[MR] response to various posts

[Rupert Gaddy]

"just an fyi to all from someone in a working newsroom...we have been
getting reports that a pakistani newspaper is reporting that bin laden is
under house arrest--upi supposedly is reporting that...i have been checking
all morning, and associated press says they are aware of the story but are
having difficulty substantiating it...if it does turn out to be true i will
post any and all information...just remember--rumors will fly like crazy so
unless you see the report on more than one credible source--a network like
cnn for instance--don't jump to conclusions...isabella"

IF one is to believe the Paki gov't, he has been under house arrest for
years without access to fax, radio, or other means of communication.....I
find little comfort in this, even if he was not responsible for the events
on 9/11...He has already been indicted on other counts by American Courts.

Like Achbar, I plead with people to realize that just because some people
are idiots, evil, and corrupt, we should not generalize to an entire people.
To do so would say that all white people drag blacks to death behind pickup
trucks or at least condone and protect those who do.

However I do add, if we can catch these folks, lets turn them over to the
FDNY for punishment. After loosing over 200 brothers, I think they could
come up with interesting ways to dispatch these people.

Cowards? No, not those that flew the planes into buildings, but certainly
the masterminds who hide behind corrupted verses from the Koran and send
others to do the evil work for them, while they hide to avoid paying the
consequences. Bin Lauden has said (in paraphrase) that since one is going to
die, one should die well.....I would love to see him set the example on
national TV at his own execution. I rather think they would have to drag him
crying and screaming to the place since death in the abstact is far
different than facing it one's self.


"Fiends, yes.  Evil, rotten sons of bachelors, absolutely.  Scum sucking
vomit licking pigs, even.  But, let's not imagine that our enemies are weak,
stupid, or craven, lest we be rudely surprised. "

-Charles Fleming

I think we already have been surprized. While many of us saw the hijack and
crashing of a jet liner as being a possible, maybe even probable, way that
terrorists might strike, (Even Tom Clancy used it in a book, remember) I
don't think anyone even considered the possiblility of 4 hijacks and attacks
in such a short and well coordinated attack.  That certainly was not carried
out by anyone stupid. Evil yes, stupid no.

Also this was a massive change from the previous "rules of engagement"
concerning hijacks.  That is what the terrorists counted on, and that was
not stupid either.  I think if someone now tries to hijack a plane with a
knife the passengers would tear them apart in the aisles, but this was not
the case only two days ago.  Even if this had happened with Scadians on the
way to Pennsic on board at the time, I wonder if the first two or three
hijacks would have gone much differently. We probably would have followed
the old rules and expected the plane to set down somewhere before we took
any action, if we took action against the wishes of the flight crew.

After people on board learned what the plane was to be used for, I am sure
the result would have been different, as it appears the case in the forth
plane that crashed into the old strip mine. (And vivats for the heros that
made certain that at least that plane was not going to be used as a flying
bomb.)

Though I am not paralyzed with fear, I am concerned as I wait for the other
shoe to drop.  At least now we know that we need to meet whatever it will be
with massive force. The rules have changed forever, but now we know what
they are, there are no rules and the dogs of war are unleashed.

They have not just "awakened a sleeping giant", they have gotten him up on
the wrong side of the bed and there will be hell for someone to pay.

Rupert