smn1256 Wrote:

cb4029 Wrote:NO

Just like the war on drugs.(Neverending) Once this war is over, there will still be terrorist. Next question.

There are lots of "next" questions:

Would you prefer that the terrorists don't need to worry about fighting battles on their own turf which will allow them to concentrate on attacking us here - - again???

Because the terrorists that attacked us were from Iraq? I thought most of the hijackers were from Saudi Arabia.

Unless they've spent time in the area, it's very difficult for most Americans to understand how tribal the Mideast is. Being from Saudi Arabia doesn't typically mean that you owe any allegiance to Saudi Arabia. It's so different from the way that we view being "from the US" or "from Texas" that it's hard to explain unless you experience it.

That being said, focusing on whether a hijacker was "from Saudi Arabia" or "from Iraq" misses the more important point of where his true allegiances lie--and that may be family, or tribe, or branch of Islam, or source of funds, or something else, or some combination, or perhaps most commonly varying from one to another depending on the occasion. Because allegiances jump around so much, trying to find a "smoking gun" to link, for example, Saddam to the terrorists is difficult to impossible, even when such links exist. I'm not saying that the link exists or existed; I am saying that finding potential links or possible links, but no smoking gun, doesn't mean exactly what it would mean in our society.

The Arabs have a saying, "My brother and I will fight my cousin. My cousin and I will fight the world." That sort of begins to capture the tribal element. When I first got to Ra's Tannurah, Saudi Arabia, in 1971, the port captain was a guy named Ernie who was an old Humble Oil tanker captain. He told me that when he first arrived in Saudi in 1945, someone had told him that all he needed to know to understand the Arab mind was to remember that saying. He said that he thought at the time that it was the dumbest thing he had ever heard, but that the longer he stayed there the more he came to realize that it really was all you needed to know to understand the Arab mind. I wasn't there as long as Ernie, but he longer I was there, the more I began to understand what he was trying to tell me that day.

Fo Shizzle Wrote:Poverty...fail
Drugs......fail
Terrorism..fail
Crime......fail
teen pregnancy...fail
poor education...fail
gang violence...fail
illegal aliens...fail

Do I need to continue?

I hate to say this, and it really needs its own thread, but every time somebody somewhere tries to grapple with the above issues the ACLU, America's legalized terrorists, steps in and kills all progress. To the ACLU everyone has a right to live in poverty (and have folks like us subsidize them), use drugs, be a terrorist, commit crimes (except white collar crimes), have teens get knocked up, be ignorant, be in a violent gang and be here illegally.

Does anyone here support the ACLU? Check that, let me re-phrase; Is anyone here brave enough to admit they support the ACLU?

I fully support the ACLU in many, if not most, of their endevors. I'm opposed to their positions on several issues (school choice, for example) but believe them to be a vital part of the American legal system.

They are the foremost defenders of free speech and religious freedom (both the free exercise and the separation clauses). They are not anti-American nor are they anti-Christian, as many accuse them of being.

Here's a case where they are defending the right of a Christian prisoner to preach during services.
http://www.aclu.org/religion/discrim/313...70730.html

And one supporting the free speech rights of a Christian anti-gay protester.
http://www.aclu.org/religion/frb/28163prs20070129.html

And one more supporting a Christian student's right to sing Awesome God during a school talent show.
http://www.aclu.org/religion/schools/276...61212.html

The ACLU takes a lot of unpopular positions.
But they have to in order to fulfill their charter.
I don't always agree with the stands they take, and I suspect you don't either, but someone has to take those stands for our legal system to function correctly.

smn1256 Wrote:

Fo Shizzle Wrote:Poverty...fail
Drugs......fail
Terrorism..fail
Crime......fail
teen pregnancy...fail
poor education...fail
gang violence...fail
illegal aliens...fail

Do I need to continue?

I hate to say this, and it really needs its own thread, but every time somebody somewhere tries to grapple with the above issues the ACLU, America's legalized terrorists, steps in and kills all progress. To the ACLU everyone has a right to live in poverty (and have folks like us subsidize them), use drugs, be a terrorist, commit crimes (except white collar crimes), have teens get knocked up, be ignorant, be in a violent gang and be here illegally.

Does anyone here support the ACLU? Check that, let me re-phrase; Is anyone here brave enough to admit they support the ACLU?

I know where you are coming from...I bashed the ACLU for years for the same reasons you site....Then...I began to see the opression that our own govt. has foisted upon us..and I see NO other organization that will fight against that opression. I dont always agree wiith every issue they take on...but...They are NOT afraid to take the side of "individual freedom"...regardless of race or creed.
I stand for freedom...I fully support the ACLU.

Again...I understand your frustration with the societal problems our nation faces....I just feel that our govt. can not solve them. It will take an effort by the citenzry..using the principles of the free market to effect long lasting change.

ETSUfan1 Wrote:Because the terrorists that attacked us were from Iraq? I thought most of the hijackers were from Saudi Arabia.

Al-Qaeda's No. 2, Ayman Zawahiri:

http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/rm/2006/71811.htm

Quote:"the most . . . serious issue today for the whole world is this Third World War that is raging in Iraq."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4339784.stm

Quote:Iraq..."is now the place for the greatest battle of Islam in this era."

Then there is what they've done, which speaks volumes...

Zawahiri was the founder of Islamic Jihad, who Saddam was in bed with and supporting operationally and financially....Al-Qaeda #2

this isn't a nationalistic war, its ideological and international. All this crap sprung from the Muslim Brotherhood, which is founded in Egypt. also where Atta the main hijacker was from....this still fails to grasp all the terrorist from all over in other plots and/or attacks that happened or were thwarted...