My friend's uncle from TN sent this to her so she felt "obligated to send

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

it to me. Oh, how "sweet."

By the way, I don't believe this crap about "this is not a 'Vote for Candidate X'" bullshit!

_________________________________________________________________

It's amazing what we forget that has happened to us over the past. This is not a "Vote for Candidate X", but a little reminder of how many times we have been targets of terrorism. Lest we forget...

WW III

Not very long, but very informative. You have to read the catalogue of events in this brief piece. Then, ask yourself how anyone can take the position that all we have to do is bring our troops home from Iraq, sit back, reset the snooze alarm, go back to sleep, and no one will ever bother us again. In case you missed it, World War III began in November 1979... that alarm has been ringing for years.

US Navy Captain Ouimette is the Executive Officer at Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Florida. Here is a copy of the speech he gave last month. It is an accurate account of why we are in so much trouble today and why this action is so necessary..

AMERICA NEEDS TO WAKE UP!

That's what we think we heard on the 11th of September 2001 (When more than 3,000 Americans were killed) and maybe it was, but I think it should have been "Get Out of Bed!" In fact, I think the alarm clock has been buzzing since 1979 and we have continued to hit the snooze button and roll over for a few more minutes of peaceful sleep since then.

It was a cool fall day in November 1979 in a country going through a
religious and political upheaval when a group of Iranian students attacked and seized the American Embassy in Tehran. This seizure was an outright attack on American soil; it was an attack that held the world's most powerful country hostage and paralyzed a Presidency. The attack on this sovereign U. S. embassy set the stage for events to follow for the next 23 years.

America was still reeling from the aftermath of the Vietnam experience and had a serious threat from the Soviet Union when then, President Carter, had to do something. He chose to conduct a clandestine raid in the desert. The ill-fated mission ended in ruin, but stood as a symbol of America's inability to deal with terrorism.

America's military had been decimated and downsized/right sized since the end of the Vietnam War. A poorly trained, poorly equipped and poorly organized military was called on to execute a complex mission that was doomed from the start.

Shortly after the Tehran experience, Americans began to be kidnapped and killed throughout the Middle East. America could do little to protect her citizens living and working abroad. The attacks against US soil continued.

In April of 1983 a large vehicle packed with high explosives was driven into the US Embassy compound in Beirut. When it explodes, it kills 63 people.

The alarm went off again and America hit the Snooze Button once more.

Then just six short months later a large truck heavily laden down with over 2500 pounds of TNT smashed through the main gate of the US Marine Corps headquarters in Beirut and 241 US servicemen are killed. America mourns her dead and hit the Snooze Button once more.

Two months later in December 1983, another truck loaded with explosives is driven into the US Embassy in Kuwait, and America continues her slumber.

The following year, in September 1984, another van was driven into the gate of the US Embassy in Beirut and America slept.

Soon the terrorism spreads to Europe. In April 1985 a bomb explodes in a restaurant frequented by US soldiers in Madrid.

Then in August a Volkswagen loaded with explosives is driven into the main gate of the US Air Force Base at Rhein-Main, 22 are killed and the snooze alarm is buzzing louder and louder as US interests are continually attacked.

Fifty-nine days later a cruise ship, the Achille Lauro is hijacked and we watched as an American in a wheelchair is singled out of the passenger list and executed.

The terrorists then shift their tactics to bombing civilian airliners when they bomb TWA Flight 840 in April of 1986 that killed 4 and the most tragic bombing, Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988, killing 259.

Clinton treated these terrorist acts as crimes; in fact we are still trying to bring these people to trial. These are acts of war.

The wake up alarm is getting louder and louder.

The terrorists decide to bring the fight to America. In January 1993, two CIA agents are shot and killed as they enter CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.

The following month, February 1993, a group of terrorists are arrested after a rented van packed with explosives is driven into the underground parking garage of the World Trade Center in New York City. Six people are killed and over 1000 are injured. Still this is a crime and not an act of war?

The Snooze alarm is depressed again.

Then in November 1995 a car bomb explodes at a US military complex in
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia killing seven service men and women.

A few months later in June of 1996, another truck bomb explodes only 35 yards from the US military compound in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. It destroys the Khobar Towers, a US Air Force barracks, killing 19 and injuring over 500. The terrorists are getting braver and smarter as they see that America does not respond decisively.

They move to coordinate their attacks in a simultaneous attack on two US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. These attacks were planned with precision.

They kill 224. America responds with cruise missile attacks and goes back to sleep.

The USS Cole was docked in the port of Aden, Yemen for refueling on 12
October 2000, when a small craft pulled along side the ship and exploded killing 17 US Navy Sailors. Attacking a US War Ship is an act of war, but we sent the FBI to investigate the crime and went back to sleep.

And of course you know the events of 11 September 2001. Most Americans think this was the first attack against US soil or in America. How wrong they are.

America has been under a constant attack since 1979 and we chose to hit the snooze alarm and roll over and go back to sleep.

In the news lately we have seen lots of finger pointing from every high officials in government over what they knew and what they didn't know. But if you've read the papers and paid a little attention I think you can see exactly what they knew. You don't have to be in the FBI or CIA or on the National Security Council to see the pattern that has been developing since 1979.

The President is right on when he says we are engaged in a war. I think we have been in a war for the past 23 years and it will continue until we as a people decide enough is enough.

America needs to "Get out of Bed" and act decisively now. America has been changed forever. We have to be ready to pay the price and make the sacrifice to ensure our way of life continues. We cannot afford to keep hitting the snooze button again and again and roll over and go back to sleep.

------
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Admiral Yamamoto said "...it seems all we have done is awakened a sleeping giant." This is the message we need to disseminate to terrorists around the world.

This is not a political thing to be hashed over in an election year this is an AMERICAN thing. This is about our Freedom and the Freedom of our children in years to come.

Please forward this to as many people as you can especially to the young people and all those who dozed off in history class and who seem so quick to protest such a necessary military action.

Time to wake up!

_______________________________________________________________

My response back to her:

Quote: The President is right on when he says we are engaged in a war. I think we have been in a war for the past 23 years and it will continue until we as a people decide enough is enough.

Response: We're engaged in an unnecessary war (Iraq) that he started that has bred more terrorists.

I've decided that enough is enough. I'm "acting decisively" by voting for Kerry. We can't afford four more years of hell w/ Bush in office. A Bush campaign aide was quoted as saying that those who are unhappy in their jobs should just get another one of 'pop a Prozac'? What jobs? With what healthcare? No more.


Quote: "...seem so quick to protest such a necessary military action."

Response: Protesting is the highest form of patriotism. Tell THAT to your uncle.

[Old and In the Way]

1. Interesting that he drags Clinton's name into it, but nary a mention of

Reagan/Bush. Perhaps he should be thinking back to '79 and how Reagan/Bush did arms for hostages so that they could get elected and take down our Department of Energy. Maybe if we had made a serious attempt to diversify our national energy policy out of ME oil, we wouldn't be sghedding US blood today.

Just another RNC bullshit letter that is dishonest about history.

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

3. Indeed. Forward this email she said. My ass!

[burythehatchet]

2. fucking clueless

sorry to be blunt but the complete amnesia about US intervention around the world is sickening.

Tell him shove that alarm clock.

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

5. For real! No apologies needed. I was really pissed to have gotten the

email, but more frightened that so much ignorance is out there and is being perpetuated. Fucking clueless.

I'm all for patriotrism, but let's face it, not all US policies are good policies. We're not attacked for our freedoms people. Wake up.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

4. Let's just make this our starting position:

If it arrives, unbidden, in your email inbox, from a frother friend or relative, it is a steaming, maggot-infested pile of diseased tapir shit.

It's generally an accurate position, within the 97% percentile, and saves on gastrointestinal disturbance and irritation.

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

6. ...and with my colitis, I don't need the aggravation!

[JohnnyRingo]

7. Sometimes it's just a good idea to buy a new alarm clock

Like when it keeps starts ringing when we were watching the convention.

Or when it goes off right in the middle of a Halliburton scandal.

Or when we try to fix the "alarm clock" the manufacturer blocks our every attempt in a vain effort to avert liability.

...Or we can keep it another four years and see if it fixes itself.

[DoctorMyEyes]

8. You could point out that Clinton

didn't move into the white house until January 1993....

Soon the terrorism spreads to Europe. In April 1985 a bomb explodes in a restaurant frequented by US soldiers in Madrid.
Then in August a Volkswagen loaded with explosives is driven into the main gate of the US Air Force Base at Rhein-Main, 22 are killed and the snooze alarm is buzzing louder and louder as US interests are continually attacked.
Fifty-nine days later a cruise ship, the Achille Lauro is hijacked and we watched as an American in a wheelchair is singled out of the passenger list and executed.
The terrorists then shift their tactics to bombing civilian airliners when they bomb TWA Flight 840 in April of 1986 that killed 4 and the most tragic bombing, Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988, killing 259.
Clinton treated these terrorist acts as crimes; in fact we are still trying to bring these people to trial. These are acts of war.


The whole thing is freeptard stoopid but come on...even THEY have to concede that 1985 through 1998 came BEFORE 1993.

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

9. I sent her an email saying I didn't want her sending me that kind of shit

anymore. Yes, I could just delete it, but she's known me my whole life. I needed to lay it on the line.

[lapfog_1]

10. I'm sure this carries weight with the wingnuts

but it isn't very factual.

Yes, there has been a rise of Islamic fundamentalists in the world.
Yes Iran was one of the first instances where we noticed this.
However, to relate the Iranians with the Bin Ladens with the
Palestinians (as the author does here) is to paint with a very
broad brush.

Also, I note the author states:
"Clinton treated these terrorist acts as crimes; in fact we are
still trying to bring these people to trial. These are acts of war."

So much for any attempt at being bipartisan... let's see, over the
22 years outlined, Democratic presidents were in charge for 9 years
(one Carter, 8 Clinton). So I guess the other 13 years the "strong
on defense" guys did what, exactly? Reagan treated the attacks on
Americans as an act of war? Funny, the only two Presidents in that
22 year stretch that actually took military action were Carter and
Clinton.

Anyway, none of this asks a kind of fundamental question, which is
"Why in the hell are they doing this to us?" In Iran's case, it's
because WE installed a puppet regime, every bit as brutal as Saddam
on his worst day. The Shah was put in power by the CIA and maintained
his power with massive US aid... no wonder they hate us.

He doesn't mention the dealings we had with Saddam after the
revolution in Iran, nor the dealings with the Taliban and
the "freedom fighters" (mujahadeen, aka Al Qaeda) when they were
fighting the Soviets. So I'm wondering, was it more important to
join with the Soviets to crush the Islamic fundamentalists that
we have been at war with for 22 years, or defeat the Soviet Union
when they became involved in their own little Vietnam?

And as for the Palestinians, we are the largest supporter of Israel
in the world. The UN, in one of it's first acts post WWII, decided
that Jews had a right to their traditional homeland... never mind
about the Palestinian people who inhabited that very land for the
last few hundred years. Who is right about this? Who knows.
But the Palestinians know who they blame... and the rest of the
Muslim world does too (to various degrees). Then there is the
question of the numerous other kingdoms and dictatorships (
Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, the gulf states, Kuwait ) that wouldn't
exist EXCEPT for US support... but we support the ruling regimes,
not the people. And there is a big difference.

Remove the cause of terrorism (our support for corrupt regimes)
and we can start removing terrorism. And terrorists are more
likely checked by law enforcement techniques than by military
action. Remember the European terrorists (Red Brigade, Red
Dawn, etc, etc)... where are they now? Remove the reason for them,
remove their funding sources, give people hope for a better future,
and arrest the "die hards". Starting a war with tanks and missiles
and crap simply breeds whole new generations of terrorists. Ask
the Israelis how military actions have worked out for them.

[Interrobang]

11. I don't know who's been feeding you lines about Israel...

...but the *British* got fed up with having control of the Middle East as part of their empire (which was collapsing anyway), and left, creating in their wake Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, and Iraq, at least. They also installed or propped up most of those royal families who are currently funding most of the trouble. Most of the trouble in the ME can be traced directly to the British Mandate, not (originally anyway) to the UN or the US.

(Of course, it didn't help any that most of the countries involved immediately rejected the terms of the proposed agreement in 1948 -- this would be Israel and Jordan, at least -- and took *more* territory than they were originally supposed to, thereby leaving the Palestinians with no Palestine, which was supposed to be pieces of what is now Israel *and* Jordan...but I haven't heard too many people saying that the Jordanians should *also* give back the piece of land that they appropriated. Granted, Israel has tended to be slightly more in-your-face about their own little imperial aspirations -- think "Six Days' War" -- but the Jordanian appropriation has pretty much flown under the radar.)

The US only took over the mantle of empire from England when England couldn't wear it anymore.

There were also always Jews living in the area that's now Israel (the Sabras or Tzabarim), and there had been significant numbers of Diaspora Jews from Europe arriving in British Palestine (often with the encouragement of the British) since the mid-1800s or so...which complicates the conventional-wisdom narrative that, after the Holocaust (specifically), the British/US/UN parachuted an alien minority into an Arab and/or Muslim region and set them up as the "autocthonous" rightful holders of the land, since Jewish presence there was continuous, if numerically small.

So *that* conflict is not *nearly* as cut-and-dried as you make it sound. My position is that the whole thing has been a clusterfuck from Minute One, and *every* side is in the wrong to a greater or lesser degree, and that compromise should be required from *everyone.*

Similarly, the more anti-terrorist activity is treated as *police action* instead of war, the less grounds for future terrorism there will be.

[lapfog_1]

12. Nobody is feeding me anything.

Yes the British kind of mucked it all up... I wasn't going back
in time to previous than 1950 or so, so I didn't really get into
to other powers involved.

Of course, you could go further back in time to the crusades and
the rise of Islam... if you want to.

Most of the other ME countries that you mentioned as having
derived from the British Mandate, have not been all the important
in world events (at least from western teachings) for a long time.
It was a region which was largely tribal in nature and not
very populated nor terribly wealthy. i

So that the British installed one family as Kings (or rather one
leading family installed themselves as Kings with British blessings)
isn't really important to understanding why terrorists hate the
US. That we are supporting those regimes with foreign aid, trade
agreements and, most importantly, military hardware, IS important
to the people of the region (as many expats that I know here where
I live, constantly remind me). Especially Iran and Saudi Arabia,
but others do as well.

Anyway, I haven't forgotten (although perhaps many Palestinians
have to some degree) that Jordan played along with Israel in
dividing up the land. I suspect no one there forgets the refugee
camps that were set up all along the border... and the horrible
conditions therein. I think everyone (Jordan, Egypt, Israel,
and even the Saudis) just sort of wished the displaced Palestinians
would just disappear.

Still, over the last 22 years (the years in question from the
guy who thinks that the Islamic world declared war on us in 1979),
we haven't exactly played the role of fair arbiter. For most of
that time we supported Israel. At the same time, the rise of the
PLO and Yasser hasn't really helped either... at various times he
was offered 95 percent of what he demanded and he has rejected
each offer... but OTOH, the world has seen a continued expansion
of Israel into occupied territory with settlements, and a continued
jailing of the remaining Palestinians into two small disconnected
ghettos... with the end result now the giant sized jail which
is "The Fence".

But facts aren't that important. What is important is how the
Arab world (and the wider Islamic world) views our actions
in the conflict... and why that leads to Palestinians jumping
up and down in the street waving flags on 9/11 (lest we forget
those images), while their more politically correct leader was
giving blood (nice gesture, but empty really).