Thread for The War On "Terra" Index | New Thread | Reply | Close | Stick | Delete  The War On "Terra" Edzz 1:13am, July 17, 2006 [Edit] [Delete] Got this in an email. I'll stuff my own opinions down your throat tomorrow in my reply. :) When WW III Started... 1979 This is not very long, but very informative. You have to read the catalogue of events in this brief piece. Then, ask yourself how anyone can take the position that all we have to do is bring our troops home from Iraq, sit back, reset the snooze alarm, go back to sleep, and no one will ever bother us again. In case you missed it, World War III began in November 1979... that alarm has been ringing for years. US Navy Captain Ouimette is the Executive Officer at Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Florida. Here is a copy of the speech he gave last month. It is an accurate account of why we are in so much trouble today and why this action is so necessary. AMERICA NEEDS TO WAKE UP! That's what we think we heard on the 11th of September 2001 (When more than 3,000 Americans were killed -AD) and maybe it was, but I think it should have been "Get Out of Bed!" In fact, I think the alarm clock has been buzzing since 1979 and we have continued to hit the snooze button and roll over for a few more minutes of peaceful sleep since then. It was a cool fall day in November 1979 in a country going through a religious and political upheaval when a group of Iranian students attacked and seized the American Embassy in Tehran. This seizure was an outright attack on American soil; it was an attack that held the world's most powerful country hostage and paralyzed a Presidency. The attack on this sovereign U. S. embassy set the stage for events to follow for the next 25 years. America was still reeling from the aftermath of the Vietnam experience and had a serious threat from the Soviet Union when then, President Carter, had to do something. He chose to conduct a clandestine raid in the desert. The ill-fated mission ended in ruin, but stood as a symbol of America's inability to deal with terrorism. America's military had been decimated and down sized/right sized since the end of the Vietnam War. A poorly trained, poorly equipped and poorly organized military was called on to execute a complex mission that was doomed from the start. Shortly after the Tehran experience, Americans began to be kidnapped and killed throughout the Middle East. America could do little to protect her citizens living and working abroad. The attacks against US soil continued. In April of 1983 a large vehicle packed with high explosives was driven into the US Embassy compound in Beirut. When it explodes, it kills 63 people. The alarm went off again and America hit the Snooze button once more. Then just six short months later in 1983 a large truck heavily laden down with over 2500 pounds of TNT smashed through the main gate of the US Marine Corps headquarters in Beirut and 241 US servicemen are killed. America mourns her dead and hit the Snooze Button once more. Two months later in December 1983, another truck loaded with explosives is driven into the US Embassy in Kuwait, and America continues her slumber. The following year, in September 1984, another van was driven into the gate of the US Embassy in Beirut and America slept. Soon the terrorism spreads to Europe. In April 1985 a bomb explodes in a restaurant frequented by US soldiers in Madrid. Then in August 1985 a Volkswagen loaded with explosives is driven into the main gate of the US Air Force Base at Rhein-Main, 22 are killed and the snooze alarm is buzzing louder and louder as US interests are continually attacked. Fifty-nine days later in 1985 a cruise ship, the Achille Lauro is hijacked and we watched as an American in a wheelchair is singled out of the passenger list and executed. The terrorists then shift their tactics to bombing civilian airliners when they bomb TWA Flight 840 in April of 1986 that killed 4 and the most tragic bombing, Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988 killing 259. Clinton treated these terrorist acts as crimes; in fact we are still trying to bring these people to trial. These are acts of war. The wake up alarm is getting louder and louder. The terrorists decide to bring the fight to America. In January 1993, two CIA agents are shot and killed as they enter CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. The following month, February 1993, a group of terrorists are arrested after a rented van packed with explosives is driven into the underground parking garage of the World Trade Center in New York City. Six people are killed and over 1000 are injured. Still this is a crime and not an act of war? The Snooze alarm is depressed again. Then in November 1995 a car bomb explodes at a US military complex in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia killing seven service men and women. A few months later in June of 1996, another truck bomb explodes only 35 yards from the US military compound in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. It destroys the Khobar Towers, a US Air Force barracks, killing 19 and injuring over 500. The terrorists are getting braver and smarter as they see that America does not respond decisively. They move to coordinate their attacks in a simultaneous attack on two US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. These attacks were planned with precision. They kill 224. America responds with cruise missile attacks and goes back to sleep. The USS Cole was docked in the port of Aden, Yemen for refueling on 12 October 2000 , when a small craft pulled along side the ship and exploded killing 17 US Navy Sailors. Attacking a US War Ship is an act of war, but we sent the FBI to investigate the crime and went back to sleep. And of course you know the events of 11 September 2001. Most Americans think this was the first attack against US soil or in America. How wrong they are. America has been under a constant attack since 1979 and we chose to hit the snooze alarm and roll over and go back to sleep. In the news lately we have seen lots of finger pointing from very high officials in government over what they knew and what they didn't know. But if you've read the papers and paid a little attention I think you can see exactly what they knew. You don't have to be in the FBI or CIA or on the National Security Council to see the pattern that has been developing since 1979. I think we have been in a war for the past 25 years and it will continue until we as a people decide enough is enough. America needs to "Get out of Bed" and act decisively now. America has been changed forever. We have to be ready to pay the price and make the sacrifice to ensure our way of life continues. We cannot afford to keep hitting the snooze button again and again and roll over and go back to sleep. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Admiral Yamamoto said "... It seems all we have done is awakened a sleeping giant." This is the message we need to disseminate to terrorists around the world. This is not a political thing to be hashed over in an election year, this is an AMERICAN thing. This is about our Freedom and the Freedom of our children in years to come. If you believe in this please forward it to as many people as you can especially to the young people and all those who dozed off in history class and who seem so quick to protest such a necessary military action. If you don't believe it, just delete it and go back to sleep.  My highly opinionated reply Edzz 9:33pm, July 17, 2006 [Edit] [Delete] You can't argue facts like dates of attacks, etc. And there's no doubt that there's lots of people that hate the USA and want the USA to be destroyed. This guy says we need to wake up. I think our government needs to WAKE UP, frankly. We get told that people hate us because we have freedom. That's bullshit propaganda, used to stir your patriotism and blind you from the truth. People may envy you, but they're seriously not going to hate you or wish you dead because of your freedom. Hate is powerful. People hate because you give them reason to hate. Like, for example, backing the Shah of Iran and his incredibly brutal reign of oppression from 1941 until 1979. His secret police made the KGB look like the Boy Scouts. We backed him, sold him high-tech weapons, fighter airplanes and munitions and he let us use the convenient location of Iran to spy on the old USSR. We knew he was a real dickhead to his people and what those weapons were being used for. Our government didn't care about the torture & murder we enabled. What mattered was "our interests". That's a term politicians throw around freely. Our interests may have nothing to do with what's right, or just, or moral. Our interests are selfish. And when it's YOU being tortured, the interests of the USA don't mean squat. All you know is that the USA is keeping some guy in power that's tearing your limbs off your body. And then grabbing your children. Backing the Shah made Iran a ripe environment for religious fanatics and students to want to hate us, kill him and us, and attack our embassy in the capitol city of Tehran. You reap what you sow, in Iran and elsewhere. So, this guy thinks we need to get tough, wake up. Get tough to whom? Can you spot the terrorist in a crowded market? I think what this country needs to do is to keep our nose out of others' problems. We need to be just, we need to stop backing brutal dictators like Saddam or the Shah just because they're kissing our ass. We need to lead, by example, and show the world that democracy is the way to go - and not some lying, self centered hypocrisy that generation after generation lives and loves to hate. Turn around hate by treating people fairly. Be honest, Be decent. Stop lying. Stop using people. Don't turn a deaf ear to suffering because it's not in your best interests. It IS in your best interests. Look what happens when you don't help. They hate you. Win friends - DON'T BUY THEM. *hops off soapbox*   Bulldawg 10:03pm, July 17, 2006 [Edit] [Delete] You know Ed, I was thinking about this very same subject a while back, but I overlooked those nutcases in Tehran, Iran in 1979 who took, I think, 52 American's hostage there. I skipped ahead a few yrs, to 1983, and the terror bombing of our Marines in Beirut, Lebonon. I remember Reagan talking tough yet doing next to nothing. That's was the case until late March 2003, as a follow-up to the 9/11 attack on the twin towers. OK, Bush did send many troops into Afghanistan before sending them into Iraq. Between 1979 and 9/11/2001, as the timeline you posted succinctly points out, there were WAY too many acts of terrorism aimed towards the United States, or it's allies, to have ignored them like we did. It makes you wonder about the Oklahoma City bombing in the mid '90s, doesn't it?! I see the problem as too many spineless, weak-kneed politicians over those 22 years from 1979-2001. I'm not blaming either Democrats nor Republicans...there's plenty of blame to go around. Our intelligence? was either sitting on their brains or silenced by higher-ups, but now, as I see it, we have a hell of alot of catching up to do, if we ever can catch. Catching up may never be a reality no matter how hard we try. *shrug* But our many brave servicepeople will keep giving their lives to keep terrorism in check! No more playing giraffe by sticking by our heads in the sand hoping that the terrorist movement (bowel movement) will tire of the world anarchy they are creating, in so many ways, worldwide. The fight against terrorism must continue, most likely until the end of mankind! Where's the "A TEAM" when you need them? Gary   Edzz 1:11am, July 18, 2006 [Edit] [Delete] I think you fight them with education. By treating them fair. By keeping your nose out of their business. By not taking sides and selling weapons to anyone. If you're a child, living in Gaza, and an Israeli F-15 is dropping bombs on your neighborhood or an Abrahms Tank just tore through your house... it's easy to hate Israel and the USA equally. If you're X religion or nationality and we're arming Y against you, you will hate us. Politicians won't dare try stopping arms sales... it might mean that doing something RIGHT may cost them financial support, votes and an election. Keeping themselves in office is always their #1 priority. What's best for the country, for peace, for the environment always comes second to #1. Index | New Thread | Reply | Close | Stick | Delete