Posted on 09/02/2006 6:42:34 AM PDT by John Carey
On September 1, 2006 the United States successfully demonstrated the ability to shoot down a ballistic missile like those being developed now in North Korea. The North Korean propaganda machine immediately cracked-up and went into action with a long diatribe which included several ridiculous sentences so imbecilic that we, in the west, should take notice.
We notice ignorance in North Korea. We should not have fear. We should notice exploitation and ignorance. We should feel pity.
We should listen to and notice the immaturity, the lack of education and awareness and the lack of hope of people being used and exploited.
Americas missile defense system demonstrated exactly what it says it is: defense. Yes, there is a rocket and guidance system. No, there is no warhead or offensive capability. No, you would never want to modify missile defense to be offensive. The missile defense system is engineered and optimized to provide a hit-to-kill space vehicle that can find and smash into a nuclear weapon carrying reentry vehicle. If you wanted to hit a target on land; you sure wouldnt start with this technology.
In fact, everyone from the American media to common Russian men and women on the streets of Moscow have, for years, referred to the missile defense system as the shield.
There is an old saying about a warrior, intent upon threatening his foe as he rattles his saber.
Have you ever heard about a warrior rattling his shield?
(Excerpt) Read more at johnib.wordpress.com ...
Because we have Stupid, Treasonous, Cowardly Unexploited People thwarting our efforts at every turn... ?
"No one has ever gone broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public."
Have you ever heard about a warrior rattling his shield?
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Have you ever heard of a warrior parrying a sword with his chest?
For the same reason Fat Ted is still in the U.S. Senate.
Ignorance is bliss.
We need to practice on the uninformed, manipulated zealots in this country first. They're living under the full benefits of a democratic society, and they still believe they are being oppressed.
Until we break the notion that the rich have the poor's share of a fixed amount of wealth, this will not end.
Good gosh. I should have known by the name of the site "Peace and Freedom". It has been my experience that people who mouth off about "Peace" and "Freedom" usually interchange one for the other without understanding the distinction. They also think that if you have one, you have the other.
Typical liberal logic. It is beyond their ken that one can have Peace without Freedom. And one can have Freedom without Peace. One might even go so far as to say Iraq had Peace without Freedom when Saddam was in Power, as did the Soviet Union in the Cold War, and Iran today.
This article is liberal pap.
PC warfare is an oxymoron.
We have not yet defeated the terrorists because as a nation the U. S. does not have the will to use the brutal force our enemies use very day.
Look, we should stand back and zap Iraq and Iran from the air with our air and naval forces into rubble. That would defeat our enemies. Nothing else will.
Terrorist nations must be "wiped from the face of the earth."
Where am I wrong?
Maybe to win we don't have to kill them all....
Maybe we should be more focused on the evil few than the manipulated masses.
You really think the guy that can't find New Zealand on a map is a threat to your very freedom and existance?
Consider a new definition of war as: getting what you want at the end in a struggle between forces.
This definition neither includes nor excludes the military, diplomatic or other measures that may help achieve that goal. It also does not define the forces or the methods of the confrontation. And it probably includes what most normally call post war reconstruction, which seems to have occurred slowly in Iraq.
The war on terror we are engaged in, what the pentagon calls the Global War on Terror (GWOT), and the underlying wars like the war between Israel and Hezbollah, may best be defined by this new definition: the GWOT is more than a military confrontation. It is also a spy game, a media battle for hearts and minds, a war of financial sleuthing and intrigue, a war on the internet and a lot more.
Maybe you don't have to kell 'em all to win....
Great article. Thanks John Carey.
PGalt: Thanks to you, as always.
JEC
http://peace-and-freedom.blogspot.com/
I missed the point of this article to a degree (or completely)
What the author says is true, regardless of its resemblance to constructs that have been and often are used by liberals, which is what I mistook it for (easy enough for me to do coming from a site titled "Peace and Freedom".)
The author makes very good points, (which bear a strong resemblance to the same ones that were made by many on the left during the cold war, that we would not have Communism and Facism if we battled PID (Poverty, Ignorance, Disease) instead of Communism, Facism or some other "ism".
The reality of trying to do that though, that one cannot (or could not) battle those things effectively in a country tyrannically ruled by a despot. Perhaps with the Internet, that is changing with respect to Ignorance. But poverty and disease are under the sole domain of the despot's control.
And the Despot knows it. To the Despot, Starvation is a tool. Poverty is a tool. And Disease is a tool. All are used to control their populations. In my opinion, we must control the Despot before we can control Poverty, Ignorance and Disease.
But the author is 100% correct in the statement he made that I picked out of his entire article: "We should Pity them. We should not rush to their destruction."
I apologize to this thoughtful author for rushing to judgement, and I hope I did not cause others to do the same. It is sometimes a herd mentality that is to easy to get caught up in...(Ever watch a good ZOTTING?)
OK; Kozak -- I agree. But in the last BARFIGHT you were in or in the last deep essay in the Washington Post you maybe heard about rattling a saber.....
Rattling a shield is for those of us that seek a deeper level of nirvana through history.
The North Koreans don't know the delta between the two...
rlmorel: Very well said. Thanks.
John E. Carey
Little kim and chavez are being ignored by President Bush. They can't stand that so they're acting like the spoiled brats they were grown up to be.
Either one haven't the smarts as a Castro or Stalin to continue to survive. I give each one less than five years to live. That is as long as our Republican leaders stay in charge. If the rats get back into power, I'll bet the rats would invite each one to the White House for dinner.
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