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More WTC News
Current WTC happenings: The FBI is searching ISPs with FISA warrants. Architects and civil engineers are starting to speculate on why the towers collapsed. Pictures: NASA, a powerful photoessay, newspaper headlines. Current investigation news: LA Times, NY Times, CNN. They're finally starting to mention casualty figures. Finally, bjb writes: "It isn't the hollywood blockbuster of a story, but I'm a daily reader of Slashdot, and I was on the 38th floor of the WTC 1 building when the first plane hit. Oh, and I was reading Slashdot at the time. You can read about my experience here. It was originally an email that I sent out to friends and family, but I was asked by NPR's Talk of the Nation to make it a web page."
chmod a+x /bin/laden
dinner: it's what's for beer
There is a big difference between the Nazis and 'Islamic Fundamentalism'. The Nazis created themselves and had decided that Germany should be the dominant power in Europe. 'Islamic Fundamentalism' is a reaction to sustained policies of the West, led by America.
The rights of the Palestinians have been systematically trampled. In the Persian Gulf America supports random despotic regimes based merely on their support for American interests. Let us not forget that Bin Laden was supported by the CIA when it was convenient for him to fight in Afghanistan. Sadam was backed when it was convient to oppose the Iranian government that was in itself created to remove the American backed dictatorship of the Shah.
I know this is anti American but I should say that I am not. I honestly believe that America does tend to support Freedom and Democracy. However this is not the case in the Middle East. If it was these acts would not be taking place.
President Bush was correct when he called this a war. The only thing is that he didn't realise which war this was like. It's Vietnam all over again. The United States' aims are vague and are basically that the US and Israel can do whatever they want without respecting the values that they hold dear in the rest of the world. And think about this, why did the US withdraw from Vietnam ? Because it was immoral or because the cost to the US in lives and resources became too great.
The US should learn from it's mistakes and apply the values which it purports to hold dear everywhere.
What you are proposing is to fix the symptoms and not the cause. Fix the cause, be true to democracy and peace. First of all engage Iran, Iran has recovered from it's extremism and now has a president and a population who are desparate to return into the world system. Then, either invade Iraq or end the blockade, whose death count dwarves the loss of life in the US over the past few days. Finally, and this is the most difficult part, force Israel to make peace. Israel has a right to exist, but that right cannot include the right to persecute Palestinians. This is the only way and it will eventually happen. What you are proposing, the persecution of 'Islamic Fundamentalism' comes dangerously close to the persecution of Islam. There are 1.3 Billion muslims. The US cannot tell all these people that holy shrines that they have had for 1000 years they cannot have, or that their religion is babaric.
The US can stop these attacks. But it is not by further war. A truly amazing president, like Nixon, must realise that this is a conflict in which the US must understand it's own actions and change it's behaviour. America is a truly great country, perhaps the greatest in history, however this does not mean all US actions are correct.