I am not sure how his countrymen feel about him, but I have nothing but respect for a guy who put his career on the line by doing what he feels is the right thing.

DOUBLE DITTOS but bush is full of crap--why wont he close the borders--are they waiting for a school or something like this to be blown up?

Of course killing people is an answer. When some whacko wants to destroy you or your loved ones and you have no other choice, you kill him. If we tried to live your philosophy circa 1930s, then we would have had to have been willing to let all the Jews, Poles, Russians, . . . non-Aryans be exterminated. That is no more an acceptable solution to you than it is to me, Hopper.

A caring person acts appropriately in any given moment when those actions are the necessary choice between two distasteful alternatives. To defend oneself by taking the initiative in a battle that you did not start is about as appropriate as it gets!

Do not be disingenuous, my friend.

He is holding a gun to your mother's head. You know he is about to pull the trigger. He does not know that you have a gun of your own and that you have the drop on him. You have no way to disarm him or prevent him from pulling the trigger - save one.

This is the post 9/11 world which we actually live in. These people would gladly nuke BILLIONS of innocent people just to make a political statement. Damn it, Hopper. The Nazis were pussycats next to these guys.

And you say that I scare you?



Well put! You make my point for me. That is why I believe that we actually did find and destroy some of the deadliest weapons of mass destruction of the 20th century - Saddam & Sons .



Tell that to the victims and survivors of 9/11.

I know that you do not literally mean what you say, Hopper. In the real world, of course it matters who initiates acts of terror. You know this as well as do I. Absolute freedom occurs only with absolute responsibility.

And responsibility is accountability.



I do not ARGUE religion or politics. It is like arguing about the contents of a box that is completely sealed and inaccessible. The purpose is obviously not in finding an answer (what answer?) but in trying to get other people to agree with you.

Let us be clear. It is not politics that I am discussing. It is terrorism, war, death and life that I am concerned with.

9/11 was a brutal and heartless act of war perpetrated against the people of the United States by semi-organized groups of Arab fundamentalists. These same individuals/groups have declared on multiple occasions that it is their intent to kill as many Americans, Europeans, etc. as is possible by whatever means possible – no holds barred.

Is that not clear enough? What is there to discuss?

Man is nature. Nature is not philosophical, ethical, reasonable or fair. Nature is BIO -logical pure and simple. Our ridiculous attempts to anthropomorphize it are as doomed to failure as they are vain.

Certainly the values that you allude to are invaluable. They allow men to structure their experiences so that they the lives they lead are the most conducive to achieving true happiness and peace. But it must never be forgotten that they are covenants (ideas). As such they have been imposed by men artificially from the outside (no matter how noble, worthwhile or useful that they may be) by agreement.

There have always been those individuals who choose not to abide by these agreements between peoples. Instead, they engage in behaviors that violate these agreements in a most ruthless and brutal way. As such, not only do these agreements not apply to terrorists (through their own acts); they obviously can no longer be applied to them, either.

The covenant has been broken. The world has changed. The rules must now change accordingly.

What, then, are the rules?

As Castaneda once said, "Those who do not learn from the mistakes of history are bound to repeat them."

History has been unequivocal regarding terrorism. It must be confronted and defeated immediately and decisively. Delay means unnecessary death and suffering. The innocent and the guilty alike must be protected from this insanity.

This is known as true humanity.

We may disagree, my friend. But I do not believe that we are really in disagreement after all.

-Team Hopper

Hi JULIED

Thanks for your response. I can see we disagree on many things - far too many to debate here. But please bear in mind the "revenge" attacks you appear to be championing haven't worked for the Israeli's against Palestinians in the last 40 years - the old ways are not working so maybe we need to think outside the box - way outside...

Team Hopper