Eminent Domain Stuff
New London Update (2/24/06)
Bad NLDC!
Coverage of the Rally at New London's City Hall (w/ pics)
Wednesday, April 21, 2004
Ted Rall Get's It (Somewhat) Right
In a recent column, Ted Rall writes:
“[9/11 didn’t happen], as Bush says, because radical Islamists are evil or because they hate our freedom. It was vengeance for 1998, for cruise missile attacks that scarcely raised an eyebrow in the United States even as they convulsions of rage surged through millions of Muslims. It's perfectly reasonable, therefore, to blame Bill Clinton for 9/11, but not because he didn't do enough. What led to 9/11 was a clumsy application of excessive military power and arrogance.”
Hum…maybe. The problem with this reasoning is that the first World Trade Center bombing occurred in 1993, the Khobar Towers were bombed in 1996 and the Cole was attacked in 2000. Only one of those three happened after the specific “clumsy application of excessive miliarty power and arrogance” refered to by Mr. Rall. Why, then should we think that the next in a line of terrorist attacks (albeit the most deadly and destructive) have a different cause than the first two/three?
Ted’s point is obviously (to my thinking anyway) to make us consider that perhaps we should have taken a different course of action in Iraq, as he has often opposed Bush on this topic. Does he have a point? Not really. I agree that attacking terrorists probably makes them mad, I don’t care. Not attacking them seems to do the trick too.
So, it would seem that the only way to win this war is to take a two-pronged approach. 1) Kill the bad guys and 2) Bring freedom to the Middle East. #1 will remove the current problem. #2 will make people’s lot in life better, making them happier and, therefore, less likely to want to blow themselves up on the process of killing us in the future. I know, it sounds so simple that it seems stupid. But let me tell you, this is the only way that we will win in the short- and long-term.
Are we doing both of these things? Yes we are. We are obviously killing the bad guys, and in the very process of doing so we are brining freedom to a previously repressed people. The problem we face is that we are currently on the bumpy part of the road. If we manage to stay the course (which we will if we all do the right thing in November) I think that we will look back in 20 years and say two things: “I am extremely thankful to the young men and women who sacrificed to make freedom in Iraq possible” and, when we see the Iraqi people living free from the terror that they have endured for the past few decades, “It was worth the sacrifice.”
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In a recent column, Ted Rall writes:
“[9/11 didn’t happen], as Bush says, because radical Islamists are evil or because they hate our freedom. It was vengeance for 1998, for cruise missile attacks that scarcely raised an eyebrow in the United States even as they convulsions of rage surged through millions of Muslims. It's perfectly reasonable, therefore, to blame Bill Clinton for 9/11, but not because he didn't do enough. What led to 9/11 was a clumsy application of excessive military power and arrogance.”
Hum…maybe. The problem with this reasoning is that the first World Trade Center bombing occurred in 1993, the Khobar Towers were bombed in 1996 and the Cole was attacked in 2000. Only one of those three happened after the specific “clumsy application of excessive miliarty power and arrogance” refered to by Mr. Rall. Why, then should we think that the next in a line of terrorist attacks (albeit the most deadly and destructive) have a different cause than the first two/three?
Ted’s point is obviously (to my thinking anyway) to make us consider that perhaps we should have taken a different course of action in Iraq, as he has often opposed Bush on this topic. Does he have a point? Not really. I agree that attacking terrorists probably makes them mad, I don’t care. Not attacking them seems to do the trick too.
So, it would seem that the only way to win this war is to take a two-pronged approach. 1) Kill the bad guys and 2) Bring freedom to the Middle East. #1 will remove the current problem. #2 will make people’s lot in life better, making them happier and, therefore, less likely to want to blow themselves up on the process of killing us in the future. I know, it sounds so simple that it seems stupid. But let me tell you, this is the only way that we will win in the short- and long-term.
Are we doing both of these things? Yes we are. We are obviously killing the bad guys, and in the very process of doing so we are brining freedom to a previously repressed people. The problem we face is that we are currently on the bumpy part of the road. If we manage to stay the course (which we will if we all do the right thing in November) I think that we will look back in 20 years and say two things: “I am extremely thankful to the young men and women who sacrificed to make freedom in Iraq possible” and, when we see the Iraqi people living free from the terror that they have endured for the past few decades, “It was worth the sacrifice.”
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