I believe you are thinking of Tomorrow Never Dies. However, they didn't jam or spoof the GPS signal, they used a US military encoder to re-program the satellites themselves. However, I always wondered how come the rest of the GPS-using world didn't notice that everything shifted a few hundred miles for a while...
Kevin Sites, the guy who filmed it, wrote in detail what happened. Don't use your knee-jerk reaction and assume that the American is the do-gooder all the time, chump.
Well, the Navy built their own Smart Ship running windows NT, which crashed due to a divide-by-zero error and was dead in the water for almost 3 hours. They had to tow it back to the base. I hope the Air force takes this into account, as their stuff doesn't drift.
I remember the delay in getting my phone earlier this year: The press release said the reason for the recall last time was "Kyocera has received four confirmed reports of rapid disassembly."... "Continued use of the phone with the '-05' battery could result in injury in the form of burns due to the battery's rapid disassembly (which may appear as an explosion), or emission of excessive heat."
So in field of Public Relations objects don't explode, they just rapidly disassemble!!!.....
Clarke was serving under Clinton, where the administration ordered missile attacks into training camps in Afghanistan. Bin Laden escaped by a close call, but Clinton was blamed for his 'Wag the dog" tactics by Republicans. (this was during the Lewinsky debacle) Clarke didn't sit around and do nothing there.
Ah, actually, it hasn't gotten better. The destruction of Falluja, with more than 600 civillians dead, 1000 Iraqi insurgents dead, and the photos and videos of the US destroying mosques and shooting the unarmed wounded Iraqi in a mosque, those are bad the fact that Allawi the puppet is talking more ferocious than the Americans is making Iraqis more angry.
The privatizing is bad for a number of reasons, mianly because it's 'Shock-style" privatization (like Poland) and it put a lot of Iraqis out of a job. Also, the prices have gone waay up, so people are angry. The Iraqis wanted liberation from the Ba'ath party, not economic changes for their worse.
The Tale of Eric and the Dread Gazebo
by Richard Aronson [aronson@sierratel.com]
In the early seventies, Ed Whitchurch ran "his game", and one of the participants was Eric Sorenson. Eric plays something like a computer. When he games, he methodically considers each possibility before choosing his preferred option. If given time, he will invariably pick the optimal solution. It has been known to take weeks. He is otherwise, in all respects, a superior gamer.
Eric was playing a Neutral Paladin in Ed's game. He was on some lord's lands when the following exchange occurred:
ED: You see a well groomed garden. In the middle, on a small hill, you see a
gazebo.
ERIC: A gazebo? What color is it?
ED: [pause] It's white, Eric.
ERIC: How far away is it?
ED: About 50 yards.
ERIC: How big is it?
ED: [pause] It's about 30 ft across, 15 ft high, with a pointed top.
ERIC: I use my sword to detect good on it.
ED: It's not good, Eric. It's a gazebo.
ERIC: [pause] I call out to it.
ED: It won't answer. It's a gazebo.
ERIC: [pause] I sheathe my sword and draw my bow and arrows. Does it respond
in any way?
ED: No, Eric, it's a gazebo!
ERIC: I shoot it with my bow. [roll to hit] What happened?
ED: There is now a gazebo with an arrow sticking out of it.
ERIC: [pause] Wasn't it wounded?
ED: OF COURSE NOT, ERIC! IT'S A GAZEBO!
ERIC: [whimper] But that was a +3 arrow!
ED: It's a gazebo, Eric, a GAZEBO! If you really want to try to destroy it, you
could try to chop it with an axe, I suppose, or you could try to burn it, but I
don't know why anybody would even try. It's a @#$%!! gazebo!
ERIC: [long pause. He has no axe or fire spells.] I run away.
ED: [thoroughly frustrated] It's too late. You've awakened the gazebo. It
catches you and eats you.
ERIC: [reaching for his dice] Maybe I'll roll up a fire-using mage so I can
avenge my Paladin.
At this point, the increasingly amused fellow party members restored a modicum of order by explaining to Eric what a gazebo is. Thus ends the tale of Eric and the Dread Gazebo. It could have been worse; at least the gazebo wasn't on a grassy gnoll. Thus ends the tale of Eric and the Dread Gazebo. A little vocabulary is a dangerous thing.
Many years ago (back when we all were still playing D & D), I ran a game where I pitted two groups against each other.
Several members of Group One came up with the idea of luring Group Two into a trap. You remember the Hand of Vecna and the Eye of Vecna that were artifacts in the old D&D world where if you cut off your hand (or your eye) and replaced it with the Hand of Vecna (or the Eye) you'd get new awesome powers? Well, Group One thought up The Head of Vecna.
Group One spread rumors all over the countryside (even paying Bards to spread the word about this artifact rumored to exist nearby). They even went so far as to get a real head and place it under some weak traps to help with the illusion. Unfortunately, they forgot to let ALL the members of their group in on the secret plan (I suspect it was because they didn't want the Druid to get caught and tell the enemy about this trap of theirs, or maybe because they didn't want him messing with things).
The Druid in group One heard about this new artifact and went off in search of it himself (I believe to help prove himself to the party members...) Well, after much trial and tribulation, he found it; deactivated (or set off) all the traps; and took his "prize" off into the woods for examination. He discovered that it did not radiate magic (a well known trait of artifacts) and smiled gleefully.
I wasn't really worried since he was alone and I knew that there was no way he could CUT HIS OWN HEAD OFF. Alas I was mistaken as the Druid promptly summoned some carnivorous apes and instructed them to use his own scimitar and cut his head off (and of course quickly replacing it with the Head of Vecna...)
Some time later, Group one decided to find the Druid and to check on the trap. They found the headless body (and the two heads) and realized that they had erred in their plan (besides laughing at the character who had played the Druid)...The Head of Vecna still had BOTH eyes! They corrected this mistake and reset their traps and the Head for it's real intended victims...
Group Two, by this time, had heard of the powerful artifact and decided that it bore investigating since, if true, they could use it to destroy Group One. After much trial and tribulation, they found the resting place of The Head of Vecna! The were particularly impressed with the cunning traps surrounding the site (one almost missed his save against the weakest poison known to man). They recovered the Head and made off to a safe area.
Group Two actually CAME TO BLOWS (several rounds of fighting) against each other argueing over WHO WOULD GET THEIR HEAD CUT OFF! Several greedy players had to be hurt and restrained before it was decided who would be the recipient of the great powers bestowed by the Head... The magician was selected and one of them promptly cut his head off. As the player was lifting The Head of Vecna to emplace it on it's new body, another argument broke out and they spent several minutes shouting and yelling. Then, finally, they put the Head onto the character.
Well, of course, the Head simply fell off the lifeless body. All members of Group Two began yelling and screaming at each other (and at me) and then, on their own, decided that they had let too much time pass between cutting off the head of a hopeful recipient and put the Head of Vecna onto the body.
SO THEY DID IT AGAIN!... [killing another PC]
In closing, it should be said that I never even cracked a smile as all this was going on. After the second PC was slaughtered, I had to give in (my side was hurting)...
And Group Two blamed ME for all of that...
So let that be a warning to you - don't let your head get cut off unless you really know what you're doing.
He didn't really bash Nader, he just asked Nader not to run, and even had a live debate with him. Even former Nader aide Michael Moore got on his knees on national television to plead with Nader not to run. Dean's point was that Nader would take votes away from Kerry's side, as those on the right would go for Bush and those on the left would go for Nader or Kerry. If you look at the numbers of the last election, Nader got several thousand votes per state. IF (and yeah, its a big if) all those voters had gone for Kerry, it could have given him the gain over a few more states.
Yes, I like Nader far more than Kerry, he was more honest about topics like Israel and Iraq than Kerry could have been. But realistically, a vote for Nader would only make a point rather than change Bush from the White House. That's why the American Muslim voting bloc endorsed Kerry despite many favoring Nader overall.
Then we should also ban CNN too, they ran the Bin Laden tape. Seriously, Al Jazeera is like an Arabic CNN. It's not like they were pro-Saddam or anything. Yeah, they mentioned the beheadings, they also had Iraqi politicians and Iraqi clerics on to condemn it. Even Israel does interviews on Al Jazeera, think about that.
No, I want the US to act civilized. I don't unconditionally support a country, and you wanting the US to be unfair is a slippery slope and dangerous. So should the US commit war crimes? Open a few more Abu Ghraibs? The US would likely win (in the short run), but they would no longer be the moral leader or be in the right. Eventually, the US would back itself into a corner, as playing unfair and pragmatic led to Nazis invading Europe.
Here's a tip: Go see The Battle of Algiers. It's a good example of how Iraq can and may be botched. (The Pentagon and West Point has been screening it)
Yes, Libya tried for over a decade to get their sanctions repealed, but the US kept refusing. When the Bush administration wanted signs of ANY success, they pounced on it when Libya offered it again, despite being turned down repeatedly for at least a decade. They even offered to hand over the airline bombers, but the US didn't seem to care before.
Terrorism dropped in 2002 compared to 2001. Actually, South America had more terrorism than the Middle East. Terrorism went up in 2003 compared to 2002.
The US government really should define "terrorism" because they seem to go after Muslims with it, and maybe drug dealers, but not people who phone in threats to the local abortion clinic or commit hate crimes against the mosque.
Go read a survey of Iraqi citizens. Several newspapers and think-tanks have released them recently. Many Iraqis are upset at the unemployment and that they don't feel safe. They did say that at least there was no kidnapping or drugs during Saddam Hussein's time. Free speech and upcoming free elections is worthless if you live in constant fear of car and aerial bombings. The most common answer to "What is the biggest problem in Iraq today?" was "Security" and not rights issues.
Yeah, he kept Iraq free from extremists, he had secret police in the mosques, and he executed dissident imams and ayatollahs, and even some people who went to the mosque too frequently.
Yet, people still make the claim that Saddam Hussein had ties with religious extremist groups. Impossible, he trusted none of them. They were a threat to his dictatorship.
Many Muslims all over the world believe it's a war on Islam. Despite Bush repeatedly saying it is not, the Bush administration seemed eager to go to war with muslim-majority Iraq despite shaky evidence and not North Korea. The Administration said Iraq violated UN resolutions, but Israel violated even more and even has nuclear weapons. Bush said he "unconditionally" supports Ariel Sharon, making a lot of Muslims angry. Bush supported the existence of some Israeli settlements, which just rankled further and showed the US wasn't evenhanded on the issue. Bush appointed Daniel Pipes, a harsh islamophobe, to the US Institute of Peace, bypassing the senate when they refused to confirm the appointment. Bush quietly promoted General Jerry Boykin instead of reprimanding him, months after he made comments that Muslims don't pray to the real God. However, he immediately condemned the Malaysian PM's remark about how Jews have other countries fight their wars for their behalf. Those two events happened within 24 hours of each other, and Bush seemed incensed about one and dismissed the other. John Ashcroft was caught trashing Islam, years before he started spying on the American Muslim community and arresting thousands without charge after 9/11.
It's not just the Bush administration, Muslims seem to believe that ALL Americans think Muslims are terrorists. Franklin Graham called Islam "a wicked religion." Pat Robertson followed up with similiar comments. When Jerry Falwell called the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) a 'terrorist,' there was international outrage. The anti-American party in Pakistan swept the election days after, massively increasing its number of seats in Parliment, something never done before. Ann Coulter's remark "We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity" was something that people still believe, while Bush's "crusade" comment was dismissed by lots of people after the White House apologized for not realizing the connotation.
Don't flatter yourself about Afghanistan, people see Hamid Karzai as a US puppet. Every Afghan and Pakistani I've talked to agrees on that. However, to be fair, the US racked up a lot of good will by helping stop the genocide in Bosnia. Muslims were thankful to Clinton for that, despite their dislike of his other policies and actions. Bush's attempts of helping Sudan aren't going to help much if mosques in Iraq and Afghanistan were bombed. (Yes, some were)
Do you honestly think that every Iraqi who attacks US soldiers is on Saddam Hussein's side?
Then why are the shiites who were oppressed under Saddam fighting America too? What about the Marsh Arabs, who Saddam Hussein brutally tried to wipe out? The US mentioned them as a group to be liberated by the war, but one or two attacks and the US started bombing and killing them in the same manner as Saddam Hussein.
Sheesh man, go watch some news programs that aren't in english. I saw people holding their dead children's bodies and saying how the US dropped bombs that ruined the houses nearby. What about that Arab woman on Al-Jazeera who was sobbing about her dead family? (A clip of that was in Fahrenheit 9/11) How about the street riot that resulted at a checkpoint when an American soldier unthinkingly threw a Quran to the ground when searching a woman's bag? Or what about when the US helicopter tore down a Shiite religious banner, the US government denied doing it on purpose, and someone showed footage of the American in the chopper leaning out the door and cutting it down? I saw demonstrations on TV when the US shut down newspapers that were too critical of the American forces in Iraq. Did anyone here hear about the Abu Ghraib abuses before the photos came out? Failing that, did anyone read the testimony of witnesses who saw Americans (soldiers and/or contractors) raping Iraqis in that same prison? Has anyone bothered to understand that Najaf is a holy city for shiites, and bombing it like that is akin to bombing Vatican city? Najaf aside, did anyone who isn't shiite pay attention to the fact that the US troops got into a firefight and called in airstrikes in the holy cemetary, or flattened the shrine to one of the 12 Imams? You didn't hear about these things? Shiites all over the world were livid, including the moderates and pro-American ones. Did anyone notice that the US cancelled democratic elections last year, over fears that Iraqis may vote for people who don't support the US occupation? Speaking of which, even Iraqi politicians are accusing the US of acting like Israel in engaging in "Collective punishment."
Do you know how badly the unemployment in Iraq has skyrocketed? This is because the US fired all Iraqis who had any tie to the Ba'ath party (most people couldn't get a promotion unless they joined). In WWII, the Allies didn't fire everyone with Nazi ties, or else all civil servants and teachers and business owners would be out of a job. Imagine how much longer the US Reconstruction period would have lasted if the Union fired every last Southern politician.
Did you hear that people in Iraq are calling us Yazid? What? You don't know who Yazid is? Then WHAT business do we have in Iraq?
A-ha! But if he were thrown in jail, wouldn't that be like the government admitting he was right, thus spurring much further sales and guaranteed readership?
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I believe you are thinking of Tomorrow Never Dies. However, they didn't jam or spoof the GPS signal, they used a US military encoder to re-program the satellites themselves. However, I always wondered how come the rest of the GPS-using world didn't notice that everything shifted a few hundred miles for a while...
I remember the delay in getting my phone earlier this year: The press release said the reason for the recall last time was "Kyocera has received four confirmed reports of rapid disassembly."... "Continued use of the phone with the '-05' battery could result in injury in the form of burns due to the battery's rapid disassembly (which may appear as an explosion), or emission of excessive heat."
So in field of Public Relations objects don't explode, they just rapidly disassemble!!!.....
Clarke was serving under Clinton, where the administration ordered missile attacks into training camps in Afghanistan. Bin Laden escaped by a close call, but Clinton was blamed for his 'Wag the dog" tactics by Republicans. (this was during the Lewinsky debacle) Clarke didn't sit around and do nothing there.
Ah, actually, it hasn't gotten better. The destruction of Falluja, with more than 600 civillians dead, 1000 Iraqi insurgents dead, and the photos and videos of the US destroying mosques and shooting the unarmed wounded Iraqi in a mosque, those are bad the fact that Allawi the puppet is talking more ferocious than the Americans is making Iraqis more angry.
The privatizing is bad for a number of reasons, mianly because it's 'Shock-style" privatization (like Poland) and it put a lot of Iraqis out of a job. Also, the prices have gone waay up, so people are angry. The Iraqis wanted liberation from the Ba'ath party, not economic changes for their worse.
by Richard Aronson [aronson@sierratel.com]
In the early seventies, Ed Whitchurch ran "his game", and one of the participants was Eric Sorenson. Eric plays something like a computer. When he games, he methodically considers each possibility before choosing his preferred option. If given time, he will invariably pick the optimal solution. It has been known to take weeks. He is otherwise, in all respects, a superior gamer.
Eric was playing a Neutral Paladin in Ed's game. He was on some lord's lands when the following exchange occurred:
ED: You see a well groomed garden. In the middle, on a small hill, you see a gazebo.
ERIC: A gazebo? What color is it?
ED: [pause] It's white, Eric.
ERIC: How far away is it?
ED: About 50 yards.
ERIC: How big is it?
ED: [pause] It's about 30 ft across, 15 ft high, with a pointed top.
ERIC: I use my sword to detect good on it.
ED: It's not good, Eric. It's a gazebo.
ERIC: [pause] I call out to it.
ED: It won't answer. It's a gazebo.
ERIC: [pause] I sheathe my sword and draw my bow and arrows. Does it respond in any way?
ED: No, Eric, it's a gazebo!
ERIC: I shoot it with my bow. [roll to hit] What happened?
ED: There is now a gazebo with an arrow sticking out of it.
ERIC: [pause] Wasn't it wounded?
ED: OF COURSE NOT, ERIC! IT'S A GAZEBO!
ERIC: [whimper] But that was a +3 arrow!
ED: It's a gazebo, Eric, a GAZEBO! If you really want to try to destroy it, you could try to chop it with an axe, I suppose, or you could try to burn it, but I don't know why anybody would even try. It's a @#$%!! gazebo!
ERIC: [long pause. He has no axe or fire spells.] I run away.
ED: [thoroughly frustrated] It's too late. You've awakened the gazebo. It catches you and eats you.
ERIC: [reaching for his dice] Maybe I'll roll up a fire-using mage so I can avenge my Paladin.
At this point, the increasingly amused fellow party members restored a modicum of order by explaining to Eric what a gazebo is. Thus ends the tale of Eric and the Dread Gazebo. It could have been worse; at least the gazebo wasn't on a grassy gnoll. Thus ends the tale of Eric and the Dread Gazebo. A little vocabulary is a dangerous thing.
The above is Copyright © 1989 by Richard Aronson. Reprinted with permission. The author grants permission to reprint as long as all copyright notices remain with the text.
Mark Steuer recounts this tale:
Many years ago (back when we all were still playing D & D), I ran a game where I pitted two groups against each other.
Several members of Group One came up with the idea of luring Group Two into a trap. You remember the Hand of Vecna and the Eye of Vecna that were artifacts in the old D&D world where if you cut off your hand (or your eye) and replaced it with the Hand of Vecna (or the Eye) you'd get new awesome powers? Well, Group One thought up The Head of Vecna.
Group One spread rumors all over the countryside (even paying Bards to spread the word about this artifact rumored to exist nearby). They even went so far as to get a real head and place it under some weak traps to help with the illusion. Unfortunately, they forgot to let ALL the members of their group in on the secret plan (I suspect it was because they didn't want the Druid to get caught and tell the enemy about this trap of theirs, or maybe because they didn't want him messing with things).
The Druid in group One heard about this new artifact and went off in search of it himself (I believe to help prove himself to the party members...) Well, after much trial and tribulation, he found it; deactivated (or set off) all the traps; and took his "prize" off into the woods for examination. He discovered that it did not radiate magic (a well known trait of artifacts) and smiled gleefully.
I wasn't really worried since he was alone and I knew that there was no way he could CUT HIS OWN HEAD OFF. Alas I was mistaken as the Druid promptly summoned some carnivorous apes and instructed them to use his own scimitar and cut his head off (and of course quickly replacing it with the Head of Vecna...)
Some time later, Group one decided to find the Druid and to check on the trap. They found the headless body (and the two heads) and realized that they had erred in their plan (besides laughing at the character who had played the Druid)...The Head of Vecna still had BOTH eyes! They corrected this mistake and reset their traps and the Head for it's real intended victims...
Group Two, by this time, had heard of the powerful artifact and decided that it bore investigating since, if true, they could use it to destroy Group One. After much trial and tribulation, they found the resting place of The Head of Vecna! The were particularly impressed with the cunning traps surrounding the site (one almost missed his save against the weakest poison known to man). They recovered the Head and made off to a safe area.
Group Two actually CAME TO BLOWS (several rounds of fighting) against each other argueing over WHO WOULD GET THEIR HEAD CUT OFF! Several greedy players had to be hurt and restrained before it was decided who would be the recipient of the great powers bestowed by the Head... The magician was selected and one of them promptly cut his head off. As the player was lifting The Head of Vecna to emplace it on it's new body, another argument broke out and they spent several minutes shouting and yelling. Then, finally, they put the Head onto the character.
Well, of course, the Head simply fell off the lifeless body. All members of Group Two began yelling and screaming at each other (and at me) and then, on their own, decided that they had let too much time pass between cutting off the head of a hopeful recipient and put the Head of Vecna onto the body.
SO THEY DID IT AGAIN!... [killing another PC]
In closing, it should be said that I never even cracked a smile as all this was going on. After the second PC was slaughtered, I had to give in (my side was hurting)...
And Group Two blamed ME for all of that...
So let that be a warning to you - don't let your head get cut off unless you really know what you're doing.
Yeah, but Audion has Karaoke mode. It actually works pretty good.
He didn't really bash Nader, he just asked Nader not to run, and even had a live debate with him. Even former Nader aide Michael Moore got on his knees on national television to plead with Nader not to run. Dean's point was that Nader would take votes away from Kerry's side, as those on the right would go for Bush and those on the left would go for Nader or Kerry. If you look at the numbers of the last election, Nader got several thousand votes per state. IF (and yeah, its a big if) all those voters had gone for Kerry, it could have given him the gain over a few more states.
Yes, I like Nader far more than Kerry, he was more honest about topics like Israel and Iraq than Kerry could have been. But realistically, a vote for Nader would only make a point rather than change Bush from the White House. That's why the American Muslim voting bloc endorsed Kerry despite many favoring Nader overall.
Definately, this film looks like a movie to pander to babies the same age as "Thomas the Tank Engine" or "Jay-Jay the Jet Plane."
I loved Toy Story and will go see The Incredibles, but this one looks too babyish for me.
Then we should also ban CNN too, they ran the Bin Laden tape. Seriously, Al Jazeera is like an Arabic CNN. It's not like they were pro-Saddam or anything. Yeah, they mentioned the beheadings, they also had Iraqi politicians and Iraqi clerics on to condemn it. Even Israel does interviews on Al Jazeera, think about that.
No, I want the US to act civilized. I don't unconditionally support a country, and you wanting the US to be unfair is a slippery slope and dangerous. So should the US commit war crimes? Open a few more Abu Ghraibs? The US would likely win (in the short run), but they would no longer be the moral leader or be in the right. Eventually, the US would back itself into a corner, as playing unfair and pragmatic led to Nazis invading Europe.
Here's a tip: Go see The Battle of Algiers. It's a good example of how Iraq can and may be botched. (The Pentagon and West Point has been screening it)
Yes, Libya tried for over a decade to get their sanctions repealed, but the US kept refusing. When the Bush administration wanted signs of ANY success, they pounced on it when Libya offered it again, despite being turned down repeatedly for at least a decade. They even offered to hand over the airline bombers, but the US didn't seem to care before.
Terrorism dropped in 2002 compared to 2001. Actually, South America had more terrorism than the Middle East. Terrorism went up in 2003 compared to 2002.
The US government really should define "terrorism" because they seem to go after Muslims with it, and maybe drug dealers, but not people who phone in threats to the local abortion clinic or commit hate crimes against the mosque.
Go read a survey of Iraqi citizens. Several newspapers and think-tanks have released them recently. Many Iraqis are upset at the unemployment and that they don't feel safe. They did say that at least there was no kidnapping or drugs during Saddam Hussein's time. Free speech and upcoming free elections is worthless if you live in constant fear of car and aerial bombings. The most common answer to "What is the biggest problem in Iraq today?" was "Security" and not rights issues.
"You are either with us or with the terrorists." --George W. Bush
What great choices. Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay torturers or suicide bombers. No wonder the rest of the world is distancing themselves from America.
Yeah, he kept Iraq free from extremists, he had secret police in the mosques, and he executed dissident imams and ayatollahs, and even some people who went to the mosque too frequently.
Yet, people still make the claim that Saddam Hussein had ties with religious extremist groups. Impossible, he trusted none of them. They were a threat to his dictatorship.
Many Muslims all over the world believe it's a war on Islam. Despite Bush repeatedly saying it is not, the Bush administration seemed eager to go to war with muslim-majority Iraq despite shaky evidence and not North Korea. The Administration said Iraq violated UN resolutions, but Israel violated even more and even has nuclear weapons. Bush said he "unconditionally" supports Ariel Sharon, making a lot of Muslims angry. Bush supported the existence of some Israeli settlements, which just rankled further and showed the US wasn't evenhanded on the issue. Bush appointed Daniel Pipes, a harsh islamophobe, to the US Institute of Peace, bypassing the senate when they refused to confirm the appointment. Bush quietly promoted General Jerry Boykin instead of reprimanding him, months after he made comments that Muslims don't pray to the real God. However, he immediately condemned the Malaysian PM's remark about how Jews have other countries fight their wars for their behalf. Those two events happened within 24 hours of each other, and Bush seemed incensed about one and dismissed the other. John Ashcroft was caught trashing Islam, years before he started spying on the American Muslim community and arresting thousands without charge after 9/11.
It's not just the Bush administration, Muslims seem to believe that ALL Americans think Muslims are terrorists. Franklin Graham called Islam "a wicked religion." Pat Robertson followed up with similiar comments. When Jerry Falwell called the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) a 'terrorist,' there was international outrage. The anti-American party in Pakistan swept the election days after, massively increasing its number of seats in Parliment, something never done before. Ann Coulter's remark "We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity" was something that people still believe, while Bush's "crusade" comment was dismissed by lots of people after the White House apologized for not realizing the connotation.
Don't flatter yourself about Afghanistan, people see Hamid Karzai as a US puppet. Every Afghan and Pakistani I've talked to agrees on that. However, to be fair, the US racked up a lot of good will by helping stop the genocide in Bosnia. Muslims were thankful to Clinton for that, despite their dislike of his other policies and actions. Bush's attempts of helping Sudan aren't going to help much if mosques in Iraq and Afghanistan were bombed. (Yes, some were)
Do you honestly think that every Iraqi who attacks US soldiers is on Saddam Hussein's side?
Then why are the shiites who were oppressed under Saddam fighting America too? What about the Marsh Arabs, who Saddam Hussein brutally tried to wipe out? The US mentioned them as a group to be liberated by the war, but one or two attacks and the US started bombing and killing them in the same manner as Saddam Hussein.
Sheesh man, go watch some news programs that aren't in english. I saw people holding their dead children's bodies and saying how the US dropped bombs that ruined the houses nearby. What about that Arab woman on Al-Jazeera who was sobbing about her dead family? (A clip of that was in Fahrenheit 9/11) How about the street riot that resulted at a checkpoint when an American soldier unthinkingly threw a Quran to the ground when searching a woman's bag? Or what about when the US helicopter tore down a Shiite religious banner, the US government denied doing it on purpose, and someone showed footage of the American in the chopper leaning out the door and cutting it down? I saw demonstrations on TV when the US shut down newspapers that were too critical of the American forces in Iraq. Did anyone here hear about the Abu Ghraib abuses before the photos came out? Failing that, did anyone read the testimony of witnesses who saw Americans (soldiers and/or contractors) raping Iraqis in that same prison? Has anyone bothered to understand that Najaf is a holy city for shiites, and bombing it like that is akin to bombing Vatican city? Najaf aside, did anyone who isn't shiite pay attention to the fact that the US troops got into a firefight and called in airstrikes in the holy cemetary, or flattened the shrine to one of the 12 Imams? You didn't hear about these things? Shiites all over the world were livid, including the moderates and pro-American ones. Did anyone notice that the US cancelled democratic elections last year, over fears that Iraqis may vote for people who don't support the US occupation? Speaking of which, even Iraqi politicians are accusing the US of acting like Israel in engaging in "Collective punishment."
Do you know how badly the unemployment in Iraq has skyrocketed? This is because the US fired all Iraqis who had any tie to the Ba'ath party (most people couldn't get a promotion unless they joined). In WWII, the Allies didn't fire everyone with Nazi ties, or else all civil servants and teachers and business owners would be out of a job. Imagine how much longer the US Reconstruction period would have lasted if the Union fired every last Southern politician.
Did you hear that people in Iraq are calling us Yazid? What? You don't know who Yazid is? Then WHAT business do we have in Iraq?
A-ha! But if he were thrown in jail, wouldn't that be like the government admitting he was right, thus spurring much further sales and guaranteed readership?