I bet you're an a$$hole at home, too.
talking to good again, eh? time for your meds!
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Denys Beauchemin [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Friday, October 29, 2004 8:37 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: OT: Non-conservative comments
>
>
> After reading your LONG diatribe explaining how you would have done
> NOTHING, I can only thank good, you are where you are. :-)
>
> Denys
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: HP-3000 Systems Discussion [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
> Behalf Of James B. Byrne
> Sent: Friday, October 29, 2004 4:48 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [HP3000-L] OT: Non-conservative comments
>
> On 29 Oct 2004 at 11:55, John Lee wrote:
>
> > Put yourself in GWB's shoes and tell us all...what would
> > you have done
>
> Well, I do not believe that I would have invaded Iraq if that is your
> question. I do not think that I would have permitted the House of
> Saud to evacuate its family members resident in the United States to
> flee my jurisdiction. I do not believe that I would have decided to
> go out and make any more trouble for my country than I already faced.
>
> Maybe I would have sat down with some of my senior non-political
> staff and listened to what they had to say. Maybe some of the
> insights offered by these loyal Americans who have served their
> country well for decades might have given me some guidance in the
> treacherous waters that I was now forced to navigate. Maybe I would
> have reflected deeply on what options really existed and on which
> ones were likely to bear fruit and which were likely to turn sour.
> Maybe I would have thought about what should be done and what could
> be done instead of shooting at my favourite target.
>
> Maybe I was have looked to other countries and said, we are all in
> this together so what do you think should be done about it. Maybe I
> would have had a coherent long-term policy worked out by the best and
> the brightest my country had to offer, with measurable goals and
> realizable processes established. Maybe I would have sold these
> ideas to the world. Maybe I would have used a little arm twisting, a
> little horse trading to sell them. Maybe I would have had to push a
> little aggressively in private to obtain consent. Maybe I would have
> had to settle for less than all that I wanted. Maybe I would have
> had to compromise. Maybe I would have had to put the interests of
> the world ahead of my own. Maybe I would have avoided pushing other
> countries to adopt policies that could only publicly humiliate their
> governments. Maybe if I had then the amount of arm twisting and
> horse trading necessary might not be so great after all and the
> amount of discontent and resistance much reduced. Maybe if I could
> not get enthusiastic endorsement then at least I might have obtained
> reserved consent.
>
> But whatever I ultimately chose to do, I would not have done it
> alone. I would not have proceeded without the consensus of the
> people upon whom my country's security and prosperity ultimately
> rest. I would not have gone out of my way to sow discord and
> distrust where none grew before. I would not have attacked Iraq.
>
> I think that I would have put my country's best interests ahead of my
> personal beliefs. I do not think that I would have lied to my people
> to obtain their grudging consent for acts that most had deep
> misgivings about. I do not think that I would have focused my hatred
> on one individual and ignored all the contra-indicators. I do not
> believe that I would have led my country into a bottomless pit of
> violence and destruction, and in the end have had no better plan than
> to continue the orgy of killing until someone else stops me because I
> lack the wit to stop myself.
>
> I would have gone after the money, the contacts, the enablers, the
> feeders of intelligence and the purveyors of hatred. I would have
> sought out those that fund and agitate. Whether high or low, whether
> prince or pauper, whether christian or muslim, atheist or agnostic, I
> would have had them found, outed and brought to justice before a
> court, not shot out of hand.
>
> But, had I attempted this I would be dead. Because you see, the great
> crime in all this is that it is mostly an illusion. You do not have
> to look far to see which country is exporting radical islamic
> fundamentalism, and it is neither Iraq nor Iran. You do not have to
> delve deep to discover where the money comes from. You do not have
> to be terribly well informed to discover just where the epicentre for
> most of this discontent arises.
>
> What was the nationality of the majority of hijackers on 9/11. Where
> was OBL born and raised? Where does he get his money? Why is he
> still at large and Saddam in prison? What is the home of the most
> holy places of Islam? Whose form of government is so distant from
> the secular ideal of western philosophies and representative
> democracy that its workings are barely comprehensible to Europeans?
> Whose purpose does a United States invasion of Iraq serve? Quo Bono?
> Not I. Not You. Not the United States. Not the west. But somebody
> benefits, who?
>
> Why is the obvious overlooked and the trivial attacked? Because that
> is the safe way. Not safe for you, not safe for the United States,
> not safe for the world. But it is safe for those that profit under
> current economic and political arrangements and wish to perpetuate
> them. It is safe for those that do not wish to bring unwelcome
> attention to themselves by pointing out to the emperor that he wears
> no clothes. It is safe for those that demand instant gratification
> for their emotional desire for revenge and wish to undertake no great
> risk to themselves to obtain it.
>
> What would I have done? I would have sought a solution and not
> created another problem thereby; that is what I would have done. I
> do not claim that I would have found one, but I would have tried and
> at the very least left no more of a mess than I started with.
>
> I would not have eschewed violence, but it would not have been my
> principal instrument. I would not have demanded unanimity from other
> states but nonetheless I would have forged a large majority in
> support of whatever action was taken. I might have covertly
> subverted the rules of the United Nations in seeking out those
> responsible, but I would not have overtly defied that organization
> either. In the end, no matter how they are realized in fact, results
> must be perceived to have been legitimately obtained to be sustained.
> Therefore illusion is a necessary part of statecraft. But duplicity
> and deceit are not and in practice cause more harm than good.
>
> I would have tried to be president, to all Americans and not just
> those that agree with me, knowing that this is impossible but
> understanding that the attempt must be made. I would have cherished
> the ideas of justice and humanity, compassion and forbearance that
> the United States constitution seeks to establish, not just for
> Americans, but for all the people of the world. I would have told
> the American populace that their fear, though understandable, if
> heeded is more destructive than any terrorist bomb and must therefore
> be resisted. That anger and hate cannot guide a people safely out of
> tragedy. That in the long run there is only one world and we must
> all find a place for everyone within it. That is what I would have
> done.
>
> But evidently some would much rather just kill.
>
> --
>
> *** e-mail is NOT a secure channel ***
> James B. Byrne mailto:ByrneJB.<token>@Harte-Lyne.ca
> Harte & Lyne Limited http://www.harte-lyne.ca
> 9 Brockley Drive vox: +1 905 561 1241
> Hamilton, Ontario fax: +1 905 561 0757
> Canada L8E 3CE delivery <token> = hal
>
> * To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, *
> * etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html *
>
> * To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, *
> * etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html *
>
* To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, *
* etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html *
|
