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Originally posted by Attalus:
Several excellent points, here. The primary one that I emphasize is that it takes just one side to make a war, and we were attacked first.
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I sorta agree...actually, if only one side does the killing, that would be a "massacre."
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Originally posted by Attalus: Second, how do you think that all that rubble of your nightmares is going to be caused by? Certainly not by the Arabs. They couldn't even take Israel, much less the USA and the UK.
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Again, I sorta agree...I do not believe that Al Queda, OBL, or Iraq has the capacity to wage and win a beat-up-the-enemy-and-conquer-them old-school war. They do, however, have the capacity to royally screw with us.
I do not take comfort from the fact that they could "only" kill a few thousand citizens, or "occasionally" mount small-scale, willy-nilly strikes that randomly make life hell for us. Our economy has already suffered the ripple effects of terrorism. The two biggest trade buildings in the heart of the New York's business district are now a memory. My best friend, a senior CPA for MillsCorps, was telling me how BILLIONS of dollars related to mall development are now unaccounted for as they were being stored in the WTC...tell me that's not gonna hurt their bottom line (and the bottom line of other companies). And the terrorists have also made flying anywhere in the US a bigger pain in the ass that it used to be-- something I once thought impossible.
No, the PLO and Hamas can't go toe-to-toe with Israel, and I think they know that. However, everyone here who would just love to go for a ride on an Isreali transit bus or do some shopping in a crowded Tel Aviv market, raise your hand...I thought so. Quite frankly, failing all other reasons why my sympathies lie with Isreal, I find it commendable that they haven't slaughtered half the Palestinians wholesale by now. For crying out loud, Hamas has public parades where their goons dress up and high-step around with their AKs and chant "Death to Israel..." I see that and I wonder why the IDF doesn't swoop in with a couple gunships and lay waste to the whoel stupid scene.
Point being, we cannot be a prosperous country without security. And I do not find terrorism on our soil to be a problem we can live with, like a bad back or something.
Quote:
Originally posted by Attalus:
If we were really angry, like at a sneak nuke attack on New York or London, we could convert the Middle East to a sea of radioactive glass in about two hours. We, of course, do not want to do this, but, make no mistake, it is within our capabilities.
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And in doing so we would confirm the suspicions of lefties worldwide by being as bad as the terrorists.
Sure, playing armed Whack-A-Mole with the elusive terrorists is time-consuming and frustrating and does not produce splashy newsreel footage that shows how we're winning the big battles that will ultimately lead to victory...but this is a low-intensity asymmetrical war, and it requires a low-intensity solution.
The US and the UK has some of the best-trained, best-equipped, and most highly motivated special operators in the world, bar none (SEALs, Delta, Special Forces, Rangers, SAS, Royal Marine Commandos) who have already proven that they-- especially when backed by straight-leg Marines and Airborne troops-- are capable of eating the once-feared mujahideen guerillas of the Taliban for breakfast and crapping them out before lunch.
[ 11-26-2002, 11:23 PM: Message edited by: Gregster ]