>>>I'd like to chime in here. I don't believe in giving peace any more of a chance than it's already gotten (remember, the Taliban had a month to turn over bin laden). Frankly, I think all this peace talk does not reflect reality.<<<<
I don't think peace was ever really given a chance. I cringed the moment that ultimatum of turning over bin laden was declared. I am sure the president felt he needed to appease people who wanted to see bin laden pay. But I imagine the US US citizens would have supported him saying, we are going to try & get bin laden but we are going to do it a different way. And then gone about enacting the plan that has already been suggested here by Fred. >>>>Remember the 6,000 people who were killed? We didn't ask for that, and if we don't strike back, we're saying their lives are in essence worthless.<<<< Why do people believe that striking back is the only way to achieve justice? I have never understood that reasoning. >>>>Kill our people and we'll give you lots of aid. Huh? All through the 90's, we failed to retaliate when struck and now we get this.<<<< There is some confusion here. No one has suggested providing aid to bin laden & his followers. The Afghan people are not responsible for this tragedy. >>>There are a lot of people who hate us. I don't care why they hate us; they just do. Whether it's our fault or not (and I think much of it is not) is beside the point. We have to strike back when we are attacked this violently.<<< I think it is important to understand why some people feel this way. Some of it may have roots in US foreign policy & some may not. But for our us to ignore this, at this time, would be dangerous in my opinion. I think there is lots we can do to gain favor in the world & this is the time to do so. But first we must understand. >>>I agree that there has been a very great deal of anti-American sentiment expressed on this site. It's gone beyond criticizing to demonizing. When you paint the US as more evil than the Taliban and Bin Laden, which I think a number of these posts have done, you demonize us. I've seen too many emails along the lines of "poor victim bin laden, protecting his culture against the evil US". That is demonizing us.<<< There has been criticism of US foreign policy, past & present. That is not anti-American. Maybe someone who believes that the criticism of foreign policy is anti-American needs to define what they believe being pro-American is...is it supporting the president right or wrong? Is someone who holds the position of president always right? Isn't being pro-American about believing in democracy, about differing views, about freedom of speech, etc? There is a long history of dissent in our country that has brought about positive change. Isn't this pro-American? >>>A number of you are going to be offended by this. I'm sorry, but I've been equally offended at all of the "evil US" stuff I've been hearing around here lately. For example, that IMO disgusting editorial by Barbara Kingsolver. When people strike us like that, we just can't roll over and die.<<< Hs anyone said the US was evil? I haven't read that anywhere here. I believe our president did a very good job of speaking up for the Muslim people & making sure that the US citizens did not blaim all of the Muslim world. In the early days I was shocked to hear some (not here on this list) ranting about how all of the Islams (they meant Muslims) must pay. I just read the Michael Kelly articles. His representation of people who are not in support of this war are based on an extremist charactiture rather than a real understanding of the issues. In my opinion, his writing was more inflamatory than thoughtful. ******************************************** Kate Bennett www.katebennett.com sponsored by Polysonics www.polysonics.com Discover the Indies at Taylor Guitars: http://www.taylorguitars.com/artists/awp/indies/bennett.html ********************************************
