David Sirota takes on Coulter who has come up with the bizarre defence that the war in Iraq is not unpopular, the polls are simply wrong. Sirota argues that the public are not as stupid as Coulter and Dick Cheney thinks they are. Let's hope he's right.
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"Those who would sacrifice a little liberty for a perceived increase in security, deserve neither - and will eventually lose both." Benjamin Franklin.
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4 comments:
07:08 "Neither did Hezbollah, which killed 200 Americans back in 1983"
Osama Bin Coulter should perhaps study her history better.
Israel itself was once a terrorist state which attacked Americas allies.
Terrorism has and always will be with us, it's time to end this completely ridiculous "War on Terror" now.
Of course, Americans have completely erased the Irgun, Haganah and the Stern Group out of their collective memories of the Middle East. They also conveniently forget the bombing of the King David hotel.
Indeed, I would regard Israel's recent activity in Lebanon as state terrorism sponsored and backed by the US and the UK. There is no question that Israel's activities either aimed to kill civilians or was conducted in such a reckless manner that they didn't care whether or not they killed civilians.
What they inarguably did was inflict terror on the people of Lebanon.
What's really sad for me is that Britian as a nation has dealt with terrorism for at least 100 years. 40 years of the IRA, Israel and Palestine before that, two World Wars, and colonial battles when we had the empire.
I'm no historian, but one thing I do know is that in all that time we have dealt and ruled with a fair and even hand. We managed to establish peace talks with the IRA, we survived the World Wars and didn't take it personally. One of our British traits has always been diplomacy.
It's fair to say we considered ourselves great, we had an empire and there were attrocities. However generally, just like other Empires before that, we would not only conquer but bring trade, ethical and moral values, and work with existing cultures, armies and government.
At one time we understood that you rebuild nations not by force but by working with that nation and it's people.
Then along comes 2001, Brave New World. America, who has never suffered a major terrorist attack suddenly is the authority on how to do foreign policy. We throw away 100's of years of wisdom, knowledge and mature government to get in bed with America and let them teach us about how to deal with terrorism/insurgency.
It both angers and saddens me Kel, Pax Americana is the worst form of empire the world has ever seen.
America does not know how to handle criticism or attack. All is needed is to raise the level of fear and you have Salem Witch Trials, The House of Un-American Activities, Japanese Internment Camps and currently Guantanamo Bay.
Alex,
One of the saddest things about Pax Americana is that it's not even a proper empire in the way that historians would understand such a thing.
One of the advantages of the Roman and British empires was that conquered peoples enjoyed the citizenship and the protection of that empire. The idea that slaughter could take place in the streets the way it currently is in Iraq would have been unthinkable. The army would go to whatever lengths were needed to establish order. The Ameircans look on with idiots like Rumsfeld saying, "Freedoms messy." What we are witnessing is not freedom, it's anarchy.
And I do agree strongly that one Blair's greatest failings has been to allow Bush to continue under the pretence that there is a military solution to terrorism.
There never has been. Terrorism succeeds because the local population agree with it's aims. Only by addressing the root cause will you ever change that. In this case I do believe it's the Palestinian issue and, for once, Blair and I seem to find ourselves in agreement. The question is will he put enough pressure on Bush to get the US to start being serious about this.
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