Accountability for Terrorism

[Dave Schwartz]

The activitites of the last 24+ hours leaves me shocked and disgusted with man's inhumanity to man.

I think that the single visual image which will haunt me the longest is not the falling of the towers or the crashing of the planes. Rather, it is the picture of (presumably) an arab family with several children dancing in the street in Jerusalem when they heard the news of their "victory" over the big, bad United States.

Over and over we tell our children that no matter what religious, racial, or ethinic differences they may encounter in their trek through life, they should remember we are all essentially the same; needing and pursuing the same basic things from life and feeling the same compassion for our fellow man. That picture tells me that some of us are not the same.

Now, I am not suggesting that the lines of demarcation can be drawn on grounds of religious beliefs or ethnicity. Saying, simply, that there are people in the world that do not see the world through the same eyes that we do, is a drastic understatement.

While the doctrine of my personal faith leans towards "turn the other cheek," I find that this whole fiasco has awakened "The Hawk" in me that has been dormant since the Vietnam era. I do not desire revenge. I desire safety and justice.

In my opinion, if a country knowingly harbors a terrorist group they MUST be held accountable for the actions of that group.

If that means serious economic embargoes, so be it. If that means military strikes, I am amenable to that solution as well. For now, I would be content to leave that to our leaders.

I say, "For now," because when I first heard President Bush's statement that the perpetrators would be brought to justice" my first thought was, we've heard this before. The people that actually bring about the destruction are not nearly the threat as those that organzie the attacks. We have not done so well at "bringing those to justice" in the past.

Hopefully, THIS Bush means business this time.

Just one man's opinion.


Regards,
Dave Schwartz

[smf]

Dave, a serious question (and an opinion of my own).

In the mid-nineties a dead US soldier was literally dragged thru the streets of (an African nation I can't even remember) by his boots. He was dragged around like a hunter drags around his kill, with the town's people cheering on exactly like what you saw last nite.

Did you feel the same then as now?

My point is we're not real popular a lot of places. We have a lot of freedoms and wealth other nations people are denied b/c they lack our resources, know-how and collective energy to accomplish things we set out to do. Somehow b/c of this "work ethic" we've (US citizens) become very unpopular w/ some.

[Dave Schwartz]

SMF,

I did not see the clip you talked about. While I would have felt... anger? at this action, it is simply not as strong (for me) as someone willing to kill thousands of innocent people to make their point (whatever that might be).

Now, if we were to take on that paradigm, we should make a similar "statement" towards "their" people. I dare say we possess a much more formidible killing machine if we desire to make our point by decimating civilians. (Understand that I am not advocating this.)

Unfortunately, it would appear that the attackers have set the rules which we must play by. That is, they do not have the strength to attack our military so they attack our civilians, then hide behind the protective shield of middle eastern government(s).

So, my question is, what are our alternatives? How do we stop this? "Statements such as 'We will bring the perpetrators to justice" do nothing for me. The "perpetrators" are already dead. They willingly gave up their lives for their "statement."

I cannot help but think what the response in an arab country would be to a suicide attack on that country's leaders... would they send a message to all that might consider it in the future by (say) wiping out the attacker's entire family? That might make future terrorists think twice. (Again, I am not suggesting that we do this.)

My point is, that we are up against a goal-oriented society that obviously has a different value system than we do. Whatever means we have used thus far to counteract terrorism simply is not working. We must do something different. The questions is: "What do we do?"


Regards,
Dave Schwartz

[Tom]

When I saw those peole dancing in the streets celebrating, I realized that we have been wrong all these years-all men are NOT created equal. Whether is a genetic deficiency, a religion based on evil and the devil, herditary mental illnes or what-these people are dangerous and we can no longer allow them to exist unrestrained. It is time to act. It is time to take out every middle eastern nation that condones terrorism.
The last time we dropped the bomb, we ended a war and saved countless lives. We need to do it again.
These animals need to understand just what a nuclear device can do, and more importantly will do. Terrorism crosses national borders, but it has definate ties to specific nations, and these are not only our enemies,
but enemies of the world, and they must be destroyed-no surrender, just complete and total destruction.
These sub-humans have forfeited their right to live.
I can only now imagine how Israel has felt all these years, living in fear with animals literally at their door.
Enough. It is time to act. It is pretty obvious to me that are no innocent people in these countries-they have failed throughought history to make changes. Now it our turn.
It is time for WAR! And from the sounds of congress, this sentiment is spreading and it is bipartisan.

Tom

[Bob Harris]

I disagree with the use of nuclear weapons but total destruction of a major city in a sponsering State is now called for...the world needs to know that the pin pricks are over.

[Tom]

We have a tremendous task right here at home that must be addressed-how were these animals able to hijack FOUR! airliners so easily?
There is a lot of accountability in the airline industry-total incompetence and failure to do their jobs cost 1,000's of lives and it cannot be ignored.
As one flies frequently, I can tell you airport security is a total joke at most airports. It was recently exposed for the complete failure it really is on national TV and what was done about it???? the FAA has proven itself to be completely worthless and we should start by replacing every one of its so called leaders. Let the military runthe airports until we can train competent people to do it. I welcome a uniformed guy with a machine gun and gernades asking my if I packed my own bags. i would be inclined to pay attention and not lie to him.
People in security postions shold not only be subject to dismissal but prosecution as well. Air trvel in this country has aided the terrorists by being lazy. Many of the "security guards" at gate enterences could barely handle flipping hamburgers at Burger King let alone protect the public. Every single airport in this country must be put on notice that unannouced security test will be performed and ANY failure will result in the immediate and indefinate closere of the facility. And security lapeses must become major felonies with jail terms attached.
I am not very happy about it, but from now on I will be driving 2-3 days at a time instead of a quick flight in and out.
I can't believe it, but I am actually agreeing with things being said by liberal democrates! Maybe we have been shaken up enough to realize that we must work together to deal with the real world and not petty issues. I hope so.

Tom

[smf]

Tom,

While I completely understand and somewhat agree w/ your sentiments, I think we need to step back and look at things as they truly are. The days of us sending nukes over the atlantic (or from Europe) undetected are long gone. The missiles w/b picked up in less than 2 minutes regardless of their launch site.

The retaliatory missiles w/b on their way, and likely to NY or LA. What we saw in Lower Manhattan w/ pale to what a nuke c/ do.

Here's a link that somewhat explains our dilemma.

http://bbs.austin360.com/cgi-bin/interact/BBS/generate_post.cgi?oldmid=1&mid=848714&Board=100texas

Our world isn't the same as it was when we were kids. We can't zip nukes over France, Germany, etc (who have their own nukes as well as Pakistan). When you step back and look at what we are PRESENTLY UP AGAINST, the idea of an anti-neuclear system is a must in order to DELIVER a neuclear warhead.

Another link here as to why Bush didn't go back to DC immediately. I'm not a Peter Jennings fan, never was but yesterday proved he has no business being on tv in a time of national crisis.

http://bbs.austin360.com/cgi-bin/interact/BBS/generate_post.cgi?oldmid=1&mid=848934&Board=100texas

And, finally, a nice piece of work by a Canadian journalist from years gone by. Very well said by this man.

http://bbs.austin360.com/cgi-bin/interact/BBS/generate_post.cgi?oldmid=1&mid=848926&Board=100texas

Btw, the linked site is as good a site for political talk as any you'll see. It's a mix of UT athletics, University issues, humor and a lot of heated political banter.

Finally, know the rest of the country is totally behind you guys up there. Can't take back what's happened but we'll find a way to get proper revenge. Sad thing is, nothing will keep us from these types of attacks in the future. We're dealing w/ an enemy(s) that won't quit in our lifetime.

[Tom]

Thanks for the links...I think you just filled up what little life I had outside of racing. I will enjoy my visits over there.

As to the middle east, It will not be easy, but when you have cockroaches, you don't get rid of them by stepping on a few-you have to spray. One step in the right direction would be to arm Israel with nuclear capabilities and napam, whatever else we can give them. It is not going to be easy, but everyone over there that lives is a potential attack later on. We must alter the world order now. That is going to include breaking ties with lot of these wacko POS countries. And we need to start purging our country of all non-citizens from this part of the world. Round em up and kick them out. No citizenship, no free ride-go home and live amoung your own kind. It is time to close our borders and deny these people any access to our home. There are pockets of terroists all over our country and we have to weed them out. No one can be trusted anymore.
Every one out there getting any kind of aid from America had better fall in behind us.

Tom