quote: We don't pay attention to your holidays (Di's death excepted - and I can't begin to tell you how nauseating all that was).
Di's death is a holiday? Since when? (And I found it nauseating as well).
quote: It is overwhelmingly arrogant for Europeans to try and tell the US what holidays it should have. Let us fight about that amongst ourselves. We don't expect it to mean anything to you.
Now, this has confused me. I don't believe that anywhere in this thread a "European" has told you what holidays you should have. They might have offered an opinion, but no-more.
Having a Blitz day would be tricky, since it wasn't on a single day. And as someone said, we do have a VE and VJ day (although the VJ day has been toned down, which is good, I think). Of course, those events are 60 years in the past, and about remembering sacrifice and whatnot. Was two days ago about simply remembering those who died, or was it also about gathing patriotic support for a war? The former is fine. The later is, at the very least, distastful.
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
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It is interesting to note that this country has been attacked many times over by terrorists before the WTC bombing in February 1993. A bomb killed a dozen people in Wall Street around 1913. Some Puerto Rican nationalists set off hordes of bombs in New York in the 50's. And I would say the assassination attempt on Harry Truman was a terrorist incident.
Plus, although these are not terrorist attacks, the Japanese did invade the Aleutian islands during World War II (although Alaska was more of a US territory and not our soil). Also, the Japanese flew across the Pacific in hot-air balloons and dropped some bombs in Washington state, and killed a family.
Now, I'm not saying anyone said terrorism in America started with the WTC bombing, I'm saying it has been around for longer than some might think.
It has, hell, the mobsters having their wars, now the gangs...
I wasn't trying to garner support, just making a comment that the weapons of war, while doing their jobs, do make some interesting sights.
Yes, your troops are already in Northern Ireland, so the invasion is complete.
Does anybody remeber a movie that came out quite sometime ago where terrorists made a strike in someplace like Beverly Hills, or some ritzy shopping area. Walked along and tossed grenades in to the shops and cafes. This is all I remember of it.
-------------------- "You are a terrible human, Ritten." Magnus "Urgh, you are a sick sick person..." Austin Powers A leek too, pretty much a negi.....
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Yeah, I wouldn't call the IRA a good example. They only started bombing you AFTER you invaded and occupied their country.
Oh, man, realizing that has given me all sorts of mean-spirited new ideas...
Isn't it about time for some UN sanctions against this imperialist occupying force controlling the Ulsterian people?
-------------------- "The best defense is not a good offense. The best defense is a terrifyingly accurate and devastatingly powerful offense, with multiply-overlapping kill zones and time-on-target artillery strikes." -- Laurence, Archangel of the Sword
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Cartman
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You mean to say Palestinian extremists DIDN'T start blowing themselves to kingdom come until WELL after the formation of Israel?
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quote:Originally posted by First of Two: Yeah, I wouldn't call the IRA a good example. They only started bombing you AFTER you invaded and occupied their country.
Riiiigggghhht. There is the matter that Northern Ireland is part of the UK, and the majority of the population wishes to remain that way, and that the IRA is more based in the Republic, which I don't believe we've occupied (unless I've missed a memo), so yeah, I wouldn't call the IRA a good example either.
quote: Also, the Japanese flew across the Pacific in hot-air balloons and dropped some bombs in Washington state, and killed a family.
My god! A whole family was killed! In war time! No wonder you got the nukes out.
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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quote:Originally posted by TSN: Careful, "governor", or you "blokes" may be next...
Sorry "dude". I don't want to come across as if I'm "totally Jonesin'".
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
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quote:Originally posted by PsyLiam: Riiiigggghhht. There is the matter that Northern Ireland is part of the UK, and the majority of the population wishes to remain that way, and that the IRA is more based in the Republic, which I don't believe we've occupied (unless I've missed a memo), so yeah, I wouldn't call the IRA a good example either. [/QB]
Actually we did occupy what is now the Republic. But then we um... unoccupied it. We didn't do that in NI because the people there wanted to remain part of the UK. This is called democracy. You may have heard of it. The IRA is a small and unnecessarily violent minority. Yes, the 11th September attacks were terrible but many other nations have gone through far worse and yet make less of a fuss about it. Hell, if we had national holidays for every IRA attack we'd never get anything done!
-------------------- "I am an almost extinct breed, an old-fashioned gentleman, which means I can be a cast-iron son-of-a-bitch when it suits me." --Jubal Harshaw
Registered: Feb 2002
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Why is it I'm always hearing "It's the worst terrorist attack in American history?", not "the worst terrorist attack in history?". Sure, it's been the worst for us, but, as far as I know, no other country has ever suffered a terrorist attack that has killed 2,800 people. Do the repeated suicide bombings in Israel count as one big terrorist event? Does Saddam Hussein's gassing of the Kurds in '88 count? Just a question I've been pondering for a year and three days.
posted
Herewegoagain. Terrorist attack is a little bit up there on the hardtodefine scale.
-------------------- "I was surprised by the matter-of-factness of Kafka's narration, and the subtle humor present as a result." (Sizer 2005)
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And even higher up on the subjectiveterm scale.
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The atomic bombs were the worst terrorist attacks in history. Why? They were used to instill terror to the Japanese people and government, the aim was to end WWII with minimal loss of life to the Allies. It worked.
-------------------- "You are a terrible human, Ritten." Magnus "Urgh, you are a sick sick person..." Austin Powers A leek too, pretty much a negi.....
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quote:There is the matter that Northern Ireland is part of the UK
Riiiiiiight.
#1. England invaded and occupied Ireland (including Northern Ireland). It may have happened 900 years ago, but it still happened.
#2. Although the majority of occupied territory was eventually released, Ulster is still occupied. They remain under foreign rule since the "intifada" of the late 60's-early 70's.
#3. England built settlements on Irish land, moving British citizens in in successive waves of "relocations," adding a veneer of legitimacy to their occupation. Otherwise they would clearly not have enough votes in the occupied territory to win any legitimate referendum.
#4. The British maintain "Diplock" courts, for trial without jury, a practice widely condemned by human-rights organizations for compromising due process (sounds familiar)
We demand the immediate withdrawal of UK forces and settlements from the occpied territories in Northern Ireland, with UN sanctions to be imposed in the event of noncompliance.
Of course, I'm just being a bastard, and you could easily apply the "invasion and occupation" stigma to every country in the Western Hemisphere and many in the Eastern.
But it's funny how, when you expand ideals that seem applicable to ONE situation, they don't always seem applicable to similar ones.
-------------------- "The best defense is not a good offense. The best defense is a terrifyingly accurate and devastatingly powerful offense, with multiply-overlapping kill zones and time-on-target artillery strikes." -- Laurence, Archangel of the Sword
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