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Politics : Don't Blame Me, I Voted For Kerry -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Chas. who wrote (14427)	4/13/2004 1:31:14 PM
From: cnyndwllr	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 81568

Chuck, I think you're mixing apples and oranges. I'm not saying we shouldn't have a strong military; I'm saying we shouldn't be using it as a blunt tool to try to accomplish a precision task. Remember my analogy about using a sniper rifle to kill a groundhog and not trying to blow up a whole section of land? We've covered that ground. No one is trying to "run over and enslave" us. It looks to me like they're trying to kick us out of the Middle East for religious and political reasons. You say we need to "decapitate the head of the monster" ..of the terrorists. That's fine, now how do you locate the "head" and how many "heads" are there, and how many new "heads" will grow in their places. We can't answer any of those questions now. The reason we can't is because we don't know how to get the local populations to quit supporting, supplying and reinforcing the ranks of the terrorists. The reason we can't do that is because we don't understand and respect the power of the ideas that are driving them and, more importantly, we don't have any idea of how to erode that popular support for those ideas and the terrorists that champion them. You want to "employ super secret black ops and special ops to get the job done." Yes, and there IS a tooth fairy. Sorry for the sarcasm but the problem isn't black ops, the problem is that we don't, can't and won't ever operate efficient black ops in that part of the world. It's a very rigid, structured society with many "secret handshakes" and very little disincentive to kill "suspected" traitors. We're not dealing with the Mafia here. Anyone who thinks covert operations is a panacea is way wrong. You may say, "fug the rest of the world we can't afford to care what they may or may not think of us, it is about our survival." The truth, however, is far different. If the rest of the world is for us, we win against terrorists. If the rest of the world is against us, the terrorists will cut us to ribbons with impunity. Surely you can see that. If we continue in our current path we will not be reading how "1 nation stood up to global terrorism, looked it in the eye and said "No more", "Not here"." We will be reading about the debacle of Iraq, the dramatic increases in terror attacks against American interests and the seige mentality that pervades the country. We will also be reading about the severe decline of the American economy, the severe loss of American prestige and power in the world, the dramatic increase in Chinese, Eastern Block and European military might and influence and the proliferation of wmds throughout the world. Or, maybe, you'll be reading about widespread wars and multiples of dead. As far as the Vietnam thing, if you think that there were "2 or 3 atrocities" by the American military in Vietnam, you haven't read nearly enough of it's history. There were hundreds, maybe thousands, of instances where a handful to scores of civilians were targeted and killed by Americans who either intended to kill them or just plain didn't give a damn whether they got killed. You got to fight that in yourself, Chuck, it's a heavy burden to bear and it doesn't go away. For a really good perspective on the real Vietnam, read Lawrence"s book, "The Cat From Hue." You won't regret it. And no, I'm not some bookish, bespectacled, retired teacher although there were days when I thought that would be a great profession. I don't live in Arizona or Colorado and I'm not really that nice of a guy either. You pretty much struck out on the entire post. g.