We Must Take the Fight to the Enemy

[fintstone]

McCain gets it right for a change. Too bad liberals spend most of their energy making apologies for and encouraging these "Modern Minutemen" as they call them....or murdering terrorist animals as the rest of us refer to them

John McCain: We Must Take the Fight to the Enemy

Sen. John McCain told Fox News today that the reason Americans should pay very close attention to what happened today in London is because "This is a grim reminder of the war that we continue to fight against people who want to destroy everything we and our friends across the Atlantic stand for and believe in."

Regarding our own homeland defenses, McCain told interviewer Shepard Smith, "We have made progress, we have a long way to go, and if we fail to take the fight to the enemy, the enemy will take the fight to us."

Smith pointed out to the senator that if someone wanted to take a weapon in a backpack onto any subway in the U.S., there would be no way to stop it. So, he asked, how do we remedy this?

McCain said that there is more we can do at our ports and rail stations, "but the moral of the story is, you can't fight them here.

"You've got to go where they're bred, and that happens to be in these madrassahs that are funded by the Saudis, where the [terrorists] are taught to hate and destroy the West and everything we stand for.

"We've got to go where these terrorists breed ... in the Middle East, with the followers of extreme Islamic fundamentalism.

"We can take preventive measures, but the best way to prevent these attacks is to go after them where they breed."

McCain also defended current U.S. foreign policy that is pushing democracy all over the world, saying, "Repressive and oppressive governments also provide the incentives for this kind of extremism and that's why we're fighting hard for Democracy in the Middle East, whether it be in Egypt or Iraq or any of these other Middle Eastern countries - that's why Afghanistan was so important."

McCain also doesn't believe the convoluted notion that we are somehow creating more terrorists by fighting them.

"These people were bent on our destruction [before] September 11 ... we had not had a war in Iraq at that time. ... It's clear that there is a breeding ground of radical Islamic extremism that predates anything the U.S. has done."

He added, "If you believe that Iraq is a breeding ground, then we should do everything we can to further the process of democracy and stability in Iraq."

[slakjaw]

I stoped calling them "terrorists" a while back. I prefer to call them "powder puffs" now. see, they do not scare me. I have a better chance of being taken out by a rattle snake than I do by one of these terrorist "powder puffs"

if we would just put all the resourses into our own country that we are putting into iraq. maybe you frady cat repubs would feel safer.

My biggest question is this, when the US is attacked again will you still say we are takeing the fight to them?

[slakjaw]

correction

dems or repubs or whatever

do not be scared, you will die someday anyways

[fintstone]

Originally posted by slakjaw
...

if we would just put all the resourses into our own country that we are putting into iraq. maybe you frady cat repubs would feel safer.

My biggest question is this, when the US is attacked again will you still say we are takeing the fight to them?

Yes, of course we are....as much as we can with all the whining liberals trying to prevent it...but unfortunately it is less effective with all the encouragement they get from the liberals. I only hope that those who excuse their murderous actions are the very ones they go after next. Maybe then they will understand. The terrorists are murderers who could care less is one is liberal or "anti-war"....they even kill their own women and children. The answer is to go find them and destroy them before they can come here to murder more innocents.

[juanbenae]

i kinda liked mccain until you got behind him f-stone.

[Moneyguy1]

My God, fint.."liberal this...liberal that"....Don't you ever get tired of labelling people you do not totally agree with?

There is a vast majority of Americans all along the spectrum that would be right there with you until the labels start.

Let's try to act in a unified manner rather than continually divide people. Admittedly, there are a vocal few who fit the denial category, but you paint with an awful wide brush.

[scottmandue]

Terrorism is a tactic not a location.

[cool_chick]

I agree with McCain...

It's about time we actually start addressing the issue of terrorism.

[techweenie]

Sorry, it's more nonsensical blather, to me.

"Taking the war to the terrorists" is a bitter, ironic comment to the citizens of London, who may have believed that's what they've been doing with their troops over the past 2+ years. But clearly, the war came 'home' to them.

Since there are (according to the CIA) significant al Quaeda cells in 60 countries, we have a lot of countries to invade; a lot of people to kill. And the notion that we could do that without consequence is grade school level thinking.

But let's say there's some sense in the strategy -- for the sake of argument. Would it make sense in the 'war on terrorism' to actually go where there are al Quaeda cells? I mean, besides Afghanistan...

As for the 'go where they breed' comment, well, that's pretty simplistic. How about considering 'why they breed?'

[fintstone]

Originally posted by techweenie
.....Since there are (according to the CIA) significant al Quaeda cells in 60 countries, we have a lot of countries to invade; a lot of people to kill. And the notion that we could do that without consequence is grade school level thinking....

I agree, there are a lot of the animals to kill...so lets get on with it....As our president says: "it is hard work." Too bad so manny in this country are more supportive of the killers than the people protecting them. It makes the "hard work" even more difficult.

[Moneyguy1]

But simply waving the flag ain't gonna get the job done.

[cool_chick]

Originally posted by fintstone
I agree, there are a lot of the animals to kill...so lets get on with it....As our president says: "it is hard work." Too bad so manny in this country are more supportive of the killers than the people protecting them. It makes the "hard work" even more difficult.

Who supports the terrorists?

Yet another strawman argument. I see now...this is all he has....strawman arguments...

[cool_chick]

Originally posted by Moneyguy1
But simply waving the flag ain't gonna get the job done.

LMAO. No kidding.

[island911]

Originally posted by cool_chick
Who supports the terrorists?

Yet another strawman argument. I see now...this is all he has....strawman arguments...

Apparently you do not understand what a straw-man argument consists of.

Well, at least you're consistent, and confident about it. (not knowing what you're talking about, that is.)

[cool_chick]

Originally posted by island911
Apparently you do not understand what a straw-man argument consists of.

Well, at least you're consistent, and confident about it. (not knowing what you're talking about, that is.)

Oh please, enlighten me darlin island....

[island911]

well, now; what fun would that be?

[jyl]

fint, you and others propose this solution often. "This solution" meaning "let's just go in there and kill all the bad guys".

However, I've never seen you explain how you would actually carry out this solution, in practice.

Do you believe that we have located the terrorist leaders are, but we've just been too polite to send them a missile or a bullet? Do you think we have a list of all the young Arab men who are terrorist recruits, that we can simply hand out to the Marines as they land in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria, etc?

If you have a practical answer, let's hear it.

If your answer is simply to nuke every Arab country and kill all the "animals" who live there - a plan I think you've expressed before - then come clean about it, and people can judge how sane your ideas really is.

In my opinion, some people have watched too many movies, and think there is a Rambo-esque solution to everything. "If only the liberals would stop molly-coddling the terrorists, the righteous conservatives could unleash the Marines and take care of the terrorists." It sounds like such an easy answer. It is also total B.S.

Islamic terrorism against the US has some deep-rooted causes, and those causes have to be attacked.
- There is a large population of young, poor Arab men, who don't have an outlet in work/earning/spending or in peaceful political activity, in Middle Eastern countries that either lack oil wealth, or are so corruptly run that the people are poor despite the country's oil. These angry young men are fertile ground for extremism.
- There is widespread anger against the US, due to the long Israel/Palestinian conflict, US support for unpopular Arab governments, and US military activity in the Middle East. Again, fertile ground for terrorists.
- Some Arab governments tolerate recruiting, funding, training of terrorists. Better this energy be directed towards to the West, than towards their own undemocratic governments. (Saudi Arabia comes to mind - a major source of funds and recruits for Bin Laden.)
- As Muslim populations increase in the West, but are poorly integrated with high unemployment, a fertile ground for terrorist recruiters is forming in the West. Particularly in Europe.

Yes, I understand there are religious/extremist Islamic leaders who want to destroy the West for ideological reasons unrelated to anything I've described. But if they can't recruit followers, and can't raise funds, they won't be as much of a threat. We've got to attack these root causes that leads young Muslim men to follow those extremist leaders.

For example:
- Use our influence, money, and power to force a settlement of the Israel/Palestinian conflict. The inability of those parties to make peace is a major threat to US security.
- Pressure rich Arab governments to clamp down on terrorist funding and recruiting in their countries. It is unacceptable for Saudi Arabia to enjoy US military protection and warm relations with Presidents from Bush to Clinton to Bush, while being the leading funder of Islamic terrorists.
- Pressure Arab countries to become more democratic and to make life better for their poor young men. This means using the bully pulpit. The US has tremendous influence - love us or hate us, everyone pays attention to us - and we can put a withering spotlight on corrupt monarchies in the Middle East.
- Pressure Western countries to better integrate their Muslim populations, and/or to control the growth of those populations. Actually I think the UK, Germany, France have woken up to that need on their own.
- Reduce the US military presence in Arab countries, including Iraq where US soldiers are the #1 attraction for terrorists, and also including Saudi Arabia. This doesn't mean having less military capability, but it means relying more on aircraft carriers, fast transports, etc.
- Reduce the US dependence on the Middle East. As long as our oil consumption grows unchecked, sending oil prices to dangerous levels, we will be dependent on and entangled in the Middle East. Imagine if US oil usage were 10-20% lower, the price was $30-40, and we were selling other countries the technology to use less oil every year. We could be a lot tougher on Middle Eastern governments.

Taking these sorts of actions to attack the root causes of Islamic terrorism, along with the increased security, border controls, global law enforcement, covert operations, etc that we are already doing, are how we and our allies will control terrorism in the real world.

As opposed to the movie world.

[fintstone]

That is why the Iraq thing is such a success....we don't have to find them. Thay are coming to us...like rats after cheese.

And no, I did not suggest nuking the entire middle east....but thanks for speaking for me.

[cool_chick]

Originally posted by island911
well, now; what fun would that be?

Lots of fun. Please, please "enlighten" me darlin.

[techweenie]

CC: Wikipedia says "...To "set up a straw man" or "set up a straw-man argument" is to create a position that is easy to refute, then attribute that position to your opponent."

Since this is exactly how it was applied, I'll be interesting to see what LD has to say.

Incidentally, I hear this tactic used by Rush Limbaugh continuously.