trying to grok

"My question is, why does it seem that we're the only ones to try to do something about it?"

Well, in Israel we've been doing something about it for years, but we couldn't tell anybody. My second strongest memory from 9/11 is when Bush got on TV and said something like, "Our nation has been attacked". I can't tell you what it did to me. That one sentence tells the whole, forbidden truth. Israel has been the target of terrorism for decades, and I don't ever remember a Prime Minister saying, "Our nation has been attacked". "Now," I thought, "Now we can tell the truth too!" But we don't. We're not allowed to. Only the US is strong enough to tell the truth in spite of what the world says – and though I'm a strong supporter of Bush, I wish he would let us say it too.

Everyone keeps hearing about terrorism "Well it's nothing new to Europe" so why is the US making a big deal about it.

The plain and simple answer "We are not Europe, We ARE the US".

That means we won't appease, we won't back down and we don't turn our heads. That has been our way since we began and will be our way until time ends.

Americans have been affected by terrorism for decades before 9/11. Before that date, we lived under the same mentality, it was a nuisance and nothing more. All the airplane hijackings, the kidnappings, the small scale attacks, all are similar to what the rest of the world endured for years, and we endured it with them.

9/11 was an escalation of the conflict. Never has anything like it been seen anywhere in the world. To equate that attack with what the rest of the world endures is to belittle what happened.

Nowhere in the world was the scale of destruction in both lives and property matched in a single event. Israel has borne the brunt for decades, and is resoundingly condemned by the majority of the world for fighting back, just as America is now. Israel understands, America understands, I fear other countries will refuse to open their eyes until the same happens to them.

I agree with you all, including Sarah. Things have to change and you only achieve that change by doing what is right, which means it'll be difficult. All I want is that this war on Islamic fascism end in my lifetime. I don't want to have to send our grandchildren into another world war to save Europe again. I want to win this with everything we have: military, diplomacy, subversively. And if we fail, at least we can say, we died trying.

Limbaugh is a liar. It is interesting that those who call Michael Moore a liar would cite someone like Limbaugh or Bill O'Reilly, who have been lying consistently, viciously and blatantly for years on end.

Clicking on my name will get to a great link showing O'Reilly attacking a young man who lost his father on 9/11 for daring to try to speak his mind, and then O'Reilly lying about it afterward.

Loads of Countries have been fighting the war on terror for years. Its just they didn't call it the "War on Terror". They just fought against the groups that were attacking them.

Israel, France, India, the UK, China, The Soviet Union/Russia to name a few have been fighting or are fighting terrorist groups for years. Nobody says oh well we are going to live with terrorism they all decided to fight, but they don't pretend they care about all terrorist groups.

Nobody cares about terrorist groups fighting against a distant country unless you are dragged into it. While Pakistan supports terrorists fighting India The US had no problem supporting Pakistan, or Afghanistan or a dozen other countries supporting terrorists. France could fight terrorists on one hand yet suppost its own terrorists when it suits them. This is done by everyone at various times.

What pisses so many people off about the war on Terror is it is regarded as the War on Some Terrorist groups. Namely the ones that are of interest to the US.

One thing about fighting terrorism is that it tends to go on for quite some time. This is where many people can adopt an attitude of "you just got to learn to live with it". The wars will go on until they are resolved mostly through,
1. Killing them all (terrorists + supporters).
2. Removing their supporters by compromising.
3. Leaving the area.

You can't win by force as long as there are people left standing who regard the terrorist as a freedom fighter, or a fighter for a just cause.

As for the comment "either you are with us or you are with the terrorists" that puts the US right into the terrorist camps in so many places. Wouldn't it leave the US in the camp of the IRA when they supported them

Its a comment that concerns me from its simplistic view of terrorism and the world. If its to be taken as a soundbite then fair enough it has the good old simplistic them or us rallying call. If its a world point of view its scary in its simplicity.

What if Britian used it as regards the large amounts of funds that flowed from the US into the coffers of the IRA. Or India said it about the backing of the Pakistani military that wsa busy financing and training and arming Islamic militants in Kashmir. Or Israel used it as regards the arms given to Iran while it was described as a terrorist state. These all drop the US squarely in the terrorist camp.

So which is it "either you are with us or you are with the terrorists" or perhaps a slightly more complicated world view?