At 08:36 PM 10/29/2004, Denys Beauchemin wrote:
>After reading your LONG diatribe explaining how you would have done
>NOTHING, I can only thank good, you are where you are. :-)
Far be it from me to correct something of yours, but I'm sure you meant
"GOD" and not good :)
>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
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Regards,
Shawn Gordon
President
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www.thekompany.com
949-713-3276
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