<HTML>You stated that only 51% of Americans voted for Bush...
Please be aware that some 75-80% of voting districts voted FOR Bush...
It's just that Gore focused on large population centers, such as New York, Miami and Los Angeles. By pulling in huge numbers of poor and disadvantaged voters, as well as the liberal numbers that traditionally follow the Democratic party, he was able to pull a nearly equal number of "VOTES"...
Most of America... by a huge majority... was behind Bush then. It was Gore who nearly stole the election against MOST of the people in America. Nearly ALL of America is behind Bush now.
Also, you made a point about war being reserved for last resorts... when desperation throws out logic.
You are wrong. Especially in this case.
We in America are the first to "fight" for our rights. We fight in court. We fight at the water cooler. We fight and fight and fight. Nothing stops us from fighting. In our own way, it's a civil war. We fight over political issues. We fight over abortion. We fight over media access. We fight over just about everything.
We fight crime. God knows, we spend HUGE sums fighting crime. We fight over whether police should be able to engage in high-speed chases with criminals, because often the police exaccerbate the situation, and innocent people are hurt. For the most part, people WANT the highspeed chases to get the criminal scum off the streets. We fight OURSELVES, and these people have mistaken that for internal weakness. It's not.
We've just been keeping our swords sharp and our minds strong.
What is another word for criminal that we could use to describe these unholy monsters who stole four airplanes and crashed them into a building complex that housed 50,000 people? If it were just the Pentagon, it would be clearly a military matter... but these were ALL civilians.
What do we call them? When you boil it down, they are ALL just criminals... people who have disregard for the rights, and the laws that protect those rights.
I hesitate to use the phrase, but this activity is really more like a "Police Action" than a war. We will be going around the world, with the help of our NATO allies, and we will be making arrests. If the criminals decide to lock their doors and engage in a stand-off, then we will break down the doors and take them... by force.
I wish they could use another word besides "War", because it is a poor description of what is happening. We, as a species, have moved beyond the old concept of "warring" countries, as our ability to communicate and settle differences has been extraordinary.
Our problem lies in small countries that believe they don't have to follow the rules that govern the rest of the world. We police them. They fall into line.
However, we have a large number of these small countries that have joined forces to create and support an independent army... an army that has been "duped" into service by adding a label of religious fundamentalism, and draping over a literacy rate below ten percent.
This is as real an "army" as if the EU pooled their funds and hired a team of mercenaries. Can you imagine France and Britain then stepping back and saying, "Oooooh.... it wasn't us.... we were home washing our dishes."
No. This is an army, and it belongs to all the nations that support them.
We call it a war. It will be carried out like a global crackdown. And we will break down the doors when they are dug in and refuse to come out.
If it escalates, be sure you don't blame the police for trying to arrest the criminals. Allowing high-speed chases may cause harm to some innocent bystanders, but in the end, we must catch the criminals... or they will commit their crimes again, and again, and again.
In summary, I would like to point out that we could conceivably make the point that the terrorists DO form an army; that this army is backed by several nations; and these nations are the enemies of freedom. Ergo, they need to be attacked.
More likely, these nations, as has happened in Pakistan already, will divorce themselves from this "army", and back the true freedom fighters. Anyone that doesn't is merely a criminal hideout, and it will be seized... property will be confiscated; arrests will be made; and resistors will be eradicated.
This is a global police action. It has finally come about. We should have done it years ago. Just like Pearl Harbor, though... we needed to be thrown into the party so we could put an end to it once and for all.
God Bless America,
Anthony</HTML>
