Can you show me some examples? I have NEVER heard that put forth. Afghanistan still has 100% support as far as I know.
http://blog.johnkerry.com/2006/12/the_importance_of_diplomacy.html
The Importance of Diplomacy
Being willing to talk to your adversaries is a sign of well-grounded diplomacy. JK made some clear statements this week about the importance of diplomacy on a region-wide basis in the Middle East.
The fundamental resolution that I've heard in every country I've been to -- I've been to Egypt -- I met with President Mubarak; I've been to Jordan -- met with King Abdullah yesterday; we're here in Syria today; going to Israel from here; I was in Lebanon yesterday -- everywhere people are saying, "You've got to have a comprehensive political reconciliation process." And we're here to explore whether that can be broader than it's been in the past and we think it can.
[...]
But nothing is going to resolve Iraq without this fundamental political reconciliation. You have a divide between Sunni and Shia. And you have criminal elements. You have ex-Baathist elements. You've just got an enormous historical cultural problem. And the only way to overcome it is with major assistance from outside countries and from us to get that political resolution.
[...]
And I'll tell you, right out here in the Middle East, David, this is more of a tinderbox than a lot of people are focused on.
--Interview with David Gregory on the Today Show
"I think you've got to talk with people," Kerry said. "You can disagree with them and disagree with them and disagree with them, and you may not get anywhere, but you've got to talk to people."
--The Boston Globe article on 12-21-2005
Ronald Reagan talked to Gorbachev. Richard Nixon sent Kissinger to talk to the Chinese. We need to engage. This is too dangerous a world not to. And ...we're trying to help the administration and I think they will be pleased with today's discussion, I really do.
--Interview with Alex Chadwick on NPR's Day-To-Day program
The Need for Diplomacy
"The United States should embark on a robust diplomatic effort to establish an international support structure intended to stabilize Iraq and ease tensions in other countries in the region. This support structure should include every country that has an interest in averting a chaotic Iraq, including all of Iraq's neighbors--Iran and Syria among them. Despite the well-known differences between many of these countries, they all share an interest in avoiding the horrific consequences that would flow from a chaotic Iraq, particularly a humanitarian catastrophe and regional destabilization." (page 43)
"Iraq's neighbors and key states in and outside the region should form a support group to reinforce security and national reconciliation within Iraq, neither of which Iraq can achieve on its own." (p. xiv)
--Iraq Study Group Report
I was trying to determine why you named targets.
I didn't name them as targets. New York was the target and they are based in NY and thus their ability to report the news would cease to exist.
I give them no credit.
I believe that your exact quote was:
Pat Roberson and Jerry Falwell would be overjoyed. Bringing about the rapture seems their life work.
Although they can espouse the existence of the possibility of the "rapture" to those who will listen; bringing the "rapture" about would not be within their purvue.
I've asked different people this question and haven't had a coherent response, maybe you could give it a whirl:
What does a victory in the war on terrorism entail?
A large part of that would be the negatuion of state sponsored terrorism such as that of Syria, Iran, and formerly Iraq, Libya, and Afghanistan. Look at what happened when we marched intom Iraq. Libya gave up everything they had pertaining to the development of WMD. We have restored full diplomatic ties with Libya. Here is what Libya's leader, Col. Muammar al-Gaddafi in April of 2003, in which he quotes Gadaffi as saying "I will do whatever the Americans want, because I saw what happened in Iraq, and I was afraid."
Here are some points to consider in your response:
a) It only takes one person to carry out a terrorist attack
True, whether that "one" is Mohammad Atta or Timothy McVeigh. Wasn't Richard Speck a terrorist on a smaller scale? Richard Ramirez? The Zodiac killer? Angelo Buono Jr.? Albert DeSalvo?
How many of that group cost us any of our freedoms? We accepted the Specks, Ramirez', Zodiacs, Buonos, and DeSalvos as acceptable losses in a free society. The only ones who lost any freedoms, with the exception of the Zodiac, were the perpetrators themselves.
b) There will always be people that hate us (rationally or not)
That has to be a "Master of the Obvious" response if I ever saw one.
The fact is that these people hate us not for what we have done but for who we are. They hate us for our religion -- or the lack of one. They hate our willingness to allow our women freedom. They hate us for our technology, yet use that very technology against us as a weapon. They hate our freedom. they hate our liberty. They hate our wealth.
If they thought the Grand Canyon was a monument to God, they would fill it in. These people have no concept of freedom, liberty, justice, or sanctity of life. Their entire premise is woven into the thousand year old vaguaries of a religion they have hijacked to their own means.
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