War on Terrorism\ufffd, War on Drugs\ufffd, War on the Constitution...

Post #45,232 by jb4 7/11/02 6:26:10 PM 7/11/02 6:27:04 PM Reply	War on Terrorism\ufffd, War on Drugs\ufffd, War on the Constitution... This is NOT a war on Anything. There has been no Declaration of War by the Congress, so lose that jingoistic bullshit. All your ravings could have been scripted by Ari Fleischer, for all the veracity contained within them. You parrot the company line well; expect your check in the mail. What this is is the Fascist script, being executed poorly by those not as well practiced in it as some of its predecessors. Every 2-bit tinhorn dictator from the middle ages through the '50s, '60s, '70s, ad nauseum has used the same ploy: redirect the attention of the vast unwashed to The Enemy\ufffd, thereby distracting them from their domestic plight, and having the happy side effect of solidifying thier popularity as they wrap themselves in their Flag and jingoistic sloganeering. As far as attacking Seattle, that would seem to suit Marlowe well, and if they happen to wipe out Redmond in the process...well........no great loss. All this chest thumping is wearing a bit thin. If we really wanted Osama, he'd have been dead within 72 hours, and we'd bee displaying is dead body on National Television\ufffd. Nah, He's much more usefull as a propaganda device alive. After all, we why should be be bothered investigating the Vice-Resident's possibly criminal machinations in Halliburton, when there's Evil\ufffd\ufffd to be fought? Stop shilling for these people, Norm. It's unbecoming... jb4 "I remember Harry S. Truman's sign on his desk. 'The buck stops here.' Strange how those words, while still true, mean something completely different today." -- Brandioch Edited by jb4 July 11, 2002, 06:27:04 PM EDT War on Terrorism, War on Drugs®, War on the Constitution... This is NOT a war on Anything. There has been no Declaration of War by the Congress, so lose that jingoistic bullshit. All your ravings could have been scripted by Ari Fleischer, for all the veracity contained within them. You parrot the company line well; expect your check in the mail. What this is is the Fascist script, being executed poorly by those not as well practiced in it as some of its predecessors. Event 2-bit tinhorn dictator from the middle ages through the '50s, '60s, '70s, ad nauseum has used the same ploy: redirect the attention of the vast unwashed to The Enemy, thereby distracting them from their domestic plight, and having the happy side effect of solidifying thier popularity as they wrap themselves in their Flag and jingoistic sloganeering. As far as attacking Seattle, that would seem to suit Marlowe well, and if they happen to wipe out Redmond in the process...well........no great loss. All this chest thumping is wearing a bit thin. If we really wanted Osama, he'd have been dead within 72 hours, and we'd bee displaying is dead body on National Television®. Nah, He's much more usefull as a propaganda device alive. After all, we why should be be bothered investigating the Vice-Resident's possibly criminal machinations in Halliburton, when there's Evil® to be fought? Stop shilling for these people, Norm. It's unbecoming... jb4 "I remember Harry S. Truman's sign on his desk. 'The buck stops here.' Strange how those words, while still true, mean something completely different today." -- Brandioch Collapse All History
Post #45,300 by marlowe 7/12/02 1:11:43 PM Reply	We could have Osama in 72 hours? Your faith in our nation's ability far exceeds mine. And I'm the one who gets called the resident jingoist around here. Next you'll be saying Ashcroft can walk on water. [link\|http://www.angelfire.com/ca3/marlowe/index.html\|http://www.angelfir...e/index.html] Everything's a mystery until you figure out how it works. If competence is considered "hubris" then may I and my country always be as "arrogant" as we can possibly manage.
Post #45,311 by Ashton 7/12/02 3:09:22 PM Reply	Read for comprehension, please - I believe the man said, If we really wanted Osama, he'd have been dead within 72 hours. I believe this tense connotes via, he'd have been: In the past. At the start of this adventure full of bellicose sound, fury and troop movements. Had we Really wanted Osama initially ... we would not have left the "closing-in on him phase" to mercenaries from the same milieu. As we did. That he was bound to escape the sieve which that border IS: was as inevitable as ... the present efforts of this Admin to follow the script of Sinclair Lewis's It Can't Happen Here. That barn door could not be closed by (cheap, expendable) proxies THEN. Yes, 20/20: but that is also called - failure to employ intelligent tactics, failure to notice the evident probabilities and act accordingly. This may not 'prove' that it was intended that Osama remain at large, as convenient Straw Devil, for propaganda's sake - there rarely is such proof in inherently devious maneuvering we call war. But try to get the tenses straight. Ashton
Post #45,322 by marlowe 7/12/02 4:01:48 PM Reply	Oh, silly me. He's only saying our country had supernatural powers back last fall, not now. [link\|http://www.angelfire.com/ca3/marlowe/index.html\|http://www.angelfir...e/index.html] Everything's a mystery until you figure out how it works. If competence is considered "hubris" then may I and my country always be as "arrogant" as we can possibly manage.
Post #45,331 by Brandioch 7/12/02 4:33:06 PM Reply	Is that the best you have? Shall I refresh your memory? Manuel Noriega Grenada Oh, why bother. We have enough examples of where our military went in and accomplished its mission quickly. There's nothing supernatural about NOT being stupid. But it is amusing to see the apologists for the current regime blame "incompetence" for the continuing failure to capture/kill Osama. Our intelligence operations are sooooo good that they MISSED the planned attack.... -BUT- Quickly managed to identify Osama as the leader -BUT- Didn't have the resources to kill/capture him -THEN- Completely lost him and the rest of the operatives. -NOW- We don't know who will attack from where or when. BUT WE KNOW WHO THE BAD GUYS ARE! Or so those incompetant fools claim. Of course, Marlowe believes them.
Post #45,333 by jb4 7/12/02 4:34:09 PM Reply	So how many straw men ARE you going to construct? Supernatural powers? Don't make me laugh...we can't eve fuckin elect ourselves a President anymore. What we do have are Navy Seals, Rangers, Black Bag artists of every ilk, mercenaries, and Wet Boys. We have the means to deliver these people basically anywhere we want, and any time we want (more or less). If we wanted Osama (past imperfect, for those of you keeping score), we would have had him (subjunctive pluperfect, acting as the conditional; often known as subjunctive 2, again for the grammatically challenged); jb4 "I remember Harry S. Truman's sign on his desk. 'The buck stops here.' Strange how those words, while still true, mean something completely different today." -- Brandioch
Post #45,371 by orion 7/12/02 6:41:06 PM Reply	Could have had Osama in the past he was offered to the Clinton Administration, but they rejected the offer. Had they have known about the 9/11 attacks back then, they would have took him. See how if you let the bad ones go that they come back to bite you in the ss later on? I am free now, to choose my own destiny.*
Post #45,372 by Brandioch 7/12/02 6:57:35 PM Reply	Slightly different then that. No, what happened is one of the officials in Afghanistan wanted US support to "remove" one of his political opponents and, in exchange, said official would provide the US with "information" concerning someone he said Osama visited with.
Post #45,522 by wharris2 7/14/02 5:23:29 AM Reply	I think that's wrong The "gift" of Osama was in his pre-Afghanistan days, when he was in Syria, I believe, or one of those countries. In Afghanistan, we've known (at times) where he's been, but not where he is. You can disagree with a lot (I disagree with most) of what Clinton did, but his cruise missile attack on their terrorist training camp is supposed to have missed by only several hours. Even today, we don't know if he is living or dead, and if living, where. He's been reported to have kidney or liver problems (I forget which) - hell, he might be in a clinic in Switzerland. Presumably, if he's alive, if he's not that sick, he's in some hidden fortified cave or hidden in plain sight ala the Sherlock Holmes short story in one of the Pakistani refugee camps. Famous last RPG quotes: "I'll just shoot this fireball down the dungeon passageway..."
Post #45,607 by jb4 7/15/02 9:10:25 AM Reply	The Heizenberg Uncertainty Principle, Osama division In Afghanistan, we've known (at times) where he's been, but not where he is. jb4 "I remember Harry S. Truman's sign on his desk. 'The buck stops here.' Strange how those words, while still true, mean something completely different today." -- Brandioch

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