How Do We "Win" a War on Terror? - Page 9 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

t walgamuth · #**121** 08-16-2006, 10:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jlomon

I agree with much of what you've been adding to these sorts of thread lately. However, this statement is only half correct. Some of the nations in the ME do have "uneducated masses" but some societies have "highly educated masses" that are even more dangerous. Saudi Arabia, supposedly the West's "ally" in the war on terror, is an excellent case in point. They have a literacy rate amongst adult males that goes into the low 90% range, and also have a shockingly high portion of their population with university education, since the Kingdom pays for it. However, there aren't any jobs so most of the young adult males who have just graduated from university hang around the Mosque, listening to the hatred preached against the West, Israel and the Saudi royal family. These people are educated enough to know that their population of 16 million is being raped by the 30,000 or so members of the al Saud family that run the country. And they know that they can bring the family down by interrupting the global petroleum machine that has something like 40% of the world's proven resources in their country.

These people are ripe for radicalization. They're smart, sophisticated and motivated. They feel disenfranchised and are looking for something to believe in other than their corrupt and decadent leaders They pose a greater danger to you and I than some Kurd or Pashtun off in the hills of Afghanistan or Iraq. The uneducated ones don't scare me. Most of the illiterate and poverty stricken are more concerned about how they're going to feed their families this winter. Its the educated ones that scare the hell out of me.

How many of the 911 hijackers were Saudi nationals in the US on education visas?

this sounds scarily true.

tom w

cmac2012 · #**122** 08-17-2006, 01:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by peragro

It was a joke, dude, at both your's and Bot's expense. Hence the

thingies. A lite attempt at humor which obviously crashed quicker than Paris Hilton in a brand new range rover - alas, my apologies to you both.

Why would I feel humiliated at what you said? At best it's non-applicable to the point at hand, at worst it's simply wrong.

I was half joking too. The part about humiliation was not directed at you, but at Arab nationalists in general. My post was a bit cryptic and unintelligible, I'll admit.

cmac2012 · #**123** 08-17-2006, 01:45 AM

One of the best part of the SF Chronicle is the letters section. Here's a fellow who said it better than I could:

Editor -- With the latest cease-fire in Lebanon, there seems to be little confidence in many quarters that it will be permanent. Already the antagonists are probably planning on how they can do better the next time.

In these times of asymmetrical warfare, both Iraq and Lebanon have demonstrated that overwhelming military superiority no longer assures victory, so perhaps a different approach might be worth trying. One of the main reasons it seems that organizations such as Hezbollah and Hamas enjoy such popular support is the extensive social-welfare programs they administer. So why don't we play them at their own game?

How about taking a chunk of the billions of our tax dollars we send Israel each year for military hardware and spend it in Lebanon on setting up a string of American medical clinics, schools and other social-welfare programs?

Imagine yourself as a young impressionable male in southern Lebanon and who would win your "heart and mind''? The country that supplied medicines for your sick family or the one that supplied the bombs falling on your grandmother?

The Bush administration's foreign policy is almost all stick and no carrot. Would excessive punishment (or threat thereof) make you behave any better or would it just make you angrier and more determined?

Let's try thinning the terrorist ranks by separating the good average Muslim from the extremists by offering them something more worthwhile than more violence and destruction.

JOHN NEAL
San Anselmo

peragro · #**124** 08-17-2006, 01:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cmac2012

One of the best part of the SF Chronicle is the letters section. Here's a fellow who said it better than I could:

Editor -- With the latest cease-fire in Lebanon, there seems to be little confidence in many quarters that it will be permanent. Already the antagonists are probably planning on how they can do better the next time.

In these times of asymmetrical warfare, both Iraq and Lebanon have demonstrated that overwhelming military superiority no longer assures victory, so perhaps a different approach might be worth trying. One of the main reasons it seems that organizations such as Hezbollah and Hamas enjoy such popular support is the extensive social-welfare programs they administer. So why don't we play them at their own game?

How about taking a chunk of the billions of our tax dollars we send Israel each year for military hardware and spend it in Lebanon on setting up a string of American medical clinics, schools and other social-welfare programs?

Imagine yourself as a young impressionable male in southern Lebanon and who would win your "heart and mind''? The country that supplied medicines for your sick family or the one that supplied the bombs falling on your grandmother?

The Bush administration's foreign policy is almost all stick and no carrot. Would excessive punishment (or threat thereof) make you behave any better or would it just make you angrier and more determined?

Let's try thinning the terrorist ranks by separating the good average Muslim from the extremists by offering them something more worthwhile than more violence and destruction.

JOHN NEAL
San Anselmo

Interesting idea. How would you keep the clinics full of unarmed doctors and nurses safe once Hezbollah realized you were horning in on thier game?

peragro · #**125** 08-17-2006, 01:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cmac2012

I was half joking too. The part about humiliation was not directed at you, but at Arab nationalists in general. My post was a bit cryptic and unintelligible, I'll admit.

I kinda half figured you were. That's why I used the ever popular "paris hilton" bait. Figured it get you off on a tirade... Oh well, better luck next time.

cmac2012 · #**126** 08-17-2006, 02:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by peragro

Interesting idea. How would you keep the clinics full of unarmed doctors and nurses safe once Hezbollah realized you were horning in on thier game?

That thought occurred to me as well. If it was even funded by the evil Americans, it'd be suspect. It would have to be done gradually, maybe with Turkey acting as intermediary. Hell, the Turks were part of this whole thing to begin with, having sold land in Palestine/Israel to Zionists, land that they had essentially stolen through skulduggery. Land that the "owner" had often never even set foot on. Bizarre.

cmac2012 · #**127** 08-17-2006, 02:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by peragro

I kinda half figured you were. That's why I used the ever popular "paris hilton" bait. Figured it get you off on a tirade... Oh well, better luck next time.

Nah... ever since Paris started frequenting my bed chambers, I have a whole new opionion of her. Trouble is, you have to listen to her afterwards.

peragro · #**128** 08-17-2006, 02:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cmac2012

Nah... ever since Paris started frequenting my bed chambers, I have a whole new opionion of her. Trouble is, you have to listen to her afterwards.

wear earplugs and feed her Carl's Jr.

cmac2012 · #**129** 08-17-2006, 02:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jlomon

I agree with much of what you've been adding to these sorts of thread lately. However, this statement is only half correct. Some of the nations in the ME do have "uneducated masses" but some societies have "highly educated masses" that are even more dangerous. Saudi Arabia, supposedly the West's "ally" in the war on terror, is an excellent case in point. They have a literacy rate amongst adult males that goes into the low 90% range, and also have a shockingly high portion of their population with university education, since the Kingdom pays for it. However, there aren't any jobs so most of the young adult males who have just graduated from university hang around the Mosque, listening to the hatred preached against the West, Israel and the Saudi royal family. These people are educated enough to know that their population of 16 million is being raped by the 30,000 or so members of the al Saud family that run the country. And they know that they can bring the family down by interrupting the global petroleum machine that has something like 40% of the world's proven resources in their country.

These people are ripe for radicalization. They're smart, sophisticated and motivated. They feel disenfranchised and are looking for something to believe in other than their corrupt and decadent leaders They pose a greater danger to you and I than some Kurd or Pashtun off in the hills of Afghanistan or Iraq. The uneducated ones don't scare me. Most of the illiterate and poverty stricken are more concerned about how they're going to feed their families this winter. Its the educated ones that scare the hell out of me.

How many of the 911 hijackers were Saudi nationals in the US on education visas?

I've seen video of Saudi dissidents in other countries speaking out against the Saud family. Oh man, them dudes play hardball, with adjectives like senile, pathetic, syphilitic, all rolled out in a poetic stream of nonstop invective.

I've lost track of how many times I've read of some Saudi prince with his entourage renting the top two floors of some Miami Beach hotel for a year or two. And then there's the stories of the former king's private Boeings, with gold and ivory fittings in the baths. The guy had one of the creepier faces I've seen. King Faud, I mean, now deceased.

cmac2012 · #**130** 08-17-2006, 02:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by peragro

wear earplugs and feed her Carl's Jr.

Oh man, you said the wrong word. I'm named after my dad -- I'm a "Jr." Never did like it that much. And then I have to see those damn restaurants.

The burgers aren't half bad, as burgers go.

All seriousness aside, Paris doesn't turn me on nearly as much as she apparently does a huge chunk of America's adolescent wanna-bees.

peragro · #**131** 08-17-2006, 02:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cmac2012

Oh man, you said the wrong word. I'm named after my dad -- I'm a "Jr." Never did like it that much. And then I have to see those damn restaurants.

The burgers aren't half bad, as burgers go.

All seriousness aside, Paris doesn't turn me on nearly as much as she apparently does a huge chunk of America's adolescent wanna-bees.

Ha! Funny, I didn't think of that - although I should have lied and said I did...

I got nothing against Paris, I don't think she's that attractive and she's really annoying and slutty to boot.

Now, as far as actresses go: Rachel McAdams and Kiera Knightly are tooooooo good.

cmac2012 · #**132** 08-17-2006, 03:10 AM

Knightley got me going in the first "Pirates" but Lord have mercy girl, get thee to some nutrition! A bit much. Or a bit not enough, actually. Lovely speaking voice, I say, wouldn't mind hearing sweet nothings from those lips in me ear a time or two...

Paris recently said that every era has its icon -- Marilyn Monroe, Betty Grable, and now she Paris, is that iconic blonde. Oh man, reading her own reviews again.

jlomon · #**133** 08-17-2006, 09:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cmac2012

I've lost track of how many times I've read of some Saudi prince with his entourage renting the top two floors of some Miami Beach hotel for a year or two. And then there's the stories of the former king's private Boeings, with gold and ivory fittings in the baths. The guy had one of the creepier faces I've seen. King Faud, I mean, now deceased.

Its only going to get worse. The present King, Abdallah, is actually a reformist who would love to crack down on the corruption. The problem is, he's drastically outnumbered by Fahd's other brothers and their sons, who all want the status quo, so he really can't get anything done. And he's 78 years old, so he'll be dead soon enough. The next generation is going to be so much worse, and they'll be the ones with their hand on the oil spigot *and* at the same time many of them are funnelling oil profits to Islamic "charities" that fund terrorist networks. The prospect is downright terrifying

The best analogy I can present is the Hilton family. The grandfather creates the hotel empire and brings the family from middle class to extreme wealth. His kid runs the empire and does it diligently because he saw what his father put into it and still remembers not having money. He appreciates hard work. But sooner or later Paris Hilton, who hasn't known work or responsibility her entire life, takes over. What happens then?

Zeus · #**134** 08-17-2006, 09:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jlomon

But sooner or later Paris Hilton, who hasn't known work or responsibility her entire life, takes over. What happens then?

She gets a record deal?

The end is nigh. Repent!

Honus · #**135** 08-17-2006, 09:30 AM

I like Paris Hilton. She's pretty and seems to have a good sense of humor. I undertand that people will pay her a healthy fee to show up at an event and say, "That's hot." At one such event they had a high percentage of spanish speaking people. As requested, Paris said, "That's hot," and then a translater said it in spanish. Anyone who can turn that "skill" into a career is OK by me, especially if she's pretty.