Dear Michael Medved,
I support this 1000%. It’s the most honest, direct and elegant solution. It will and can result in one fell swoop (or in graduations over time) in the following:
a. Reducing the unnecessarily large gap between our gas prices and those of Europe and the Far East.
b. Unnecessary and frivolous driving will reduce thereby reducing gridlock on our highways and reducing traffic, enormous time and gas waste, as well as car maintenance costs; thereby saving Americans billions at the same time, perhaps, the only and efficient way of combating the incessant Los Angeles parking lots.
c. The fairest of all taxes, as one pays only for use. Less pollution and more sales of gas efficient cars. Everyone pays, whether legal or not, rich or poor. Gas and cars pollute- why not charge for use of highways directly?
d. Monies can be used to reduce pollution directly caused by gas and car use-thus we get to be responsible for our own actions. Money can similarly help improve education.
e. I would also further recommend a two-tiered priority system for our prisons:
1. Minimum services/food/entertainment/lodging for inmates refusing to work
2. Maximum of the above for inmates who are productive and work, thus spending a portion of profits earned in partnership with factories/the world of commerce, and the prison system thus uses balance of profits or salaries to finance the prisons- thus moving toward self-sufficiency.
I would be tougher on hard drugs; legalize marijuana, but tax it to the hilt to ensure minimum use, maximum taxes for rehab and to finance the policing of hard drugs.
Best wishes and good luck!
Thursday, October 16, 2003
Saturday, March 1, 2003
Against the War? An Irrelevant Poll (March 1, 2003)
We are asked- Are we against the war? The majority, being against war, any war, as a general principal agrees. And why not? War is horrific and most civilized people are against it.
So am I. But are we asked whether we support forcing Saddam Hussein to relinquish his weapons of mass destruction and desist from producing nuclear bombs and sharing such weapons with the terrorist organizations he covertly supports?
If we were asked such a question I'm sure the majority would, again, say yes, especially if the result of such intervention could include an end to sanctions and the attainment of freedom, democracy and women's rights for the Iraqi people, an increase in the oil supply (and resultant price drop) greater Middle East stability and a dampener on the ambitions of the
world's dictators avidly watching the outcome.
The consequences of no war can and will be more horrific; more costly in the long term than actionless appeasement. And negotiating, without the very real threat of overpowering force, has proven to be meaningless.
No one is for war "per se". The left does not have exclusivity on pity and morality. Responsibility often involves tough decisions, like parenting, like policing. Who will explain to our children that we gave up the high ground to zealots clamoring like barbarians at the gates of our unique civilization awaiting our destruction?
So am I. But are we asked whether we support forcing Saddam Hussein to relinquish his weapons of mass destruction and desist from producing nuclear bombs and sharing such weapons with the terrorist organizations he covertly supports?
If we were asked such a question I'm sure the majority would, again, say yes, especially if the result of such intervention could include an end to sanctions and the attainment of freedom, democracy and women's rights for the Iraqi people, an increase in the oil supply (and resultant price drop) greater Middle East stability and a dampener on the ambitions of the
world's dictators avidly watching the outcome.
The consequences of no war can and will be more horrific; more costly in the long term than actionless appeasement. And negotiating, without the very real threat of overpowering force, has proven to be meaningless.
No one is for war "per se". The left does not have exclusivity on pity and morality. Responsibility often involves tough decisions, like parenting, like policing. Who will explain to our children that we gave up the high ground to zealots clamoring like barbarians at the gates of our unique civilization awaiting our destruction?
Silver Lining in the Cloud (March 1, 2003
There is always a silver lining not always evident in the opaque world of international politics.
Perhaps, France’s current power hungry assertiveness and Germany’s self indulgent pacifism have made it easy, nay even pushed, the rest of Europe into the broad transatlantic alliance against Saddam Hussein and terrorist groups, Europeans that for decades have been both bullied and patronized by the so called self appointed super-powers of Europe: France and Germany.
Perhaps, within NATO and Europe this is the beginning of the final realignment into a new world democratic order of clarity, reality and international responsibility: The final dilution of the influence and power of those two primary participants of World War I and II.
Perhaps, the increasingly strident and autonomous voice of the millions of Islamic fundamentalists in France, seemingly determined to convert France into an outpost of an ascendant Arab world, will result in not only increasing Jewish emigration to Israel (France has the largest Jewish population in Europe), which the latter sorely needs, but it will result also in France finally, against the back drop of all its decades of appeasement politics, having to confront the extreme Muslim elements within its own society that seek the devolution of France into a primitive separation from the modern world. France will then be forced to reconnect with America and its allies confronting anti-Semitism, fascism, fundamentalism and terrorism. This will realign France from the web of both Arab dictators and terrorist groups to the moderate and democratic Arabs everywhere, removing crucial support for the former. Germany, too, has an irreconcilable Muslim volcano brewing in its midst.
Perhaps, Saddam Hussein and the Bin Ladens of the world would be far more dangerous if they did not show their hand, if they were more reasonable and realistic and less implacable and consumed by hatred. Hitler and Japan may have held on to more modest conquests had they not, fortunately for the world, pushed America into the war, thereby “biting off far more than they could chew”. The World Trade Tower mini-genocide (which it was as a work in progress) on September 11th brought the world’s only superpower into conclusive realignment with the most embattled, scapegoated nation in the world, that of the young, small and eminently democratic Israel that was becoming increasingly isolated by a hypocritical Europe riddled with anti-Semitism and by a United Nations world willing to let Israel sink beneath the wave of Pan Arabic politics of jealousy, hate and manipulation, a world that out of ignorance or an antipathy devoid if integrity chooses Libya, Syria and Iraq to head up their crucial committees of human rights, racism, etcetera, etcetera.
Perhaps, it is the megalomaniacle Saddam Hussein who has pushed America, that sleeping giant before 9/11, into a confrontation it cannot win; a confrontation whose resolution will remake the realities of the Middle East in a way Israel on its own could not hope to achieve. Hussein’s departure will, in one fell swoop, reduce logistical, financial, military and spiritual support for Islamic fundamentalists and terror groups world wide, whether directly or indirectly. The message will be sent to all dictators and supporters of terrorist groups: “Your days are numbered- those who sleep with dogs will get up with fleas.”
A democratic Iraq- and historical Iraq was once the leading light in the Middle East- even if imperfect, evolving, learning, will show the way to the surrounding countries as never before. Iran, the powerhouse of the area will be catalyzed into an internal revolution by a people yearning for an end to despotism and a chance at a Western style democracy. The Iranians are more pro American than any other Middle Eastern nation. Like the old European Eastern Block, they appreciate all too well the dehumanizing deficiencies of a totalitarian system.
Jordan, it is clear, cannot wait for Iraq’s boot to be dislodged from off its back. Jordan knows that as a major trading partner with Iraq and with the vast economic benefits of a modest peace with Israel, it would finally achieve its rightful place amongst the democratic and successful nations of the world.
Lebanon, with reduced numbers of Syrian soldiers and Iran and Iraq no longer supporting Hezbollah and their ten thousand rockets aimed at Israel from Southern Lebanon, may also, with Israel’s help, sanitize the terrorist warrens on its southern border and reacquaint itself with its liberal tradition—it used to be the “Riviera” of the Middle East.
Turkey up north, the only reasonably secular and democratic Arab nation, with strong ties to America and its Eastern European allies and intimate involvement with the economic revival of Iraq, will join the democratic crescent sweeping the Middle East from Iran in the east to Lebanon and Israel in the west.
Only Baathist Syria, rooted in its isolation, a vicious and oppressive dictatorship, will be the last to changes. Perhaps the inexorable evolution of all its neighbors will ensure its transition or its self-destruction. Like a phoenix, the new Middle East will arise, and it will be more because of Hussein and Bin Laden than in spite of them.
Egypt, and Saudi Arabia will follow or not, as the case may be. The petty Princes of Arabia, having usurped the power of the people and bankrolled the aggressive expansion of Wahabi fundamentalism world wide, will find that they cannot straddle the fence much longer. They will either be taken over by the anarchic fundamentalism they feed, with explosive consequence, or they will choose to modernize, Westernize and democratize becoming a full partner in the new Middle East.
The Palestinians for their part and without their extreme elements being kept in power by every despot in the region will sue for peace- the moderates thus, will be emboldened, supported and empowered. As the most educated group in Arab Middle East, the Palestinians too, wedged between Israel and Jordan, will become the new entrepreneurs in the area achieving economically, far quicker and easier, what they could not achieve through their suicide bombers.
Perhaps, we should thank the French and Iraqis, the Germans and the Fundamentalists for being so driven and implacable, so unable to compromise and be part of the solution. As part of the problem they are all ensuring a New World Order, one based in Western democracy with, a capitalistic base and politics of integrity. Perhaps.
Perhaps, France’s current power hungry assertiveness and Germany’s self indulgent pacifism have made it easy, nay even pushed, the rest of Europe into the broad transatlantic alliance against Saddam Hussein and terrorist groups, Europeans that for decades have been both bullied and patronized by the so called self appointed super-powers of Europe: France and Germany.
Perhaps, within NATO and Europe this is the beginning of the final realignment into a new world democratic order of clarity, reality and international responsibility: The final dilution of the influence and power of those two primary participants of World War I and II.
Perhaps, the increasingly strident and autonomous voice of the millions of Islamic fundamentalists in France, seemingly determined to convert France into an outpost of an ascendant Arab world, will result in not only increasing Jewish emigration to Israel (France has the largest Jewish population in Europe), which the latter sorely needs, but it will result also in France finally, against the back drop of all its decades of appeasement politics, having to confront the extreme Muslim elements within its own society that seek the devolution of France into a primitive separation from the modern world. France will then be forced to reconnect with America and its allies confronting anti-Semitism, fascism, fundamentalism and terrorism. This will realign France from the web of both Arab dictators and terrorist groups to the moderate and democratic Arabs everywhere, removing crucial support for the former. Germany, too, has an irreconcilable Muslim volcano brewing in its midst.
Perhaps, Saddam Hussein and the Bin Ladens of the world would be far more dangerous if they did not show their hand, if they were more reasonable and realistic and less implacable and consumed by hatred. Hitler and Japan may have held on to more modest conquests had they not, fortunately for the world, pushed America into the war, thereby “biting off far more than they could chew”. The World Trade Tower mini-genocide (which it was as a work in progress) on September 11th brought the world’s only superpower into conclusive realignment with the most embattled, scapegoated nation in the world, that of the young, small and eminently democratic Israel that was becoming increasingly isolated by a hypocritical Europe riddled with anti-Semitism and by a United Nations world willing to let Israel sink beneath the wave of Pan Arabic politics of jealousy, hate and manipulation, a world that out of ignorance or an antipathy devoid if integrity chooses Libya, Syria and Iraq to head up their crucial committees of human rights, racism, etcetera, etcetera.
Perhaps, it is the megalomaniacle Saddam Hussein who has pushed America, that sleeping giant before 9/11, into a confrontation it cannot win; a confrontation whose resolution will remake the realities of the Middle East in a way Israel on its own could not hope to achieve. Hussein’s departure will, in one fell swoop, reduce logistical, financial, military and spiritual support for Islamic fundamentalists and terror groups world wide, whether directly or indirectly. The message will be sent to all dictators and supporters of terrorist groups: “Your days are numbered- those who sleep with dogs will get up with fleas.”
A democratic Iraq- and historical Iraq was once the leading light in the Middle East- even if imperfect, evolving, learning, will show the way to the surrounding countries as never before. Iran, the powerhouse of the area will be catalyzed into an internal revolution by a people yearning for an end to despotism and a chance at a Western style democracy. The Iranians are more pro American than any other Middle Eastern nation. Like the old European Eastern Block, they appreciate all too well the dehumanizing deficiencies of a totalitarian system.
Jordan, it is clear, cannot wait for Iraq’s boot to be dislodged from off its back. Jordan knows that as a major trading partner with Iraq and with the vast economic benefits of a modest peace with Israel, it would finally achieve its rightful place amongst the democratic and successful nations of the world.
Lebanon, with reduced numbers of Syrian soldiers and Iran and Iraq no longer supporting Hezbollah and their ten thousand rockets aimed at Israel from Southern Lebanon, may also, with Israel’s help, sanitize the terrorist warrens on its southern border and reacquaint itself with its liberal tradition—it used to be the “Riviera” of the Middle East.
Turkey up north, the only reasonably secular and democratic Arab nation, with strong ties to America and its Eastern European allies and intimate involvement with the economic revival of Iraq, will join the democratic crescent sweeping the Middle East from Iran in the east to Lebanon and Israel in the west.
Only Baathist Syria, rooted in its isolation, a vicious and oppressive dictatorship, will be the last to changes. Perhaps the inexorable evolution of all its neighbors will ensure its transition or its self-destruction. Like a phoenix, the new Middle East will arise, and it will be more because of Hussein and Bin Laden than in spite of them.
Egypt, and Saudi Arabia will follow or not, as the case may be. The petty Princes of Arabia, having usurped the power of the people and bankrolled the aggressive expansion of Wahabi fundamentalism world wide, will find that they cannot straddle the fence much longer. They will either be taken over by the anarchic fundamentalism they feed, with explosive consequence, or they will choose to modernize, Westernize and democratize becoming a full partner in the new Middle East.
The Palestinians for their part and without their extreme elements being kept in power by every despot in the region will sue for peace- the moderates thus, will be emboldened, supported and empowered. As the most educated group in Arab Middle East, the Palestinians too, wedged between Israel and Jordan, will become the new entrepreneurs in the area achieving economically, far quicker and easier, what they could not achieve through their suicide bombers.
Perhaps, we should thank the French and Iraqis, the Germans and the Fundamentalists for being so driven and implacable, so unable to compromise and be part of the solution. As part of the problem they are all ensuring a New World Order, one based in Western democracy with, a capitalistic base and politics of integrity. Perhaps.
Friday, October 19, 2001
Dangerous Sensibilities: An American Strength Loses Clarity (Oct. 19, 2001)
It used to be that American support of the oppressed, the underdog, the victim, the poor and the desperate was our most gracious quality, an eminently civilized refinement to millennia of persecution and prejudice.
It was a pillar of American freedom and what set us apart from the rest of the world who, almost without exception, were either participants in injustice, prejudice and violence, or who aside from paying lip service to politically correct postures, looked away passively, self righteously and selfishly.
The wheel turns full circle only now the underdog is not quite so innocent. The Islamic Jihad propagandizes its suicide bombers with violent hate against Americans and Israelis, with fantasies of the 72 virgins that await them, packs them with explosives lined with nails for effect and sends them off to discothèques and restaurants. Hammas celebrates in the streets of the West Bank at the 6000 plus deaths of the WTC tragedy, handing out sweets and proclaiming the supremacy of Allah.
Arafat's government and departments educate children about the salvation gained by destroying Israel, on the racist and genocidal nature of the Jewish people and on the fallacies of the Holocaust and the absence of any right Israel and its 5 million odd citizens may have to coexist peacefully amongst more than 20 Arab neighbors and their 500 million citizens.
Prior to September 11, and presumably again in the future once the consciousness of personal victimization dissipates into long term memory, American citizens will again see the Palestinians as the underdog being colonized by the heartless might of the Israeli army. They have been attuned by CNN to the children with rocks, brave freedom fighters, standing alone against the might of Israeli tanks. Little coverage
was given to the mothers willingly sending their kids to the front - and rocks do kill and the bullets and rockets of street terrorists and Arafat's soldiers have made their mark. Little coverage too for the intent of these actions - the leaders of the movements, mosques and government of the West Bank have been chillingly clear about their desire to rid the Middle East of Israel and its stubborn Jews, by any means at their disposal. And if they have to sacrifice the lives of hundreds of impressionable children and adolescents (rather than their own) then so be it.
Yet Americans continue to ally themselves with this cause whilst the media including CNN, NPR and others selectively present information, interviews and pictures to support this bias.
Suicide bombers are sensitively referred to as Palestinian militants, never terrorists or murderers.
It would seem that the facts on the ground are irrelevant - mindsets are pre-cast, judgment pre-made. Israel has already effectively withdrawn from 95% of the West Bank, which is now in Arafat's hands. Israel offered at Camp David more than most Palestinians could hope for - yet Arafat would not contemplate peace, he could not abide living with Jews in the Arab Middle East. Forgiveness was not part of his lexicon.
Israel would withdraw every last soldier, from every last square inch of the West Bank, if the resolution of violence and peace could be guaranteed. Had Israel wanted of the Palestinians, what they want in turn of the Israelis, it would take Israel's unrivalled army just a few days to level the West Bank and remove its population to the bordering lands. But the Israelis chose not what is clearly within their power - they choose a tolerant and just attempt to compromise, to try to live in peace, to accept their neighbors.
Israelis do not rejoice when Arabs lose their lives, they do not have school text books vilifying the Palestinians - they hate war, they abhor violence - they merely want to live without fear and their army is the only thing standing between them and wholesale slaughter.
It is clear the American sense of fairness would support these plain clothed terrorists, for clarity of vision has vanished. How can the underdog be driving a tank, enjoying a good standard of living in western style suburbs of Tel Aviv. How can the poor of Ramle and Jenin not be the underdog. Can things really be upside down in Lewis Carroll's Wonderland?
In reality it is the Israeli who chooses peace and has suicide bombings thrust on him. It is the Palestinian whose nation is highjacked by extremists and fundamentalists and who chooses provocation and war rather than working peacefully in multitudinous jobs Israel has been so willing to create.
Israel can provide the Middle East with its window to modernity, to medical advancement, to the Hi Tech revolution, to democracy and freedom for women as well as children. Yet this is exactly what those in charge do not want, these religious and governmental autocrats and demigods; its exactly what they fear for this influence is everything they rail against, everything that will weaken the grip of the dark ages still so prevalent in that region.
Clarity is about seeing humanity be it in soldiers garb or in westernized democracy, it is about recognizing terrorism and evil even in the underdog or in the wretched. And it is the nature of this confrontation that this underdog will end up biting the hand that feeds it. And it has.
Sympathy in blindness and false understanding where there is no common ground merely serves those self same extremists and fundamentalists. Clarity in truth however strange, however unusual, is the only redemption, the only path to peace. To those willing to talk we extend our hand. To those coming with bombs and chemical and biological weapons, we must extend our force, preemptively, unambiguously, so that our children can sleep peacefully, with images in their dreams far removed from those of planes being driven into the towers of the World Trade Center.
It was a pillar of American freedom and what set us apart from the rest of the world who, almost without exception, were either participants in injustice, prejudice and violence, or who aside from paying lip service to politically correct postures, looked away passively, self righteously and selfishly.
The wheel turns full circle only now the underdog is not quite so innocent. The Islamic Jihad propagandizes its suicide bombers with violent hate against Americans and Israelis, with fantasies of the 72 virgins that await them, packs them with explosives lined with nails for effect and sends them off to discothèques and restaurants. Hammas celebrates in the streets of the West Bank at the 6000 plus deaths of the WTC tragedy, handing out sweets and proclaiming the supremacy of Allah.
Arafat's government and departments educate children about the salvation gained by destroying Israel, on the racist and genocidal nature of the Jewish people and on the fallacies of the Holocaust and the absence of any right Israel and its 5 million odd citizens may have to coexist peacefully amongst more than 20 Arab neighbors and their 500 million citizens.
Prior to September 11, and presumably again in the future once the consciousness of personal victimization dissipates into long term memory, American citizens will again see the Palestinians as the underdog being colonized by the heartless might of the Israeli army. They have been attuned by CNN to the children with rocks, brave freedom fighters, standing alone against the might of Israeli tanks. Little coverage
was given to the mothers willingly sending their kids to the front - and rocks do kill and the bullets and rockets of street terrorists and Arafat's soldiers have made their mark. Little coverage too for the intent of these actions - the leaders of the movements, mosques and government of the West Bank have been chillingly clear about their desire to rid the Middle East of Israel and its stubborn Jews, by any means at their disposal. And if they have to sacrifice the lives of hundreds of impressionable children and adolescents (rather than their own) then so be it.
Yet Americans continue to ally themselves with this cause whilst the media including CNN, NPR and others selectively present information, interviews and pictures to support this bias.
Suicide bombers are sensitively referred to as Palestinian militants, never terrorists or murderers.
It would seem that the facts on the ground are irrelevant - mindsets are pre-cast, judgment pre-made. Israel has already effectively withdrawn from 95% of the West Bank, which is now in Arafat's hands. Israel offered at Camp David more than most Palestinians could hope for - yet Arafat would not contemplate peace, he could not abide living with Jews in the Arab Middle East. Forgiveness was not part of his lexicon.
Israel would withdraw every last soldier, from every last square inch of the West Bank, if the resolution of violence and peace could be guaranteed. Had Israel wanted of the Palestinians, what they want in turn of the Israelis, it would take Israel's unrivalled army just a few days to level the West Bank and remove its population to the bordering lands. But the Israelis chose not what is clearly within their power - they choose a tolerant and just attempt to compromise, to try to live in peace, to accept their neighbors.
Israelis do not rejoice when Arabs lose their lives, they do not have school text books vilifying the Palestinians - they hate war, they abhor violence - they merely want to live without fear and their army is the only thing standing between them and wholesale slaughter.
It is clear the American sense of fairness would support these plain clothed terrorists, for clarity of vision has vanished. How can the underdog be driving a tank, enjoying a good standard of living in western style suburbs of Tel Aviv. How can the poor of Ramle and Jenin not be the underdog. Can things really be upside down in Lewis Carroll's Wonderland?
In reality it is the Israeli who chooses peace and has suicide bombings thrust on him. It is the Palestinian whose nation is highjacked by extremists and fundamentalists and who chooses provocation and war rather than working peacefully in multitudinous jobs Israel has been so willing to create.
Israel can provide the Middle East with its window to modernity, to medical advancement, to the Hi Tech revolution, to democracy and freedom for women as well as children. Yet this is exactly what those in charge do not want, these religious and governmental autocrats and demigods; its exactly what they fear for this influence is everything they rail against, everything that will weaken the grip of the dark ages still so prevalent in that region.
Clarity is about seeing humanity be it in soldiers garb or in westernized democracy, it is about recognizing terrorism and evil even in the underdog or in the wretched. And it is the nature of this confrontation that this underdog will end up biting the hand that feeds it. And it has.
Sympathy in blindness and false understanding where there is no common ground merely serves those self same extremists and fundamentalists. Clarity in truth however strange, however unusual, is the only redemption, the only path to peace. To those willing to talk we extend our hand. To those coming with bombs and chemical and biological weapons, we must extend our force, preemptively, unambiguously, so that our children can sleep peacefully, with images in their dreams far removed from those of planes being driven into the towers of the World Trade Center.
Friday, October 5, 2001
A Solution (Oct. 5, 2001)
A Solution
An elegant yet unusual solution to terrorism.
Reprint from The International Jerusalem Post “Letters” of August 24, 2001 by Rich Chamberlain, Rochester, N.Y.
“How to Fight Suicide Bombers"
"Sir, - Following the recent terrorist outrage in Jerusalem, I heard talk of the difficulty of stopping suicide bombers. Actually, it is quite simple. In the years preceding World War I, General John J. Pershing was commander of the American forces in the Philippines. The small Moslem community on the island nation began to wreak havoc against the government and the American forces. The American troops captured a large group of these terrorists. During interrogation by the Military Court, the fanatics were heard repeatedly shouting Allah hu’akbar (“God is Great”), “jihad,” and “the Philippines are the lands of Islam"
Pershing ordered them executed.
Moslems believe that no one tainted by swine can enter Paradise, so the general had the firing squad coat their bullets in hog fat while the condemned watched. As each was executed, his corpse was wrapped in hog skin and covered in hog entrails before burial.
Three of the convicted were released to take the news back to their communities. That ended the Islamic jihad in the Philippines.
To stop suicide bombings in Israel, it is important to deny the bombers a “martyr’s funeral.” Israel should learn from Pershing, by desecrating each bomber’s body with pig products and refusing to hand it over for Islamic burial. Sure, there will be massive protests - but no more suicide bombings.”
In conclusion: A difficult solution for civilized people, yet still unquestionably the lesser of the two evils. In any event terrorists, by their inhumane action of targeting innocent civilians, have, by definition, given up any right to a civilized response.
The government furthermore may merely have to hint at or leak the likelihood of such a response without actually carrying it out (and bury anonymously the remains of the suicide bombers) for the desired effect to reach the psyches of would be terrorists and thereby neutralize their motives.
An elegant yet unusual solution to terrorism.
Reprint from The International Jerusalem Post “Letters” of August 24, 2001 by Rich Chamberlain, Rochester, N.Y.
“How to Fight Suicide Bombers"
"Sir, - Following the recent terrorist outrage in Jerusalem, I heard talk of the difficulty of stopping suicide bombers. Actually, it is quite simple. In the years preceding World War I, General John J. Pershing was commander of the American forces in the Philippines. The small Moslem community on the island nation began to wreak havoc against the government and the American forces. The American troops captured a large group of these terrorists. During interrogation by the Military Court, the fanatics were heard repeatedly shouting Allah hu’akbar (“God is Great”), “jihad,” and “the Philippines are the lands of Islam"
Pershing ordered them executed.
Moslems believe that no one tainted by swine can enter Paradise, so the general had the firing squad coat their bullets in hog fat while the condemned watched. As each was executed, his corpse was wrapped in hog skin and covered in hog entrails before burial.
Three of the convicted were released to take the news back to their communities. That ended the Islamic jihad in the Philippines.
To stop suicide bombings in Israel, it is important to deny the bombers a “martyr’s funeral.” Israel should learn from Pershing, by desecrating each bomber’s body with pig products and refusing to hand it over for Islamic burial. Sure, there will be massive protests - but no more suicide bombings.”
In conclusion: A difficult solution for civilized people, yet still unquestionably the lesser of the two evils. In any event terrorists, by their inhumane action of targeting innocent civilians, have, by definition, given up any right to a civilized response.
The government furthermore may merely have to hint at or leak the likelihood of such a response without actually carrying it out (and bury anonymously the remains of the suicide bombers) for the desired effect to reach the psyches of would be terrorists and thereby neutralize their motives.
PROGNOSIS FOR AMERICA (Oct. 5, 2001)
Some Suggestions and Predictions:
Things will seem to change even as they stay the same
Aviation:
All pilots must carry firearms and be trained in their appropriate use. All planes must carry armed and well trained plain–clothed marshals. All planes can be easily fitted with double separated bullet proof and bomb resistant doors and walls to the cockpit and with close circuit wide-angle cameras so that the pilots can not only assess the veracity of personnel wishing to enter but view the cabin as well.
Those entries should only be initiated to serve meals to and for bathroom visits by the pilots and adhere to strict protocols, i.e. only one door to be able to be opened at any time. Regulations (or laws) should prohibit the opening of the doors in any hi-jacking situation, irrespective, and the pilot’s primary response thereto needs to be the immediate landing of the plane.
All the above provisions will add perhaps a maximum of 2-3 % to the cost of our tickets, a very acceptable safety premium most rational travelers will willingly pay.
Americans will presumably initiate antiseptic strikes against the more visible targets. Most terrorist organizations will however hunker down and play the waiting game. They will wait for America’s resolve to weaken and for memories to dim. They will wait for Americans to get on with the good life.
Countries harbouring and abetting these criminals will pay hypocritical lip service to supporting the so-called coalition against terrorism. Iraq will not bother. However Syria, Libya, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Lebanon etc., may give up some terrorists who are small fry or are disliked by or in opposition to the ruling government.
They may also acknowledge defunct and abandoned terrorist camps. They will however
remain blind to or hide their preferred customers and bide their time knowing that these invisible enemies will waft slowly from the focus of the pursuers. The coalition supporters like France and other self-serving European countries including presumably Russia and China will be seen only initially, to be supportive. If sanctions need to be applied, they will abuse them, eventually supplying arms and trading to suit their economic self-interest.
After all “business is business”, especially if the alliance partners fill the gap the American sanctions creates.
After all, 300 million people with oil and money to burn can be a tantalizing marketplace. And then, as normalcy returns, the core of these organizations, Hamas, Hizbullah, Islamic Jihad, militant wings of the PLO, bin Laden’s extended organization and the dozens of related and intertwined elements will resurface to reclaim their “Rightful Path” to God; their Jihad for Islamic fundamentalism. And the safe haven countries will provide tacit and active support, believing that as long as these organizations remain obsessed with the great Satans, America and Israel, then their own authoritarian and undemocratic regimes will remain safe. And these coalition members will ignore this resurgence, just as long as America and Israel bear the brunt of the pain and the cost indeed this remains as always. But fundamentalism will know no bounds, and those as they say, that end up sleeping with dogs will get up with fleas.
Chamberlain with Hitler and his ilk in every government have tried and continue to advocate appeasement and understanding in the hope that terrorists will mend their ways, grow old and gray and develop their innocent sides. Unfortunately, once these people have passed the pale of humanity, once they have tasted the blood of innocent babies and once they have ingested as their God given right the fantasy of the 72 heavenly virgins, they will not likely stand down, save for their total and continuing eradication.
Things will seem to change even as they stay the same
Aviation:
All pilots must carry firearms and be trained in their appropriate use. All planes must carry armed and well trained plain–clothed marshals. All planes can be easily fitted with double separated bullet proof and bomb resistant doors and walls to the cockpit and with close circuit wide-angle cameras so that the pilots can not only assess the veracity of personnel wishing to enter but view the cabin as well.
Those entries should only be initiated to serve meals to and for bathroom visits by the pilots and adhere to strict protocols, i.e. only one door to be able to be opened at any time. Regulations (or laws) should prohibit the opening of the doors in any hi-jacking situation, irrespective, and the pilot’s primary response thereto needs to be the immediate landing of the plane.
All the above provisions will add perhaps a maximum of 2-3 % to the cost of our tickets, a very acceptable safety premium most rational travelers will willingly pay.
Americans will presumably initiate antiseptic strikes against the more visible targets. Most terrorist organizations will however hunker down and play the waiting game. They will wait for America’s resolve to weaken and for memories to dim. They will wait for Americans to get on with the good life.
Countries harbouring and abetting these criminals will pay hypocritical lip service to supporting the so-called coalition against terrorism. Iraq will not bother. However Syria, Libya, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Lebanon etc., may give up some terrorists who are small fry or are disliked by or in opposition to the ruling government.
They may also acknowledge defunct and abandoned terrorist camps. They will however
remain blind to or hide their preferred customers and bide their time knowing that these invisible enemies will waft slowly from the focus of the pursuers. The coalition supporters like France and other self-serving European countries including presumably Russia and China will be seen only initially, to be supportive. If sanctions need to be applied, they will abuse them, eventually supplying arms and trading to suit their economic self-interest.
After all “business is business”, especially if the alliance partners fill the gap the American sanctions creates.
After all, 300 million people with oil and money to burn can be a tantalizing marketplace. And then, as normalcy returns, the core of these organizations, Hamas, Hizbullah, Islamic Jihad, militant wings of the PLO, bin Laden’s extended organization and the dozens of related and intertwined elements will resurface to reclaim their “Rightful Path” to God; their Jihad for Islamic fundamentalism. And the safe haven countries will provide tacit and active support, believing that as long as these organizations remain obsessed with the great Satans, America and Israel, then their own authoritarian and undemocratic regimes will remain safe. And these coalition members will ignore this resurgence, just as long as America and Israel bear the brunt of the pain and the cost indeed this remains as always. But fundamentalism will know no bounds, and those as they say, that end up sleeping with dogs will get up with fleas.
Chamberlain with Hitler and his ilk in every government have tried and continue to advocate appeasement and understanding in the hope that terrorists will mend their ways, grow old and gray and develop their innocent sides. Unfortunately, once these people have passed the pale of humanity, once they have tasted the blood of innocent babies and once they have ingested as their God given right the fantasy of the 72 heavenly virgins, they will not likely stand down, save for their total and continuing eradication.
Thursday, September 20, 2001
PRINCIPLES OF ENGAGEMENT (September 20, 2001)
Security at home. We must:
a. Provide security and overlapping backups to ensure terrorist hacking into the internet cannot corrupt or destroy the system save for resolvable and temporary problems.
b. Provide unassailable doors to cockpits in all planes, armed air marshals and substantially improved yet efficient ground security.
c. Coordinate and beef-up all intelligence agencies to an effective and synergistic level.
Try as we might in a global and free society we cannot ultimately control and check every passenger and visitor, every importation or border. There will never be adequate funds or personnel; our way of life could not sustain such controls. The only pragmatic solution is to take the battle to the source and remove that nourishment before the cancer spreads throughout the network of the free world. Cut out the heart and the tentacles will dissipate.
Long term tenacity, clarity and moral purpose must be our goals. We must insert operatives and have eyes on the ground everywhere there are training camps, offices and control groups of the various terrorist organizations including within the governments of those supporting them. We must provide motivation and monies to sustain and turn all possible contacts in these organizations.
We must provide support in every way to organizations in opposition to these terrorist groups as long as we can determine that their goal is the destruction of these groups and not, in the long term in any convoluted fashion, the endangerment of America and the free world. We must not be squeamish or delicate. Theirs is a total war - ours needs to be a total response.
The only reason, and it is ingenious in conception, why Iran, Syria and Arafat may want to be part of the coalition would be to ensure they are not a focus (as they necessarily should be) of the coalition’s fight against those safe havens for terrorists.
We must, for countries refusing to visibly and effectively support the eradication of all these terrorist organizations, strongly support with monies, logistics, publicity and even arms any and all opposition groups within and outside of those countries and to openly declare this as a consequence - either these countries are part of the solution or they must be made to understand they will be part of the problem. And clarity must include defining terrorist organizations as being all groups that sponsor or support anyone who commits intentional murder against innocent targeted civilians irrespective of their motivations or reasons.
The act must necessarily be seen to negate any cause, any logic. They must be excommunicated from the civilized world, from recourse to civilized law and forced to wander with no safe harbor.
Only then can the world have some respite from the threat of tactical nuclear bombs and chemical or biological weapons. The teaching of racial, cultural or religious hate must likewise be outlawed. Spawning a generation of future suicide bombers in the schools of the West Bank, or in Tehran or elsewhere, is as certain to wreak havoc on the freedoms of the West, as would a nuclear device.
Children should be treated as a “hands off” resource to all those who would pervert their impressionable souls with hate and lies. We do not countenance child labor or pedophilia - we should not tolerate the evil propagandizing of youthful minds. We have laws against hate crimes and none against hate education. We should campaign against, applying every legal restriction and public censure, those groups or organizations that promote anti-Semitism and hate against any racial or religious group. Specific to this focus must be any Islamic fundamentalist education that uses schools and mosques to promote hate against the west, the destruction of western societies by force and the fostering of specific violence against any individuals or groups these fundamentalists view as an anathema to their exclusionary and monopolistic desires to ensure the victory of their version of Islam through the violent destruction of everyone and everything that does not conform to their particular brand of fundamentalism.
Since Torquemada and the Spanish Inquisition there has been no such intolerant, extreme, vicious and fascist regime of religious imperialists as these fundamentalists, except for the harsh fact that instead of swords and burning stakes these fanatics now have or will soon have biological, chemical and tactical nuclear weapons and they clearly have no qualms against using them.
More importantly, however, we and our allies must apply the same sanctions against not only those countries and groups outside of the USA that promote or support terrorist groups, but those self same countries or groups around the world that promote, support or allow any education or religious instruction that incorporates racist, anti-Semitic or religious hate where violence and indiscriminate murder is motivated for and seen as a necessary solution. Suicide bombing schools for children and adolescents for example is an abomination that must be outlawed with unrivaled international vigour.
Unless we do so, effectively and continuously, the future will belong to hate and anarchism and the culture of the “dark ages” will affect the balance of this century more than the combined hopes of technology, the internet and the unique and precious freedoms of the West. There has been a lot of talk about a backlash against Arab or Muslim Americans. Their civil rights, their safety, their ability to fly around the country unmolested must be zealously protected. That is the American way and the essence of American strength. However, Muslim clerics and Arab leaders in America, instead of exclusively concerning themselves with issues of discrimination, need to vociferously denounce these terrorists, their supporters and their philosophies and to follow up with matching action and behavior. They need to stop pandering to their desire to present and preserve a monolithic Islamic front against Western influence.
Only then will the rest of America and the Free World differentiate between Islamic people comfortable within the Free West’s ethos, and those seeking to destroy the West. They too, not only the broader intended victims, must stand up and be counted: only then can they justifiably claim to be deserving of all America’s tolerance, equality and freedom from discrimination.
We have a window of opportunity of perhaps a few years left, before the risks outweigh the solutions - let us not squander either time or opportunity.
a. Provide security and overlapping backups to ensure terrorist hacking into the internet cannot corrupt or destroy the system save for resolvable and temporary problems.
b. Provide unassailable doors to cockpits in all planes, armed air marshals and substantially improved yet efficient ground security.
c. Coordinate and beef-up all intelligence agencies to an effective and synergistic level.
Try as we might in a global and free society we cannot ultimately control and check every passenger and visitor, every importation or border. There will never be adequate funds or personnel; our way of life could not sustain such controls. The only pragmatic solution is to take the battle to the source and remove that nourishment before the cancer spreads throughout the network of the free world. Cut out the heart and the tentacles will dissipate.
Long term tenacity, clarity and moral purpose must be our goals. We must insert operatives and have eyes on the ground everywhere there are training camps, offices and control groups of the various terrorist organizations including within the governments of those supporting them. We must provide motivation and monies to sustain and turn all possible contacts in these organizations.
We must provide support in every way to organizations in opposition to these terrorist groups as long as we can determine that their goal is the destruction of these groups and not, in the long term in any convoluted fashion, the endangerment of America and the free world. We must not be squeamish or delicate. Theirs is a total war - ours needs to be a total response.
The only reason, and it is ingenious in conception, why Iran, Syria and Arafat may want to be part of the coalition would be to ensure they are not a focus (as they necessarily should be) of the coalition’s fight against those safe havens for terrorists.
We must, for countries refusing to visibly and effectively support the eradication of all these terrorist organizations, strongly support with monies, logistics, publicity and even arms any and all opposition groups within and outside of those countries and to openly declare this as a consequence - either these countries are part of the solution or they must be made to understand they will be part of the problem. And clarity must include defining terrorist organizations as being all groups that sponsor or support anyone who commits intentional murder against innocent targeted civilians irrespective of their motivations or reasons.
The act must necessarily be seen to negate any cause, any logic. They must be excommunicated from the civilized world, from recourse to civilized law and forced to wander with no safe harbor.
Only then can the world have some respite from the threat of tactical nuclear bombs and chemical or biological weapons. The teaching of racial, cultural or religious hate must likewise be outlawed. Spawning a generation of future suicide bombers in the schools of the West Bank, or in Tehran or elsewhere, is as certain to wreak havoc on the freedoms of the West, as would a nuclear device.
Children should be treated as a “hands off” resource to all those who would pervert their impressionable souls with hate and lies. We do not countenance child labor or pedophilia - we should not tolerate the evil propagandizing of youthful minds. We have laws against hate crimes and none against hate education. We should campaign against, applying every legal restriction and public censure, those groups or organizations that promote anti-Semitism and hate against any racial or religious group. Specific to this focus must be any Islamic fundamentalist education that uses schools and mosques to promote hate against the west, the destruction of western societies by force and the fostering of specific violence against any individuals or groups these fundamentalists view as an anathema to their exclusionary and monopolistic desires to ensure the victory of their version of Islam through the violent destruction of everyone and everything that does not conform to their particular brand of fundamentalism.
Since Torquemada and the Spanish Inquisition there has been no such intolerant, extreme, vicious and fascist regime of religious imperialists as these fundamentalists, except for the harsh fact that instead of swords and burning stakes these fanatics now have or will soon have biological, chemical and tactical nuclear weapons and they clearly have no qualms against using them.
More importantly, however, we and our allies must apply the same sanctions against not only those countries and groups outside of the USA that promote or support terrorist groups, but those self same countries or groups around the world that promote, support or allow any education or religious instruction that incorporates racist, anti-Semitic or religious hate where violence and indiscriminate murder is motivated for and seen as a necessary solution. Suicide bombing schools for children and adolescents for example is an abomination that must be outlawed with unrivaled international vigour.
Unless we do so, effectively and continuously, the future will belong to hate and anarchism and the culture of the “dark ages” will affect the balance of this century more than the combined hopes of technology, the internet and the unique and precious freedoms of the West. There has been a lot of talk about a backlash against Arab or Muslim Americans. Their civil rights, their safety, their ability to fly around the country unmolested must be zealously protected. That is the American way and the essence of American strength. However, Muslim clerics and Arab leaders in America, instead of exclusively concerning themselves with issues of discrimination, need to vociferously denounce these terrorists, their supporters and their philosophies and to follow up with matching action and behavior. They need to stop pandering to their desire to present and preserve a monolithic Islamic front against Western influence.
Only then will the rest of America and the Free World differentiate between Islamic people comfortable within the Free West’s ethos, and those seeking to destroy the West. They too, not only the broader intended victims, must stand up and be counted: only then can they justifiably claim to be deserving of all America’s tolerance, equality and freedom from discrimination.
We have a window of opportunity of perhaps a few years left, before the risks outweigh the solutions - let us not squander either time or opportunity.
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