Andrew Card confirms coverup

"it's very hard indeed to find a leader who is both effective and totally honest"


I would say it's very hard to find one who is either one of those things! All government officials are liars and nothing they say should be believed (I.F. Stone).

No one (at least I don't think anyone) doubts the basic badness of the Soviets and their system. But no one should doubt, either, that they felt we were out to get them. Nor should anyone doubt the horrors caused by the United States blaming everything that we didn't like in the world on the Soviets. There was plenty to blame them for without lying about it. The garrison state in Guatemala, the Hollywood blacklist and other aspects of McCarthyism, and millions of dead in southeast Asia (to name 3 things) should not have happened. We caused those things, not the Soviets.


They were a brutal bunch, Lenin, Stalin and their cronies and successors. But we also behaved brutally. I believe you are saying that the ends justified the means. But some of the ends were reprehensible and were intended to be reprehensible. We became far too much like our enemy, something that was predicted by many observors at the start of the Cold War (Walter Lippman and George Kennan, to name two who were not on the left).

Chris Alger believes that the USA and Israel are the terrorists.The radical Islamists are freedom fighters according to Mr.Alger.

Well that is preposterous, IMO.


Here is something I heard recently. A man told me that the difference between terrorists and revolutionaries is that the revolutionaries won. If they had lost they would be terrorists. I don't buy that and here's why: Terrorists deliberately target civilians, and they consider civilians equally legitimate targets. Freedom Fighters know that their battle is not equally with civilians, babies, women and children of the enemy. Freedom fighters strive to avoid ccivilian collateral damage whenever possible; terrorists seek to harm and kill innocent civilians.


Revolutionaries/Freedom Fighters don't murder Olympic athletes; Terrorists do.


Revolutionaries/Freedom Fighters don't send suicide bombers to a girl's bas mitzvah party; Terrorists do.


Revolutionaries/Freedom Fighters don't set off bombs in a disco where the purpose is simply to kill as many innocent civilians on the premises as possible; Terrorists do.


Our founding fathers were Revolutionaries and Freedom Fighters, not Terrorists. They did not attack and kill the families of the Tories, those colonists who supported the King. In fact they pretty much didn't even attack the Tories themselves, choosing instead to attack their real enemy, the British Army. If they had stooped to such levels they would indeed have been terrorists. But they had some scruples. They had some brains, too. Today's terrorists either have no scruples or cannot see the plain logical distinction between deliberately targeting pure civilians and targeting miltary/political figures. Terrorism is sick and those who subscibe to its philosophy are truly deluded. Unfortunately, they are not only deluded but also extremely dangerous. Don't forget that months before the 9/11 tragedies galvanized our nation and the world, I posted that the Free World ought to unite and hunt down and capture dead or alive the world's worst terrorists. It is sad that it took such a tragedy to spur awakening and action against the great peril we all face today. Yet it could have been worse...al Qaeda could have waited until they had some nuclear weapons or 'dirty bombs' and caught us sleeping then. As it is, we will recover from the tragedies of 9/11, and al Qaeda might have blown their chance to inflict irreparable harm on us. Hopefully they will be thoroughly rooted out, imprisoned and killed around the world--sadly, there is no rehabilitation possible for such deadly, aggressive, deluded fanatics. If they were just deleded fanatics I would say spare them. But these NUTCASES want to kill each and every one of us. I think we and the world are probably doing as much as can be expected at this point to combat terrorism, but public opinion is still getting in the way. I believe the overseas al Qaeda should, when captured, be sped to their meeting with Allah which they so look forward to anyway. I don't believe there is such a thing as a truly safe way to deal with terrorists...these nuts will be trying to kill us and destroy the Western world as long as they live.


The next step is to try to deal with some of the root causes of terrorism, and that's a massive problem in itself, worthy of a much longer essay, or even a book, and unfortunately I don't have all the answers.

One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. Remember that Ronald Reagan called the contras the moral equivalents of the Founding Fathers, that he found Nicaragua to be a "totalitarian dungeon." Ms. Kirkpatrick managed to see a difference between murders she liked (whom she designated "authoritarians") and those she didn't like ("totalitarians"). And the Communists always liked calling themslves "People's" Republics or the "Democratic Republic of . . "


I'm not saying it's not possible to determine who is telling the truth and who is not, who is good and who is bad, but terrorists will always call themselves freedom fighters and politicians who don't like them will often call freedom fighters terrorists.


The terms are, unfortunately, defined by politicians and politicians have little regard for truth or, all too frequently, the lives of their own citizens. Even those governments that treat their own citizens well frequently have little regard for how the treat the citizens of other countries, especially if their skin color happens to be a different shade than their own.


I'm wary of great crusades for freedom or democracy because too often they turn out to be crusades for "freedom" or "democracy."

In 1982 Israel, along with the Christian Lebanese Phalangist Militia, hatched a plan to kill nearly every man, woman and child in the Sabra and Chatilia Palestinian Refuge camps. The killings were carried out by the Phalangists with ample knowledge, assistance and help in cover-up provided by the Israeli's, especially then-Defense Minister, now Israeli President Sharon. This massacre is very well documented. A search on any search engine will give you many, many links to information. I have included one link.


Here is one paragraph from Thomas L. Friedman's book "From Beirut to Jerusalem": "No one knows exactly how many people were killed in the 3 day massacre, and how many were trucked off and killed elsewhere. ...Red Cross staff buried 210 bodies 140 men, 38 women and 32 children--in a mass grave 3 days after the massacre. Since most victims were buried by relatives much earlier [quick burial is Muslim custom, KJS] Red Cross officials told me they estimated the total death toll was between 800 and 1000."


This killing of innocent people makes Israel a party to terrorism, according to your definition. Include me with Chris Alger and those that believe that the state of Israel acts outside the bounds of international law and morality when it comes to the murder of innocent people. To call them a terrorist state is not preposterous, IMO.


KJS

The ANC killed civilians in South Africa in order to rid thier country of racism.


The USA has killed many civilians in Afghanistan in chasing out the Taliban and al Qaeda.


One mans freedom fighter is certainly another mans terrorist.

Fine. You are a traitor and terrorist sympathizer. I believe that that the government will include you in investigating national security threats to the USA.

Can't you see the difference between preferring to avoid collateral damage, and deliberately trying to inflict it???


The difference between terrorists and revolutionaries IS NOT merely a choice of terms. THINK!!!


I won't be surprised if thehawk doesn't see any difference. But Andy, if you fail this fairly simple analogy test, I WILL be dumbfounded.