On Sun, Sep 16, 2001 at 11:15:24AM -0400, Mike Lorrey wrote:
> > What the hell kind of optimism is it that goes on about "rebuilding the
> > WTC with the bones of dead religious fanatics"?
> >
> > What _I_ want to do is to convert those religious fanatics to extropian
> > ideals.
>
> I'd like to convert psychopathic murdurers into peaceful loving citizens
> too. How possible do you think it is going to happen while they are
> killing you?
You can't -- in the individual level. But in the collective, once you
get them to stop fighting, you can work wonders. Look at Germany, or
Japan, and compare with 1945.
> > If the goal is to kick the Taliban in the nuts, take their territory away,
> > and rebuild Afghanistan, most muslims in the west won't cheer, but they'll
> > nod thoughtfully and go along with it. (The Taliban are to the islamic
> > world about where Adolf Hitler would stand in relation to the US
> > Republican party.)
>
> On opposite ends of the spectrum?
>
> > But if it turns into a crusade -- literally, a holy war for the cross,
> > against islam, which is what Jerry Fallwell wants -- then what the west
> > will have will not be a mere "terrorist problem"; it'll be all-out civil
> > war at home.
>
> I doubt that anybody beyond the typical hicks that follow Fallwell buys
> into that sort of thing. His own people have already made him retract
> his statements.
Dubya used the "crusade" word today in a public speech. Dumb, dumb, DUMB!
Afghanistan is land-locked. If Dubya is contemplating military action
there, he needs to cross land held by _islamic_ countries to get there.
Most of those countries are heartily sick of the Taliban and would let
him use their territory for staging posts ... but the "crusade" rhetoric
is going to go down in the moslem world about as well as "final solution"
rhetoric would go down in Israel. It's _exactly_ what Osama bin Laden
has been ranting about for years and accusing the west of.
-- Charlie
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