posted
Well, the previous one didn't start off all that good either, especially if you were a Boer. Oh, and this didn't actually take place, did it?
Registered: Oct 1999
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posted
No. Although I did read an extrememly nihalistic PPG fanfic last night that made you Simon appear to be a fluffy and happy bunny that loves the world by comparison. Yes.
-------------------- 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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posted
Vogon: Bleah! You know very well I was using a generic 'we' to refer to the United States.
As for the rest of your comment... I was offered incentives, (scored very high on the Armed Services Vocational Apritude Test) and I came very close to enlisting out of H.S. (*lukespeak* like my father before me), and likely could have been there (in the Gulf) the first time, (only 2 years after I finished h.s.) had I not become medically unfit for service the January preceeding graduation. Unfortunately, major automobile accidents tend to have a detrimental affect on one's medical status. Although I am technically 'healed,' they don't want me anymore.
Anyway, that's irrelevant. I just thought I'd answer the question.
-------------------- "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
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
American hubris, coming to a theater (of war) near you.
Spreading American hegemony around the world...now there's a cause to get behind with everything 'we' have.
-------------------- Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war. ~ohn Adams
Once again the Bush Administration is worse than I had imagined, even though I thought I had already taken account of the fact that the Bush administration is invariably worse than I can imagine. ~Brad DeLong
You're just babbling incoherently. ~C. Montgomery Burns
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
I know how that goes. With my record as a cadet, the OTC at university were very interested in recruiting me, until they heard (no pun intended) I'd been deaf in one ear since the age of 10.
(swiped from a couple of posts on another site, but all of which I agree with entirely. Thanks go out to the original posters, Dave Biggins and Dan Stack. They said it all far more eloquently than I have been able to.)
quote: US vs. EU We share a common heritage. While we all have our own nuances, I believe that there is this overall "Western European Culture" that we all share. We're individualistic. We believe that governments are answerable to the people that they govern. We believe that religion, at the very most, should play only a periferal role in politics. We have so much in common that unfortunately the saying that "Familiarity Breeds Contempt" holds true.
Both sides have to understand some things.
Americans have to understand that Europeans fear being hit by errant fists. Terrorism is an old shoe to them with such elements as the IRA, ETA, and the Bader-Meinhoff Group. This, to them, is a law enforcement vice military issue. Our seeming dismissal of them is not making things easier. Ultimately, it will have to come down to diplomacy.
Europeans need to understand that we haven't been this pissed off since Pearl Harbor. Most of y'all didn't mind that when we entered the war. We're trying to clean up situations where diplomacy has failed. The carrot is worthless without a stick and knowledge of what the stick does.
RE: Non-European involved nations:
quote: OK folks, there's a lot of you out there in the world that talk good talk about how buddy buddy you are with us, how you stand with the United States. But at the same time you take your peoples freedoms away, don't let them express frustration with your corrupt goverments - heck the only expression you allow them is to vent their frustrations at us, and you're their stroking those fires since it distracts them from you. And your richest 1% puts ours to shame - channeling money to terrorist organizations.
Well folks, we were just attacked and maybe we're kinda silly, but we've always viewed these oceans on our east and west coasts as good marking points for our borders. And we get a little perturbed when people ignore those borders. Last time it happened it wasn't even a violation of the borders, it was the bombing of a naval base in the Pacific ocean. Perhaps you remember how annoyed we got at that one?
Anyway, it just happened again, and we are going to get the people responsible. And we might ask you for help. And trying to be on both sides isn't going to cut it anymore. You can't say nice things to us and then not do anything. We're going to ask to use your airspace, we're going to ask you to seize terrorist bank accounts, shut down "charities" which fund terrorists. And based on who says yes and no we'll know who are friends. And we'll also know who is against us.
I could be wrong, but that's how I see things. I personally wish the administration did more. The country second most behind this attack, just after Afghanistan, is in my opinion, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. If there ever was a country that talks the talk but doesn't walk the walk with regards to its friendship with the United States. And I suspect it is they who such remarks were directed at. And countries like Pakistan, which chose to side with the United States.
The fact of the matter is other countries are for or against the United States. Does that mean we bomb everyone against us? No, I should hope not. But I hope we remember. And on both sides. I hope we are a good friend to those who do back us in our time of need.
quote:To be honest, we still feel threatened. What if Iraq supplies terrorists with a few bioweapons to be unleashed against the eastern seaboard cities? What if Korea supplies a nuke or two to be used against us. We have no reason to believe Iraq under its current leadership will ever make nice with us. These are countries which have the ability to do some pretty nasty stuff to us and the motive or desire to do so. That is why we don't attack France, Germany, or the UK. They may have the ability to hurt us, but they lack the inclination to do so. It is not just the possession of weapons of mass destruction, it is what we think they will do with them.
Pre-emptive war need not be a bad thing. If Western Europe and America had stood up to Hitler and Stalin in the 30's, millions who died might have lived.
[ February 18, 2002, 18:57: Message edited by: First of Two ]
-------------------- "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
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Oh, sure, it's easier to say that now, but fact is things were different back then. He had to go too far before anybody'd do anything, and I need hardly point out that it took someone else altogether to do anything to directly harm the USA before you then went to war with him. You may give us grief for Chamberlain's appeasement, but note we still in the end declared war without anything actually being done to us.
posted
If this is a genuine war against terrorism and not just the Americans killing anyone they feel like particularly someone who happened to piss off the presidents daddy; could America please invade Ireland? Quote:"That is why we don't attack France, Germany, or the UK. They may have the ability to hurt us, but they lack the inclination to do so." France and Germany may not have the inclination to strike back but we do!! Look at the Falklands. I would also contest the French ability to strike back at anytone; half their tanks don't work, they only have 5 Rafale fighters when they were supposed to have 150-odd and their aircraft carrier keeps letting in large amounts of water.
-------------------- "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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capped
I WAS IN THE FUTURE, IT WAS TOO LATE TO RSVP
Member # 709
posted
Dear Mr. Bush. I am a mapmaker.. I am currently having trouble keeping track of countries ending in '-stan.' Please eliminate any three. Enclosed is a contribution to the GOP.
-------------------- "Are you worried that your thoughts are not quite.. clear?"
Registered: Sep 2001
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quote:If this is a genuine war against terrorism and not just the Americans killing anyone they feel like particularly someone who happened to piss off the presidents daddy; could America please invade Ireland? Quote:"That is why we don't attack France, Germany, or the UK. They may have the ability to hurt us, but they lack the inclination to do so." France and Germany may not have the inclination to strike back but we do!! Look at the Falklands.
So.. you can 'strike back,' but you need OUR help against the small groups of Irish terrorists? Why don't you go in and wipe out both sides yourselves... since it's not as simple as what we're doing.
And clearly you do not know the difference between a first attack and striking back... the post you quoted above says we wouldn't attack the UK because the UK has no inclination to attack us. In other words, we're fairly certain the UK has no intention of ever attacking the US, (unless we attacked them first, which we have no intention of doing) so it would be silly for the US to attack the UK. IIRC, Argentina attacked you FIRST during the 'Falklands War.'
[ February 19, 2002, 16:28: Message edited by: First of Two ]
-------------------- "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
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Last time I checked, Britain didn't call in the US Army Rangers to obliterate the IRA. Major and Blair, unlike Thatcher, had the good sense to realize a prolonged military campaign wouldn't get anyone anywhere and sat down and solved the situation peacefully.
-------------------- "I was surprised by the matter-of-factness of Kafka's narration, and the subtle humor present as a result." (Sizer 2005)
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
I was under the impression that Argentina took control of some place (which, IIRC, Britain had taken from them originally) w/o killing or injuring anyone, and it was Thatcher that chose to go to war over it.
But, then, maybe I shouldn't take my history lessons from Pink Floyd...
Registered: Mar 1999
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