Why Do They Hate Us?

[Gary Lawrence Murphy]

>>>>> "P" == Paul Prescod <paul@prescod.net> writes:

    P> "Alleged", "may have". We have camera shots of Bin Laden in
    P> Afghanistan praising "Allah's" destruction of the WTC. I think
    P> he's a more direct enemy.

We also have camera shots of thousands of other people making the
same statements, and I have personally seen footage of Americans
not praising the act, but almost condoning it as just.

Boasting is not a crime.  Or at least it wasn't.  I also remember
clear footage of Saddam making similar boasts.

    P> Iraq may also be a country to avoid because it is too
    P> dangerous. If they DO have biological weapons and scud weapons
    P> they could wreak real havoc in Israel.

Ah, so maybe we're getting closer to the truth here: The world's
self-professed most-powerful nation chooses to pick on the wimp first.
Not good television, that.

    P> We already have military in Saudi Arabia. :) All their base are
    P> belong to us.

Yes, that's one of the ObL complaints, isn't it.  But who has that
base fired upon inside Saudi boundaries?  What arrests have _we_ made
inside Saudi Arabia?

    P> What exactly would you propose the military do in Saudi Arabia?

Same as Afghanistan: Damn the torpedos, damn the oil supplies, we want
to end terrorism, rip it out at the roots, so lets march right in
there and arrest all suspected members of the orgs that finance,
harbour or supply bin Laden, and politely kill anyone who stands in
our way.  Why would we even consider doing anything less?

    P> What exactly would you propose the mlitary do in Palestine?

Read my previous paragraph.

    >> such an attack on his most precious "muslim" nations surely
    >> would lure the Champion-of-"Islam" Bin Ladin to rush to their
    >> aid.

    P> ???? How could he rush to their aid? The guy doesn't have an
    P> army. He has a loose affiliation of psychopaths.

One band of psychopaths that's completely defied the US for three and
a half weeks and defied the Soviets for a decade.  ObL would have to
make a statement, and that means a videotape or radio signal which
potentially leaves a trail.

    P> Afghanistan is where the target is. Attacking allies like Saudi
    P> first would be a pretty silly way to approach the problem of
    P> getting at an avowed enemy.

Sorry. I thought the target was "terrorism", or at least, that's what
George Bush said.  He's even softened the direct ObL connection
conceding that taking out this one person would not win the "war".
Also, according to Bush's statements, the "avowed enemies" are
(paraphrased) "all those who harbour, assist or finance terrorist
activities" which pretty much fits the Saudis as much as it might the
Taleban.  We asked the Saudis to assist, but all they gave us was an
airbase we already had.  

    >> Extra points: Why is _Britain_ so keen to be in there?

    P> I could tell you but no matter what I say you'll reply: "That's
    P> what they WANT you to believe." Unless I say that Britain is
    P> controlled by shape shifting lizards from the fifth dimension
    P> and Afghanistan is the only part of the planet that they
    P> haven't got control of.

No, shape-shifting lizards is the best explaination I've heard so far.

All I ask is for a cost-benefit analysis that points at GB coming
out way ahead after risking the lives of thousands of its young men
and women, and a cost-benefit that acrues specifically to GB and not
to any other NATO partner.  I'll entertain most anything with credible
references (like published UN data and US Dept of Energy reports).

Not so much to ask, is it?  I mean, the cost-benefit of _not_
attacking oil-rich puppet-governmented Saudi Arabia _regardless_ of
their support and harbouring of direct ObL financial and operational
supporters seems pretty transparent, as is cost-benefit of not
marching in with the Israelis to arrest Palestinian-harboured terror
groups is also almost as clear.  Even the cost-benefit of why
thousands of Chinese troups are lined up on the Afghan border is
pretty clear when you look at the overland distance from Tibet to the
oil-fields (although I still don't see how China gets away with
sending troups in to fight along side the Taleban)