X-Message-Number: 26575
References: <>
From: David Stodolsky <>
Subject: Re: More about religion and cryonics
Date: Sun, 10 Jul 2005 22:48:42 +0200

On 10 Jul 2005, at 02:09, Beth Bailey wrote:

> Re: The London Bombings
>
> Here is the URL of an article that shows one aspect of religion  
> influencing the world at large: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/ 
> article/0,,1072-1684970,00.html

Propaganda Alert!
The Times is a Murdock publication, one of many contributing to the  
deception of the public recently. As of this time no one knows who  
was responsible for the London attack, so even if the writer was  
correct, his response would be premature.

Let's hope that some sense returns to US policy soon. According to a  
recent report from the National Academy of Sciences, if the current  
one continues, there is an even chance of a nuclear bomb being set  
off in a US city within the next 10 years.

This happened to land in my mail box today:

July 9, 2005
Nobody Attacks Civilization
by Charley Reese
British Prime Minister Tony Blair and President George W. Bush went
into their standard routine after the London bombings. This was an
attack against civilization and all civilized nations, they said.

That's bosh and hokum, and it does a disservice to the people. The
first step always in solving any problem is to define the problem
correctly. There are no terrorists anywhere in the world whose goal is
the destruction of civilization, Western or otherwise.

The terrorist attacks against the U.S., Great Britain and Spain are
motivated exclusively by Western policies toward the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the presence of Western military
forces in Islamic countries. Al-Qaeda, the ideological source of these
attacks, has always been crystal-clear and specific about its reasons
for declaring war against the United States.

You can't win a war unless you know who your enemy is, know why he is
your enemy and know what his objectives are. Only then can you properly
direct your military and political forces to combat him successfully.

Unfortunately, very early on, President Bush decided to create a
mythical enemy of vague and ambiguous proportions and irrational
motives. This was done to give carte blanche to the government to
pursue policies that really had nothing to do with fighting al-Qaeda  
e.g., invading Iraq, putting North Korea and Iran in the "axis of evil"
and including groups on the enemies list that were in fact not our
enemies.

The confusion this causes was illustrated by television coverage of the
London attacks. Several commentators lumped together the terrorist
attacks against public transport in Moscow, Madrid and London. However,
the Moscow attack had nothing to do with the attacks in Madrid and
London, or with us. Moscow is fighting Chechen rebels who want
independence for Chechnya. Chechen attacks against Russia, like
Palestinian attacks against Israel, are not directed at us. They are
motivated by specific political objectives. Chechens and Palestinians
have no desire to destroy civilization; they simply wish to take their
place in the family of nations as independent countries.

You can't have a war against terrorism because, as many people have
pointed out, terrorism is a tactic employed by people who have no real
military power. It is not an entity. There is no worldwide terrorist
organization.

Terrorist tactics work because we live in a wired world. Ten or 12
people can set off a few bombs in London, and the world turns its
electronic eyes on the story and chats, discusses and shows video clips
until some other event distracts it. The media attention and the
inflated rhetoric of politicians magnify the terrorist act far beyond
its actual import.

These attacks   pinpricks, really, in terms of any damage they do to
national power   cannot be completely stopped. A few malcontents
inspired by someone's rhetoric can get together and set off a bomb or
two or shoot some people. Terrorists should be considered criminals,
and their acts as ordinary crimes. Physically dealing with terrorists
is properly ordinary police work. There is no war involved.

What the United States should be doing, instead of invading and
occupying countries, is re-examining its foreign policy vis- -vis the
Islamic world. There is no natural conflict between the West and Islam.
The followers and true believers of Osama bin Laden are a tiny
minority. The best way to cut the ground out from under him is to
develop and pursue policies that treat all of the Islamic countries
with fairness and respect.

We don't do that at the present time. Because of the power of the
Israeli lobby to skew our policy to benefit Israel, our Middle East
policies are riddled with double and triple standards and reek of
hypocrisy. Because of that, we are the best recruiter Osama bin Laden
has.

But in the meantime, remember that terrorist attacks are primarily
media events. You still have more to fear from the flu or accidents
than you do from terrorists.


David Stodolsky    Skype: davidstodolsky

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