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Here why we think the world should join us:

Qusay Kills 15 'Nazi-Style'
http://www.middleeastwire.com/iraq/stories/2001120 8_meno.shtml
Kuwait Times (Kuwait City)

Posted Saturday December 8, 2001 - 02:26:14 PM EST

London - An opposition group confirmed yesterday that fifteen prisoners were executed on August 10, 2001 by placing them inside a specially designed gas chamber, Nazi-style, and then releasing a poisonous gas through vents, inside the presidential diwan.

The Centre for Human Rights in the Iraqi Communist Party said in a statement sent to Kuna the horrific crime was committed under direct supervision of Qusay, the younger son of the Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein.

The victims were packed inside the room, before releasing the gas. They were dead within 27 seconds. Their bodies were left there for one hour until the gas was extracted through a special vent, it added.

This barbaric crime was filmed on video and the film was shown to Qusay Saddam Hussein.

The Iraqi regime is continuing its notorious "prison clean-up" campaign which has so far claimed more than 3,000 prisoners and detainees, the opposition group concluded.

On another front, 10 leading members of Congress have urged President George W. Bush to make Iraq the next target in the US war on terrorism, saying it has reinvigorated its weapons programmes in the three years since UN inspectors left.

"As we work to clean up Afghanistan, it is imperative that we plan to eliminate the threat from Iraq," said the letter, dated yesterday.

"This December will mark three years since United Nations inspectors last visited Iraq. There is no doubt that since that time, Saddam Hussein has reinvigorated his weapons programmes." Among those signing the letter were Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, House International Relations Committee Chairman Henry Hyde, the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Jesse Helms, former presidential candidate Sen. John McCain and former Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Joseph Lieberman.

The letter is the latest in a string of calls for a renewed offensive against Iraq and President Saddam Hussein once the Afghanistan campaign ends.

The US launched its war on Afghanistan after its ruling Taleban refused to give up Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda network, blamed for the Sept. 11 attack on the United States that killed nearly 4,000 people.

Sen. Helms acknowledged in a speech on Wednesday that the United States does not know if Saddam was directly involved with the Sept. 11 attacks. Still, he said, "there is a mountain of evidence linking him to international terrorism generally and to bin Laden's terrorist network specifically." In their letter, the lawmakers said international sanctions levied against Iraq are riddled with loopholes and illegal oil sales could not be contained by the administration.

"Reports indicate that biological, chemical and nuclear programmes continue apace and may be back to pre-Gulf War status," the letter said, adding: "We believe we must directly confront Saddam, sooner rather than later.

"The threat from Iraq is real, and it cannot be permanently contained," the letter said.

UN inspectors, who had been working since the 1991 Gulf War to ensure Baghdad did not develop weapons of mass destruction, left Iraq in December 1998.

The lawmakers also urged support for the Iraqi National Congress (INC), saying the United States had learned from Afghanistan the importance of working effectively with local opposition on the ground.

A leader of the INC, Ahmed Chalabi, met on Thursday with the Republican policy conference on Capitol Hill.

Bush recently demanded that Saddam allow weapons inspections to resume and said he would "find out" the consequences if he refused.

But Secretary of State Colin Powell told Nato ally Turkey on Wednesday that the United States had no immediate plans to extend its war on terrorism to Iraq. -- Agencies

While the article mentioned is interesting this idea is nothing new.

Paul Kennedy, the man who wrote "The Rise & Fall of the Great Powers" has a much more interesting & Thought pervoking article then the article supplied.

The article can be found here.
A quote:

"But that conclusion is almost beside the point. The larger lesson - and one stupifying to the Russian and Chinese military, worrying to the Indians, and disturbing to proponents of a common European defence policy - is that in military terms there is only one [America] player on the field that counts."

"....Nothing has ever existed like this disparity of power; nothing. I have returned to all of the comparative defence spending and military personnel statistics over the past five hundred years that I compiled in The RISE AND FALL OF The GREAT POWERS, and no other nation comes close."

I *highly* recommend people read it even if you dont agree its an interesting read.

Isn't this exactly what we don't need right now?

The face of war has changed. We don't fight countries; we fight for the hearts and minds of the world. The most important fight we have right now is the fight to convince the Arab world that our cause is just. And we are losing badly.

The way we can win is not through applying the tried-and-true formula of demonizing our enemies, but through compassion and humanitarian relief. Where we used to drop bombs, we need to rebuild.

Enter the timely release of "Castle Wolfenstein", in which one gun-toting American saves the world by killing everyone. And when I say that we are teaching children to "demonize our enemies", I am being completely literal. That's a screenshot from the game, showing Nazis as inhuman monsters.

Perhaps there was a time and a place for this game. In my opinion, that time was over September 10th. If it had to be released, couldn't it have waited at least until Christmas? Must we celebrate the birth of christ by giving children a game which teaches them to dehumanize their enemies and mow them down?

Enough already. Castle Wolfenstein: good game, wrong time.

Congress has passed the Authorization for Use of Military Force (local) against Osama bin Laden, the Taliban and others. A military deployment has begun. Russians think we will have a Sea of Bloodshed and others have said this will be worse than Vietnam. Frankly, I'm scared. This may be highly tacky; but I would like to know what kind of military devices we may have that would be both effective against terrorists and yet accurate (not like the gulf war) enough to avoid innocent casualties. And what about those ten million mines?

Scanning the Middle East Wire, I ran across this juicy nugget of wisdom.
...

Brute Force or Smart Pressure?
Middle East News Online
Ian Urbina, editor at Middle East Report
Posted Tuesday September 18, 2001 - 05:03:23 PM EDT

Colin Powell has two rules in foreign policy: respond with overwhelming force and always maintain a clear exit strategy. The problem with terrorism is that overwhelming force removes all exit strategies. The more forceful the US military reaction, the greater the increase in enemies, the less the opportunity for withdrawal. Indeed, this is a different type of war. It will be lost with brute force or won with smart pressure.

The US must bring the perpetrators of this heinous crime to justice and take their support networks out of operation permanently. The exact opposite will be achieved by a military response. Bombing or sending in troops may help restore the nation's self- confidence. But it will also increase Bin Laden's recruitment by arming him with images of American aircraft attacking Arab states and killing civilians. At the root of anti- Americanism is the perception of the US as a global bully. The US does what it wants because it can. Bombing or invading will only prove this perception correct, thereby creating more militants willing to sacrifice their lives to show that even the strongest nation in the world can not act without impunity.

The alternative is to employ smart pressure. That means acting through the law not above it. Bring forward the evidence, which surely exists, and indict bin Laden as a mass murderer. As Michael Klare, Professor of Peace and World Security Studies at Hampshire College, has pointed out, using global law enforcement collaboration plus moral and religious leverage is an approach with twice the effectiveness and half the blowback.

Pursuing the problem as an international criminal investigation, as with other terrorists, will lend the US the ethical and legal credibility it needs to remove Bin Laden rather than merely drive him underground where he will thrive.

If the US drops its war rhetoric, governments in the Middle East will be much more inclined to cooperate with requests for assistance in tracking down and arresting bin Laden and his associates. The deliberate murder of innocents is as much a crime and an abomination in Muslim societies as it is in Christian societies. It would be foolish to forget that it is only a fringe element of the world's 1.2 billion Muslims which has seized upon violence to address their grievances. Unfortunately, the unilateralist rhetoric of the US is quickly alienating many countries in Middle East.

Using military might to intimidate world leaders into unequivocally backing US decisions will only sow instability and popular resentment. Even the Taliban initially stated that they would hand over bin Laden if there was proof of his role. But as the US grew more forceful in its threats, the Taliban became more entrenched in its defensiveness. Now, many Afghani's in the region who have stated that they despise the Taliban are also saying that they will return to fight if the Americans continue their aggressive course.

To win the fight against terrorism, the US must stop approaching it as a war and begin attacking it as a crime.

Ian Urbina is an editor at Middle East Report and is based at the Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP), a foreign policy think tank in Washington DC.

Scanning the Middle East Wire, I ran across this juicy nugget of wisdom.
...

Brute Force or Smart Pressure?
Middle East News Online
Ian Urbina, editor at Middle East Report
Posted Tuesday September 18, 2001 - 05:03:23 PM EDT

Colin Powell has two rules in foreign policy: respond with overwhelming force and always maintain a clear exit strategy. The problem with terrorism is that overwhelming force removes all exit strategies. The more forceful the US military reaction, the greater the increase in enemies, the less the opportunity for withdrawal. Indeed, this is a different type of war. It will be lost with brute force or won with smart pressure.

The US must bring the perpetrators of this heinous crime to justice and take their support networks out of operation permanently. The exact opposite will be achieved by a military response. Bombing or sending in troops may help restore the nation's self- confidence. But it will also increase Bin Laden's recruitment by arming him with images of American aircraft attacking Arab states and killing civilians. At the root of anti- Americanism is the perception of the US as a global bully. The US does what it wants because it can. Bombing or invading will only prove this perception correct, thereby creating more militants willing to sacrifice their lives to show that even the strongest nation in the world can not act without impunity.

The alternative is to employ smart pressure. That means acting through the law not above it. Bring forward the evidence, which surely exists, and indict bin Laden as a mass murderer. As Michael Klare, Professor of Peace and World Security Studies at Hampshire College, has pointed out, using global law enforcement collaboration plus moral and religious leverage is an approach with twice the effectiveness and half the blowback.

Pursuing the problem as an international criminal investigation, as with other terrorists, will lend the US the ethical and legal credibility it needs to remove Bin Laden rather than merely drive him underground where he will thrive.

If the US drops its war rhetoric, governments in the Middle East will be much more inclined to cooperate with requests for assistance in tracking down and arresting bin Laden and his associates. The deliberate murder of innocents is as much a crime and an abomination in Muslim societies as it is in Christian societies. It would be foolish to forget that it is only a fringe element of the world's 1.2 billion Muslims which has seized upon violence to address their grievances. Unfortunately, the unilateralist rhetoric of the US is quickly alienating many countries in Middle East.

Using military might to intimidate world leaders into unequivocally backing US decisions will only sow instability and popular resentment. Even the Taliban initially stated that they would hand over bin Laden if there was proof of his role. But as the US grew more forceful in its threats, the Taliban became more entrenched in its defensiveness. Now, many Afghani's in the region who have stated that they despise the Taliban are also saying that they will return to fight if the Americans continue their aggressive course.

To win the fight against terrorism, the US must stop approaching it as a war and begin attacking it as a crime.

Ian Urbina is an editor at Middle East Report and is based at the Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP), a foreign policy think tank in Washington DC.

The Middle East Wire is very interesting read. I've especially enjoyed their Commentary and Interviews. For example, here is one very good article...

Jordanian Perspective about Attacks on America
Middle East News Online
By Edna Yaghi for Middle East News Online
Posted Wednesday September 12, 2001 - 06:00:52 PM EDT

While Israeli bulldozers continue to destroy Palestinian homes in the Beit Hanina district of Arab East Jerusalem and while 2 Palestinians in Nablus were killed and 20 injured as Israeli tanks shelled a refugee camp in the West Bank city of Jenin, Tuesday, September 11, 2 hijacked planes cut through the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and a third plane dove done into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.

These attacks, the worst ever on the U.S. mainland in modern history, struck at the heart of the American people and paralyzed the entire nation.

Thousands of innocent people may have lost their lives in a most tragic way. Surely, no peace loving person can condone the killing of civilian people regardless of what race, nationality or creed they possess.

Yet, America's blind and unconditional support for Israeli atrocities and crimes against the Palestinian people, plus the ongoing American assault against the Iraqis was bound to boomerang sooner or later. It is, after all, American made weapons that demolish, bomb, cut down and shoot Palestinians in the Occupied Territories. American planes are the ones that also randomly bomb Iraqi civilian targets.

One people are no more human than any other. As Americans grieve for the loss of their loved ones, so do Palestinians grieve for the senseless deaths of their people and the same goes for the Iraqis as well.

For nearly a year, the Palestinian people have been under Israeli siege. Every day Palestinians die in their homes, going to school, going to work, trying to get through an Israeli checkpoint or on the streets where they are open targets for Israeli tanks and snipers.

Every day Iraqi babies die because of the sanctions. Every month the death toll of Iraqi children surpasses 5,000. And George Jr. has taken over the job of bombarding Iraqis by air to make sure that their misery continues.

For the first time in a long time, the American people experienced how it feels to be attacked. People ran in desperate fear through the streets of New York City. Some hid behind cars. Others could not escape death.

America will never be the same again. The attacks on the WTC and the Pentagon have proved that the greatest and only super power in the world is not invincible. No mater who is responsible for the attacks on America and not matter how viciously the Americans choose to retaliate, American foreign policy is what brought this all on. Perhaps this is the beginning of the decline of the great American Empire.

All good and bad things eventually come to an end. Americans should become aware of just how detrimental their foreign policy is and for a change, stand on the side of justice instead of supporting injustice all over the world.

The Middle East Wire is very interesting read. I've especially enjoyed their Commentary and Interviews. For example, here is one very good article...

Jordanian Perspective about Attacks on America
Middle East News Online
By Edna Yaghi for Middle East News Online
Posted Wednesday September 12, 2001 - 06:00:52 PM EDT

While Israeli bulldozers continue to destroy Palestinian homes in the Beit Hanina district of Arab East Jerusalem and while 2 Palestinians in Nablus were killed and 20 injured as Israeli tanks shelled a refugee camp in the West Bank city of Jenin, Tuesday, September 11, 2 hijacked planes cut through the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and a third plane dove done into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.

These attacks, the worst ever on the U.S. mainland in modern history, struck at the heart of the American people and paralyzed the entire nation.

Thousands of innocent people may have lost their lives in a most tragic way. Surely, no peace loving person can condone the killing of civilian people regardless of what race, nationality or creed they possess.

Yet, America's blind and unconditional support for Israeli atrocities and crimes against the Palestinian people, plus the ongoing American assault against the Iraqis was bound to boomerang sooner or later. It is, after all, American made weapons that demolish, bomb, cut down and shoot Palestinians in the Occupied Territories. American planes are the ones that also randomly bomb Iraqi civilian targets.

One people are no more human than any other. As Americans grieve for the loss of their loved ones, so do Palestinians grieve for the senseless deaths of their people and the same goes for the Iraqis as well.

For nearly a year, the Palestinian people have been under Israeli siege. Every day Palestinians die in their homes, going to school, going to work, trying to get through an Israeli checkpoint or on the streets where they are open targets for Israeli tanks and snipers.

Every day Iraqi babies die because of the sanctions. Every month the death toll of Iraqi children surpasses 5,000. And George Jr. has taken over the job of bombarding Iraqis by air to make sure that their misery continues.

For the first time in a long time, the American people experienced how it feels to be attacked. People ran in desperate fear through the streets of New York City. Some hid behind cars. Others could not escape death.

America will never be the same again. The attacks on the WTC and the Pentagon have proved that the greatest and only super power in the world is not invincible. No mater who is responsible for the attacks on America and not matter how viciously the Americans choose to retaliate, American foreign policy is what brought this all on. Perhaps this is the beginning of the decline of the great American Empire.

All good and bad things eventually come to an end. Americans should become aware of just how detrimental their foreign policy is and for a change, stand on the side of justice instead of supporting injustice all over the world.

There is a news that Japan's Red Army claims responsibility for the attack

Found some news clips.

Anti-terrorism agents raid Texas Internet business

FBI Raids Muslim Businesses, Charity Organizations

FBI Raids Dallas-Area Web Business