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I'm not in front of a TV right now, but the report I'm seeing on the internet is that it was just a statement read by an official.

More evidence that Saddam's dead?
 
Originally posted by caveman_uk
All those calling for Jihad please form an orderly queue (line if you're American)...

That reminds me when I was in London a few years ago. I was standing outside a theater w/some fellow Ameicans and this girl walked up to me and asked:
Her: Excuse me, are you cooing?
Me: What?
Her: Cooing.
Me: What?
Her: Are you standing in line?
Me: Oh, no. :eek:

Yes, I did feel like a moron. :(


Lethal
 
The Iraq information minister reminds me of the the owner of the pet store in that "dead parrot" Monty Python skit. :rolleyes:


or this is like weekend at Bernies. :D
 
This could be a good thing. I mean you'd have all those terrorist groups in one place, kinda like an international terrorism convention. That way we can weed them out (or they kill themselves) without having to invade every country on the planet. Saddam, the department of homeland security thanks you.
 
Originally posted by NavyIntel007
This could be a good thing. I mean you'd have all those terrorist groups in one place, kinda like an international terrorism convention. That way we can weed them out (or they kill themselves) without having to invade every country on the planet. Saddam, the department of homeland security thanks you.

As I keep repeating. This is faulty logic. There are not a finite number of terrorists. Every day that this war goes on we are creating new terrorists. You can't wage a "war" on terrorism. You'll never, ever win.
 
Originally posted by lmalave
As I keep repeating. This is faulty logic. There are not a finite number of terrorists. Every day that this war goes on we are creating new terrorists. You can't wage a "war" on terrorism. You'll never, ever win.

That's flawed logic too.
 
Originally posted by phgreer
That's flawed logic too.

Please explain yourself. Making a one sentence statement without anything to back it up is rather pointless.

As I explained, there is a feedback loop that makes the way we are executing this war rather pointless. The more we attack , the more militant our enemies and potential enemies become.

How are we doing in the Drug War? The reason we can never win, again, is because there is a feeback loop that we are not considering. The more we prosecute drugs, the more expensive and lucrative they become for organized crime, which just ends up creating more and more violent crime and doing little to stop the flow of drugs.

Now, if you have an intelligent analysis of how to combat terrorism I'd like to hear it.
 
It just is! :D




ok so I guess we should just shut down all of our police forces we are just making criminals angry about arresting them and putting them in jail. Let's just be wimps and live in a crime state. The terrorists are terrorists for a reason. They have an agenda. You can't take people like Hussain, Bin Laden and all their co-horts and henchmen in to Dr. Phil for counseling.
 
Originally posted by phgreer
It just is! :D




ok so I guess we should just shut down all of our police forces we are just making criminals angry about arresting them and putting them in jail. Let's just be wimps and live in a crime state. The terrorists are terrorists for a reason. They have an agenda. You can't take people like Hussain, Bin Laden and all their co-horts and henchmen in to Dr. Phil for counseling.

You missed my point entirely. I am talking about self-reinforcing feedback loops. You are arguing that it is the same because arresting and convicting criminals provokes otherwise law-abiding citizens to become criminals. I just don't think there's convincing evidence for such a feedback loop.

On the other hand, I think there's ample evidence that our attempts at stamping out terrorism are provoking moderate Muslims to become more militant, and almost certainly provoking militant muslims to become terrorists. It's a completely different dynamic.
 
Originally posted by lmalave
You missed my point entirely. I am talking about self-reinforcing feedback loops. You are arguing that it is the same because arresting and convicting criminals provokes otherwise law-abiding citizens to become criminals. I just don't think there's convincing evidence for such a feedback loop.

On the other hand, I think there's ample evidence that our attempts at stamping out terrorism are provoking moderate Muslims to become more militant, and almost certainly provoking militant muslims to become terrorists. It's a completely different dynamic.
The difference being when you prosecute criminals you don't persecute the non-criminals. The law-abiding public therefore approves of your treatment of criminals. The Muslim world doesn't see the wests actions like that though. They believe (rightly or wrongly) that they are being tarred with the same brush and that the west wants to persecute ALL muslims. Terrorist or not. In which case they might as well side with the terrorists as their own governments won't stand up to the west.
 
Originally posted by phgreer
So what are you saying about Muslims?

I'm saying Muslims are coming to the conclusion that the U.S. wants to invade all their countries and forcibly impose Westernization on them. Like Bill Maher said, were now 2 for 2 for the reasons Osama gave for his attack.

You are comparing terrorists to ordinary criminals. While I agree that's certainly an understandable moral response, it ignores political and historical considerations.
 
Originally posted by caveman_uk
The difference being when you prosecute criminals you don't persecute the non-criminals. The law-abiding public therefore approves of your treatment of criminals. The Muslim world doesn't see the wests actions like that though. They believe (rightly or wrongly) that they are being tarred with the same brush and that the west wants to persecute ALL muslims. Terrorist or not. In which case they might as well side with the terrorists as their own governments won't stand up to the west.

Exactly. Our overuse of the word terrorist is only reinforcing their stereotypes. Arab countries are "terrorist" regimes. Anyone fighting the U.S. is part of a "terorist militia" using "terrorist" tactics. A car bomber that kills 4 invading enemy troops on his own home soil is a "terrorist". While this may be effective propaganda in the U.S., it has the opposite, alienating effect to most Arabs hearing it.

Add to that the other potential ways they may interpret our actions such as:

- We're after their oil (this may sound ridiculous to us but remember the arab countries were colonized by the British and French until less than 50 years ago).

- We don't want to let any Arab country become strong, lest they challenge Israel for regional dominance.

- We want to prove that we can impose our will even above the world's objections

The above are widely held views by most Arabs observing this war. This administration really needs to make an effort to understand how our actions might be perceived by the rest of the world. Or maybe they just don't care, but they do it at their own peril, as we are unfortunately seeing...
 
I don't know if their religion is the only factor. I think the heat also has something to do with it. For the life of me I can't understand why people want to live in such bland, hot, dry and desolate places... Seems all that desert heat would make anyone testy.

I bet if we built some nice waterparks, gardens and put up some tasty freeze stands things might improve some.
 
I think that if Saddam was alive and well he would hold a live new conference. Having the head if his communications ministry speak for him would indicate that he is gravely ill, on the optimistic side!
 
OK - what if Saddam is really alive? I doubt that he would be stupid enough to have a LIVE broadcast, considering the amount of firepower pointed in his general direction.

Honestly - a mouse could fart in a Baghdad coffee house, and the Americans and British would pinpoint it's location to within 2 feet.

He speaks live - he will die. Now THAT'S not flawed logic.

So for chrissakes, get rid of him so this war can be finished! I'm SICK of the whole thing!

I'm all "war"red out...

:rolleyes:
 
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