming Houston as No. 1 in smog is simply cooked and its methodologies deemed inappropriate and misleading by the EPA.
Despite this moderate trend upward in Houston's noncompliance, pollution has not worsened in Houston under Bush. EPA data clearly shows that the emission of pollutants that contribute to smog have been trending downward in Texas since Bush became governor. Smog concentrations haven't changed much recently, however, because the summers in Houston have been getting hotter, while it's been cooler in L.A.
What about toxic pollution? Texas does indeed rank high on the list of states with the most toxic air, land and water emissions, but that's because Texas is where 60% of the nation's petrochemical companies happen to be, and they're the biggest sources of toxic emissions simply given their chemical-intensive nature.
First, the petrochemical industry was in Texas long before Bush assumed the governorship; it didn't follow him there. Second, those emissions--even according to the EPA--are well below the threshold of human health concern. Third, nobody's breaking the law. Fourth, those plants have to be somewhere--otherwise, there would be no gasoline, no home heating oil, no diesel fuel--and whatever state those plants call home would sit at the top of any "toxic pollution" list. And finally, toxic emissions from major industrial sources in Texas have dropped a whopping 40% over the past decade. link
Set record for most executions by any Governor in American history.
Sorry, but the governor of Texas has no right to execute or do a stay of execution. In other words, he could do nothing to execute more or less criminals under the laws of Texas.
I became president after losing the popular vote by over 500,000 votes, with the help of my fathers appointments to the Supreme Court.
As with many cases, the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Bush v. Gore answered more than one question with more than one count of the Justices. In answer to the question of the constitutionality of the non-existant standards during Florida's re-re-recounts, the Court ruled 7-2 in favor of Bush. In answer to the question of deadlines for conducting the count, the Court ruled 5-4 in favor of Bush. The 7-2 vote in particular was anything but partisan, considering that two traditionally leftist justices joined the court's two moderates and three conservatives
I attacked and took over two countries.
After we were first attacked ourselves on our soil in 1993 and again in 2001.
I set all-time record for biggest drop in the history of the stock market.
The NASDAQ peaked on March 10, 2000, S&P 500 peaked on March 24, 2000, Dow Jones peaked on January 14, 2000. President Bush took office in January of 2001. How did he effect the stock market before he was even elected to the office and where is the stock market today?
These are just a few examples of the blantant false partisan attacks on that list.
Here's something those who wish to explain why we were the ones attacked this time overlook IMO.
Many of theses doing these acts are YES doing so out of hatred obviously. Where did that hate come from ? Take a look at a Madrass, They are "schools" I use that term loosely. The schools are where the future Mullah's are taught. They are taken in usually quite young and usually from very poor families. They are given food, clothes and housing. They are taught the Koran 6-8 hours a day, followed by some "policitcal" instruction. They are taught from age 5 that the west and ANY nonbeliever is subhuman, literally. They are taught that any ill on their country is caused by not being Muslim enough due to "western" values creeping into their society. Therefore the other half of the population that wants change and to be part of the modern world are out of step with those in their own country.
Now, how do you negotiate and or reason with those who are taught to hate from a child that a whole race/ nation is bad ? You don't. Would or should we have negotiated with KKKmembers because they had hatred and some power to disrupt thing ? Glad we didn't. In our rush to be culturally sensative we're failing to see that these people are no different than the KKK, or the Facist brown shirts. Negotiating or appeasing them would be the same thing and the same result only more of it and that's EXACTLY what's happened around the world for decades. What you do is take on in the ways mentioned above the governments of those who encourage it, turn a blind eye to it or support it. That's the only way to end the Madrass and crazed Mullah's in the world. Some will survive but only in places with governments that refuse to deal with the issue. Thus making them easier to track and apply pressure to. It has very very very little to do with Coke and McDonalds being in Karachi and more to do with hatered taught since age 5, get rid of the Madrass, strip the Mullah's of their power and it goes away ar is at the least, reduced greatly.
Why is it more prevalant today ? It's really not, if you look at the last 20 years or so it(terrorism) has been increasing. And against the US too. Check this out.
Seems to me that we've had over 30 years of terrorism against the US and other countries. These are just a few. This approach has never been tried. It seems to me we've tried other approaches as well. People need to understand that in their minds we are weak in many ways. In the extremist pshchy in fact dare I say the Arab psychi, weakness is looked at as a sin, you saw those upset that the Iraqi's didn't put up a stronger fight. Our past actions was one of THE deciding factors in attacking. As you can see from the list below, in many cases the consequences were little, and in many cases we either didn't retaliate or di very little. The absolute and utter failiure of people to understand this mistake and to take agressive action is what brought us 9-11. We've been under attack for 30 years and nobody seemed to care. Little was done and in most cases we tried the appeasement method and hoped it would go away, it didn't, it grew and each administration left the other a growing problem becasue we failed to respond with anything other than some harsh words, some money thrown at a country and perhaps a cruise missle. It won't and will never work. Trying to understand terrorists and the radicals will get you nothing other than another 9-11. Trying not to upset them etc was tried, see the bottom list for that. It has nothing to do with poverty and opression other than their own. Many of the highjackers were middle class, well educated, well schooled and well traveled. Their hatred taught by the mullah's is why it happens. Your only other option is to do about what we have for 30 years, we can see how swell that worked.
2/21/1970
PFLP terrorists blow up a Swissair 330 in midair shortly after leaving Geneva, killing 47.
Related Links:
Information on the PFLP from the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise
6/10/1970
Agents of the Palestine Liberation Organization murder U.S. Embassy attaché Army Major Robert P. Perry at home in Amman, Jordan.
9/6/1970
PFLP terrorists seize four airliners at the beginning of what would become known as "Black September." The hijackers demand the release of Palestinian prisoners in Germany, Switzerland, and Israel. They fly two planes to Dawson's Field in the Jordanian desert and blow up one in Cairo after releasing passengers and crew. On the fourth plane, the terrorists are overpowered and the plane returns to London. British authorities take Leila Khaled, who commanded the terrorist operation, into custody. The PFLP then demands Ms. Khaled's release and hijacks another plane bound for Beirut, landing a third plane at Dawson's Field. PFLP releases 255 hostages (retaining 56) and blow up the three planes. At the end of Black September, Great Britain releases Ms. Khaled and six other Palestinian guerrillas in exchange for the remaining hostages.
Related Links:
Black September: Tough negotiations (BBC News)
The Guerilla's Story (BBC News Story on Leila Khaled)
3/1/1971 A U.S. Senate office building sustains heavy damage from a bomb planted by the radical Weather Underground.
5/11/1972
The Red Army Faction (also known in its early years as the Baader-Meinhof Gang) carries out six separate bombing attacks aimed at U.S. Army personnel and a West German Supreme Court Justice. One bomb kills an Army officer and injures 12 other servicemen. A short time later, both Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof are captured and imprisoned.
Related Links:
More from CNN - German fears over militant faction
Information on the RAF from the Navy
9/5/1972
At the Olympics in Munich, Germany, eight Black September terrorists take nine Israeli athletes hostage and kill two others. They demand the release of 200 Palestinians in Israeli jails, as well as freedom for terrorists of the Japanese Red Army and the Red Army Faction. A Black September grenade kills the athletes during an unsuccessful rescue attempt. Five terrorists die in a shootout and three are captured.
Related Links:
From the 1972 Olympic Web Site
An Analysis of the Israeli Response to the Black September Attack
The Munich Massacre - from the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise
Information on the PLO from the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise
10/29/1972
Black September hijackers seize a Lufthansa flight from Beirut to Ankara, and gain the freedom of the three remaining Munich assailants.
3/1/1973
Black September terrorists take 10 hostages at the Saudi embassy in Khartoum, Sudan. The terrorists murder the U.S. ambassador and charge d'affaires, as well as a Belgian diplomat. They later surrender to authorities.
2/5/1974
Leftist radicals of the Symbionese Liberation Army kidnap newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst. In April, she totes a gun in a San Francisco bank robbery. In May, police kill six SLA members in a shootout. The FBI arrests Ms. Hearst in September 1975. She claims she only pretended to support the SLA to survive, but she must serve time in prison until President Carter pardons her in 1979.
Related Links:
More information from The Crime Laboratory
4/13/1974
The New People's Army, the guerrilla arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines, kills three U.S. Navy personnel near Subic Bay Naval Base.
1/24/1975
At New York City's historic Fraunces Tavern, where in 1783 George Washington said farewell to his troops, a bomb by a doorway explodes during the lunch hour, killing four people and wounding 60. The Puerto Rican terrorist group FALN claims responsibility.
Related Links:
White House in showdown with Congress in clemency case (along with a background on FALN)
1/28/1975
Weather Underground detonates a bomb at the U.S. State Department building.
8/4/1975
Five terrorists from the Japanese Red Army shoot their way into the American consulate on the ninth floor of a downtown office building in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. They wound four people and take 53 men, women, and children hostage, including American consul Robert Stebbins. Japanese officials bow to the attackers' demand for the release of five Japanese Red Army prisoners; after difficult negotiations, Libya agrees to accept the terrorists. After it ends, Mr. Stebbins declares of his captors: "I hope they might someday be people with whom I can sit down and have a cup of coffee and talk about politics."
6/27/1976
The days of coffee talk come to an end after four terrorists-two from the Palestinian terrorist group PFLP and two from the Red Army Faction-hijack an Air France flight from Tel Aviv to Paris, capturing 240. After refueling in Libya, they fly to Entebbe, Uganda, where dictator Idi Amin welcomes them and allows them to land. The terrorists demand the release of 54 colleagues who are jailed in six countries around the world and a $5 million ransom for the PFLP. They release all passengers with non-Israeli passports, reducing the number of hostages to 103. On July 1, Israeli commandos raid the terminal building, killing all four terrorists and rescuing all but two hostages who die in the crossfire. The raid at Entebbe becomes a rallying point for the fight against terrorism.
Related Links:
Read more about "Operation Thunderbolt" (later renamed operation "Yonathan" after Yonathan Netyanahu who lost his life in the raid. Includes an "Entebbe Diary" by Maj. (Res.) Louis Williams
3/9/1977
A dozen Hanafi Muslim terrorists armed with long knives, pistols, and sawed-off shotguns seize 134 hostages in three buildings only blocks from the White House. One man is killed and 12 are wounded in the takeover of the Islamic Center, the international headquarters of B'nai Brith, and the District building, Washington's city hall. They surrender two days later after negotiations with ambassadors of Egypt, Iran, and Pakistan.
5/17/1977
The anti-American group GRAPO (translated as the October 1 Anti-Fascist Resistance Group) bombs the U.S. Cultural Center in Madrid on the day Vice President Walter Mondale arrives for an official visit.
3/16/1978
Red Brigades terrorists kidnap Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro and kill five of his bodyguards. They execute Moro and leave his bullet-riddled body in a car in downtown Rome.
2/14/1979
The U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan dies in a hail of gunfire from Afghan troops as others plot to rescue him from four kidnappers in a Kabul hotel room. Just as U.S. officials believed they had persuaded Afghan Interior Ministry officials not to storm the room, a gunshot was heard, spurring the spray of bullets.
6/20/1979
Serb nationalists hijack an American Airlines flight from New York to Chicago, seeking the release of a priest involved in a bombing of a Yugoslavian consular official's home in Chicago four years earlier. The hijackers fail and are taken into custody.
6/25/1979
NATO Allied Supreme Commander (and future Secretary of State) Alexander Haig barely escapes death when a bomb explodes just a few feet behind his chauffeur-driven Mercedes-Benz in Belgium. The Red Army Faction claims responsibility for the attack.
8/27/1979
The Irish Republican Army blows up the boat of Lord Mountbatten, killing the cousin of Queen Elizabeth II.
11/4/1979
In response to the Shah of Iran's admission to the United States for medical treatment and American refusals to extradite him, about 500 Iranians take over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. They hold 52 Americans as hostages. President Jimmy Carter applies economic pressure on Iran by halting Iranian oil imports and freezing Iranian assets in the United States. On April 24,1980, the Carter administration attempts a rescue mission that fails when three of the mission's eight helicopters are damaged in a sandstorm. After Ronald Reagan's election in November, successful negotiations begin and Iran releases the hostages shortly after President Reagan is inaugurated on January 20, 1981.
Related Links:
Can Iran be Forgiven (Time.com)
Iran Hostage Anniversary (CBS News)
Six days of fear (BBC News)
12/2/1979
Puerto Rican terrorists kill two U.S. Navy sailors on a bus in Puerto Rico.
7/22/1980
Daoud Salahuddin (formerly David Belfield), an American Khomeini supporter, kills Ali Akbar Tabatabai, a press aide for Iran during the reign of Shah Reza Pahlavi and a strong critic of Ayatollah Khomeini's revolution, at his home in Bethesda, Md.
10/5/1980
Armenian terrorists claim responsibility for two bombings of Turkish interests in the United States, injuring one person near the Turkish consulate in Los Angeles.
3/7/1981
Colombian kidnappers kill American Chester Allen Bitterman, 28, after holding him for six weeks. Bitterman had worked for Wycliffe Bible Translators, and his assailants demand that Wycliffe close its Latin American branch. Wycliffe doesn't comply.
5/9/1981
The Irish Republican Army detonates a bomb at a North Sea oil factory during a visit by Queen Elizabeth. The bomb misses the queen's party.
5/13/1981
Turkish-born terrorist Mehmet Ali Agca shoots Pope John Paul II as he greets a crowd of thousands in St. Peter's Square. The pope survives and later visits with Mr. Agca for 20 minutes in a Rome prison to forgive him. Picture of Pope and Agca
Related Links:
Pope Attacker Speaks Say He Almost Didn't Do It, But a Voice Urged Him on
8/31/1981
The Red Army Faction detonates a bomb inside a Volkswagen in a parking lot at the U.S. Air Force base in Ramstein, West Germany. The explosion injures two West Germans and 18 Americans and knocks down bystanders a hundred yards away. The blast is part of a series of incidents in response to German leftist Sigurd Debus's death by hunger strike at a Hamburg jail.
9/15/1981
The Red Army Faction attempts to kill the commanding general of U.S. forces in Europe, Army Gen. Frederick Kruesen. RAF terrorists fire two RPG-7 grenades at the general's car as he and his wife ride along a highway near Heidelberg. The Kruesens suffer minor injuries.
10/6/1981
Terrorists jump off a parade vehicle during an Egyptian parade, firing weapons and throwing grenades at the reviewing stand. They kill Egyptian President Anwar Sadat along with eight others and injure 20, including four American diplomats.
12/17/1981
The Red Brigades kidnap U.S. Army Brigadier General James Lee Dozier from his home in Verona, Italy. After 42 days, 10 Italian counter-terrorist agents free Dozier in a raid on a Red Brigades hideout.
1/18/1982
In Paris, Lebanese Marxists murder American military attaché Lieutenant Colonel Charles R. Ray near his apartment.
6/1/1982
Terrorist bombs rip through four U.S. military installations in West Germany, including the U.S. Army headquarters in Frankfurt, as President Reagan prepares to tour Europe. The West German terrorist group Revolutionary Cells claims credit.
7/19/1982
David Dodge, the acting president of American University of Beirut, is kidnapped and held in Lebanon and then Iran. He is released a year later, and the Reagan administration gives credit to Syrian leader Hafez Assad, who told the Iranians that Mr. Dodge, as AUB president, had contributed to the culture of the Middle East.
8/21/1982
A bomb planted by Lebanese Marxists beneath the car of an American embassy employee in France explodes as technicians attempt to disarm it, killing one technician and injuring two.
4/18/1983
A man drives a van carrying 2,000 pounds of explosives into the front portion of the seven-story U.S. Embassy in Beirut, killing 63 (including 17 Americans) and injuring 120. Islamic Jihad claims responsibility.
9/16/1983
Puerto Rican terrorists strike the West Hartford, Conn., terminal of Wells Fargo Company, escaping with $7.2 million, one of the largest bank robberies in American history.
10/23/1983
In the early morning at the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, a truck loaded with compressed gas-enhanced explosives crashes through chain-link fences and barbed-wire entanglements. While guards open fire, the truck smashes through the doors of the four-story barracks and explodes, killing 241 U.S. servicemen as they sleep. Islamic Jihad claims responsibility. At almost the same time, a nearly identical suicide bombing attack kills 56 soldiers at the eight-story French military barracks in Beirut.
11/6/1983
A bomb explodes around 11 p.m. near the Senate chamber in the U.S. Capitol, blowing out the windows of the Republican cloakroom and throwing large chunks of plaster through the air. A group called the Armed Resistance Unit claims responsibility, saying it is protesting the invasion of Grenada and American involvement in Lebanon.
12/12/1983
Suicide terrorists ram a truckload of explosives into the American and French embassies in Kuwait. Five people, but no Americans, are killed at the U.S. embassy, since the driver hits a small administrative annex rather than the crowded chancellery building. The explosion at the French embassy blows a 30-foot hole in the wall around the compound, but kills no one. Analysts later blame the attacks on the banned Al-Dawa party, a radical Shiite group with ties to Iran.
12/31/1983
Puerto Rican terrorists carry out four simultaneous bombings of government targets in New York City, including city police headquarters, FBI offices, and a federal courthouse. One city detective loses a leg, one loses the fingers on his right hand, and another loses an eye. Some of the wounded later protest when President Clinton pardons FALN activists in 1999, claiming the pardons are intended to curry favor with Puerto Ricans to help Hillary Clinton's Senate race in New York.
Related Links:
White House in showdown with Congress in clemency case (along with a background on FALN)
1/18/1984
Malcolm H. Kerr, president of the American University of Beirut, is slain by two gunmen as he steps off an elevator near his office. Islamic Jihad claims responsibility.
6/14/1985
Lebanese gunmen hijack TWA flight 847 bound from Athens to Rome with 104 Americans and 49 other passengers and force it to fly to Beirut, where they pick up more gunmen, and then to Algiers. The hijackers release passengers until the number is down to 39. They demand the release of 766 Lebanese prisoners being held in Israel. On the second day of the standoff, the plane returns to Beirut, and the hijackers kill U.S. Navy diver Robert Stethem and throw his body out on the runway. Israel releases 31 Lebanese prisoners, but insists the release is not related to the standoff. After 17 days in captivity, the hostages are transported to Damascus, Syria, and released.
Related Links:
Information on the Hijacking from the Navy
Information on Robert Stetham from the Navy
8/8/1985
The Red Army Faction detonates a car bomb at the U.S. Air Force base at Rhein-Main, West Germany, killing two and injuring 17. The night before, the assailants killed an off-duty U.S. serviceman, and they use his military identification to enter the base.
10/7/1985
Four heavily armed Palestinian terrorists from the Popular Liberation Front hijack the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro, carrying more than 400 passengers and crew, off Egypt. The terrorists demand that Israel release 50 Palestinian prisoners. They murder 69-year-old disabled American tourist Leon Klinghoffer and throw his body overboard with his wheelchair. After two days of tension, the hijackers surrender in exchange for a promise of safe passage. But when an Egyptian jet tries to fly them to freedom, U.S. Navy F-14 fighters intercept it and force it to land in Sicily, where Italian authorities take the terrorists into custody.
Related Links:
Achille Lauro Information from Specialperations.com
General Info on Terrorism and Counter Terrorism (from the Navy)
11/25/1985
As customers shop at a U.S. military post exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, a bomb hidden in a silver BMW parked about 250 yards away from the PX explodes, injuring 35 people, most of them Americans. 4/2/1986 A bomb explodes aboard a TWA jet in Greece, killing four people, but the plane lands safely. The timing device in the bomb was activated when a passenger sat on the seat it was placed under. 4/5/1986 An explosion rips through La Belle Disco in West Berlin, killing two American soldiers (and one other person) and injuring almost 230, including dozens of off-duty U.S. servicemen. President Reagan orders air strikes against Libya 10 days later as a "swift and effective retribution" for its role in the disco bombing.
4/24/1987
A remote-control bomb injures 16 U.S. servicemen in Greece in an attack by the group Revolutionary Organization 17 November, a Marxist-Leninist group known for lengthy ideological statements. The same group injures another 10 servicemen in Greece in another bus attack on Aug. 10.
10/26/1987
The communist New People's Army kills four Americans within 15 minutes near Clark Air Base.
12/26/1987
One U.S. serviceman is killed and nine others are injured when Catalan separatist groups in Spain launch hand grenades into a USO bar in Barcelona.
4/14/1988
Japanese suicide bomber Junzo Okudaira drives a car bomb into a USO club in Naples, Italy, killing a U.S. Navy enlisted woman and four others. A Japanese Red Army front group claims responsibility. Two days earlier, JRA member Yu Kikumura was arrested at a New Jersey Turnpike rest area with three powerful bombs and other explosives. Both attacks were planned in retaliation on the second anniversary of the U.S. bombing of Libya.
6/28/1988
A car bomb detonated by Revolutionary Organization 17 November kills Captain William Nordeen, a defense attaché at the U.S. embassy in Athens, Greece.
8/8/1988
A group calling itself the "Simon Bolivar Commandos" explodes a bomb as a motorcade carrying Secretary of State George Shultz passes on a highway outside the Bolivian capital city of La Paz. There are no injuries.
12/21/1988
Pan Am Flight 103 from London to New York explodes over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all 259 people on board (including 189 Americans) and 11 villagers on the ground. Crashing parts of the jet destroy 21 homes. In 1991 the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency charges two Libyan terrorists with the crime. On January 31, 2001, a former Libyan Arab Airlines official and suspected Libyan spy, Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, is convicted of mass murder for his role in the bombing. The other defendant, Lamen Khalifa Fhimah, is found not guilty and receives a hero's welcome upon his return to Libya.
Related Links:
Coverage of the PanAm 103 Story from CNN
2/28/1989
Two Berkeley, Calif., bookstores are firebombed during the night to protest the sale of Iranian author Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses. Iranian authorities had issued a fatwa calling for Rushdie to be killed for disparaging Islam.
3/10/1989
A bomb explodes in a van driven by the wife of U. S. Navy Captain Will C. Rogers. She is unhurt. The attack is believed to be in retaliation for the July 1988 downing of an Iranian civil airliner by the USS Vincennes, commanded by Capt. Rogers.
3/17/1990
Narco-terrorists firebomb Drug Enforcement Agency offices in Fort Myers, Fla. Two months later the FBI rounds up Colombians employed by drug kingpin Pablo Escobar in Florida as they attempt to buy 24 stolen Stinger anti-aircraft missiles for an estimated $6 million dollars. Stinger missiles are capable of destroying the largest airliners.
9/26/1990 Gunmen kill the captain of President Corazon Aquino's guard, as well as two American employees of Ford Aerospace, in attacks that coincide with Vice President Dan Quayle's visit to the Philippines.
12/25/1991
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics dissolves. The fall of the Soviet Union and the Eastern communist bloc leads to the dissolution of remaining "Red" terrorist groups, especially with the opening of Soviet and East German archives.
1/25/1993 Mir Amal Kansi, a Pakistani living in the United States since 1991, shoots two CIA employees, Lansing Bennet and Frank Darling, and wounds three others near the gate of the CIA's 258-acre headquarters in Langley, Va.
Related Links:
Coverage of the CIA Shooting from CNN
2/26/1993
A minibus containing 1,100 pounds of explosives blows up in the garage beneath the World Trade Center complex. The blast kills six people, injures 1,000, and causes $300 million worth of damage. The towers are cleaned, repaired, and reopened in less than a month. Courts later convict six Middle Eastern men, including mastermind Ramzi Yousef. They claim to be retaliating against U.S. support for the Israeli government.
Related Links:
Coverage of the WTC Bombing from CNN
3/8/1995
A gunman kills two employees of the U.S. consulate in Karachi, Pakistan-CIA communications technician Gary Durell and consulate secretary Jackie Van Landingham. No one claims responsibility, but analysts suggest it could be meant to cripple warming relations between the U.S. and Benazir Bhutto's government in Pakistan.
3/20/1995
 Members of Japan's Aum Shinrikyo cult release sarin nerve gas in Tokyo's subway system. The attack kills twelve and renders thousands sick.
Related Links:
Coverage of the Attack from the BBC
Coverage of the Attack from the State Department
9/13/1995
A masked assailant fires a rocket-propelled grenade across a busy street during rush hour at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, destroying a copier and causing minor damage in a 6th-floor office in protest against American air strikes in Bosnia.
4/19/1995
A truck bomb explodes outside the Alfred R. Murrah Federal Office Building, collapsing walls and floors and killing 168 persons, including 19 children and one person who died in the rescue effort. Over 220 buildings sustain damage. Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols are later convicted in a plot to avenge the fiery end of the Branch Davidian standoff in Waco, Texas, exactly two years earlier. The government executes McVeigh in 2001.
6/25/1996
Terrorists drive a tanker truck loaded with at least 5,000 pounds of plastic explosives into the parking lot of Khobar Towers in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, a housing facility for U.S. and allied forces enforcing a no-fly zone over the southern portion of Iraq. Nineteen Americans are killed and almost 500 wounded as the explosion drills a crater 35 feet deep and rips the front off an apartment building. The Justice Department announces indictments of 13 members of Hezbollah on June 12, 2001.
11/12/1997
In Karachi, Pakistan, two gunmen murder four American auditors for Union Texas Petroleum Company just 36 hours after a jury in Fairfax, Va., found Pakistani Mir Amil Kansi guilty of the two CIA headquarters murders. Kansi was captured a few months before, on June 17, in Pakistan.
8/7/1998
More than 300 people are killed and more than 5,000 injured in simultaneous car bombings of the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The explosion rips apart the back of the Kenyan embassy, which was located at an intersection and had no security fence in front, although it had an eight-foot-high steel fence on the other three sides. The Tanzanian blast occurred within the embassy walls, meaning the car had passed through a security check. Authorities suspect Osama bin Laden's network is responsible.
8/20/1998
In response to the embassy bombings, President Clinton authorizes cruise-missile attacks on terrorist targets in Sudan and Afghanistan three days after his sworn testimony in the Monica Lewinsky investigation. Administration officials also freeze the assets of Saleh Idris, who owns the Sudanese factory that is bombed, claiming he has terrorist ties. In May 1998, facing legal action, the administration unfreezes the assets.
12/14/1999
Authorities arrest Algerian Ahmed Ressam as he tries to enter the United States from Canada at Port Angeles, Wash. They find more than 100 pounds of explosives in his car, foiling a plot to detonate a bomb at Los Angeles International Airport in the days before millennium celebrations on 1/1/2000. Three Algerians-Mr. Ressam, Abdel Ghani Meskini, and Mokhtar Haouari-are convicted in New York. Mr. Ressam testifies that he was trained at a camp in Afghanistan that American officials say is run by Osama bin Laden.
Related Links:
Coverage of the Arrest from ABCNews.com
Coverage from the BBC
Additional Information from ABCNews.com
10/12/2000
In the port of Aden, Yemen, a pair of suicide bombers in a small boat pull alongside the U.S.S. Cole, an advanced Arleigh Burke-class destroyer carrying Aegis anti-missile weaponry. After taking a mooring line to a buoy to defuse suspicion, the bombers stand at attention as their small boat blows up, blasting a 40-foot-by-40-foot hole in the ship's hull, killing 17 American military personnel and injuring 39. U.S. officials suspect al-Qaeda, the network of Osama bin Laden, who speaks of the ship as having sailed "to its doom" along a course of "false arrogance, self-conceit, and strength."
Related Links:
Navy Announces Results of Investigation Web Site Includes Background, Images and Other Information on the USS Cole
Coverage from CNN.com
Coverage from ABCNews.com
9/11/2001
Hijackers take over two large jetliners, both en route from Boston to Los Angeles, and fly them into the north and south towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, collapsing both towers and killing more than 5,000 people in the buildings and on the ground. Minutes later another hijacked jet smashes into the west side of the Pentagon. A fourth hijacked plane crashes in a field near Shanksville, Pa. Bin Laden's network is implicated. President George W. Bush, in a speech to Congress, says his administration will make no distinction between terrorists like bin Laden and the states that support them. Four weeks later, the bombing of Afghanistan begins.
Credits:
List of Events Compiled by Tim Graham (www.worldmag.com);
actually, the Governor can issue a 30 day stay of execution...Bush did this...I believe it was only the one time though.
I stand corrected. According to the Texas Constitution, the Governor may commute a sentence onlyif the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles recommends it. If the Board does not recommend commutation, the Governor may grant only a one-time, 30-day reprievefrom execution.
of course, you wouldn't be trying to avoid that Bush was a bigtime advocate of killing as many people as possible on death row, would you? That he pushed for and got a change in the rules that sped up the process severely limiting the time for appeals and any discovery of any defense that might prove someone was not guilty....people like Jerry Lee Hogue, who was accused of killing a woman based on the testimony of two people...a couple, one of whom was discovered to have actually been the killer. Hogue's appeals were cut short by Bush's change in the rules and he was killed on March 11th, 1998.
You wouldn't be trying to avoid that sort of thing, would you?
You act like Bush had nothing to do with the process, when the truth is he was instrumental in insuring that he set the record for people killed under his watch.
I mean, to say that he couldn't execute or stay the execution of anyone certainly isn't telling the whole story about Texes, Governor Bush and the death penalty, is it?
That he pushed for and got a change in the rules that sped up the process severely limiting the time for appeals and any discovery of any defense that might prove someone was not guilty
Do you mean the same rules that are in place in about three-fourths of the states? The average inmate has had about 10 years of post-conviction judicial review prior to execution. The Texas governor's office has its own office of legal counsel and an 18-member parole board, both of which advise the governor on each individual death penalty case. If these cases were so bad, the federal court of appeals would have struck down the verdict.
Why don't you tell us how the system was better under under Bush’s Democrat predecessor, Ann Richards?
Here is a list of 7 people that had their death sentence carried out in Jan. of 2000:
Nice people that you are trying to support.
You act like Bush had nothing to do with the process, when the truth is he was instrumental in insuring that he set the record for people killed under his watch.
If this were true, then good for him for riding the earth of people like the 7 listed. How many more lives were saved by getting rid of scum like this?
I have never supported Ann Richards
so, It appears you didn't read the link to the whole story I provided you.
and why is it when someone points out something about Bush, instead of dealing with it, you guys always say something to the effect of "well, but that guy does it too!"
don't pass the buck, suck it up.
and why is it when someone points out something about Bush, instead of dealing with it, you guys always say something to the effect of "well, but that guy does it too!"
We deal with it and it shows the hypocrisy of "you guys" that choose to attack President Bush, but give everyone else a pass.
so, It appears you didn't read the link to the whole story I provided you.
Yeah, I read that article from a rock and roll magazine. They even have a link to President Bush's "CD Reviews & Discography" at the bottom of the page.
It contradicts it self several times and leaves out important data. While complaining about "a poor person" who "may sit in jail for months before being assigned a lawyer", they fail to mention that there is probably about 50 qualified people in the state who can represent them. While complaining about the "Indigent Defense Bill" veto, they fail to point out that the bill would have created a new layer of bureaucracy in the courts. The bill would have also required judges to release defendants who had not been assigned a lawyer within 20 days of requesting one. Once again, lack of competent lawyers arises.
I don't give Ann Richards a "pass" on the death penalty.
haha... What about Manson? Ya think he's ready to be let go?
what about Manson?
"Some say that it was our meddling etc. Perhaps that was part of it. Then how do those same people explain terrorist attacks against other nations ? Bali, the Philipenes, Africa, and countless cases in Europe. France has a problem with terrorists and I'd say they've been quite removed from the situation. What about all these other places ? "
The bomb in Denpasar was a nightclub frequented by Westerners. In Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, they hit the the US embassy forgodsake. Even those bombings in Morocco seemed to have Western Culture as the secondary target. I don't think your run of the mill militant Islamsit makes a lot of distinctions. Americans, French, British, Canadians. We're all essentially infidels and they'll strike at whatever are vulnerable targets.
But I think the US is specially singled out. We've overthrown governments, and we're in the process of overthrowing some more. Maybe, in the sweep of history, that's been our activity in the region to them.
Now, I'm saying that once a wave of terrorism starts the terrorists have to be stopped. That's essential. But at some point, does not the United States have to "turn itself to face itself" as it were? Or, as Rush Limbaugh said yesterday, was the US just "minding its own business" and 9/11 just happened out of the blue?
Rick,
Agreed, and that's the exact problem, you nailed it which is what I was getting at. What have the French and Canadiens done meddling wise ? Not much IMO, they've been pretty quiet. You are 100% correct in that they don't differentiate and an infidel is an infidel. Sure they take a little extra effort and joy when it's some dead Americans but other nastions that are targeted have done little in the way of doing anything to anger the terrorists, well other than the fact that they exist.
And there in a nutshell is their logic, it's based in racist zenophobic and zionistic beleifes since obviously merely being a westerner makes you a candidate to be killed. If a group was in the US targeting a certain race or religion would we negotiate with them ? Would we apply reasoning and do what we could to avoid angering them ? Of course not we didn't try to avoid upsetting the KKK because they're racsit dickheads. Why or how can you negotiate, appease or try to avoid confrontation with someone with the logic that you are subhuman and don't deserve to walk the earth ? Should you ? In short you will never nor should you nor can you, negotiate and or make peace with someone who wants you to cease to exist.
You can negotiate with other nations/governments. Pressure can be applied through diplomacy, aid, etc. And yes the threat of force if nessecary. And apply that pressure to the governments who are either turning a blind eye to terrorists, supporting it quietly or overtly doing so. Without that pressure and yes the real threat of force which they weren't worried about for many years will move many countries to take action against the terrorists within. Empty threats from the US or UN are simply that. Real and applied pressure will work and be healthier for everyone. In short, we won't have to go into every nation that harbors or supports terrorism, some can be dealt with via pressure, some are doing so on their own seeing what can happen to their own country when fanatics take over and some are rising up ie: Iran. The places that do require action will thanfully be less because of our current action and it's a very real fringe benefit that's either overlooked or intentionally not spoken about.
I agree we are singled out more but again, these other nations are attacked as well when they've done nothing of the sort. So the it's because we do this or that around the globe argument that I don't feel is as prevalant as we think it is as these other nations get attacked as well. Is it part of it ? Sure, absolutely. Now is that a bad thing ? Should we not go into Liberia because half the country is Muslim ? Should we have not gone into Somolia or the Balkans because of it ? In both cases it was to help nations with large Muslim populations. In the other nations ie: Saudi Arabia we are decreasing our presence even though we were helpin and helped them fight off Iraq once before, same with Kuwait. Yet in each case of us specifically helping these nations regardless of motive we helped. And they are upset, why ? Because we had the nerve to walk on the same ground because we are infidels and nonbeleivers. Yet we are the bad guy to some or should negotiate with that racist mentality. No way.
and why is it when someone points out something about Bush, instead of dealing with it, you guys always say something to the effect of "well, but that guy does it too!"
Because we learned it from Clinton. And it works, too. Everyone gets off the issue at hand and discusses someone or something else.
(AP) - Saddam Hussein's sons Odai and Qusai were believed to have been killed Tuesday in a raid by U.S. forces who surrounded the home of a cousin, a senior U.S. official said. Two other Iraqis also were killed. The official, a member of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad who spoke on condition of anonymity, said investigators were "awaiting positive DNA testing" to confirm the identities.
Subject: Spec Opns Email from Iraq
COL ******** wrote:
Language may be a bit off color to some and it is long. However, it is well worth the read. I recommend it.
Original message, which came from e-mail thread out of SOCOM (spec. ops command) in Tampa, it is from Army spec. ops
Subject: FW: Message From Iraq
It Ain't Necessarily So.
Date: Tue, 01 Jul 2003, 11:09:09 GMT
Hey Guys, sorry it's been so long since I've sent anything but a quick note to you individually. However things have been pretty hectic since the end of hostilities and the start of the real war. Despite what the assholes in the press like to say over and over about the Ba'ath Party and Feydaheen.
2) It isn't any worse than expected;
3) Things are getting better each day, and
4) The morale of the troops is A-1, except for the normal bitching and griping.
My brief love affair with the press, especially the guys who had the cajones to be embedded with the troops during the fighting, is probably over, especially since we are back being criticized by them same RolandHeadly types that used to hang around the Palestine Hotel drinking Baghdad Bob's whiskey and parroting his ridiculous B.S.
I'm in Baghdad now, since XXXXXX relocated here from Qatar. It looks, sounds and smells about the same but at least you can get Maker's Mark at the local OC. We came up in mid-June to help set up operation Scorpion and Sidewinder. It represents a major (and long overdue) shift in tactics. Instead of being sitting ducks for the ragheads we now are going after
the worthless pieces of fecal matter. [OD NOTE: VERY understated!]
I'm no longer baby-sitting the pukes from CNN and the canned hams from the networks, but have a combat mission coordinating a bunch of A teams, seeking, finding and rooting out the mostly non-Iraqis that are well-armed, well-paid (in U.S. dollars) and always waiting to wail forthe press and then shoot some GI in the back in the midst of a crowd.
The only reason the GIs are pissed (not demoralized) is that they cannot touch, must less waste, those taunting bags of gas that scream in their faces and riot on cue when they spot a camera man from ABC, BBC, CBS, CNN or NBC. If they did, then they know the next nightly news will be about how chaotic things are and how much the Iraqi people hate us.
Some do. But the vast majority don't and more and more see that the GIs don't start anything, are by-and-large friendly, and very compassionate, especially to kids and old people. I saw a bunch of 19 year-olds fromthe 82nd Airborne not return fire coming from a mosque until they got a group of elderly civilians out of harm's way. So did the Iraqis.
A bunch of bad guys used a group of women and children as human shields.The GIs surrounded them and negotiated their surrender fifteen hours later and when they discovered a three year-old girl had been injured by the big tough guys throwing her down a flight of stairs, the GIs called in a MedVac helicopter to take her and her mother to the nearest field hospital. The Iraqis watched it all, and there hasn't been a problem inthat neighborhood since. How many such stories, and there are hundreds of them, never get reported in the fair and balanced press? You know, nada.
The civilians who have figured it out faster than anyone are the local teenagers.
They watch the GIs and try to talk to them and ask questions about America and Now wear wrap-around sunglasses, GAP T- shirts, Dockers (or even better Levis with the red tags) and Nikes (or Egyptian knock-offs, but with the "swoosh") and love to listen to AFN when the GIs play it on their radios.
They participate less and less in the demonstrations and help keep us informed when a wannabe bad-ass shows up in the neighborhood.
The younger kids are going back to school again, don't have to listen to some mullah rant about the Koran ten hours a day, and they get a hot meal.
They see the same GIs who man the corner checkpoint, helping clear the playground, install new swingsets and create soccer fields. I watched a bunch of kids playing baseball in one playground, under the supervision of a couple of GIs from Oklahoma. They weren't very good but were having fun, probably more than most Little Leaguers
The place is still a mess but most of it has been for years. But the Hospitals are open and are in the process of being brought into the 21stCentury. The MOs and visiting surgeons from home are teaching their docs new techniques and One American pharmaceutical company (you know, the kind that all the hippies like to scream about as greedy) donated enough medicine to stock 45 hospital pharmacies for a year.
Right, Charlie, we should have mirandized Uday and Qusay. Perhaps a simple nock on the door and an announcement of "US TROOPS" would have done. Charlie is a sorry excuse for an elcted official. He fails to realize the signiffigance of it.
More on the lovely brothers grim.
He is beleived to have been the architecht of the crushing of the Shite uprising that left as many as 300,000 civilians dead.
And Uday who would show up at a wedding to rape the bride and shoot the groom if he protested.
As head of the Fedayeen Saddam (search) paramilitary force, Uday helped his father eliminate opponents and exert iron-fisted control over Iraq's 25 million people. The eldest of Saddam's five children, Uday was elected to parliament in 1999 with a reported 99 percent of the vote, but he rarely attended parliament sessions.
Iraqi exiles say Uday murdered at will and tortured with zeal, and routinely ordered his guards to snatch young women off the street so he could rape them. The London-based human-rights group Indict (search) said Uday ordered prisoners to be dropped into acid baths as punishment.
The Caligula-like Uday seemed proud of his reputation and called himself Abu Sarhan, an Arabic term for "wolf."
But his tendency toward erratic brutality even exasperated Saddam, who temporarily banished Uday to Switzerland after the younger Hussein killed one of his father's favorite bodyguards in 1988.
The bodyguard, a young man named Kamel Gegeo, arranged trysts for the Iraqi president — notably with one woman who later became Saddam's second wife. Worried that his father's relationship with the woman could threaten his own position as heir, Uday beat Gegeo to death with a club in full view of guests at a high-society party, according to some reports. Other reports said Uday killed Gegeo with an electric carving knife.
Uday had once been a strong candidate to succeed his father, but he was badly injured in 1996 in an assassination attempt by gunmen who opened fire as he drove his red Porsche through Baghdad. The attack left Uday with a bullet in his spine that forced him to walk with a cane. Younger brother Qusay was instead groomed to succeed Saddam, worsening already uneasy relations between the two brothers.
Uday owned Iraq's most widely circulated daily newspaper, Babil, which he used as a platform for regime propaganda, publishing signed editorials full of bombastic rhetoric. He also oversaw Al-Zawra, a weekly published by the journalists union that he headed, and owned the popular Youth TV.
Much of Uday's notoriety abroad stemmed from his position as head of the National Iraqi Olympic Committee (search), which was accused of torturing and jailing athletes.
The London-based human rights group Indict said the committee once made a group of track athletes crawl on newly poured asphalt while they were beaten and threw some of them off a bridge. Indict also said Uday ran a special prison for athletes who offended him. The International Olympic Committee in Lausanne, Switzerland, said earlier this year that it was investigating the allegations.
One defector told Indict that jailed soccer players were forced to kick a concrete ball after failing to reach the 1994 World Cup finals. Another defector said athletes were dragged through a gravel pit and then dunked in a sewage tank so infection would set in.
Army officers also were fair game for Uday's outbursts of violence. In 1983, Uday reportedly bashed an army officer unconscious when the man refused to allow Uday to dance with his wife. The officer later died. Uday also shot an army officer who did not salute him.
Things were hardly better on the family front, where relations between Uday and his uncles were especially bad. Uday reportedly divorced the daughter of one uncle, Barzan Ibrahim Hasan, in 1995 after she complained of being beaten. Uday shot and wounded another uncle, Watban Ibrahim Hasan. Both uncles were captured after the war and are in the custody of U.S. coalition forces.
While millions of Iraqis suffered dire poverty, Uday lived a life of fast cars, expensive liquor and easy women.
When U.S. troops captured his mansion in Baghdad, they found a personal zoo with lions and cheetahs, an underground parking garage for his collection of luxury cars, Cuban cigars with his name on the wrapper, and $1 million in fine wines, liquor — and even heroin.
I heard the Rangel clip on radio today. What a piece of crap.
How does someone like that get re-elected ?
It's beyond me. The voters of NY elected him AND Hillary to office.
Frick'in brain dead.
Whadda ya mean?
Them is smart trout.
25 K Joe :)
Tolkien in the White House?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: July 23, 2003
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com
My friend Hans is as much a lover of Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" as I am, and after Tony Blair's magnificent speech to the Joint Session of Congress, he e-mailed an off-the-cuff thought: Blair is playing Sam to the president's Frodo.
The game was on, and I posted the exchange at my website and discussed it on my radio program. The analogy was launched and the e-mails began to flow.
The exercise sought analogies to various LOTR figures in the individuals, institutions and nations involved in the defining conflict of our times – the struggle between the liberal democracies and Islamicist fascists. Many thought the U.S. military ought to be cast as Frodo – slow to anger, but diligent, deadly and successful in its prosecution of its mission. Others suggested the Ents as stand-ins for the troops.
Elrond – the eternally wise, long-lived background warrior was Reagan in one letter; Gandalf, another old warrior, brusque but focused, was Rumsfeld in another. Gollum, the misshapen, dangerous mutant, was in various missives, France, Chirac, or Bill Clinton. Wormtongue had bunches of nominees. Mine was Dominique de Villepin, who deserves it for ambushing Secretary of State Powell.
Bush also was nominated for a role as Aragorn, Gimli as Australia (down under, smaller than the others, but marvelous in a fight), and Boromir as either Putin or Hans Blix. Legolas was cast as Poland or other surprising allies from the old world. One wit suggested Hillary as Shelob, but if you are only a movie-goer, you won't get the humor in that. One thoughtful writer cast Israel as Faramir – who had been on the front lines long before the reinforcements arrived, and who had taken much abuse from people who did not understand the danger.
Bilbo was perhaps the easiest: George H.W. Bush, who got the story started, but didn't finish it. Canada reminded one writer of Pippin: "Often ridiculous, but in the end, a hobbit at heart," while I thought our neighbors to the north more like Theoden. A hard core LOTR reader came up with Radagast the Brown as Kofi Annan.
Oh yes: Condi Rice as Galadriel.
The e-mails keep coming, despite the essential silliness of such a game. What is remarkable, though, is how easy it is to explain the premise, and without any direction whatsoever, to anticipate the results.
The significance of that is the current conflict is understood by my audience – and I think by most people in the U.S. and the West, generally – to be one of good vs. evil, and starkly so. It is not an ambiguous, shadowy conflict, but a stark clash of diametrically opposed visions of how men and women ought to live. There can be no compromise, just as there could be no compromise in Tolkien's world, no matter how much some characters wished for compromise and an end to conflict.
Tony Blair was right: This isn't a war of civilizations and we are not fighting for Christianity. It is rather a struggle for the universal value of freedom, and for the essential human right of liberty. That was also the theme of Tolkien's books and why analogies to it are easy to produce and not difficult to grasp.
Incredibly there are some who are maneuvering within the conflict to increase their own power by questioning the motives of Bush, as opposed to his competence. The latter debate is a fair one in any democracy – critics are free to proclaim better ways of fighting the good fight. Would-be presidents can logically appeal to the population that they are better equipped to lead the war on terrorism.
Denying the fact of the conflict, however, is sheer recklessness. Increasingly the debate over "yellowcake" is getting closer and closer to this recklessness, reducing the threat that Saddam posed all so clearly to the region and the world, and substituting a demand that every detail of Bush's case be seen to have been completely airtight in retrospect. Incredibly, those pursuing this line of argument are generally allowed to escape the question of whether we are safer today than we were in February.
Although the case against Bush's decision to remove Saddam, never strong to begin with, is falling apart with each passing day, the damage will linger if any impression is left as to the level of certainty a president needs to launch pre-emptive action against serious threats. That is the recklessness of Dean and Kerry and Kennedy and the rest of the "show me" gang: Future presidents will remember this attempted inquisition and stay their hand for fear of not having a litigator's case upon which to stand in the dock at some later date.
Tolkien's world had villains and turncoats and perils galore, but it had no analogy for Howard Dean and those who share his perspective – political opportunists who will say anything to advance their profile and thus their campaigns. And it had no media covering the Fellowship. It also had a satisfactory ending. With an opposition like Dean, such an ending is not guaranteed.
Hugh Hewitt
Recall Baghdad Bob!!!!
wasn't that a 2.5K Joe, Rob?
The only thing I took away from that article was that maybe the policy does need to be changed. Obviously we're not going to stick to it and it's questionable if doing so is always the best thing in all cases. I certainly would have rather seen Hussein assassinated than embarking upon a whole war.
'Bill - Fold' 7/24/03 7:03am
I agree it's good that they've been sent to hell.
As far as takinng a plt. First of all when you're engaged you use whatever force you deem nessecary or availible. If you're the guy on the ground you don't want it to be a fair fight.
You have to remember they get tips like this from time to time. Many times they're wild goose chases or worse, an ambush.
They (the troops) weren't aware it was Uday and Qusay, they only were told it was a possible Baath party higher up puke. Nobody knew at the time if it really was them as they get tips all the time. Nobody really knew until after. They pulled up in 4 hummers. ordered the occupants out. 2 people emerged, the owner and his son. They went to clear the house and took fire, 4 soilders were wounded. They called for backup and it arrived. The house was reinforced and it had bullet proof glass. They surrounded the house and cleared the area and went house to house getting civilinas out and then called for some air. Alot of the troops I'm sure had to secure the perimeter and keep civis away. They launched some grenades into the place and incredibly They kept taking fire until they sent some TOW's into the joint and ended most of the resistance.
Now other than morons like Rangel the boobs in the press get to ask such brillant questions like " Do you think the force used was excessive?" Well Mr. Brave reporter go grab your weapon and head in for us next time and let us know, we'll use you as our donkey and you can be the first ot breach a home. I can only imiagine the ballyhooing if they got away. They wanted them captured too and less force used. Do these idiots have any idea what it's like ? They also don't seem to grasp the fact that we had ZERO way of knowing if it was or wasn't them.
"The only stupid question is the one that isn't asked,"
Spoken like a true journalist :) OF course half of their questions are really statements and the other half a que for a response.
BTW, I was hoping you'd reply to the BBC story and questions I asked, if you get time take a peek at it.
I'm still reading stories about the BBC. Can't make a good response.
"and the other half a que for a response."
A good reporter will try to pin someone down with about half the questions. Same question, just asked different ways.
Rick 7/24/03 6:12pm
Thanks, I'll be interested to hear your take.
I have no problem with that. Some of them ala Helen Thomas though are the ones I cringe at. I mean some of them are opinions or statements and nt really questions which are IMO a big difference I guess.
What are the procedures with "annonomouys" sources ? Especially in these times every other story it seems has "a high ranking official whos spoke on the condition of annonymoity" What is done to verify that ? How do we know the reporter isn't just misquoting or making it up. I mean if it's annonymous there's be no way to verify it would there ? What do the editors do or what should they do in those cases ?