Hawk, you can see the problem with a USA-centric approach. King George II's asserts that the front line against terrorism is in Iraq. usatoday.com
<...Administration officials said Bush wanted to remind U.S. voters and reluctant allies of an argument he has made before: Iraq is the front line of the war on terrorism, and faltering at this critical moment would signal to terrorist groups that the world doesn't have the will to stop them.
"The Middle East will either become a place of progress and peace, or it will be an exporter of violence and terror that takes more lives in America and in other free nations," he said.
To underscore that argument, he said that more than "blind rage" is fueling attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq. "The terrorists have a strategic goal. They want us to leave Iraq before our work is done," he said. They believe "that if you inflict harm on Americans, we will run from a challenge. In this, they are mistaken."
Before the war, Bush often cited Iraq's development of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons as a central rationale for ousting Saddam. On Sunday, those weapons were mentioned only in passing: "The former regime sponsored terror, possessed and used weapons of mass destruction."... >
Well, George II is not doing too well. He failed to find BigFoot who has hot-footed it outa there. But back to the front line.
The front line was in the movie theatre in Moscow. It was outside a bar in Bali. It might even be imprisoned in Paremoremo prison [Zaoui]http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0308/S00029.htm It was in East Timor [thanks to the USA support for the Indonesian invasion - Henry Kissinger]. It was in Afghanistan against Gorby [who the USA tried to do down by supporting Osama's side - now there's some irony]. It's in western China. It's in Kashmir. It's in Omagh where the American-supported IRA kills children. Now there's some more irony. It's found in the hull of the Rainbow Warrior, where the French state terrorists murdered a photographer [backed, in my opinion, by the USA and Britain, in support of the weapons of mass destruction, noocular version, repression of New Zealand]. It's found in the grave where Kiwi Stan Shaw's hacked head is buried [maybe cremated for all I know]. It's found wherever the pieces of Rajiv Ghandi and that lady came to rest.
The front lines seem not to be in Iraq at all. They seem to be where men seek unadulterated power and will kill to get their way. Which is most places. In many countries [mostly the democratic ones] that power-seeking process is reduced, though Ted Kaczynski and Tim McVeigh showed successfully [along with the undiscovered anthrax terrorist] that home-grown terrorism is enough to be going on with. The front lines are right there in Oklahoma and in the hearts and minds of your children. John Walker Linde. Columbine.
Mqurice
PS: On whether Americans will run. I suspect they will, as has happened in recent decades. Lebanon, Somalia, Vietnam ... when the going gets tough, the tough get going home. Osama and Saddam might be right and King George II wrong. The voters decide, not him. Who wants to be the last one killed to get oil for CB's SUV? Or even to save Iraq from Saddam? Or even to hold the front line against terrorism, when it is obviously NOT the front line. Who wants their son to be the last body off the last aircraft? There are plenty of Moslems who would LOVE to be the one to die in the last killing of an American occupying Moslem land. Not so many Americans are keen to occupy and hold the line - I guess. Hence the urgency to give the UN a hospital pass. |
