|> From: Dmitri Krioukov [mailto:dima@krioukov.net] |> Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2001 2:10 PM |> "resist the cycle of violence and hate." I have been resisting responding to this wrong-headed phrase since randy first printed it. Yes, the cycle of hate must be stopped. Hate has no place in war. One must be as unemotional and rational as possible. The results of error are severe. There is no second place in combat. Winning a war is expensive, losing one costs the loser everything they have. Violence has been with us since time immemorial. It is inconvenient that we have to defend ourselves, but sevitude is inconvenient as well. However, defence is an ultimately losing strategy. Offensive violence will ultimately be required. The opposition is one of deeply held religious belief. They are willing to die for that belief. They are not insane. They are not irrational. In fact, they are coldly calculating. This incident was not an accident. It is also not isolated. It is the current culmination of a campaign that has been on-going, for decades. They want to end our civilization, period. Newt Gingrich said it well today, in the current phase, "they hope to drive us into a police-state". They will win, unless we start to get a grip on what we're really dealing with. At that point in time, we will become more like them. In a sense, that is what ultimately needs to happen. The western way of life needs to ascend to become a deeply held religious belief as well. Is there any doubt that the founders of the USofA felt that way? A large part of that feeling needs to be revived. We need to rebuild the old BlackOps forces and the ground-based intelligence networks that provided the targeting systems. We have to quit wasting resources on this pathetic war on drugs and use those assets to hunt down and destroy terrorist bases whereever we can find them. The big drug smugglers either work with us or they die, that simple. A border that's hardened against terrorists doesn't give a smuggler much room to maneuver anyway. Yes Susan, I got your note and I have been good, but I couldn't let this one pass. I leave the rest of reality advocacy to Vadim, he's a little extreme, but I agree with much of what he says.