A Kos fan, are you, Frank? You should check out the post called “The Counterspin.” It was put up yesterday so it’s not on the front page anymore, you have to go to the bottom and click “next 12″ to find it. If you’re too reality-averse to do it for yourself I’ll go ahead and tell you the punchline. International terrorism was on a downward trend until, you guessed it, George Bush came on the scene. After that the trend lines goes way up and stays there.

Seriously.

I wasn t just talking for talking s sake here. How many more people have to die until we get it? America was st [...]

What’s going on in Iraq is AW. What happened in London is terrorism.

It’s confusing fire with arson. There will always be accidental and purposeful fires, and fires for murder and money. These are not eliminated by Smokey the Bear — it takes firefighters.

Just as we will always have firefighters, we will now always have anti – terrorist forces, and conventional troops trained in AW.

The fighting in Iraq is like setting up a firebreak , and so is Afghanistan. Support of terrorist operations from those two countries is practically nil.

And don’t worry about collateral damage. We’re doing our best to avoid civilian casualties, and the Iraqis and the Afghans know it. Are some still angry? Will some still become suicidal terrorists? Sure.
Look at Pays de Basque and Northern Ireland.

We will mourn the loss, and honor those killed in these terrorist acts, and those on 9/11, by refusing to accept the failures of leaders who allow them to continue.

Get out of the way or be trampled. We are bringing accountability to their doorstep.

The fly-paper theory being that by massing troops in Iraq and trying to bring Democracy to the Middle East, through that action, that those that are against our way of life will flock to Iraq to attack the attempt to bring Democracy to that country.

The continued belief and faith in this theory is an endangerment to everyone involved, from Iraqis to Americans, Australians, British and even the French. Its not a real plan to combat terrorism, its a plan to have a war that has no real end. It ignores the facts that real terrorism will strike where it can make the greatest impact, and that impact just isn’t going to be in Iraq.

The flypaper theory also makes the incorrect assumption that its only those with brown-skin, black hair and face Mecca while they pray that are targetting the US. What happens when those that are so discouraged with their government entities take matters into their own hands, ignorant of where their funding and training comes from, they perpetrate an act of terrorism against their home country?

You can sit there and mourn all you want, the people are dead and our lives are in danger by the obvious willful ignorance of leaders to the pathways and targets of real terrorists.

In short, the flypaper strategy is a losing one in the long run.

I think many people had grown a wee bit complacent because there have been no major attacks since 2001; Spain somehow didn’t count because the CW was that they had brought it on themselves by capitulating to the terrorists. This is rubbish of course, but denial being what it is, it seemed like a reasonable idea at the time for some.

But London is horse of a different colour, especially considering that the Brits have been America’s staunchest allies in Iraq. A hit at them is in a way, a hit against Americans. It just seems so much closer, doesn’t it? The Brits have followed the same path as Americans in Iraq as a way of fighting terrorism–and it hasn’t worked for them.

I can sit here in my little house in Canada and smugly assume that because I’m Canadian (and our country isn’t in Iraq) I’m somehow safe. But I know better; one way or another, we are all in this together.

The fact is that the world did change on September 11, 2001, not because the attacks awoke the “sleeping giant” as I’ve heard said. But because suddenly, it became apparent that previously powerless people were able to bring war, destruction and death to the front door of the most powerful, well-armed country and disappear into the crowd. No amount of shopping buying SUVs will change this. We cannot go back to the way things were. Our lives have changed and we will never regain the illusion that we are safe.

And so we snipe at eachother over meaningless slights because that feels safe and familiar.

Do you really believe in a flypaper strategy?

Do unicorns wake you up in the morning by blowing gently on your face?

So what Fox News is saying is okay with you? You’re just upset with OW that he’s mentioned the particular news network, and not concentrating on the victims and their families? Riiiight.

You’re not exactly leading by example here, Vinnie. Musta gotten yer Reich Wing marching orders to hit the OW site, eh?

[The] enemy is not our own flawed, fallible but elected governments. It is the people who would remove our ability to elect anyone.

Fucking sad.

The way you constantly dance on graves is disgusting.

And i say this as someone who didn’t think we should’ve gone into Iraq. The difference between you and I is, I’m not so insecure and hell-bent on scoring points that I root for terrorist attacks.

Why don’t we round it out with a lengthy screed against Glenn Reynolds? I stand by my assessment: sad and pathetic.

At least 33 people are dead, several hundred injured – do we need that violence to come to Main St., USA before we act?

Really, the question should be: Do we need that violence to come to Main St., USA AGAIN before we act?

Because, you know, there was that little thing in New York and Washington a few years back. I seem to remember it was kinda bad.