ONE year ago, the world witnessed a unique kind of broadcasting-the mass murder of thousands, live on television. As a lesson in the pitiless cruelty of the human race, September 11 was up there with Pol Pot's mountain of skulls in Cambodia, or the skeletal bodies stacked like garbage in the Nazi concentration camps.
������������An unspeakable act so cruel, so calculated and so utterly merciless that surely the world could agree on one thing - nobody deserves this fate. Surely there could be consensus: the victims were truly innocent, the perpetrators truly evil. ������������But to the world's eternal shame, 9/11 is increasingly seen as America's comeuppance. Incredibly, anti-Americanism has increased over the last year. ������������There has always been a simmering resentment to the USA in this country too loud, too rich, too full of themselves and so much happier than Europeans - but it has become an epidemic. And it seems incredible to me. More than that, it turns my stomach.
������������America is this country's greatest friend and our staunchest ally. We are bonded to the US by culture, language and blood. A little over half a century ago, around half a million Americans died for our freedoms, as well as their own. Have we forgotten so soon? And exactly a year ago, thousands of ordinary men, women and children - not just Americans, but from dozens of countries - were butchered by a small group of religious fanatics. Are we so quick to betray them?
������������What touched the heart about those who died in the twin towers and on the planes was that we recognized them. Young fathers and mothers, somebody's son and somebody's daughter, husbands and wives, and children, some unborn. ������������And these people brought it on themselves? And their nation is to blame for their meticulously planned slaughter?
������������These days you don't have to be some dust-encrusted nut job in Kabul or Karachi or Finsbury Park to see America as the Great Satan. The anti-American alliance is made up of self-loathing liberals who blame the Americans for every ill in the Third World, and conservatives suffering from power-envy, bitter that the world's only superpower can do what it likes without having to ask permission.
������������The truth is that America has behaved with enormous restraint since September 11. ��������������Remember, remember.
������������Remember the gut-wrenching tapes of weeping men phoning their wives to say, "I love you," before they were burned
��������������alive.
������������Remember those people leaping to their deaths from the top of burning skyscrapers. ��������������Remember the hundreds of
firemen buried alive.
������������Remember the smiling face of that beautiful little girl who was on one of the planes with her mum. ������������Remember, remember - and realize that America has never retaliated for 9/11 in anything like the way it could have.
������������So a few al-Qaeda tourists got locked without a trial in Camp X-ray? Pass the Kleenex... ������������So some Afghan wedding receptions were shot up after they merrily fired their semi-automatics in a sky full of American planes? A shame, but maybe next time they should stick to confetti.
������������AMERICA could have turned a large chunk of the world into a parking lot. That it didn't is a sign of strength. American voices are already being raised against attacking Iraq - that's what a democracy is for. How many in the Islamic world will have a minute's silence for the slaughtered innocents of 9/11? How many Islamic leaders will have the guts to say that the mass murder of 9/11 was an abomination?
������������When the news of 9/11 broke on the West Bank, those freedom-loving Palestinians were dancing in the street. America watched all of that - and didn't push the button. We should thank the stars that America is the most powerful nation in the world. I still find it incredible that 9/11 did not provoke all-out war. Not a "war on terrorism." A real war.
������������The fundamentalist dudes are talking about "opening the gates of hell," if America attacks Iraq. Well, America could have opened the gates of hell like you wouldn't believe. ������������The US is the most militarily powerful nation that ever strode the face of the earth. The campaign in Afghanistan may have been less than perfect and the planned war on Iraq may be misconceived.
������������But don't blame America for not bringing peace and light to these wretched countries. How many democracies are there in the Middle East, or in the Muslim world? You can count them on the fingers of one hand - assuming you haven't had any chopped off for minor shoplifting.
������������I love America, yet America is hated. I guess that makes me Bush's poodle. But I would rather be a dog in New York City than a Prince in Riyadh. Above all, America is hated because it is what every country wants to be - rich, free, strong, open, optimistic. Not ground down by the past, or religion, or some caste system. America is the best friend this country ever had and we should start remembering that.
������������Or do you really think the USA is the root of all evil? Tell it to the loved ones of the men and women who leaped to their death from the burning towers. ������������Tell it to the nursing mothers whose husbands died on one of the hijacked planes, or were ripped apart in a collapsing skyscraper. And tell it to the hundreds of young widows whose husbands worked for the New York Fire Department. ������������To our shame, George Bush gets a worse press than Saddam Hussein. Once we were told that Saddam gassed the Kurds, tortured his own people and set up rape-camps in Kuwait. Now we are told he likes Quality Street. Save me the orange center, oh mighty one!
������������Remember..... remember, September
11. One of the greatest atrocities in human history was committed against America.
��������������No, do more than remember. Never forget.........

--
Member:Dipstick Street Rod Association.
My other car is a train, and last night I put the engine on the ground!!

100% right on.
r

I've felt for a long time that America should shut down all overseas connections with other countries and thatr includes so called aid..Let the world go about it's own business and leave us out of it..We have Great Briton as a blood allie and the world should know that if anything happens to our "friends" they will be dealt with with no mercy. On our own with out dependence on other "powers" (including Japan), we should concentrate on doing a better job than ever before and use the old "zero tolerance" idea again...In short, let the world squabble amongst themselves and leave us alone until we're ready to open any foriegn dialog on our own..I would bet that we could rid ourselves of our "national debt" in short order and put ourselves back in the black.... I would just about bet that the money we "give away" each year is an obscene amount.........
--
Fred P.

Old Fart.......from one Canadian to another.....Amen!

Thanks Doug.
--
phil


It's not a NOMAD, it's a Yeoman!
Not an engineer, but I DO drive a train.

Amen.
--
Boyd who?
1948 Chevy 1/2 ton (driver)
Some people march to a different drummer. I like to polka.

thank you

THANK YOU!!!!
--
Ken

Can I get a Amen!
--
NSRA, DSRA- Lower Susquehanna Chapter, Wannabe freelance automotive Artist..Delivery35's illegitimate Son..I think, EdCroozers blood Nephew..somehow or another, JW's Great Great Grandson, and MrWillys younger brother from another mother.

Well said, Thank you and Amen!
--
http://46driver.bravepages.com/httpcdd46driver.bravepages.comdPage1.htm
Drive it!
46 Ford Sedan
37 Packard Super 8

Thanks!!
--
Mike,Charter DRSA Member

Thank you,Thank you,Thank you...............
--
Some day,I'm going to wipe that grin off my mother-in-laws face,by telling her what her daughter and I did in high school..........

Thank you Doug for the kind words that I know came from the heart!! Only a true friend with unselfish wisdom would have the courage to put it in print, may GOD bless you and be with you always!!! Bill and Gail
--
Bill Hicks DSRA Member

Not just anyone can put in to eliquent words what many of us are thinking right now. You have done that for me. Thanks.

The night before last, the New York Islander hockey team played the 'Montreal Canadiens' in Montreal. As the game was about to commence, the Islanders endured listening to the Canadian crowd in Montreal "BOO" throughout the playing of the U.S. National Anthem.

(The Islanders won that game)

--
Wear your seatbelt.

It was just pointed out to me very gratiously that I neglected to add the fact that I DID NOT pen the post I placed here, but it states exactly how I feel about the war and I could not have expressed my sediments any better. It was, if fact, written by a Brit by the name of Tony Parsons.
--
Member:Dipstick Street Rod Association.
My other car is a train, and last night I put the engine on the ground!!

thanks,,thumbs up,,,God Bless George W and our troops,,
--
http://community.webshots.com/user/jimcaf12

Thunderer
March 18, 2003

See men shredded, then say you don't back war
By Ann Clwyd
“There was a machine designed for shredding plastic. Men were dropped into it
and we were again made to watch. Sometimes they went in head first and died
quickly. Sometimes they went in feet first and died screaming. It was
horrible. I saw 30 people die like this. Their remains would be placed in
plastic bags and we were told they would be used as fish food . . . on one
occasion, I saw Qusay [President Saddam Hussein’s youngest son] personally
supervise these murders.”
This is one of the many witness statements that were taken by researchers
from Indict — the organisation I chair — to provide evidence for legal cases
against specific Iraqi individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity
and genocide. This account was taken in the past two weeks.
Another witness told us about practices of the security services towards
women: “Women were suspended by their hair as their families watched; men
were forced to watch as their wives were raped . . . women were suspended by
their legs while they were menstruating until their periods were over, a
procedure designed to cause humiliation.”
The accounts Indict has heard over the past six years are disgusting and
horrifying. Our task is not merely passively to record what we are told but
to challenge it as well, so that the evidence we produce is of the highest
quality. All witnesses swear that their statements are true and sign them.
For these humanitarian reasons alone, it is essential to liberate the people
of Iraq from the regime of Saddam. The 17 UN resolutions passed since 1991 on
Iraq include Resolution 688, which calls for an end to repression of Iraqi
civilians. It has been ignored. Torture, execution and ethnic-cleansing are
everyday life in Saddam’s Iraq.
Were it not for the no-fly zones in the south and north of Iraq — which some
people still claim are illegal — the Kurds and the Shia would no doubt still
be attacked by Iraqi helicopter gunships.
For more than 20 years, senior Iraqi officials have committed genocide, war
crimes and crimes against humanity. This list includes far more than the
gassing of 5,000 in Halabja and other villages in 1988. It includes serial
war crimes during the Iran-Iraq war; the genocidal Anfal campaign against the
Iraqi Kurds in 1987-88; the invasion of Kuwait and the killing of more than
1,000 Kuwaiti civilians; the violent suppression, which I witnessed, of the
1991 Kurdish uprising that led to 30,000 or more civilian deaths; the
draining of the Southern Marshes during the 1990s, which ethnically cleansed
thousands of Shias; and the summary executions of thousands of political
opponents.
Many Iraqis wonder why the world applauded the military intervention that
eventually rescued the Cambodians from Pol Pot and the Ugandans from Idi Amin
when these took place without UN help. They ask why the world has ignored the
crimes against them?
All these crimes have been recorded in detail by the UN, the US, Kuwaiti,
British, Iranian and other Governments and groups such as Human Rights Watch,
Amnesty and Indict. Yet the Security Council has failed to set up a war
crimes tribunal on Iraq because of opposition from France, China and Russia.
As a result, no Iraqi official has ever been indicted for some of the worst
crimes of the 20th century. I have said incessantly that I would have
preferred such a tribunal to war. But the time for offering Saddam incentives
and more time is over.
I do not have a monopoly on wisdom or morality. But I know one thing. This
evil, fascist regime must come to an end. With or without the help of the
Security Council, and with or without the backing of the Labour Party in the
House of Commons tonight.
The author is Labour MP for Cynon Valley
--
I hope Chuck Berry,hotrods,and the fifties are forever......

Sorry to say, "Canada has missed an opportunity to show some leadership". Our elected goverment and most opposition partys have withered into lip service/blind bureaucrats, when they should be supporting our next door neighbor, on our Southern border. I hope we never have to ask France or other UN allies to help protect our freedoms here.

LARRY from ONTARIO

well, us australians don't exactly have the mightiest military force in the world, but we've sent a small SAS force, and a couple of ships over to the gulf and are fighting alongside the US. the reason being the US is doing the right thing, and i don't care what the softies around here or in the states say, this is something that we have to do.

and i'm glad australia is doing it, because one day we might need the US's help if we're invaded, and i know you guys would come to our aid.

col.
--
honesty is the best policy,
but insanity is a better defence...

In a heartbeat and I don't mean a Chevy.

Fatchuk, I read that earlier yesterday it was very good, thank you for sharing it with us.

For our fellow members here are two sites that give you the straight dope on what's happening in the world and our governments today. Nuff said from me.

http://newsmax.com/

http://worldnetdaily.com/
--
http://46driver.bravepages.com/httpcdd46driver.bravepages.comdPage1.htm
Drive it!
46 Ford Sedan
37 Packard Super 8