newhouse1390

I am guessing that many of you have heard the news the Zarqawi was killed by a US air airstrike in Iraq today, so I thought that I would get everyones thoughts on the issue. I must say that as a Marine I cannot think of a time that I have felt so good. What an uplifting and powerful victory for America, Iraq, President Bush, and humane freedom loving people all around the world.

I remember watching the beheading of Nick Berg, and when I saw that I wanted to kill. I heard the screams of Nick as this sub-human cut off his head, chanting to Allah. I get sick thinking about that.

I am so glad that this man has been killed and I am so proud to be an American, almost to tears.

40sondacurb

My thoughts:

As a staunch supporter of the death penalty (as long as there is sufficient uncorrupted evidence) I appreciate the fact that justice has been served but I think this is a smaller woohoo then you maybe. Like I said it's great that he's gone but his aims still exist in many more Al-Qaeda members in Iraq who will continue to try and execute his goals with or without him. But that is no reason to not let out a big YES! at the news.

Inactive

what happens if hitler won?

bry623

Hey, I wasn't the guy who Hitlered this thread.

If Hitler would have won, then we wouldn't have a thread on terrorists cause he would have wiped out the muslims after he got rid of the jews.

But to answer your question:

Inactive

just curious why you'd want to thank soldiers for english - would you not want to thank the english instead? besides alot of eastern europe had to thank soldiers for russian. if not russian it would have been german, either way no one was thankful.

bry623

As an American, any soldier who has fought for the American cause is the reason why we speak English today.

Of course, if the French had won the 7 years war, we'd parlent francais.

drbillchristian

Well first I do think it is a good thing to have killed Zarqawi (sp?), but at the same time I think it is important to keep this victory in perspective.

There are 10 more behind him to take his place.

I wonder about the political timing of the killing, relative to the release of the months-old "story" about the US Marine massacre and the Republican Convention. This plus the Gay Marriage Amendment and the US/Mexico border "issue" (quotes added because it's been an "issue" for over 20 years and so why is it just now being publicized ?) cause me to consider that the entirety of the war in Iraq is being used as a means of providing artificially-created political support for the Republican Party at a time when their polling numbers are at an all-time low.

Are Republicans killing (or allowing to die) people and lying about their domestic political intentions merely to remain in power and continue to make money ?

Yes.

bry623

***Mod note****

Let's keep this on topic please.

Inactive

but the last war that america fought where is was under attack was wwii. the ones since have been aiding other countries. but i thought that spanish was now spoken more than english in america todate.

not all people who log on are american as well, so english my not be their native tongue.

yustr

Any soldier who fought in WWII deserves praise - though it can be argued that our freedom was not really at stake (our Brit friends of course cannot say the same).

Since then, none of the many conflicts had anything to do with our freedom. Korea? Viet Nam? all those skirmishes in Latin America? Grenada? Bosnia? Iraq? Iraq (again!!!)? Remind me which of these great world powers was knocking on our door?



Dwight D. Eisenhower, in 1960, warned:

I wonder what he'd think of the 50 years since he warned us?

And don't forget: the US spends more on the "militaryindustrial complex" than the rest of the world combined. Yes combined!

So I thank all veterans for doing the horific job we ask of them. I just wish our political leaders were less willing to place them in harms way for temporary and usually meaningless short term adventures.

newhouse1390

I say that my tax dollars are going to something that is very important, its better than pork programs. I would rather have all of our tax dollars go to this war and our defense than these meaningless government programs (But I am digressing). All veterans should be rewarded for the job they do. America has been involved in several wars, we have lost several young men and women and these veterans deserve our utmost respect. Whenever troops are deployed me must come together stand behind them and support them regardless of our individual ideological beliefs. Every solider past and present has secured our freedom, culture, and language. So yes I say to all Americans thank a solider for your freedom, your culture, and your language.

I once again want to say that the US Air Force needs to be congratulated for a job well done. This man is off the streets. This is one of the most significant developments in the War on Terrorism in a long time. Zarqawi was the face of Al-Quidea, now who is? Osama? When was the last time we heard from him? As President Bush puts it, “He isn’t leading any parades is he?”

God Bless the USA!

newhouse1390

yustr,

I remind you that our nation is at war, so I would expect our government to be spending a lot of money on the war effort. It is worth it.

yustr

If all of that were going to the soldier on the ground I'd have less concern. But it' doesn't. Only a small fraction of the defense and security budget actually goes to them. Most goes to Boeing, Lockheed-Martin, Bechtel, et al. far from the front lines.

40sondacurb

haha, just in california .

Wozer

of course WWII soldiers were heroes...

but also those who fought in Vietnam and the first Iraq invasion are also heroes..and totally unsung...Viet vets had to deal with the after effects of agent orange...Gulf War vets are dealing with radiation poisoning from the use of depleted uranium...

you know what depleted uranium is?...pure U-238...the only thing depleted about it is the fact it has no U-235 (fissionable) left in it becuase it has been separated out for use in reactors and of course nuclear weapons...I kinda wonder why they aren't saving that U-238 for conversion into Pu-239 which just might be needed in the future to run reactors as an energy source when all the uranium (which there is a finite amount of) is used up...

drbillchristian

Comment: But we haven't even STARTED to pay the price. Yet.

Zarqawi was killed because he was a terrorist. The Republican Party has dismantled the protection of the Consitution in order to defend us against the "terrorists".

But you cannot have an artist without some art, a rapist without a rape, nor a facist without some fasicm. So if we are going to dissolve the US Constitution in order protect ourselves from terrorists, then I would like to see some terror.

Do you see any terror ? I don't. I see airplanes flying tourists to 3rd world countries (like Texas) and $2.69 / gallon gasoline prices. And dead soldiers & Marines coming home.

A good & patriotic citizen would at least fake some terror. Perhaps we could start a New American Tradition: "National Terror Day", where once a year, patriotic Americans take to the streets and spend the entire day publically wailing in hysteric terror of the Islamic Fundamentalists before spending the the rest of the year going about the business of making as much money as the Republican Party will allow.

We could even structure the "Show Your Terror" event, and model it after Texas A&M Univeristies "Yell Leaders", with Republican "Terror Leaders" walking around the "Crowds of American Citizens that Support the War" and leading in the expressions of our terror. Demonstrating how Good Americans are properly afraid when they are told to be so. Maybe special priveleges such as tax-deferments and jobs in the White House could be arranged for those Citizens that best exemplify what a Terrified American should look like.

Eisenhower said nothing new. The "Military Industrial Complex" merely identifies that which the Founders of this Nation were most afraid of. The Founders were terrified of the governent, and this Nation was founded on limiting it's power.

I find it completely ridiculous that the current administration can dissolve the Consitutional protections and point to invisible "terrorists" on the other side of the planet as the reason for the Constitution's dissolution.

Further, as the Founders were advocates of the Right of the American People to remove an Oppresive Government by force if necessary, and given the extradinary imbalance of "military" power between the US Military and the US Citizenry, future patiriotic revolutionaries may someday need to use the "terrorists" tactics in order to dislodge an oppresive Republican minority from power.

So don't spend to much time decrying the tactics of the "terrorists", as they be the only means we have of regaining our freedom at some time in the uncertain and terrifying future.

newhouse1390

I think that you don’t see terror is because what you say is simply not true.

I think the reason you do not see terror in the United States is because we learned from our mistakes. Our President has taken the fight to the Terrorists overseas so we do not have to fight them on our own streets. That is why we are able to sit here this evening and cheer at the news of Zarqawi's death. It is because of this administration’s bold foreign policy.

You are right he was a terrorist, but I think that you are wrong saying that we are dismantling the constitution, and to be honest I do not see what that has to do with the death of one of the worlds most dangerous terrorists.

Please put in detail the “dismantling” of our constitution.

Zazula

"A means can be justified only by its end. But the end in its turn needs to be justified." This was written in 1938 by Leon Trotsky (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Trotsky). Why did he care so much? Simply because he was an intellectual who wouldn't stand Stalin's atrocities on the name of was Stalin believed as "best practices" for the establishment of his own beliefs (communism)...

"The absolutely correct aim justifies even absolutely immoral means." Who said that? Every single totalitarian, let me tell you... I'm citing from About the Annihilation of Morality in Communist Theory and Practice by Ján Pavlík (http://nb.vse.cz/kfil/elogos/ethics/pavlik-1.htm): "From the standpoint of communist morality, everything which helps the communist revolution or, later, the building-up and defence of the "real" socialism is correct. The fact that Christian religion (including the Ten Commandments) was regarded as an instrument of the enemies of communism, implies that communist morality is nothing but a kind of Machiavellism because it allowed to do everything (killing people in their masses, stealing, pilfering, breaking promises, etc.) which was regarded as useful for reaching the ultimate goal of the communist programme."

"The aim justifies the means has become the cause of numberless crimes. A noble aim cannot command unworthy means." Who said that? A witless liberal? An incurable romantic? A pathetically naïve? No, my friends. He was an Islamic fundamentalist! Alija Izetbegović wrote back in 1970 in his Islamic Manifesto: "In the struggles for the Islamic order, all means are permissible except one: crime. No one has the right to defile the good name of Islam by the uncontrolled and superfluous use of force. The Islamic community should once more confirm that justice is one of its keystones... Formula: the aim justifies the means has become the cause of numberless crimes. A noble aim cannot command unworthy means..." (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alija_Izetbegovi%C4%87)


So, my friends, if you reflect one more time on your own comments, which of the three aforementioned maxims is closer to them? May be the fact we've faced extreme wrongdoing against our beliefs, society and freedom, has led us to accepting that being extremists ourselves is more than justified? And, if yes, how can this set us apart from becoming totalitarian; and thus selling out the ethics that characterize us and the freedom creed that constitutes the backbone of our society and civilization?


"It takes two to lie; one to lie and one to listen." (Homer - thanks, freddyhard, for reminding us). So, if millions listen and do nothing about it, then could someone please do the math and tell us how many lies this adds up to? Can you please define a noble cause, when its existence is based (even partially) on lies?

But who (and how) can define truth? Let us seek help from some experts:
"If you would be a real seeker after truth, you must at least once in your life doubt, as far as possible, all things." (René Descartes)
"Truth resides in every human heart, and one has to search for it there, and to be guided by truth as one sees it. But no one has a right to coerce others to act according to his own view of truth." (Mahatma Gandhi)
"The belief that there is only one truth and that oneself is in possession of it seems to me the deepest root of all evil that is in the world." (Max Born, German physicist)

Can you see a pattern here? I'm not talking, of course, about the "differences" between Republicans and Democrats - it's like talking about the differences between Intel's and AMD's (and I don't care which brand corresponds to which party...).

The only point I'm trying to make is that the soldiers you're thanking for spreading the English language are the same British soldiers that the Colonists fought so fiercely against - and those same Colonists were regarded as "terrorists" to the then Great Britain...

The reason why History is so widely taught and studied is simply because it gets so inevitably (almost perdictably) repeated again and again (despite our unwillingness to learn from it...).

Just open any History book and calculate the mean time span of even the most powerful empires... of even the strongest alliances... of even the most inimical enmities... of even the mightiest rulers... of even the biggest stakes... of even the slyest lies... - and after that, please do yourself a favor and reflect once more on your views, and let out the gentle being you really are... all of you. The world is in great need of your warmth, above anything else...

newhouse1390

Because you can read this thank a teacher, because it's English thank a solider.

My comment is referring to any member of the US Armed Forces that has so honorably served and I stand by it.

Wozer

"See the soldier with his gun who must be dead to be admired" ~ Gordon Lightfoot from Don Quixote...

sad, but true....