>
> As an aside, this doesn't justify anything, but if I
> had been a soldier in the Soviet (not "Russian,'
> dammit) Army in 1944 whose entire village had been
> exterminated or whose family had starved to death in
> the Seige of Leningrad, I dare say that the idea of
> COLLECTIVE REVENGE might have had a certain appeal.
>
> Fortunately, most of my family were living in that
> part of Germany occupied by the French at that time.
>
> Nu, zayats, pogodi!
>
Paul Goodman said it: Our wars are becoming more murderous, and less angry, all the time.
Theodore Rosak fleshed that statement out with the word "authentically".
Independent(UK) via informationclearinghouse
If we are fighting insurgency in Iraq, what makes us think insurgency won't come to us? http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9422.htm By Robert Fisk
07/08/05 "The Independent" - - "If you bomb our cities," Osama bin Laden said in one of his recent video tapes, "we will bomb yours." There you go, as they say. <...>
This also: [Power and Interest News Report (PINR)] 10 November 2004 ''The Threat of Al-Qaeda and the Islamic Revolutionary Movement''
<...> It appears that bin Laden will continue to pursue this strategy in the hopes of bringing severe financial hardships to the U.S. economy. Aware that the United States cannot be defeated through direct military confrontation, bin Laden's central strategy -- most vividly depicted through the September 11 attacks that hit the financial heart of the United States -- has been to undermine U.S. security and, therefore, the U.S. economy. In his October 2004 address, bin Laden, after commenting on how the mujahideen in Afghanistan successfully "bled Russia for ten years" to end its occupation there, is now practicing a similar strategy on the United States, "continuing this policy in bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy." Indeed, in October 2002, bin Laden said on al-Jazeera television, "God is my witness, the youth of Islam are preparing things that will fill your hearts with fear. They will target key sectors of your economy until you stop your injustice and aggression or until the more short-lived of us die."
Bin Laden's strategy is feasible. The U.S. budget deficit stands at $413 billion, and shows no sign of decreasing. Much of this money comes out of the costs of waging the "war on terrorism," including the invasion of Iraq. Indeed, the invasion of Iraq will not only cause financial hardship to the United States, but will further bin Laden's ambitions as long as it continues down the course it has thus far. Unless Iraq is transformed into a stable country generally in line with U.S. interests, it will continue to act as a drain on the U.S. economy and persist in helping al-Qaeda and other Islamic militant groups find willing recruits to pursue al-Qaeda's agenda. <...> http://www.pinr.com/report.php?ac=view_printable&report_id=234&language_id=1
...Stand by for a ramming.
Leigh www.leighm.net