At some point in the future, some of us will find ourselves on a flight with a chap like Richard Reid, the thwarted shoebomber. On that day we’d better hope the guy sitting next to him isn’t Governor Patrick, who sees him bending down to light his sock and responds with a chorus of “All You Need Is Love” but a fellow who “understands” enough to wallop the bejasus out of him before he can strike the match. It was the failure of one group of human beings to understand that the second group of human beings was determined to kill them that led to the crew and passengers of those Boston flights sticking with the obsolescent 1970s hijack procedures until it was too late.

So much for NotChris and this “understanding” foolishness.

Sociologist Emilio Lamo de Espinosa says Europeans have been dreaming. Writing in Le Monde (in French), Lamo says Europeans have thought they would be spared because they haven’t supported the Bush administration’s policies.

“When the Americans declared war on terrorism, many of us thought they exaggerated. Many thought terrorism was not likely to occur on our premises, [inhabited by] peaceful and civilized Europeans who speak no evil of anybody, who dialogue, who are the first [to] send assistance and offer cooperation. We are pacifists, they are warmongers. . . . Don’t we defend the Palestinians? Are we not pro-Arab and anti-Israeli?”

“Can we dialogue with those who desire only our death and nothing but our death?” Lamo asks. “Dialogue about what? The manner in which we will be assassinated?”

“The war against terrorism will be long and difficult,” he concludes. “It was that cretin, President Bush, who said that.”

Exactly so…it’s exactly as we’ve been saying here. Maybe NotChris – or Deval Patrick, who seems to have the same views – can answer those questions in boldface. The rest of us got the point a long time ago.

When a cell sets off a nuclear bomb over Boston, are you going to be saying – oh, we used force overseas and that really worked well?

And you think that sitting around trying to “understand” al Qaeda is the way to prevent that event? How? Tell us, please, what are the magic words you’d say to bin Laden or any of the other hate-filled fanatics that will make them say, “You know, maybe I oughta give up this jihad thing and get a job in the Iraqi oil fields.”

What you’re missing is that they have no intention at all of reaching an understanding with us. BOTH sides need to want peace before it will break out. And they do not want peace.

What they want, simply, is to kill us. All of us. I know this is a difficult concept for you to wrap your mind around, but try really hard. They want me dead. And Sev. And Lorica, and NC Cop. And they want YOU dead too. They don’t care if you voted for Bush, Kerry, or Nader. They don’t care if you prance around with giant papier-mache heads and Bush=Hitler signs, or if you’re with the Gathering Of Eagles. They don’t care if you drive a Hummer or a Prius. They could not care less if you swoon over Rosie O’Donnel or Elisabeth Hasselbeck. They have this bizarre idea that their bloodthirsty god demands that they rid the earth of infidels, and nothing will satisfy them except YOUR blood. All of it.

Now, exactly what part of all that isn’t crystal clear to you?

So if you think the proper response to that is to meditate and try to “understand” them then, to use your own words, you are ignorant and you have had your head in the sand.

brainwashed to carry out missions from wacko leaders

Chris, isn’t brainwashing a form of control?? I thought it had nothing to do with control??

When a cell sets off a nuclear bomb over Boston, are you going to be saying – oh, we used force overseas and that really worked well?

Now who is using fear to make his point?? – Lorica

When a cell sets off a nuclear bomb over Boston, are you going to be saying – oh, we used force overseas and that really worked well?

Well, after watching airplanes full of innocent people crash into the towers right after 8 years of Clinton pacifism, we KNOW that didn’t work. It would seem that trying something else was logical. Since then, how many attacks have succeeded in this country?

We are in a worse state here than before 9/11

Details, please. How exactly are we worse now?

Power and control have nothing to do with terrorism – in this case, those people have been brainwashed to carry out missions from wacko leaders.

Indeed, so the question then is what do the wacko leaders want? They want to destroy the U.S. and they want Islam to rule the world. Sounds like power to me.

We should have completed the initial mission we had set out to do with Bin Laden but noooo, Bush has most the US frightened to believe that Sadam was tied to 9/11.

That’s funny, I could have sworn we had thousands of special forces looking for Bin Laden in the mountains of Afghanistan. And I’m quite sure that we still do. Just because they don’t tell you the exact location of where they are and what they are doing doesn’t mean they aren’t there.
As for Bush frightening people into believing Saddam was tied to 9/11, details, please. Do you have a link to a speech where Bush said Saddam did it? If so I’d love to read it.

Like I said, talk is cheap.

Yes it is. Yet it’s the only thing the dems and the Bush haters seem to do. They offer not a single solution, but they know all the problems.

Even Bush’s aides have said we are losing the war on terrorism so I guess this method is not working.

With all the support the terrorists are getting in this country, why should they give up? All they have to do is wait and let Americans in this country do their work for them.

if you disagree with me on this one, you are ignorant and you have had your head in the sand.

Wow, there’s that open minded liberal attitude again.
Can’t imagine why nobody sees your point.

All of you are missing my point completely

I think the problem is that you really don’t have a point, all you have is a feel good collection of fuzzy headed, bumper sticker type sayings/mantras you trot out whenever critical thinking is required.

Oh, and I guess it wasn’t “overwhelming force” that ended WWII, we just sat down with the Germans and Japanese and held hands until we all “understood” each other better.

I also guess it wasn’t “overwhelming force” that finally ridded the Romans of those pesky Carthaginians either.

Crack open a history book sometime, and look at how the real world operates, you might not make so many foolish statements if you do.

Yet we are the bad guys, simply amazing the ignorance of those that hate us.

Second only to the ignorance of those that supposedly “support the troops”.

By the same token, lack of understanding has seldom been a factor in most major wars, desire for power and control have been.

Absolutely true Sev. Desire for power and control over others has been the driving force of every dictator or leader bent on world domination since Bablyon. The only thing we need to understand is this is the driving force of those who attacked us. America is the 1st country to voluntarily return conquered territories, yet somehow we are the bad guys, and all we have ever asked is space to bury our dead, and that a democratic form of governance replace the prior totalitarian state. America has done more good for this entire world in it’s short 200 year history, than all other countries thru out the history of man. Yet we are the bad guys, simply amazing the ignorance of those that hate us. – Lorica

It’s easy to have complete and total peace with the islamofascists. All you need to do is submit to everything they want you to do. Convert to islam. Start stoning gays in the local stadium. Force women to wear burkhas and deny them education.

You will never have total peace until you are in your grave. No one is as “understanding” of another’s views as a dead man is.

If someone wants to kill you, you’re a fool to sit around and comtemplate WHY. Common sense and self-preservation dictate that you defend yourself. And if they persist, the only sensible thing is to remove their capacity to do you harm. As Bakalava says, that means confronting them with overwhelming force.

It’s noteworthy that while you, and Gov. Patrick, blubber about how we need to “understand” a murderous band of thugs locked into a 7th-century mindset, you’ll notice they have absolutely no intention of “understanding” us. They mean to destroy us. In that epic struggle, there is no neutral ground. You are either with us or against us. The left in this country, including Gov. Patrick, have cast their lot with the other side. Consider what’s at stake…do not join them.

By the same token, lack of understanding has seldom been a factor in most major wars, desire for power and control have been. Thinking otherwise, as NotChris seems to, betrays a startling ignorance of both human nature and history. It’s not like these things are secrets, history is there for all to read, as are the thoughts of military strategists and political scientists from Caesar to Machievelli and Mao. Ignorance of both of these doesn’t make simplistic concepts like NotChris is pushing true, it just makes them pathetic and dangerous.