Factoring PC into the warfare equation

Post #15,844 by bluke 10/31/01 5:51:08 AM Reply	Factoring PC into the warfare equation [link\|http://washingtontimes.com/commentary/20011030-2300374.htm\|Factoring PC into the warfare equation] "Can a politically correct America win this war? The short answer to that question is "No."\t The nation's moral stance and resolve have been corrupted by a decade of political correctness, and we are now paying the price." Charles Krauthammer expressed a similar sentiment [link\|http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9033-2001Oct29.html\|Not Enough Might] "The war is not going well and it is time to say why. It has been fought with half-measures. It has been fought with an eye on the wishes of our "coalition partners." It has been fought to assuage the Arab "street." It has been fought to satisfy the diplomats rather than the generals."
Post #15,847 by gtall 10/31/01 6:41:05 AM Reply	Re: Factoring PC into the warfare equation I don't know if I'd equate the coalition building Bush has been doing to satisfying the diplomats. If we want to stop terrorism, we have to get countries to crack down on terrorist groups, i.e., their funding, their support, etc. I don't see how we can do that by ourselves. That being said, I don't give a flying rat's ass about the Arab or Muslim street. It isn't a street we wish to exist because of the rampant use of religion to further the little hateful toys those bastard mullahs enjoy nursing just in order to keep their control over the faithful. Gerard Allwein
Post #15,859 by Arkadiy 10/31/01 10:25:51 AM Reply	What a display of wrong-headedness! 10% reason, 90% of boiling blood and exageration. Add some lack of thinking for good measure. Those articles put us on a path of Crusade - a war for annihilating a culture. It may or may not be what we need, but the guy does not acnowlege where his writing goes. I am pretty sure that he'd disown that goal in a hurry, PC or not PC.
Post #15,883 by marlowe 10/31/01 1:22:42 PM Reply	A war for annihilating a culture? We're talking about a culture, or at the very least a subculture, that is annihilating human lives. Given the choice between a culture and human lives, I know which side I pick. Cultures are expendable. People are not. [link\|http://www.angelfire.com/ca3/marlowe/index.html\|http://www.angelfir...e/index.html] Sometimes "tolerance" is just a word for not dealing with things.
Post #15,886 by Arkadiy 10/31/01 1:29:44 PM Reply	The only reliable way to annihilate a culture is... ... to kill off the majority of culture's carriers. We are talking tens of millions here.
Post #15,905 by Andrew Grygus 10/31/01 3:33:07 PM Reply	If that culture cannot be taught not to attack us . . . . and not to seek to destroy us, then tens of millions it is. You may prefer to allow them to kill you, but don't expect me to go along with that. In today's technological world, if the will is there to kill us, then the means can be found easily enough. It's no longer a risk, it's a certainty, and must be treated so. [link\|http://www.aaxnet.com\|AAx]
Post #15,906 by Arkadiy 10/31/01 3:35:38 PM Reply	Re: If that culture cannot be taught not to attack us . . I do not prefer anything. Logically or intellectually, I can't make a decision. But at the guts level, I have to admit that I'd rather kill than be killed.
Post #15,881 by cwbrenn 10/31/01 12:55:03 PM Reply	what's with all this Colin Powell stuff? Is the Secretary of State a military position? Somehow I didn't think it was. How is he involved in the day to day operations of the military actions? "We are all born originals -- why is it so many of us die copies?" - Edward Young
Post #15,923 by mmoffitt 10/31/01 5:11:26 PM Reply	Haven't you heard? He's the second coming. <blech>
Post #15,986 by cwbrenn 10/31/01 11:17:35 PM Reply	All I've read are people criticizing the things Powell has been saying in support of what the Military has decided to be -- the criticism phrased as if HE were actually MAKING THE DECISIONS. Now, maybe I honestly don't know what the Secretary of State does... but I didn't think he was calling the shots over in Afganistan. So why is everyone blaming him for the fact that we haven't won the war yet? As a matter of fact, why are these idiots even thinking we should have won by now? I mean... maybe THEY've been playing too many video games... "We are all born originals -- why is it so many of us die copies?" - Edward Young
Post #15,884 by Brandioch 10/31/01 1:25:47 PM Reply	sigh #1. The enemy leaders usually die AT THE END OF THE WAR. If they die earlier, the war is over. #2. The US public wants "surgical" strikes. The US public doesn't want to support baby-killers any more. #3. There is nothing wrong with targeting tanks and such for months (or longer) before moving ground troops in. Would YOU want to be a grunt facing a tank? Let the military fight the war the way they want to. It's their lives. That being said, I feel like slapping anyone who doesn't realize that this "war" is impossible to "win". We aren't fighting a specific person or state or anything. We are fighting a mindset. Mindsets don't get changed with bombs and bullets. Kill ObL today, tomorrow there will be a whole new generation willing to follow in his footsteps. They don't have ANYTHING TO LOSE! They get to be HEROS for their people. And remember, it isn't just those stupid rag-heads coming in on 2 year visas. Tim McVeigh. The Unibomber. I still think the anthrax crap is domestic. The only way to get a grip on terrorism is to surrender all your civil rights. Any freedom can be exploited by terrorists. Deal with it.
Post #15,887 by cwbrenn 10/31/01 1:38:07 PM Reply	Domestic anthrax? An interesting theory... and I haven't seen it discussed much. However, I do remember that some guy with supposed ties to a white-supremacist group was caught ordering anthrax from a laboratory -- apparently, he did it with very little trouble. Do you think it's a sympathetic party within the US, as a US cell or something, or do you think it's a completely different group capitalizing on the situation? "We are all born originals -- why is it so many of us die copies?" - Edward Young
Post #15,893 by Brandioch 10/31/01 2:15:47 PM Reply	Doesn't fit the other patterns. If you look at the other attacks you'll see big explosives and lots of possible casualties. The anthrax scare has fewer than a handful of deaths. Realistically, they'd get more casualties with a rifle or grenade during rush hour. More effective, too. I don't know who might be doing it, but it doesn't look like ObL's work (or the work of his associates). The world is a lot more complex than our government would like us to believe.
Post #15,897 by addison 10/31/01 2:38:19 PM Reply	Misguided attack. The world is a lot more complex than our government would like us to believe. As much as I distrust them - the government, from day one has said "We don't know who's doing this" - not "Its Osama again!" They were quick to point the finger after the planes, but not this time. Which makes me suspect that 1) they really don't have enough to be sure 2) they know its not, and aren't going to distract right now. But its the media , and the public, trying to have "one" threat. Addison
Post #15,916 by rsf 10/31/01 4:34:41 PM Reply	Could be a feint attack If I were working for Al-Qaeda and was planning something big, say a bombing or massive shooting, I'd have one my comrades do something like the 'anthrax in a letter' attack. It keeps the public's and FBI's eyes away from me while I work. Ray
Post #15,899 by boxley 10/31/01 3:09:41 PM Reply	You arnt suggesting giving up all freedom? I thought you were more like me, get used to living with the sh*t and kill them when you can. thanx, bill tshirt front "born to die before I get old" thshirt back "fscked another one didnja?"
Post #15,925 by tuberculosis 10/31/01 5:22:55 PM Reply	I don't think he is I don't think he is. He's making a point. Worst thing these assholes have done is destroy the illusion of safety most Americans have been living under. Everything is dangerous. Most anything can kill you. Its a crap shoot. Try to have a good time while you can and stay alert. Heck, some guy got flattened a couple weeks ago driving across the bay bridge going home. A construction barricade landed on his car and flattened it, killing him and producing a commutter's nightmare for the whole evening. My 1/2 hour bus ride turned into a 2 1/2 hour ordeal.
Post #15,942 by Brandioch 10/31/01 6:39:12 PM Reply	Todd got it. We aren't safe. We never were safe. We won't be safe. Not without going 100% fascist. Total lockdown of your ENTIRE life. Anything less than that can be exploited. Any freedom can be used against you. There are a lot of people out there who will try to take your freedoms, one by one, to "protect" you. They won't be able to protect you. Keep your freedoms.
Post #15,949 by Ashton 10/31/01 8:17:55 PM Reply	Good enough to become a working Creed, y'know? But then.. we'd have to worry about someone Deifying Thee. {harp arpeggios over Zildjian cymbal brushed lightly in 5/4 time.} {Fade-in to} The darkling mirror clears and reveals a supplicant on knees near a K-Mart polyester Damask-ish bedspread, intoning - Rogue-Saint Brandioch, save me from all things which go bump in the night. Lead me not into temptation, but give me the credit cards with which to buy them all now. Deliver me from evil unpredictability. Assure that I shall dwell forever in blessed certainty that nothing shall go wrong.. go wrong.. go wro -=-=-= {scene fades into mushroomy-cloud bkg. surmounted with a dewed, freshly-plucked single rosebud, rampant upon a Gucci purse} {sound fades-in from ppp < into the dissonant first movement of the Honegger Christmas Cantata} Verily I say unto thee amigo, do not go gently into That good night. They'll tear yer clothes off fer a relic, blame you for that canker sore just before the Big night, and finally.. Sell plaster dolls fer the UAV windshield, build giant structures and train acolytes to speak in tongues.. ax=16328h bx=77340h Zope internal error 3211 Home/mea/culpa null Punter error {(Hello(world)) Goodbye} omnes omnes post coitum triste O mio Dio - Tertium Organum; da capo ... or Worse!

Welcome to IWETHEY!