Is there anybody out there

[Gloria]

:shock: :?:

Is there anybody out there who wants to post something here? It feels somewhat lonely. I do understand that many people are glued to their TVs but it would be nice if we could have some comments here also...Please some interraction on this terrible war....come in anybody.....comments anyone?

 

[uma]

A post...as loud as the silence of the speechless

Thank you, President Bush
By Paulo Coelho*

(* author of The Alchimist)
From the world's most popular novelist,
Paulo Coelho, an open letter of praise for President Bush.
March 11, 2003

Thank you, great leader George W. Bush.

Thank you for showing everyone what a danger Saddam Hussein represents. Many of us might otherwise have forgotten that he used chemical weapons against his own people, against the Kurds and against the Iranians. Hussein is a bloodthirsty dictator and one of the clearest expressions of evil in today’s world.

But this is not my only reason for thanking you. During the first two months of 2003, you have shown the world a great many other important things and, therefore, deserve my gratitude.

So, remembering a poem I learned as a child, I want to say thank you.

Thank you for showing everyone that the Turkish people and their parliament are not for sale, not even for 26 billion dollars.

Thank you for revealing to the world the gulf that exists between the decisions made by those in power and the wishes of the people. Thank you for making it clear that neither José María Aznar nor Tony Blair give the slightest weight to or show the slightest respect for the votes they received. Aznar is perfectly capable of ignoring the fact that 90% of Spaniards are against the war, and Blair is unmoved by the largest public demonstration to take place in England in the last thirty years.

Thank you for making it necessary for Tony Blair to go to the British parliament with a fabricated dossier written by a student ten years ago, and present this as ‘damning evidence collected by the British Secret Service’.

Thank you for allowing Colin Powell to make a complete fool of himself by showing the UN Security Council photos which, one week later, were publicly challenged by Hans Blix, the chief weapons inspector in Iraq.

Thank you for adopting your current position and thus ensuring that, at the plenary session, the French foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin’s anti-war speech was greeted with applause – something, as far as I know, that has only happened once before in the history of the UN, following a speech by Nelson Mandela.

Thank you too, because, after all your efforts to promote war, the normally divided Arab nations were, for the first time, at their meeting in Cairo during the last week in February, unanimous in their condemnation of any invasion.

Thank you for your rhetoric stating that ‘the UN now has a chance to demonstrate its relevance’, a statement which made even the most reluctant countries take up a position opposing any attack on Iraq.

Thank you for your foreign policy which provoked the British foreign secretary, Jack Straw, into declaring that in the 21st century, ‘a war can have a moral justification’, thus causing him to lose all credibility.

Thank you for trying to divide a Europe that is currently struggling for unification; this was a warning that will not go unheeded.

Thank you for having achieved something that very few have so far managed to do in this century: the bringing together of millions of people on all continents to fight for the same idea, even though that idea is opposed to yours.

Thank you for making us feel once more that though our words may not be heard, they are at least spoken – this will make us stronger in the future.

Thank you for ignoring us, for marginalising all those who oppose your decision, because the future of the Earth belongs to the excluded.

Thank you, because, without you, we would not have realised our own ability to mobilise. It may serve no purpose this time, but it will doubtless be useful later on.

Now that there seems no way of silencing the drums of war, I would like to say, as an ancient European king said to an invader: ‘May your morning be a beautiful one, may the sun shine on your soldiers’ armour, for in the afternoon, I will defeat you.’

Thank you for allowing us – an army of anonymous people filling the streets in an attempt to stop a process that is already underway – to know what it feels like to be powerless and to learn to grapple with that feeling and transform it.

So, enjoy your morning and whatever glory it may yet bring you.

Thank you for not listening to us and not taking us seriously, but know that we are listening to you and that we will not forget your words.

Thank you, great leader George W. Bush.

Thank you very much.
(end letter)

 

[RussNobbs]

Thank you, Uma

Thank you, I hadn't read that piece yet.

Perhaps the only "thank you" left out relates to an op-ed item about a poll showed that as many as 80% or Americans now believe Saddam was connected to the 9/11 terrorism. Somehow I thought they were Saudi and Yemenite individuals....

Powerless, marginalised... yes, but still vocal.

And Gloria, not all of us are watching TV or even listening to the radio.

Peace, Russ

 

[silvia]

By Terry Jones
[Monty Python and writer - often with Michael Palin - Director/director/TV
presenter-eg: The Crusades...]

Sunday January 26, 2003 The Observer

I'm really excited by George Bush's latest reason for bombing Iraq: he's
running out of patience. And so am I! For some time now I've been really
pissed off with Mr Johnson, who lives a couple of doors down the street.
Well, him and Mr Patel, who runs the health food shop. They both give me
queer looks, and I'm sure Mr Johnson is planning something nasty for me,
but
so far I haven't been able to discover what. I've been round to his place a
few times to see what he's up to, but he's got everything well hidden.
That's how devious he is.

As for Mr Patel, don't ask me how I know, I just know - from very good
sources - that he is, in reality, a Mass Murderer. I have leafleted the
street telling them that if we don't act first, he'll pick us off one by
one.

Some of my neighbours say, if I've got proof, why don't I go to the police?
But that's simply ridiculous. The police will say that they need evidence
of
a crime with which to charge my neighbours. They'll come up with endless
red
tape and quibbling about the rights and wrongs of a pre-emptive strike and
all the while Mr Johnson will be finalising his plans to do terrible things
to me, while Mr Patel will be secretly murdering people. Since I'm the only
one in the street with a decent range of automatic firearms, I reckon it's
up to me to keep the peace. But until recently that's been a little
difficult. Now, however, George W. Bush has made it clear that all I need
to
do is run out of patience, and then I can wade in and do whatever I want!

And let's face it, Mr Bush's carefully thought-out policy towards Iraq is
the only way to bring about international peace and security. The one
certain way to stop Muslim fundamentalist suicide bombers targeting the US
or the UK is to bomb a few Muslim countries that have never threatened us.

That's why I want to blow up Mr Johnson's garage and kill his wife and
children. Strike first! That'll teach him a lesson. Then he'll leave us in
peace and stop peering at me in that totally unacceptable way.

Mr Bush makes it clear that all he needs to know before bombing Iraq Is
that
Saddam is a really nasty man and that he has weapons of mass Destruction -
even if no one can find them. I'm certain I've just as much justification
for killing Mr Johnson's wife and children as Mr Bush has for bombing Iraq.
Mr Bush's long-term aim is to make the world a safer place by eliminating
'rogue states' and 'terrorism'. It's such a clever long-term aim because
how
can you ever know when you've achieved it? How will Mr Bush know when he's
wiped out all terrorists? When every single terrorist is dead?

But then a terrorist is only a terrorist once he's committed an act of
terror. What about would-be terrorists? These are the ones you really want
to eliminate, since most of the known terrorists, being suicide bombers,
have already eliminated themselves. Perhaps Mr Bush needs to wipe out
everyone who could possibly be a future terrorist? Maybe he can't be sure
he's achieved his objective until every Muslim fundamentalist is dead? But
then some moderate Muslims might convert to fundamentalism. Maybe the only
really safe thing to do would be for Mr Bush to eliminate all Muslims?

It's the same in my street. Mr Johnson and Mr Patel are just the tip of the
iceberg. There are dozens of other people in the street who I don't like
and
who - quite frankly - look at me in odd ways. No one will be really safe
until I've wiped them all out. My wife says I might be going too far but I
tell her I'm simply using the same logic as the President of the United
States. That shuts her up.

Like Mr Bush, I've run out of patience, and if that's a good enough reason
for the President, it's good enough for me. I'm going to give the whole
street two weeks - no, 10 days - to come out in the open and hand over all
aliens and interplanetary hijackers, galactic outlaws and interstellar
terrorist masterminds, and if they don't hand them over nicely and say
'Thank you', I'm going to bomb the entire street to kingdom come.

It's just as sane as what George W. Bush is proposing - and, in contrast to
what he's intending, my policy will destroy only one street.

 

[Lothar]

nowhere to hide

i'm out of words.