Cheney Clueless About Roots of Terrorism

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyid=2007-02-21T055343Z_01_T156764_RTRUKOC_0_UK-JAPAN-USA-CHENEY.xml

In a speech delivered aboard the USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier at Yokosuka Navy Base near Tokyo, Cheney said: "We know that terrorist attacks are not caused by the use of strength, they are invited by the perception of weakness."


Hey Cheney, are you aware that there are terrorist attacks in Israel all the time? Exactly who in the Middle East perceives Israel as a "weak" nation? Do you think the Al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigade even cares whether or not Israel is "weak" or "strong"? They will attack regardless, because they believe they are fighting a worthy cause against an immoral enemy.

If any argument could be made to defend the suicide bombing attacks in Israel, (let me play devil's advocate for a second) it is precisely the fact that Israel uses too much strength in their "operations" in Gaza or the West Bank. I'm speaking of the circle of violence that we are all familiar with -- "Collateral damage" kills some Palestinians, the Israeli response is viewed as disproportionate, a West Bank martyr blows himself up in a nightclub in Tel Aviv, the Israelis respond again, etc etc, this has all been played out a hundred times by now.

I know only a little of the IRA, but I do not believe they only attacked Britain because they were "invited by the perception of weakness". Nor do I think they agreed to cease-fires becuase they thought Britain was "too strong" to attack anymore.

Terrorists use terrorism against stronger enemies, otherwise they would attack them using more conventional means. I know of no instances anywhere in the world in which a terrorist group folded because their adversary was "too strong" or had "no weaknesses". The same could probably be said for the Basque separtists (ETA) in Spain.

That Cheney is so wrong on such a vital component to the very war he claimns to be waging (GWOT) really explains it all about the mess in Iraq. When the strategy is flawed, tactics will not lead you to victory. When you do not know your enemy's motivations you cannot understand them. If you do not understand your enemy, you cannot defeat them. We knew little of the Viet Cong, of their motivations or of their commitment to their cause and look what happened.

On review, I find myself torn -- Is Cheney bullshitting us or is this what he truly believes?

That doesn't make his belief correct though.

He just knows that it's the best way to prop up the ridiculous "stay the course/support the troops" BS, and that the people who will support their efforts are incapable of thinking beyond two choices, i.e. we fight them there or we fight them here.

Of course that makes his insanity even more dangerous. There has always been a gang of rightwingers (mostly Reps but also the Scoop Jackson Dems who became the neocons) who believe that the answer to the world's problems is to threaten loudly and swing the biggest stick. It's a primitive worldview that disdains geopolitical realities and human psychology. Of course, that makes diplomacy nigh unto impossible and war the most likely result. Up til now, that gang had influence but it wasn't the opinion leader in any administration (though Reagan shared many of their views). And then Cheney named himself VP and made it the most powerful office on earth.

Terror is a convenient label to cover his true agenda...fattening his financial portfolio built on government sanctioned warmongering. He could care less about the mayhem he is spreading in this world, as long as he can have an orgasm over his monthly income statement.

the man had more money than he could ever spend, even before he became VP.

he may be trying to hook up his good friends at various war profiteering companies, however...

I feel a letter to my senator coming on . . . .

Strength is in turning the other cheek. Strength is Gandhi. Strength is Rosa Parks. Strength is Mandela. Strength is Martin Luther King, Jr. Strength is in speaking Truth to Power.

Strength is not found in five deferments while claiming 'support' for a war.

Strength is not found in sending others to die for a lie.

Strength is not found in outing a CIA agent in retaliation for speaking the truth.

Cheney is a craven, despicable coward.

he keeps war going, he and his buddies profit both monetarily and through power. he ends war.... not so good for his shareholders....

and shared with me his feelings for the british "invaders". He always explained to me the David and Goliath theory and as a wee child I understood.