Are the terrorists in Iraq emboldened by bin Laden's freedom and defiance?

[bigtree]

Of course they are.

I think it has become irrelevant how many Taliban we killed in Afghanistan because of the success of the resistance forces in Iraq who have picked up bin Laden's vendetta against the U.S. as they kidnap and murder folks whenever and wherever they please.

I'll bet Bush really does know how much he has screwed America with his mindless, manufactured war in Iraq. I bet seeing bin Laden alive and well on that tape scared the shit out of him, kind of like a grade school bully feels when a high school bully comes looking to kick his ass.

He should be scared, and we should be also. Bin Laden not only pulled off the most devastating attack on civilians in our history, but he has escaped us for over three years now. He hit Bush because he saw weakness that he could exploit. So far he has proved himself right on that score. Bush played into his hands by invading and occupying a country in a region dominated by Muslims. Any sympathy from the Arab world that might have existed after 9-11 evaporated with Bush's ambitions in Iraq.

The worst thing is that Bush is arrogant enough to believe his own tripe about spreading freedom and liberating Arabs. Anything to keep the fear down. Anything to keep other fearful Americans out in front of him. But he is just creating more enemies and Bush is content to let them knock us down as they work to get to him.

Bush should have gotten bin Laden by now. No one can imagine anymore that the terrorist leader could evade us for so long without help from some sympathetic government. Some government who has been shunned and disregarded by Bush. So much for fighting them there so we don't have to fight them here. The terrorist leader is free to pick and choose his battlefield and he is recruiting armies out of Bush's arrogance.

Bush should be scared by the reappearance of bin Laden. I am.

[DuctapeFatwa]

1. Are the "terrorists" in Iraq doing differently than you would, if it were

Iranian or Malaysian soldiers kicking in your door, hauling your children off to Abu Ghraib? riding your grandmother like a donkey? Murdering your brother?

[bigtree]

4. I think we have to acknowledge that there are outside forces there

in addition to a massive local resistance. Maybe the line has gotten blurred. I'm with you on the legitimacy of a resistance. I leave off at the thousands of civilians that have been killed along with our soldiers in these insurgent attacks. How can you not see the folly in these insurgents regularly killing Iraqis, civilian, interim authority, or police? Their actions mirror the American wanton bombing, the deliberate or accidental shootings of unarmed civilians, the search and destroy missions, and the targeting by our forces of civilian areas and mosques. I deplore all of the killings.

However, I don't think bin Laden gives a damn about the Muslim people's lives, anymore than he cared about the men he sent to die on those planes, any more than these insurgent leaders care about those they send to blow themselves up or the children they destroy in their zeal against Americans.

I don't give beheading leaders nor any other murderous leader, including our own, any credit for any noble aspiration that they thouroughly discredit with their mindless violence.

[DuctapeFatwa]

6. I think your theory deserves a chance. Let US cease aggression, disarm

repatriate its armies of torturers, death squads, child rapists and various "liberators," and let's see if there is a marked decrease in killing.

[bigtree]

7. When a government puts forth its strength on the side of injustice,

as ours to maintain slavery and kill the liberators of the slave, it reveals itself a merely brute force, or worse, a demoniacal force.

Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

[DuctapeFatwa]

8. Debating imperialism is a bit like debating the pros and cons of rape

Arundhati Roy

[bigtree]

9. War

War, huh yeah
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing.
War huh yeah
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing.
Say it again y'all
War, huh good god
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing. Listen to me

Edwin Starr

[DuctapeFatwa]

10. Now come and join the living, it's not so far from you

And it's getting nearer, soon it will all be true

Now I've been crying lately, thinking about the world as it is
Why must we go on hating, why can't we live in bliss

Cause out on the edge of darkness, there rides a peace train

Oh peace train sounding louder
Glide on the peace train
Everyone jump upon the peace train
Come on now peace train

Yusuf Islam

[bigtree]

11. There's one thing I must confess,

Bring them home, bring them home.
I'm not really a pacifist,
Bring them home, bring them home.

If an army invaded this land of mine,
Bring them home, bring them home.
You'd find me out on the firing line,
Bring them home, bring them home.

Even if they brought their planes to bomb,
Bring them home, bring them home.
Even if they brought helicopters and napalm,
Bring them home, bring them home.

Show those generals their fallacy:
Bring them home, bring them home.
They don't have the right weaponry,
Bring them home, bring them home.

Pete Seeger

[DuctapeFatwa]

12. Yes, ’n’ how many seas must a white dove sail

Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, ’n’ how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they’re forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind,
The answer is blowin’ in the wind.


Bob Dylan

[bigtree]

13. Please stay off of the grass, boys

Please stay off of the grass
Here's a kick in the ass, boys
Here's a kick in the ass
We'll smash down your doors, we don't bother to knock
We've done it before, so why all the shock?
We're the biggest and toughest kids on the block
'Cause we're the Cops of the World, boys
We're the Cops of the World

When we butchered your son, boys
When we butchered your son
Have a stick of our gum, boys
Have a stick of our buble-gum
We own half the world, oh say can you see
The name for our profits is democracy
So, like it or not, you will have to be free
'Cause we're the Cops of the World, boys
We're the Cops of the World

Phil Ochs

[DuctapeFatwa]

14. And it's One, Two Three, What are we fightin' for?

Don't ask me, I don't give a damn
My next stop is VietNam, and it's
Five, Six, Seven, Open up the Pearly Gates
Ain't no time to wonder why
WHOPEEE! We're all gonna die.

[bigtree]

15. Work For Peace

Back when Eisenhower was the President,
Golf courses was where most of his time was spent.
So I never really listened to what the President said,
Because in general I believed that the General was politically dead.

But he always seemed to know when the muscles were about to be flexed,
Because I remember him saying something, mumbling something about a Military Industrial Complex.
Americans no longer fight to keep their shores safe,
Just to keep the jobs going in the arms making workplace.
Then they pretend to be gripped by some sort of political reflex,
But all they're doing is paying dues to the Military Industrial Complex.

The Military and the Monetary,
The Military and the Monetary,
The Military and the Monetary.
The Military and the Monetary,
get together whenever they think its necessary,

They turn our brothers and sisters into mercenaries, they are turning the planet into a cemetery.
The Military and the Monetary, use the media as intermediaries,
they are determined to keep the citizens secondary, they make so many decisions that are arbitrary.

Gil Scott Heron

[billyoc]

16. Of course, I would be doing the same thing

that they're doing. And although the idea of beheading people doesn't exactly give me a warm feeling, I'm sure it would grow on me.

[Gman]

2. The OBL video

is a non-issue now, less than 24 hours later.

[jobycom]

3. Only in the media's eyes

People know about it, whether the media is talking or not.

In 2000, one of the things that killed W in the final days was his sudden turn to extreme partisanship. Until then he had been the uniter, not divider candidate. But during the last weekend, W started slamming CLinton and Gore. The media didn't comment on it, and barely showed the clips of W doing it. But exit polls showed that a lot of undecideds who decided in the last few days broke for Gore, based on Bush's sudden partisanship.

Peopl know about the tape. They know UBL is alive. That can't sit really well with those people who have "We will never forget" on their bumper. It's very clear now that Bush has forgotten.

[bigtree]

5. How could Bush have screwed this up so badly?

He had the world with him until he barged into Iraq.

[billyoc]

17. One More Parade

Hup, two, three, four, marchin' down the street
Rollin' of the drums and the trampin' of the feet
General salutes and the mothers wave and weep
Here comes the big parade
Don't be afraid, price is paid
One more parade

So young, so strong, so ready for the war
So willin' to go an' die upon a foreign shore
All march together, everybody looks the same
So there is no one you can blame
Don't be ashamed, light the flame
One more parade

Listen for the sound and listen for the noise
Listen for the thunder of the marching boys
Few years ago their guns were only toys
Here comes the big parade
Don't be afraid, price is paid
One more parade

Medals on their coats and guns in their hands
Trained to kill as they're trained to stand
Ten thousand ears need only one command
Here comes the big parade
Don't be afraid, price is paid
One more parade

Cold hard stares on faces so proud
Kisses from the girls and cheers from the crowd
And the widows from the last war cry into their shrouds
Here comes the big parade
Don't be afraid, price is paid
Don't be ashamed, war's a game
World in flames
So start the parade!!

Phil Ochs

[bigtree]

18. For what it's worth-

There's something happening here

What it is ain't exactly clear

There's a man with a gun over there

Telling me I got to beware.


I think it's time we stop, children, what's that sound

Everybody look what's going down.



There's battle lines being drawn

Nobody's right if everybody's wrong

Young people speaking their minds

Getting so much resistance from behind.



I think it's time we stop, hey, what's that sound

Everybody look what's going down.



What a field-day for the heat

A thousand people in the street

Singing songs and carrying signs

Mostly say, hooray for our side.



It's time we stop, hey, what's that sound

Everybody look what's going down.



Paranoia strikes deep

Into your life it will creep

It starts when you're always afraid

You step out of line, the man come and take you away.



We better stop, hey, what's that sound

Everybody look what's going down.


- Buffalo Springfield