my first thought was that they had played a "little too much" with M$flight sim, since when I get bored with it I too fly into the wtc to crash and get out of the game. a few too many hours with M$ Flight sim, and they would not have that much trouble spotting the target and knowing how to fly (not land or takeoff mind you) a passenger Jet. > > I disagree. People hate us because we are successful. (microsoft comes > > to mind) My thoughts are that the US needs to > > obliterate a few countries to get the point across that we will not > > tolerate this type behavior against ourselves or our allies. (assuming we > > actually have any) and that sure did end the problem with Iraq didn't it? no? you mean Ben-Laden is mad that we did not get out of Sudi-Arabia after we wooped ass on Iraq (and isn't it intersting that IRQ problems have the same constanates and IRaQ? and most the hardware problem I run inot are cuased by IRQs? is co-inky-dink? I think not. > This is yet another stereotype that I had expected. Why are Americans, on > the whole, so belligerent? Serving a military career appears to be the best > way to get into government in the USA. With presidents like Eisenhower (who > was a general) and Bush (Snr, who held a high position in the CIA), it is > no surprise that US foreign policy has been so confrontational during the > past fifty years. What scares me most is that people actually _vote_ for > these guys and not for somebody who is more responsible. > > I am being a realist here. If world leaders were as emotional as you are > here we would have wiped each other out through a global war. I said that I > sympathise with the victims' families, and that I don't condone such > violence. I stand by that. However, is 10,000 dead people really that many, > when you take into account that US foreign policy is responsible for the > suffering and deaths of many millions worldwide? Read my other posts in > this thread for details on this. > > Do you really believe that you can fight fire with fire? Violence begets > violence, and the first to suffer are the innocent. This has been seen time > and time again in wars worldwide, including the two world wars, the Korean > War, the Third Indochinese War (often called the "Vietnam War"), Iraq and > the Balkans wars. In today's age of guerilla warfare, drug trafficking and > terrorism, the distinction between soldier and innocent has blurred to the > stage where traditional military strategy does not work, unless you wish to > massacre entire villages (as American troops have done in Korea and > Vietnam). > > We need to tackle the _root_ of the problem. The main root of crime is poor > education and poverty. Therefore the best way to tackle crime is to improve > education and the standard of living. Similarly, the root of these bombings > is US allowance and support of practices which lead to poverty and brutal, > authoritarian rule. The US government (not necessarily the people) > supposedly has ideals of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness", but > only for their own people. They couldn't care less about the world's > underprivileged, because exploiting them can lead to "the pursuit of > happiness" for Americans. The United States government gives about 1% of > its annual budget as foreign aid, far lower than any other industrialised > nation, despite it having the largest economy in the world. The Bill and > Belinda Gates foundation donated more money towards world health issues in > 2000 than did the US government. > > The hallmark of over-capitalism is massive inequity, and we are seeing this > occur both within and outside the USA. Many Americans appear to be afraid > of mentioning that point, despite the fact that their children cannot > receive a decent education in government schools. I read recently that the > education system in a particular state (I forget which one, I think it > started with "P") was bankrupt, and at the same time Microsoft was auditing > them for software licenses. Of course, with such a cash-strapped system, > they had been forced to pirate software, and now they owe millions to M$. > > I shall now expect to be labelled as a communist simply because I am > concerned for my fellow human beings :-) > > Note that while I'm focussing on the USA here (because of the terrorist > attacks), this hardly means that other nations have a clean sheet. On the > contrary, all of the "advanced democracies" (including my own country, > Australia) are to blame, but the USA is by far the worst of a bad bunch. > > If you wish to know where I'm coming from, I'm writing with several years > of geography, economics, government and international relations training > under my belt. There is far more to this than the Anglo-American neoliberal > standpoint (which is what they usually teach you in schools in nations like > the US and Australia), and it is important to try to approach the problem > from different angles in order to understand it properly. I would hardly > call myself an expert, but I feel that I know what I'm talking about here. > > > John W > > Somebody please prove to me that this world is not as sick and twisted as I > think it is. ---------------------------------------- Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; name="message.footer" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Content-Description: ----------------------------------------
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