Mike;

Well stated!

Tom


>>Bush Wins, terrorists lose!
>
>PS, I'm not sure if you read this or not:
>
>http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/79C6AF22-98FB-4A1C-B21F-2BC36E87F61F.htm
>
>bin Laden says:
>
>Before I begin, I say to you that security is an indispensable pillar of human life and that free men do not forfeit their security, contrary to Bush's claim that we hate freedom.
>
>If so, then let him explain to us why we don't strike for example - Sweden? And we know that freedom-haters don't possess defiant spirits like those of the 19 - may Allah have mercy on them.
>
>No, we fight because we are free men who don't sleep under oppression. We want to restore freedom to our nation, just as you lay waste to our nation. So shall we lay waste to yours.
>
>
>The terrorists want a Holy War. Bush promises to fight the terrorists, giving them the fight they want.
>
>Whether or not we win the war, the fact is the terrorists have received their war. They win that much, which is undeniable, and that might be too much to afford them. We'll see if thats the case or not.
>
>He continues:
>
>I say to you, Allah knows that it had never occurred to us to strike the towers. But after it became unbearable and we witnessed the oppression and tyranny of the American/Israeli coalition against our people in Palestine and Lebanon, it came to my mind.
>
>The events that affected my soul in a direct way started in 1982 when America permitted the Israelis to invade Lebanon and the American Sixth Fleet helped them in that. This bombardment began and many were killed and injured and others were terrorised and displaced.
>
>I couldn't forget those moving scenes, blood and severed limbs, women and children sprawled everywhere. Houses destroyed along with their occupants and high rises demolished over their residents, rockets raining down on our home without mercy.
>
>What's more important than bin Laden and Bush wanting the war is that John Harvey wants the war. I don't mean "John Harvey" as in you specifically, but anyone with your mindset. Including radiacal Ismalmic extremists.
>
>For every John Harvey in the United States, there is a John Harvey in Iran, and Syria, and Saudi Arabia. That John Harvey knows that his homeland, and his religion, have been attacked by the United States, he and wants nothing more than the chance to fight them. Just as the John Harvey in the US knows that his homeland, and his world-views, have been attacked by terrorists, and he wants nothing more than the chance to fight them.
>
>As long as there is a John Harvey is on both sides, the cycle of violence will not stop.
>
>A Palestinian attacks Israel.
>Israel and the US attack Palestine.
>Muslims see this as an attack on their relgion.
>Muslims attack the US.
>The US sees this as an attack on their freedom.
>The US attacks muslim nations.
>
>When does it end?
>
>When the John Harvey's of the world shut the hell up and start to think for more than two seconds.
>
>I don't have answers. I'm not anti-war. I don't think we should pull out of what we're doing in Iraq because I hope that we will look back and say that we did a very good thing.
>
>But the beliefs, the emotions, the loyalty, and the pride that stand in the way of crtical thought cannot be ignored much longer.