"Bring them on!!"

You can listen to the party but you have to arrest the terrorist group or kill them whichever is necessary.

"It's downright silly to maintain that the IRA, Bolsheviks, and Hamas are more dangerous now--as political parties--than they were when they were terror groups."

It's downright silly that you pick such an idiotic - and deceitful - interpretation. I agree with the writer's claim that ten years after a group has developed to the point of being widely recognized, the group TENDS to develop even more clout. Things get worse before the group's threat is progressively thwarted.

Orrin, once again you show your crookedness.

"developed to the point of being widely recognized"? What does that even mean? Al Qaeda has developed to the point where it barely exists any more.

Re: Beinart quote "Sri Lankan suicide bombers who blow themselves up in the name of Tamil independence are terrorists--but we are not at war with them."

OK, Petey, so let's change it to "War on Terrorists Who Attacked Us". Feel better now?

And I'd say Bush's strategy of planting democracy like a crop in the Middle East to prevent kids from being turned into terrorists as they grow up is indeed a war on terror. Provide an economy and the rule of law to these populations and see terror disappear.

>And I'd say Bush's strategy of planting
>democracy like a crop in the Middle East to
>prevent kids from being turned into terrorists
>as they grow up is indeed a war on terror.

It might be a long shot, but (according to USS Clueless) the worst-case alternative would be waiting until they hit us so hard we are in mortal danger, then strike back with all those nukes from the Cold War stockpiles until Mecca is a radioactive glass crater and Arabic is only spoken in Hell.

(Remember US vs "the Japs" in 1945? My only surviving parent is still anti-Japanese at the core from growing up during that time.)

Bush's strategy is trying to head off that worst-case possibility.

Ken:

You are correct - no President wants to be left with the option of just vaporizing Mecca.

The Democrats don't seem to understand that by following the Carter/Clinton/Kerry model, that is right where they will end up. Who doubts that if Clinton had to choose between impeachment (and certain conviction) and destroying Mecca, he would have done the latter, without regard to the consequences?

you are all self-righteous, ignorant fools. "The war on terrorists who attacked us" puts it spot on. Other countries have dealt with terrorism for years without resorting to killing thousands and thousands of people, hundreds of them children, as America has done in Afghanistan and Iraq. Or possibly "war on countries who are rich in oil ad raw materials". Far more innoccents have died in the "war on terror" than in the September 11th attacks. These were admittedly terrible, but those poor people who died do not deserve to have their deaths turned into a cause and a justification for causing more horror. "Destroying Mecca" is posted as a legitimate, fair option! Killing people and destroying ancient and holy shrines should never be the case before democracy and negotiations, something America seems to be opposed to. This "war on terror" has put far more countries at a greater risk from terrorism than they ever were before, and Iraq and Afghanistan are still in terrible situations, unstable, and unsafe. Britain was dragged into a war the vast majority of the population were, and are, vehemently against, and you would do well to remember that your "allies" don't stretch much further than Blair and a very few cronies. Whoever can still suppotr Bush is deluded, ignorant, violent, and cruel, and must be even stupider than he. Blair at least has brains, even if he does choose to ignore them in the face of what Bush says. Bush and "PLANTING DEMOCRACY"? You're joking, right? Kill and torture them until they stay quiet. more likel nobody is going ti hut up soon, and you're not making yourselves any friends. Britain doesn't thank you for making her more of a target tha she ever was before, and we've experienced terrorism before. Remember that you are not invincible. Does an American life mean that much more than an Iraqi life? Outrage is felt over the soldiers that die, and have gone willingly into the army and battle in Iraq, yet there is not even a count of how many innoccent Iraqi civilians have died. Thousands upon thousands.

"and Arabic is only spoken in Hell."
All Arbic speakers are evil then? devils? demons? To me, that's very racist. So you are superior, you who don't even HAVE your own language? You're all going to hell, if there is such a place. But I think that you're all already there. The American Dream? Your whole economy and country is based on slavery and blood money. You think that because you're the only superpower you are exempt from all laws and rules, human rights included? Remember that these people you attack and maim ARE people, and more human than your soldiers by all accounts.
"arrest the terrorist group or kill them whichever is necessary." My point exactly. IT IS NEVER NECESSARY TO KILL PEOPLE. Do you think so little of life? Is that just another card on the table for you? You are not god. Whatever they may have done, you cannot judge whether people live or die. America is one of, or the, only democratic country to still have the barbaric and inhumane practice of the death sentence. What does that say about you as a people? Where's the difference between an execution in Ameica and a beheading in Iraq? One is certainly more painful, but both are as morally wrong, indefensible, cruel, and a violation of all that is human. And don't pretend that you know anything about the IRA or Britain in general. We've lived with it and them. We've seen those dead on the news. Your great great grandfather was Irish, but left when he was 7, and no-one in your family has ever gone back...does that make you Irish? And for your information, I was born in Northern Ireland, and I for one would appreciate it if you stop lumping yourselves with Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, both. By calling yourself something it does not make it true. War on terror? America has been one of the biggest suppliers of arms and money for terrorists the world over. You only seem to care about its effects when it harms you. America has hugely funded the IRA, which here you criticise. America has prolonged the misery and death and terror on Ireland for years more than it needed to have continued. America has kept Ireland down and oppressed, by terrorists now. All of Ireland.

"Oh it must seem so romantic
When the fighting's over there
And they're passing round the shamrock
And you're all filled up with tears
"For the love of dear old Ireland"
That you've never even seen
You throw in twenty dollars
And sing "Wearing of the Green"

(Chorus:)
Each dollar a bullet
Each victim someone's son
And Americans kill Irishmen
As surely as if they fired the gun

Now you've never stood on Belfast's streets
And heard the bombs explode
Or hid beneath the blankets
When there's riots down the road
No, you've never had your best friend die
Or lost a favourite son
But you'll stand there and tell us
Just what we're doing wrong

Each false word a bullet
Each victim someone's son
And Englishmen kill Irishmen
As surely as if they fired the gun

From the minute that you're born you're told
to hate the other side
"They're not like us, they're not the same
We know because we're right"
But can't you see we're all the same
There is no right and wrong
Why can't we stop and realise
We've hated too much, too long

Each old lie a bullet
Each victim someone's son
And Irishmen kill Irishmen
As surely as if they fired the gun

How can you convince yourself
That what you do is right?
When people are dying there
Night after night
Don't you ever wonder
Why it stilll goes on?
The hopes and fears and all the tears
Are buried in your ground
Buried in your ground

Each rumour a bullet
Each victim someone's son
And careless talk kills Irishmen
As surely as if words fired the gun

Well it's lasted for so long now
And so many have died
It's such a part of my own life
Yet it leaves me mystified
How a people so intelligent
Friendly, kind and brave
Can throw themselves so willingly
Into an open grave

Each new day a bullet
Each victim someone's son
And ignorance kills Irishmen
As surely as if we fired the gun"

A song by an Irish band. Think.

Briton:

"Destroying Mecca" is posted as a legitimate, fair option!

Mainly because it is.
Why not ?

Killing people and destroying ancient and holy shrines should never be the case...

Forgotten WWII already, have we ?

The American Dream? Your whole economy and country is based on slavery and blood money.

Even when slavery was legal in parts of the US, the "whole economy" was never dependent on it.
In fact, who do you think the primary buyer of slave-grown US cotton was in the 19th century ?
The mills and looms of Great Britain.
Oppressor !!

IT IS NEVER NECESSARY TO KILL PEOPLE

Too silly to respond too, I merely repeat it for the giggle factor.