----- Original Message ----- From: Peter K. <peterk at enteract.com> To: <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com> Sent: Wednesday, November 27, 2002 4:57 AM Subject: Re: A Pig Returns to the Farm, Thumbing His Snout at Orwell
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> It's easy to forget, however, that Bush set the tone and took the
unprecedented step of going to
> that Mosque and saying Muslims aren't the enemy. Quite unusual for a
politician. I think Grover
> Norquist convinced him to do it.
> People will argue that the toppling of the Taliban was revenge. I'd argue
it
> was to prevent future 911s and has worked thus far.
How can you possibly know this? It seems to me that the opposite is much more likely....when you bomb a defenseless people and kill who knows how many innocent people-5,000 or so?-you will foster more hatred and resentment and lead the way to more attacks on the US.
There is no way to prevent future 9/11's except to look at the underlying causes that foster the haltered and resentment that fanatics use to enlist new solders to their cause. Empires are not built on moral foundations.
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> Anyway, maybe Yoshie and Todd need to get out and talk to more Americans.
> Fox News and the Weekly Standard aren't the dominant strain of America.
Well there is often a great rift between elite opinion and what the general population thinks. So I think there is truth to what you say here, but you have to remember that the general population is bombarded with dominant images everyday. So if asked who is a terrorist many people will say an arab or a Palestinian etc. They won't say George W or Kissinger or Ariel Sharon.
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> Peter
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