"Isn't this exactly what bin Laden is doing? "

Doug Millison millison at online-journalist.com
Sun Oct 14 16:46:12 CDT 2001


rj/jbor/rjackson/?:
"Isn't this exactly what bin Laden is doing? "

So, rj/jbor/rjackson/? aren't you essentially accusing Phil Wise of being a
spokesperson for bin Laden? If not, you probably owe your interlocutor an
apology.

May as well ask, isn't Bush doing exactly what he's accusing bin Laden of
doing -- raining death and destruction on innocent people in order to try
to bully a foreign government into doing what he (and the people who back
him) wants them to do, instead of working the justified grievances of the
American people through appropriate channels of international justice.
Just asking, but it is a question worth pondering.

The notion that critics of Bush's insane military adventure in Afghanistan
have offered no credible alternatives is ludicrous and remains a braindead
denial of what is actually being said; Barbara's post offers a welcome
correctio to the smear tactics of those on Pynchon-L who have sought to
shout down or marginalize the voices critical fo the Bush military
adventure. From Bush's critics I've heard calls for UN-sponsored action to
investigate and arrest the perpetrators of the September 11 attacks, calls
for concrete actions to ameliorate the conditions of life that make it
possible for a bin Laden to recruit suicide bombers, calls for specific
forms of reconciliation work (the kind that have done so much to reduce
tensions, and killing, in places that were torn with what appeared to be
intractable problems -- Northern Ireland and South Africa, for example),
and much more.  I've also heard calls for real debate before taking the
actions that may very well lead to a stripping away of civil liberties in
the U.S. Most of the critics of the Bush Administration's policies have
been specific, and well-inentioned.  Of course there are exceptions, and
some extremely silly (and hateful) things are being said on all sides of
this discussion, here in the P-list microcosm and out there in the larger
world. But, Bush's critics,  are, generally, people who love the U.S. and
want to see it live up to its ideals of democracy and justice, instead of
using its treasure and military might to prop up corrupt dictators, and to
blow children and other innocent bystanders to bits.



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