Sunday, 31 July 2005 - 11:55 PM CDT

How did we react to beheadings? I agree with you that the natural reaction is to want to kill back. But can't you see that they look at it in exactly the same way? They think they are avenging the terrible injustice and humiliation of the prison half-way around the world. On which side is there the power to run that? This is the spiral of violence. Who will be civilized enough to stop it?

Monday, 1 August 2005 - 11:59 AM CDT

This is what's called 'dissent,' NG. Dissent is the highest form of patriotism, according to Jefferson. This is what American citizens are obligated to do as patriots. Do you expect that dissent is something you likely agree with most of the time? Fat chance. This is how it looks.

What would you suggest if citizen's conscience is offended by national policy? Imagine for an instant that Carter is right (and he is). What is he supposed to do? Are we back to pre-1776 where any dissenting voice was considered "an attack upon the person of His Majesty the King"? Americans are not a servile people. "Don't Tread On Me" it said, remember? Carter expressed his opinion, that's all. Big deal.

Or, if citizens are not allowed to dissent, what about opposition candidates? May candidates who oppose policy run for office? What is your notion of democracy? Do you imagine that GWBush is commander-in-chief of the American people, as well as of all the people in uniform? Wasn't that the problem with Saddam Hussein, that no opposition was allowed, that he was a "freedom-hater"? Well, this is what freedom looks like. It's what makes America tick.

The existence of the illegal interrogation camp at Guantanamo is all that Al Qaeda needs for propaganda against us. Shut the damned thing down and that will improve. Also releasing the 100 or so children being held and tortured and raped in coalition prison camps in Iraq.

http://www.sundayherald.com/43796

Monday, 1 August 2005 - 5:24 PM CDT

Deep Blade, we have an obligation to History and to the happiness of Mankind to exterminate these people who murder in the name of Allah. The world they envision is one of perpetual darkness; what America offers is the way to our full potential as human beings. You have to see one side as being above the other. You have to accept that there is something more than mere revenge at work here; there is, rather, self-preservation on a grand scale.

Monday, 1 August 2005 - 5:30 PM CDT

Okay, so we've all dissented now. Don't you feel better?

Carter is a former President. What he says against our war aims and policies is bound to be used as propaganda by the Islamofascists. That's why he deserves the harshest sort of condemnation.

Anyway, whatever happened to the idea that discretion is the better part of valor? When the enemy of Civilization can profitably use your words, that ought to be a sign to clam up.

Monday, 1 August 2005 - 10:45 PM CDT

No, it's the policies, stupid. (Please don't take that personally. I am not calling you stupid.) It really is the policies; not the words of a former-president or anyone else.

Besides, we decided long ago that the dangers of allowing people to speak were preferable to the alternative.

My copy of Michael Scheuer's book arrived today, "Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror." He is as you know the 20 year CIA vet ("Anonymous") who had been tasked to OBL. It's not a fun read, but if you've not read it I recommend it. It's not the words; it's the policies. To this very hour we have played right into their hands.

Tuesday, 2 August 2005 - 6:35 PM CDT

Yeah, I wouldn't mind checking that one out. Scheuer's sort of hard for me to figure out, though. He's definitely more nuanced than most folks. Isn't he the one that says to either go all out against the Islamofascists or pack it in?

Tuesday, 2 August 2005 - 7:58 PM CDT

Yep. The current situation, he avers, is due to our (Bush's) stupidity. Continued stupidity will put us in increasingly untenable positions, forcing us to adopt bloody policies that no one will be able to stomach: carpet bombing Muslim countries, taking out massive numbers of civilians, many more civilians that terrorists, totally destroying infrastructure, and creating massive population displacements. Get good at killing and get used to it, recognizing that professional soldiers are paid to die if necessary. All stick; no carrots. Salted earth, or...change the policies, starting with policy toward Israel. He doesn't really advocate the bloodbath approach, but he says that's the choice. It's one or the other.