Here are 2 forwards with very similar contents I received at key political moments. I responded to some, but not all of the totally ridiculous contents at the time. It's all old stuff.
Before reading see: http://www.snopes.com/rumors/soapbox/chong.aspMy comments are in red.Subjects I saw for the email in the chain of forwarded messages:
Fwd: Vital Information about the War on terrorism!!!!!
Fwd: WHAT WE ALL NEED TO BE AWARE OF CONCERNING THE MUSLIM RELIGION.
And here we go for the first one:PLEASE TAKE TIME TO READ THIS!!
For those of us with kids and grandkids this is very scary indeed.
Please take the time to read the essay by Dr. Chong. It is without a doubt the most articulate and convincing writing I have read regarding the War in Iraq. If you have any doubts please open your mind to his essay and give a fair evaluation.
I had no idea who Dr. Chong is or the source of these thoughts... so when I received them, I almost deleted them - as well-written as they are. But then I did a "Google search" on the Doctor and found him to be a retired Air Force Surgeon of all things and past Commander of Wilford Hall Medical Center in San Antonio.
Yes, but did he write it? Hmmm.*Subject: Muslims, terrorists and the USA. A different spin on Iraq war.
This WAR is for REAL!
Dr. Vernon Chong, Major General,
USAF, Retired
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
---I know someone sent me this somewhere in 2002-2004, too.To get out of a difficulty, one usually must go through it. Our country is now facing the most serious threat to its existence, as we know it, that we have faced in your lifetime and mine (which includes WWII).
The deadly seriousness is greatly compounded by the fact that there are very few of us who think we can possibly lose this war and even fewer who realize what losing really means.
---OK. You can't win a war on terror. It will always be there. There will always be injustice, those who fight against it, those who will stop at nothing and do the unthinkable, etc. And we're not going to totally lose it, either, unless we all fall into a wrinkle in time, an alternate universe where the US disbands the military and we cut off diplomatic ties and trade with everyone. This guy seems to think the world will end or we'll be prisoners if we were no longer the superpower. Things may not go how our leaders would like 100% of the time if we were not the superpower, but I think that might be good in a lot of cases, especially recently. Those of us in these generations could see how the other countries felt. Maybe our children would resort to terrorism for the injustice they feel and the world would be concerned about American terrorists.First, let's examine a few basics:
1. When did the threat to us start?
Many will say September 11, 2001. The answer as far as the United State is concerned is 1979, 22 years prior to September 2001, with the following attacks on us:
---These seemed to start when US policy took a definite shift toward Israel, actually.* Iran Embassy Hostages, 1979;
* Beirut, Lebanon Embassy 1983;
* Beirut, Lebanon Marine Barracks 1983;
---Israel knew about this one and consciously made the decision not to tell us. Some friend, huh? * Lockerbie, Scotland Pan-Am flight to New York 1988;
* First New York World Trade Center attack 1993;
* Dhahran, Saudi Arabia Khobar Towers Military complex 1996;
* Nairobi, Kenya US Embassy 1998;
* Dares Salaam, Tanzania US Embassy 1998;
* Aden, Yemen USS Cole 2000;
* New York World Trade Center 2001;
* Pentagon 2001.
(Note that during the period from 1981 to 2001 there were 7,581 terrorist attacks worldwide).
---This was obviously put in here as a scare tactic as well, but it doesn't help his point much. If there were that many attacks and only a handful were on us, it would seem we're not in as much existential danger as he would have us believe after all.2. Why were we attacked?
Envy of our position, our success, and our freedoms. The attacks happened during the administrations of Presidents Carter, Reagan, Bush 1, Clinton and Bush 2. We cannot fault either the Republicans or Democrats as there were no provocations by any of the presidents or their immediate predecessors, Presidents Ford or Carter.
---Envy?? Are they kidding? Terrorism is political. The recent attacks have had political justification. Religion is a convenient tool for recruiting. They perceive injustice and are hitting the country responsible. They hit us in our financial district and almost at our center of government; they did hit the Pentagon. And they know that when that many people die, people take notice. They no doubt achieved some of their goal-we are talking about it now, aren't we?? Envy. We wish. If that were true, we'd bear no responsibility whatsoever. We do so much around the world, supporting murderous dictators when it suits us, etc that it is not inconceivable that countries could hate us for our policies and what we did to them. There is more evidence for this (and it makes more sense) than for saying they are so envious of us that they want to kill us.
As long as people strut around and say they hate us because of our freedom or success, you are missing the point and we'll keep being hit; the target on our back gets bigger an bigger. The more we make policies favoring one nation who doesn't deserve it above others and continue to invade said others on false pretenses which somehow confounds the public, but inexplicably ends up fulfilling the top goals of the aforementioned "one nation", the more we will be attacked. When Bush unleashed his doctrine of preemption on the world, he also opened us up to more attacks. You can't have that sort of 'invade now ask questions later' policy and not invite all kinds of trouble. The policy provokes.
3. Who were the attackers?
In each case, the attacks on the US were carried out by Muslims.
---And why is that? Not because we're infidels, but because Muslim nations are tired of the way we treat them, perhaps?4. What is the Muslim population of the World?
25%.
---He goes from talking about the US everywhere else to the world here probably because the Muslim population in the US is less than 1% and that's not nearly as impressive as a whopping 25%!5. Isn't the Muslim Religion peaceful?
Hopefully, but that is really not material.
---You're right it's not material! Terrorism is political, not religious. There is no doubt that the predominately Christian population of Germany was peaceful, but under the dictatorial leadership of Hitler (who was also Christian), that made no difference. You either went along with the administration or you were eliminated. There were 5 to 6 million Christians killed by the Nazis for political reasons (including 7,000 Polish priests). see: (
http://www.nazis.testimony.co.uk/7-a.htm)
Thus, almost the same number of Christians were killed by the Nazis, as the six million holocaust Jews who were killed by them, and we seldom heard of anything other than the Jewish atrocities. Although Hitler kept the world focused on the Jews, he had no hesitancy about killing anyone who got in his way of exterminating the Jews or of taking over the world - German, Christian or any others.
Same with the Muslim terrorists. They focus the world on the US, but kill all in the way -- their own people or the Spanish, French or anyone else. The point here is that just like the peaceful Germans were of no protection to anyone from the Nazis, no matter how many peaceful Muslims there may be, they are no protection for us from the terrorist Muslim leaders and what they are fanatically bent on doing -- by their own pronouncements -- killing all of us "infidels." I don't blame the peaceful Muslims. What would you do if the choice was shut up or die?
---The US attitude toward Muslim nations is much the same--change your government to one that suits me or I'll carpet bomb your country.6. So who are we at war with?
There is no way we can honestly respond that it is anyone other than the Muslim terrorists. Trying to be politically correct and avoid verbalizing this conclusion can well be fatal. There is no way to win if you don't clearly recognize and articulate who you are fighting. So with that background, now to the two major questions:
1. Can we lose this war?
2. What does losing really mean?
If we are to win, we must clearly answer these two pivotal questions:
We can definitely lose this war, and as anomalous as it may sound, the major reason we can lose is that so many of us simply do not fathom the answer to the second question - What does losing mean?
It would appear that a great many of us think that losing the war means hanging our heads, bringing the troops home and going on about our business, like post Vietnam. This is as far from the truth as one can get.
What losing really means is:
We would no longer be the premier country in the world. The attacks will not subside, but rather will steadily increase. Remember, they want us dead, not just quiet. If they had just wanted us quiet, they would not have produced an increasing series of attacks against us, over the past 18 years. The plan was clearly, for terrorist to attack us, until we were neutered and submissive to them.
We would of course have no future support from other nations, for fear of reprisals and for the reason that they would see, we are impotent and cannot help them.
They will pick off the other non-Muslim nations, one at a time.
--- So once they "conquer us, they will pick off others? Sounds like they are starting with us if you even believe this junk. Compare to the part where he says we are the last bastion of defense! So, are we the first to fall, or the last? It will be increasingly easier for them. They already hold Spain hostage.
(???) It doesn't matter whether it was right or wrong for Spain to withdraw its troops from Iraq. Spain did it because the Muslim terrorists bombed their train and told them to withdraw the troops.
Really? There is no other explanation? Anything else they want Spain to do will be done. Spain is finished.
The next will probably be France. Our one hope on France is that they might see the light and realize that if we don't win, they are finished too, in that they can't resist the Muslim terrorists without us. However, it may already be too late for France. France is already 20% Muslim and fading fast!
---Too late for France? Fading fast?? He seems here to equate all Muslims with terrorism. Guess his #5 IS material, after all. He wants you to think he doesn't have a problem with peaceful Muslims, but he does. If he were right in his assumption, then the world would have already "fallen".If we lose the war, our production, income, exports and way of life will all vanish as we know it. After losing, who would trade or deal with us, if they were threatened by the Muslims. If we can't stop the Muslims, how could anyone else?
---Here again with the all Muslims=terrorists. Unbelievable! This is obviously propaganda and was written to gain support for military action in the Middle East. It lumps Iraq in with the war on terror, it vilifies Muslims, creates fear of Muslims as well as fear of "losing" this very generic, broad war. It also perpetuates the silly notion that they hate us "cause they're jealous." This guy wishes. They hate because of our policies, our support for one nation in the region regardless of how many international laws it disregards or how it spies on us and acts unscrupulously toward us.The Muslims fully know what is riding on this war, and therefore are completely committed to winning, at any cost. We better know it too and be likewise committed to winning at any cost.
Why do I go on at such lengths about the results of losing? Simple. Until we recognize the costs of losing, we cannot unite and really put 100% of our thoughts and efforts into winning. And it is going to take that 100% effort to win.
So, how can we lose the war?
Again, the answer is simple. We can lose the war by "imploding." That is, defeating ourselves by refusing to recognize the enemy and their purpose, and really digging in and lending full support to the war effort If we are united, there is no way that we can lose. If we continue to be divided, there is no way that we can win![Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself cannot stand - Jesus, Matthew 12:25]~ inserted by B.L.~
---I hate when scripture is invoked in worldly battle cries and support for war.Let me give you a few examples of how we simply don't comprehend the life and death seriousness of this situation.
President Bush selects Norman Mineta as Secretary of Transportation. Although all of the terrorist attacks were committed by Muslim men between 17 and 40 years of age, Secretary Mineta refuses to allow profiling. Does that sound like we are taking this thing seriously? This is war! For the duration, we are going to have to give up some of the civil rights we have become accustomed to. We had better be prepared to lose some of our civil rights temporarily or we will most certainly lose all of them permanently.
---Some will have to give up more than others, for sure. He is obviously not in the group that will have to sacrifice the most, so you bet he is all for giving up rights. He is not being looked at and prejudged as though he single handedly brought down the World Trade Center.And don't worry that it is a slippery slope. We gave up plenty of civil rights during WWII, and immediately restored them after the victory and in fact added many more since then.
---Give up our rights?? Are you kidding? The war on terrorism is so broad that it will never be over. Declaring war on drugs and terrorism is asking for a continual state of war. So those willing to give up rights for the "war" are doing so indefinitely. "They that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty or safety." -Benjamin FranklinDo I blame President Bush or President Clinton before him?
No, I blame us for blithely assuming we can maintain all of our Political Correctness, and all of our civil rights during this conflict and have a clean, lawful, honorable war. None of those words apply to war. Get them out of your head.
---This guy is not a big fan of justice. He criticizes, rightly, those who behead and don't allow freedom of speech, etc, BUT he also ridicules our government and those who supported justice for the soldiers who terrorized Iraqis. He wants us to adopt the practices of those people he looks upon with hatred and disgust. If we do get "these things out of our heads", where will we be? We will be terrorists. We are really riding the fence on that one as we speak. The only difference is, we sometimes appear to censure or discipline ourselves. I hope it is truly to seek justice, but sometimes I fear it is only to look like we are seeking justice.Some have gone so far in their criticism of the war and/or the Administration that it seems they would literally like to see us lose. I hasten to add that this isn't because they are disloyal. It is because they just don't recognize what losing means. Nevertheless, that conduct gives the impression to the enemy that we are divided and weakening. It concerns our friends, and it does great damage to our cause.
---Oh at least this guy isn't calling those who disagree unpatriotic...uuh...instead he calls them ignorant. Much better! (note sarcasm) Though he stops short of calling dissenters disloyal, he goes right on to say that they help the enemy, concern our friends and generally harm "our cause". Isn't that disloyalty essentially? He doesn't want to call names, but he goes on to do just that.Of more recent vintage, the uproar fueled by the politicians and media regarding the treatment of some prisoners of war, perhaps exemplifies best what I am saying. We have recently had an issue, involving the treatment of a few Muslim prisoners of war, by a small group of our military police. These are the type prisoners who just a few months ago were throwing their own people off buildings, cutting off their hands, cutting out their tongues and otherwise murdering their own people just for disagreeing with Saddam Hussein.
And just a few years ago these same type prisoners chemically killed 400,000 of their own people for the same reason. They are also the same type of enemy fighters, who recently were burning Americans, and dragging their charred corpses through the streets of Iraq.
And still more recently, the same type of enemy that was and is providing videos to all news sources internationally, of the beheading of American prisoners they held.
Compare this with some of our press and politicians, who for several days have thought and talked about nothing else but the "humiliating" of some Muslim prisoners --not burning them, not dragging their charred corpses through the streets, not beheading them, but "humiliating" them.
---That was the PC term; the correct term is torture.Can this be for real?
---I have been asking this of your email!!The politicians and pundits have even talked of impeachment of the Secretary of Defense. If this doesn't show the complete lack of comprehension and understanding of the seriousness of the enemy we are fighting, the life and death struggle we are in and the disastrous results of losing this war, nothing can.
To bring our country to a virtual political standstill over this prisoner issue makes us look like Nero playing his fiddle as Rome burned -- totally oblivious to what is going on in the real world. Neither we, nor any other country, can survive this internal strife. Again I say, this does not mean that some of our politicians or media people are disloyal. It simply means that they are absolutely oblivious to the magnitude, of the situation we are in and into which the Muslim terrorists have been pushing us, for many years.
Remember, the Muslim terrorists stated goal is to kill all infidels! That translates into ALL non-Muslims -- not just in the United States, but throughout the world.
We are the last bastion of defense.
---Whaaat?? That is not supported by facts and isn't even supported by this person's rant.We have been criticized for many years as being 'arrogant.' That charge is valid in at least one respect. We are arrogant in that we believe that we are so good, powerful and smart, that we can win the hearts and minds of all those who attack us, and that with both hands tied behind our back, we can defeat anything bad in the world!
We can't!
If we don't recognize this, our nation as we know it will not survive, and no other free country in the world will survive if we are defeated.
And finally, name any Muslim country throughout the world that allows freedom of speech, freedom of thought, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, equal rights for anyone -- let alone everyone, equal status or any status for women, or
that have been productive in one single way that contributes to the good of the world.
---This guy must hate Muslims. Wait. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and say that he is afraid of the unknown. He doesn't know any Muslims, what they believe or who they are. His history's a bit flawed, too.This has been a long way of saying that we must be united on this war or we will be equated in the history books to the self-inflicted fall of the Roman Empire - If, that is, the Muslim leaders will allow history books to be written or read.
---Anyone who doesn't hate Muslims, who isn't for invading Iraq, who isn't for torturing prisoners and ethnic profiling is for America's downfall. Message received. And another dig at Muslims. Wonderful.If we don't win this war right now, keep a close eye on how the Muslims take over France in the next 5 years or less.
They will continue to increase the Muslim population of France and continue to encroach little by little, on the established French traditions. The French will be fighting among themselves, over what should or should not be done, which will continue to weaken them and keep them from any united resolve. Doesn't that sound eerily familiar?
Democracies don't have their freedoms taken away from them by some external military force. Instead, they give their freedoms away, politically correct piece by politically correct piece.
And they are giving those freedoms away to those who have shown, worldwide that they abhor freedom and will not apply it to you or even to themselves, once they are in power.
They have universally shown that when they have taken over, they then start brutally killing each other over who will be the few who control the masses.
Will we ever stop hearing from the politically correct, about the "peaceful Muslims"?
---Let's hope not, because the vast majority of them are peaceful!I close on a hopeful note, by repeating what I said above. If we are united, there is no way that we can lose. I hope now after the election, the factions in our country will begin to focus on the critical situation we are in, and will unite to save our country. It is your future we are talking about! Do whatever you can to preserve it.
After reading the above, we all must do this not only for ourselves, but our children, our grandchildren, our country and the world.
Whether Democrat or Republican, conservative or liberal and that include the Politicians and media of our country and the free world!
Please forward this to any you feel may want, or NEED to read it. Our "leaders" in Congress ought to read it, too. There are those that find fault with our country, but it is obvious to anyone who truly thinks through this, that we must UNITE!
If you would like to see who this fellow is go to this Air Force web site and look him up.
---Too bad he didn't write it!(
http://www.af.mil/bios/bio.asp?bioID=5000)
And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your Redemption draweth nigh!_Luke 21:28
---Really. This was probably added by a forwarder, but scripture just shouldn't be used in this way at all!This thing conjures images of Iraq, yet that invasion had nothing to do with the war on terrorism. Hussein wasn't an imminent threat (previous reason for going to war) and he wasn't doing what Bush & Co charged him with. Maybe we can't fault Bush on that one since he fell for Israel's faulty (either by accident or by design) intelligence...again.
This garbage made its rounds before. I was trying to put my finger on it. I think I got it around 2002 or 2003 either surrounding Afghanistan or Iraq. It is making its rounds again no doubt because of the thwarted plane hijackings that recently made the news. Sounds like it could have originated or made another trip around the prisoner abuse scandal or extraordinary rendition discoveries.
***********************
***********************
Ok. This one is from the admin of a Christian mailing list I was on. It was a good list, though a bit conservative at times. Not to say conservative is bad; I mean it was more conservative than the situation or scripture warranted at times. This is the one I described as getting between 2002-2004 in my post about a forward with similar content (see Lame terrorism email forward).
Interesting how the individual admits to having limited exposure to Islam, yet says he agrees (wholeheartedly!) with the letter!! That makes no sense. Why believe what a random email forward has to say about a religion rather than asking someone who practices it?
Subject:
The World Situation email forward AKA WHAT WE ALL NEED TO BE AWARE OF...DRL NOTE2: Today someone
sent to me one of the most interesting and challenging articles I have read in quite some time regarding current events. I read it carefully and I truly believe that it is deserving of a very wide circulation. I have had some quite limited exposure to Islam in my 2 visits to India and 5 to
Indonesia. I tend to agree wholeheartedly with the conclusions of this article. I do not know the writer's name--it was not included in the Email I received. I thought so much of the article that I re-formated to make it easier to read than the version I read and have uploaded it to my website. It is a rather lengthy article, but I believe it is well worth your time to read. It is in the form of a letter from a father to his sons. I would encourage as many of you as feel so inclined to distribute the URL far and wide. You may find it at:
http://www.hcis.net/users/dlemmons/TheWorldSituation.htm THE WORLD SITUATION * A LETTER TO MY SONS This was written by a retired attorney, to his sons, May 19, 2004.
Dear Tom, Kevin, Kirby and Ted,
As your father, I believe I owe it to you to share some thoughts on the present world situation. We have over the years discussed a lot of important things, like going to college, jobs and so forth. But this really takes precedence over any of those discussions. I hope this might give you a longer term perspective that fewer and fewer of my generation are left to speak to.
To be sure you understand that this is not politically flavored, I will tell you that since Franklin D. Roosevelt, who led us through pre and WWII (1933 - 1945) up to and including our present President, I have without exception, supported our presidents on all matters of international conflict. This would include just naming a few in addition to President Roosevelt - WWII: President Truman - Korean War 1950; President Kennedy - Bay of Pigs (1961); President Kennedy
Vietnam (1961); [1] eight presidents (5 Republican & 4 Democrat) during the cold war (1945 - 1991); President Clinton's strikes on
Bosnia (1995) and on
Iraq (1998). [2]
So be sure you read this as completely non-political or otherwise you will miss the point.
Our country is now facing the most serious threat to its existence, as we know it, that we have faced in your lifetime and mine (which includes WWII). The deadly seriousness is greatly compounded by the fact that there are very few of us who think we can possibly lose this war and even fewer who realize what losing really means.
First, let's examine a few basics:
1. When did the threat to us start?Many will say September 11th, 2001. The answer as far as the
United States is concerned is 1979, 22 years prior to September 2001, with the following attacks on us:
Iran Embassy Hostages, 1979;
Beirut, Lebanon Embassy 1983;
Beirut, Lebanon Marine Barracks 1983;
Lockerbie, Scotland Pan-Am flight to
New York 1988; First
New York World Trade Center attack 1993;
Dhahran, Saudi Arabia Khobar Towers Military complex 1996;
Nairobi, Kenya US Embassy 1998;
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania US Embassy 1998;
Aden, Yemen USS Cole 2000;
New York World Trade Center 2001;
Pentagon 2001.
(Note that during the period from 1981 to 2001 there were 7,581 terrorist attacks worldwide).
2. Why were we attacked?Envy of our position, our success, and our freedoms. The attacks happened during the administrations of Presidents Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton and Bush 2.
3. We can not fault either the Republicans or Democrats as there were no provocations by any of the presidents or their immediate predecessors, Presidents Ford or Carter.
4. Who were the attackers?In each case of attacks on US they were Muslims.
5. What is the Muslim population of the World?25%
6.. Isn't the Muslim Religion peaceful?Hopefully, but that is really not material. There is no doubt that the predominately Christian population of
Germany was peaceful, but under the dictatorial leadership of Hitler (who was also Christian), that made no difference. You either went along with the administration or you were eliminated. There were 5 to 6 million Christians killed by the Nazis for political reasons (including 7,000 Polish priests). (
http://www.nazis.testimony.co.uk/7-a.htm ). Thus, almost the same number of Christians were killed by the Nazis, as the 6 million holocaust Jews who were killed by them, and we seldom heard of anything other than the Jewish atrocities. Although Hitler kept the world focused on the Jews, he had no hesitancy about killing anyone who got in his way of exterminating the Jews or of taking over the world - German, Christian or any others. Same with the Muslim terrorists. They focus the world on the US, but kill all in the way - their own people or the Spanish, French or anyone else.. [5] The point here is that just like the peaceful Germans were of no protection to anyone from the Nazis, no matter how many peaceful Muslims there may be, they are no protection for us from the terrorist Muslim leaders and what they are fanatically bent on doing - by their own pronouncements - killing all of us infidels. I don't blame the peaceful Muslims. What would you do if the choice was shut up or die?
6. So who are we at war with?There is no way we can honestly respond that it is anyone other
than the Muslim terrorists. Trying to be politically correct and avoid
verbalizing this conclusion can well be fatal. There is no way to win
if you don't clearly recognize and articulate who you are fighting.
So with that background, now to the two major questions:
1. Can we lose this war?
2. What does losing really mean?If we are to win, we must clearly answer these two pivotal questions. We can definitely lose this war, and as anomalous as it may sound, the major reason we can lose is that so many of us simply do not fathom the answer to the second question - 'What does losing mean?'. It would appear that a great many of us think that losing the war means hanging our heads, bringing the troops home and going on about our business, like post
Vietnam. This is as far from the truth as one can get. What losing really means is:
. We would no longer be the premier country in the world.
. The attacks will not subside, but rather will steadily increase. Remember, they want us dead, not just quiet. If they had just wanted us quiet, they would not have produced an increasing series of attacks against us over the past 18 years. The plan was clearly to terrorist attack us until we were neutered and submissive to them.
. We would of course have no future support from other nations for fear of reprisals and for the reason that they would see we are impotent and can not help them.
. They will pick off the other non Muslim nations, one at a time. It will be increasingly easier for them. They already hold
Spain hostage. It doesn't matter whether it was right or wrong for
Spain to withdraw its troops from
Iraq.
Spain did it because the Muslim terrorists bombed their train and told them to withdraw the troops. Anything else they want
Spain to do, will be done.
Spain is finished.
. The next will probably be France. Our one hope on France is that they might see the light and realize that if we don't win, they are finished too, in that they can't resist the Muslim terrorists without us. However, it may already be too late for France. France is already 20% Muslim and fading fast.
. If we lose the war, our production, income, exports and way of life will all vanish as we know it. After losing, who would trade or deal with us if they were threatened by the Muslims. If we can't stop the Muslims, how could anyone else? The Muslims fully know what is riding on this war and therefore are completely committed to winning at any cost. We better know it too and be likewise committed to winning at any cost.
Why do I go on at such lengths about the results of losing? Simple. Until we recognize the costs of losing, we cannot unite and really put 100% of our thoughts and efforts into winning. And it is going to take that 100% effort to win.
So, how can we lose the war? Again, the answer is simple. We can lose the war by imploding. That is, defeating ourselves by refusing to recognize the enemy and their purpose and really digging in and lending full support to the war effort. If we are united, there is no way that we can lose. If we continue to be divided, there is no way that we can win.Let me give you a few examples of how we simply don't comprehendthe life and death seriousness of this situation.. President Bush selects Norman Mineta as Secretary of Transportation. Although all of the terrorist attacks were committed by Muslim men between 17 and 40 years of age, Secretary Mineta refuses to allow profiling. Does that sound like we are taking this thing seriously? This is war. For the duration we are going to have to give up some of the civil rights we have become accustomed to. We had better be prepared to lose some of our civil rights temporarily or we will most certainly lose all of them permanently. And don't worry that it is a slipperyslope. We gave up plenty of civil rights during WWII and immediately restored them after the victory and in fact added many more since then.Do I blame President Bush or President Clinton before him? No, I blame us for blithely assuming we can maintain all of our Political Correctness and all of our civil rights during this conflict and have a clean, lawful, honorable war. None of those words apply to war. Get them out of your head.. Some of us have gone so far out in our criticism of the war and/or our Administration that it almost seems they would literally like to see us lose. I hasten to add that this isn't because they are disloyal. It is because they just don't recognize what losing means. Nevertheless, that conduct gives the impression to the enemy that we are divided and weakening, it concerns our friends, and it does great damage to our cause.. Of more recent vintage, the uproar fuelled by the politicians and media, regarding the treatment of some prisoners of war, perhaps exemplifies best what I am saying. We have recently had an issue involving the treatment of a few Muslim prisoners of war by a small group of our military police. These are the type prisoners who just a few months ago were throwing their own people off buildings, cutting off their hands, cutting out their tongues and otherwise murdering their own people just for disagreeing with Saddam Hussein. And just a few years ago these same type prisoners chemically killed 400,000 of their ownpeople for the same reason. They are also the same type enemy fighters who recently were burning Americans and dragging their charred corpses through the streets of Iraq. And still more recently the same type enemy that was and is providing videos to all news sources internationally, of the beheading of an American prisoner they held. Compare this with some of our press and politicians who for several days have thought and talked about nothing else but the "humiliating" of some Muslim prisoners - not burning them, not dragging their charred corpses through the streets, not beheading them, but "humiliating" them. Can this be for real? The politicians and pundits have even talked of impeachment of the Secretary of Defense. If this doesn't show the complete lack of comprehension and understanding of the seriousness of the enemy we are fighting, the life and death struggle we are in and the disastrous results of losing this war, nothing can.To bring our country to a virtual political standstill over this prisoner issue makes us look like Nero playing his fiddle as Rome burned - totally oblivious to what is going on in the real world. Neither we, nor any other country, can survive this internal strife. Again I say, this does not mean that some of our politicians or media people are disloyal. It simply means that they are absolutely oblivious to the magnitude of the situation we are in and into which the Muslim terrorists have been pushing us for many years. Remember, the Muslim terrorists stated goal is to kill all infidels. That translates into all non-Muslims - not just in the United States, but throughout the world. We are the last bastion of defense.We have been criticized for many years as being 'arrogant'. That charge is valid in at least one respect. We are arrogant in that we believe that we are so good, powerful and smart, that we can win the hearts and minds of all those who attack us, and that with both hands tied behind our back, we can defeat anything bad in the world. We can't. If we don't recognize this, our nation as we know it will not survive, and no other free country in the World will survive if we are defeated. And finally, name any Muslim countries throughout the world that allow freedom of speech, freedom of thought, freedom of religion, freedom of the Press, equal rights for anyone - let alone everyone, equal status or any status for women, or that have been productive in one single way that contributes to the good of the World.This has been a long way of saying that we must be united on this war or we will be equated in the history books to the self inflicted fall of the Roman Empire. If, that is, the Muslim leaders will allow history books to be written or read.If we don't win this war right now, keep a close eye on how the Muslims take over France in the next 5 years or less. They will continue to increase the Muslim population of France and continue to encroach little by little on the established French traditions. The French will be fighting among themselves over what should or should not be done, which will continue to weaken them and keep them from any united resolve. Doesn't that sound eerily familiar?Democracies don't have their freedoms taken away from them by some external military force. Instead, they give their freedoms away, politically correct piece by politically correct piece. And they are giving those freedoms away to those who have shown, worldwide, that they abhor freedom and will not apply it to you or even to themselves, once they are in power. They have universally shown that when they have taken over, they then start brutally killing each other over who will be the few who control the masses. Will we ever stop hearing from the politically correct, about the "peaceful Muslims"? I close on a hopeful note, by repeating what I said above. If we are united, there is no way that we can lose. I believe that after the election, the factions in our country will begin to focus on the critical situation we are in and will unite to save our country. It is your future we are talking about. Do whatever you can to preserve it.
***************
My Response to World Situation (now that I read it again, it wasn't the best response, so please forgive!)
The biggest threat to us is not Islam, but ourselves, our submission to temptation. In the end, will it matter whether we are killed in a terror attack or by natural causes? Whether we are free or under an Islamic extremist's power or Communist regime are we not still commanded to remain faithful to the end? The way I see it emailing everyone and telling them that a certain group who needs our prayers and who needs to be introduced to the Word wants nothing but to kill them creates a climate of fear, not the urgency to convert Muslim radicals and other Muslims. Should we not be emailing to pray for these people (our perceived "enemies"?) and their conversion rather than telling people they want to kill us?
http://www.hcis.net/users/dlemmons/TheWorldSituation.htm***
2. Why were we attacked?
Envy of our position, our success, and our freedoms. The attacks happened during the administrations of Presidents Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton and Bush 2.
***
Maybe there are some in the
Middle East who are jealous of the West, but I guarantee that the Muslim radicals/fanatics who are planning attacks are not. They make the rules, so they have whatever freedoms they want, but unfortunately the people they rule in many cases do not share their opinion and so cannot consider themselves free.
The reason extremists attack the West is because of our foreign policies. We support Israel ($3billion/yr+) even though they flout international laws, violate human rights continually, and still try and hide/deny their massive nuclear arsenal (oops, I mean textile factory ;) ). Not to mention they kept intelligence from us (at a time when we were "sharing" with them) in 1982 that could have prevented the Beruit attack on the marine base and many such incidents. Their current prime minister, Sharon (then Defense Minister), was found responsible for the 1982 Beruit massacres in Sabra and Shatila and found unfit for public office, yet our government considers him a man of peace. Israelis are living on Palestinian land in violation of the Geneva Convention (no portion of the Occupier's population is supposed to be moved to the Territory it occupies) and has killed three times as many Palestinians as Palestinians have Israelis, yet the US only regurlarly criticizes and blames Palestinians. Israel tortures detainees (not yet charged with any crime) during interogations to the point that they cannot have children again or they need a limb amputated, but the US gives it's money to support this right to "self-defense".
*Crime= could be anything from planning to kill Israelis to flying a Palestinian flag or writing slogans against occupation or being accused of being a member of an illegal Palestinian political party (doesn't matter if they really are or not; what Israel says is how it is, period)
We will bomb and Arab country in a heartbeat (or on 20 year old "evidence"), but we refuse to sanction or even say a mean word against Israel (instead, Congress passes a resolution saying how much we agree with them) even when they are in fact in the wrong.
Hatred of the double standard and some of our policies is the single thing that unites the moderates and radicals, it isn't Islam, though radicals try and intimidate by saying this. If we had just policies, we could pit the moderates against the extremists.
And I won't even get into our forays into
Central America and the School of the Americas....
