You keep repeating 9/11
And you keep forgetting it.
That was YEARS ago
So? We know what they would do to us
if they could, and that hasn't changed. A threat is a threat regardless of its time horizon.
Of course eventually they'll be fighting an army of robots. There's something poetically existential about suicide bombers killing drones. It's like going on a hunger strike or setting yourself on fire. I mean it's one thing to run into a crowded barracks or shopping mall with a bomb or kill a bunch of Russian schoolkids. We understand that -- your cause and your God are so fucking awesome it justifies murdering innocent people on purpose.
But run into a "motor pool" of robotic drones, run right up to the meanest-looking robot in the complex, throw your trenchcoat open, yell "Allahu Ackbar!" and BOOM! That's, like, really far out, y'know? That's making a statement, like people would just stare and think, "WTF?" All those pissy conservatives who demanded suicide bombers be labeled "homicide bombers" for God-knows-what pedantic nitpick would be left looking like a bunch of douchebags. That's some hardcore activism right there.
and for ALMOST evryone it was over a hundred miles away and involving nobody they knew
Almost everyone knows Todd Beamer.
"Let's Roll."
I said VILLAGE, not city or country. The closest 150 people is your "village"
Even if I accept your pathetically parochial worldview, Islamic terrorists aren't at war with New Yorkers; they're at war with Americans. "My village" happens to be populated mostly by Americans. I possess inductive reasoning skills sufficient to recognize what that means before the other explosives-laden shoe drops.
you might be "brainwashed"
You might be retarded.
I mean, the Taliban weren't behind it [9/11]
They were allied with Al Qaeda and harboring Osama bin Laden.
Omar Khadr ...willfully depriving one of the right to a fair trial ... breaches
Wrong on two counts: first, Omar Khadr was not deprived of a fair trial, and second, Article VI of the Constitution and thus the U.N. Charter is subordinate to all other provisions of the U.S. Constitution, including the authority of Commander in Chief granted the President.
So even if we did "violate the U.N. Charter", which at least for Khadr we didn't, for that to be illegal it would have to supercede the U.S. Constitution, which it doesn't.
Is anyone saying torture is okay?
I'm fine with waterboarding, which is technically not torture but a coercive interrogation technique. The reason I support it is simply that it works.
It's like picking a lock: there's something we need behind a locked door and we have a tool that gets us past it. If terrorists didn't want to be waterboarded they wouldn't allow themselves to be captured with heads full of actionable intelligence.
supporting oppressive governments like ... Israel ...
WTF? Israel is the most [classical] liberal democracy in the Middle East, and were it not for Iraq the only democracy. Despite suffering constant attacks from Palestinians Israeli citizens enjoy unprecedented civil liberties, both for a people at war and for a people of the Middle East. Whatever liberty interests you, be it religious freedom, gay rights, women's rights, economic freedom, or the right to vote Israel is the only country in the Middle East that covers it all. And they preserve all these liberties unapologetically under a constant rain of shrapnel from artillery shells and suicide bombers courtesy of their age-old foe the Palestinians.
If you think Israel is oppressive you're nuts.
It absolutely astounds me, more with each passing year, that there's anyone in the country who thinks any differently.
You haven't been keeping up with current events. Judged by historical standards -- and what other reasonable standards are there? -- Iraq's reconstruction has been an unprecedented success in terms of time and loss of life and an abject failure only in the controlling of monetary cost. Overall that's not too bad.
Michael Totten and Michael Yon actually went to Iraq and wrote about what they saw both good and bad. You should take the time to get caught up.
Maybe some kind of economic sanctions
In my alternative history Adam leads the Eden Tea Party, dumping the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge into the ambrosian ocean. Since he and Eve boycotted the fruit they never ate it, giving the screenplay an excuse for profligate gratuitous nudity.
USAian
I prefer "United Statesian"
(Reason:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29g57XTYgLE )
For all that though, smashing said country leaves America with some responsibility for fixing it
Well said. Today's enemies can be tomorrow's allies -- but only if we get reconstruction right and the motivations align. Incidentally our Afghanistan policy scares me -- we can't win hearts and minds burning opium crops. We could be stuck there fighting a low-grade insurgency forever or we could accept a cheap, plentiful opium poppy on the global market. Fuck the drugs; kill the damn terrorists.
My country is my village
Damn straight. Our Constitution makes us all Americans, one village, one nation of laws and liberty in a world of bureaucrats, God-emperors, kings, Mahdis, and dictators.
Nationalism in defense of the Constitution is no vice. You'll swear your oath to that Constitution, by the way, not to Bush, Obama, Palin, or God. It's something you'll find yourself very proud of as you travel abroad.
And thank you for what you are doing for me and my family. You guys are amazing.
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