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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: maceng2 who wrote (11517)	11/25/2001 11:04:53 PM
From: Maurice Winn	Read Replies (5) \| Respond to of 281500

PB, it seems that Osama, Omar and Co have decided to copy "Custer's Last Stand", "Battle at Wounded Knee", "Remember the Alamo". But maybe it will not be "Osama's Last Stand" so much as "Osama's Last Laugh". Maybe he has got a farewell present lined up ready to go. One of those infamous urban legend "Missing Nukes". When Osama says "Okay, hold it right there or I pull the pin on the bomb", will GeorgeW call his bluff, which might not be a bluff, or will he settle down to wait him out? Wouldn't it be a shock if he actually has got a last Ace up his sleeve. He could die happy as he watches the images on tv of his nuke making a large hole somewhere. My guess is that he doesn't have one, but I'm nervous about it. He has had a lot of time and had a lot of money and plenty of Afghan opium has been smuggled into the USA so it would be little trouble to take in a nuke too [bribe a customs official with his usual opium import bribe but this time bring in a nuke instead, wrapped in opium as a disguise]. What a Trojan Horse that would be - a wonderful gift for the drug-crazed people of the USA but with a surprise centre. Osama's Last Stand or Osama's Last Laugh, either way, the denouement nears. Remember the Alamo <Besieged by Santa Anna, who had reached Bexar on February 23, 1836, Colonel William Barret Travis, with his force of 182, refused to surrender but elected to fight and die, which was almost certain, for what they thought was right. The position of these men was known but no aid reached them. The request to Colonel James W. Fannin for assistance had gone unheeded. No relief was in store. As the Battle of the Alamo was in progress, a part of the Texas Army had assembled in Gonzales under the command of Mosely Baker in the latter part of February. From this army, a gallant band of 32 courageous men under the command of Albert Martin left to join the garrison at the Alamo. Making their way through the enemy lines, these 32 men joined the doomed defenders and perished with them. On March 2, 1836, during the siege of the Alamo, Texas independence was declared. Four days later, the document was signed with the blood shed at the Alamo. It was under such conditions that Travis and his men fought off the much larger force under Santa Anna. It was with the love of liberty in his voice and the courage of the faithful and brave that Travis gave his men the none too cheerful choice of the manner in which they wished to die. Realizing that no help could be expected from the outside and that Santa Anna would soon take the Alamo, Travis addressed his men, told them that they were fated to die for the cause of liberty and the freedom of Texas. Their only choice was in which way they would make the sacrifice. He outlined three procedures to them: first, rush the enemy, killing a few but being slaughtered themselves in the hand-to-hand fight by the overpowering Mexican force; second, to surrender, which would eventually result in their massacre by the Mexicans, or, third, to remain in the Alamo and defend it until the last man, thus giving the Texas army more time to form and likewise taking a greater toll among the Mexicans. The third choice was the one taken by the men. Their fate was death and they faced it bravely, asking no quarter and giving none. The siege of the Alamo ended on the dawn of March 6, when its gallant defenders were put to the sword. But it was not an idle sacrifice that men like Travis and Davy Crockett and James Bowie made at the Alamo. It was a sacrifice on the altar of liberty.> Osama seems to be a modern day version of Colonel Travis. But he's fighting and going to die for Islam instead of Liberty. I'm not sure how different these ideologies really are outside the world of cliches and slogans. From Osama's point of view, he's fighting for Moslem liberty from the hegemony of the USA, GeorgeW et al. Meanwhile, GeorgeW wants the right to kill any aliens his military tribunals decide are harmful to the USA and to bring back the good old days of Pax Americana where approved dictators and governments ensure the USA rulers' interests around the world. Freedom is a fragile flower. It's almost an endangered species, including in the USA, which is not really the land of the free, despite the trite cliche [though of course it's a heck of a lot better there than most other places]. Americans aren't allowed to buy NZ sheep meat as one small example [though the illegality of that decision by Clinton is being overturned by the World Trade Organisation]. The world has got a long way to go before we can end the story with "...and they all lived happily ever after". The End. Mqurice