| Author | Message | ||
     Weber (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.12.129.12 |
I got this email from a friend earlier today Thought you might like to read this letter to the editor of a British national newspaper. Ever notice how some people just seem to know how to write a letter?. Here is a woman who should run for Prime Minister! Written by a housewife, to her daily newspaper. This is one ticked off lady. 'Are we fighting a war on terror or aren't we? Was it or was it not started by Islamic people who brought it to our shores in July 2002, and in New York Sept 112001 and have continually threatened to do so since? Were people from all over the world, not brutally murdered that day in London, and in downtown Manhattan, and in a field in Pennsylvania? Did nearly three thousand men, women and children die a horrible, burning or crushing death that day, or didn't they? Has this "religion of peace" been hijacking planes,attacking embassys and schools for the last forty, or haven't they. And I'm supposed to care that a few Taliban were claiming to be tortured by a justice system of the nation they come from and are fighting against in a brutal insurgency. I'll start caring when Osama bin Laden turns himself in and repents for incinerating all those innocent people on 9/11 and 7/7. I'll care about the Koran when the fanatics in the Middle East start caring about the Holy Bible, the mere belief of which is a crime punishable by beheading in Afghanistan. I'll care when these thugs tell the world they are sorry for hacking off Nick Berg's head while Berg screamed through his gurgling slashed throat. I'll care when the cowardly so-called 'insurgents' in Afghanistan come out and fight like men instead of disrespecting their own religion by hiding in mosques and behind women and children. I'll care when the mindless zealots who blow themselves up in search of Nirvana care about the innocent children within range of their suicide bombs. I'll care when the British media stops pretending that their freedom of speech on stories is more important than the lives of the soldiers on the ground or their families waiting at home to hear about them when something happens. In the meantime, when I hear a story about a British soldier roughing up an Insurgent terrorist to obtain information, know this: I don't care. When I see a wounded terrorist get shot in the head when he is told not to move because he might be booby-trapped, you can take this to the bank: I don't care. When I hear that a prisoner - who was issued a Koran and a prayer mat, and 'fed special food' that is paid for by my taxes - is complaining that his holy book is being 'mishandled,' you can absolutely believe in your heart of hearts: I don't care. And oh, by the way, I've noticed that sometimes it's spelled 'Koran' and other times 'Quran.' Well, believe me!! you guessed it ...... I don't care!! If you agree with this viewpoint, pass this on to all your E-mail friends. Sooner or later, it'll get to the people responsible for this ridiculous behaviour! If you don't agree, then by all means hit the delete button. Should you choose the latter, then please don't complain when more atrocities committed by Muslims happen here in our great country! And may I add: 'Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. Our soldiers don't have that problem.' I have another quote that I would like to add, AND.......I hope you forward all this. Only five defining forces have ever offered to die for you: 1. Jesus Christ 2. The British Soldier. 3. The Canadian Soldier. 4. The US Soldier, and 5. The Australian Soldier One died for your soul, the other 4 for your freedom. AMEN! This kind of annoyed me so I sent a response to everyone on the list. It went like this. The sections I've added in were all in red. 'Are we fighting a war on terror or aren't we? Was it or was it not started by Islamic people who brought it to our shores in July 2002, and in New York Sept 112001 and have continually threatened to do so since? Depends on how much you want to look at it. If you want to look into the attacks the US government perpetrates on a regular basis against the Muslim world, maybe you'll decide the attack wasn't entirely unprovoked. Not that the attack was justified, but to say "They started it" isn't strictly true. Were people from all over the world, not brutally murdered that day in London, and in downtown Manhattan, and in a field in Pennsylvania? True enough. Did nearly three thousand men, women and children die a horrible, burning or crushing death that day, or didn't they? Kind of labouring the point a bit now... Has this "religion of peace" been hijacking planes,attacking embassys and schools for the last forty, or haven't they. Have they had provocation for a lot longer than that? Yep. And I'm supposed to care that a few Taliban were claiming to be tortured by a justice system of the nation they come from and are fighting against in a brutal insurgency. In this sort of thing one side needs to keep the moral high ground or you're all as bad as each other. If you want to pretend you're on the side of good, then yes, you should care. We should all care if your side gives the extremists on the other side another excuse. I'll start caring when Osama bin Laden turns himself in and repents for incinerating all those innocent people on 9/11 and 7/7. And the tens maybe hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis killed in the shock and awe bombings in the illegal invasion of Iraq? Do you give a damn about those? I do. I'll care about the Koran when the fanatics in the Middle East start caring about the Holy Bible, the mere belief of which is a crime punishable by beheading in Afghanistan. Bit of a stink of bullshit starting here. Christianity is legal in Afghanistan even if it isn't a state religion. I'll care when these thugs tell the world they are sorry for hacking off Nick Berg's head while Berg screamed through his gurgling slashed throat. Like the US have never tortured anyone. Do you want the US backed torturers to apologise too? Probably not, you're too caught up in your own little rant. I'll care when the cowardly so-called 'insurgents' in Afghanistan come out and fight like men instead of disrespecting their own religion by hiding in mosques and behind women and children. It was the USA put the Taliban in power back in the 70s. They were still allies until the 90's - check Rambo 3, the Taliban are the good guys in that. They just stopped doing what the US government wanted them to do so they suddenly became the world villains. I'll care when the mindless zealots who blow themselves up in search of Nirvana care about the innocent children within range of their suicide bombs. And when the US and British bombers drop bombs on hospitals full of innocent civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq? I'll care when the British media stops pretending that their freedom of speech on stories is more important than the lives of the soldiers on the ground or their families waiting at home to hear about them when something happens. Try listening to more than one side of the issue. Maybe you'll realise it's not so damned simple. In the meantime, when I hear a story about a British soldier roughing up an Insurgent terrorist to obtain information, know this: I don't care. See what I said about one side has to try to keep some sort of moral high ground. When I see a wounded terrorist get shot in the head when he is told not to move because he might be booby-trapped, you can take this to the bank: I don't care. And again When I hear that a prisoner - who was issued a Koran and a prayer mat, and 'fed special food' that is paid for by my taxes - is complaining that his holy book is being 'mishandled,' you can absolutely believe in your heart of hearts: I don't care. Going off the subject here a bit aren't you. I don't care either coz this is irrelevant And oh, by the way, I've noticed that sometimes it's spelled 'Koran' and other times 'Quran.' Well, believe me!! you guessed it ...... I don't care!! Completely losing it now aren't we dear. If you agree with this viewpoint, pass this on to all your E-mail friends. Sooner or later, it'll get to the people responsible for this ridiculous behaviour! Please do If you don't agree, then by all means hit the delete button. Should you choose the latter, then please don't complain when more atrocities committed by Muslims happen here in our great country! And may I add: We all know fucking loads of Muslims. To go by what this insane cow is saying they're all terrorists waiting to kill us, please realise how much bullshit this is. The vast majority of them hate the extremists as much as we do. 'Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. Our soldiers don't have that problem.' I'm not saying they don't, but let's hope they make a positive difference, not a negative one. | ||
| Rhysaurus (Rhysaurus) Username: Rhysaurus Registered: 01-2010 Posted From: 86.16.202.93 |
Nice one, Weber! I've always thought there's a bit of confusion among the British and American public about the bravery of our Taliban enemies. They are cowards for fighting a long drawn-out guerilla war instead of getting utterly defeated in one big conventional battle?!! And when they die in suicide attacks they aren't suddenly brave: they are just fanatics and nutters. Surely you can't be coward and a suicide bomber! The two types are mutually exclusive! The Taliban are evil buggers but they aren't cowards! Whatever happened to the old ethic of honouring the courage of your enemy before killing him? Now we insist that our enemies must be weaklings and cowards -- surely that reflects badly on us when we win, if all we can do is beat weaklings and cowards!!!! There's much more glory in defeating a brave, strong enemy, surely? | ||
| Ian Alexander Martin (Iam) Username: Iam Registered: 10-2009 Posted From: 207.6.255.47 |
Lumping all Muslims together makes no sense. To do that, you're saying Osama bin Laden and Cat Stevens are the same sort of person. Which is just as insane as suggesting that Mother Theresa and Sarah Palin are the same, becuase they're both Christians. Hmmmm [thinks for a moment...] no, that doesn't quite work, does it? | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.4.253.82 |
Cat Stevens lauded the fatwa on Salman Rushdie. Just something to keep in mind. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.110.206.211 |
Good intervention, Weber, and while it will have no effect on the original letter-writer it may slow a few of the knee-jerk assenters. It reminds me of the letters the Birmingham Evening Mail used to publish about Northern Ireland before the Good Friday Agreement: anyone arguing for a negotiated peace accord would be accused of supporting terrorism. The thing that really frightens me is that when people say "I don't care if insurgents get roughed up under interrogation" what they are really saying is "I don't care if civilians linked only by geography to terrorists, or protesting against the bombing of their home town, are imprisoned without charge, tortured and even killed." It's a self-righteous washing of the hands. Regarding the fatwa, Hanif Kureishi's second novel The Black Album is a highly effective satire on the religious hysteria that surrounded that issue. It ensured he will remain persona non grata with British Muslim authorities. His marvellous short story 'My Son the Fanatic' is a painful examination of the conflict between a relatively secular, 'westernised' father and a fundamentalist teenage son. | ||
| Frank (Frank) Username: Frank Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 85.222.86.21 |
Kureishi is a great writer, much under-valued these days, though often touted in the past as part of the new young breed (whatever that's meant to be worth). Unfortunately his credibility has taken somewhat of a tumble due to his 'lifting' of family matters and events wholesale into his fiction. Or so it's claimed. (Sorry, Joel, that's going off-track). Weber - I admire your stance, but the person to whom it's intended is much more fanatical than the people she accuses of being. You'd be better taking a dump on her front doorstep. BUT, respect due where it's due. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.37.199.45 |
Frank, I thought Intimacy was poor – a case of the writer possibly being too close to his subject-matter, though that never caused HK to slip up before. I need to catch up with his more recent work. HK may be a victim of Van Morrison Syndrome, the career trajectory wherein an early masterpiece casts a shadow over the rest of his career. In his case it was The Buddha of Suburbia. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
Weber, I admire your sentiments but you don't need to get quite so vehemently pissed off by such small-minded fascist bigots - who aren't worth one of your discarded nail clippings - you'll find yourself eaten up by counter-productive negative energy in no time. I found out a long time ago, living in Northern Ireland, that to argue logically with these fucking idiots (whether they be republican or loyalist extremists - the hate is the same), is ultimately self-defeating as their thought processes are set in stone and more times than enough you'll get a kicking or ostracised in your workplace for speaking out against them. The best you can do is keep out of their way, show your attitude to life, and those with whom you share it, by your actions and VOTE for change!! | ||
| Weber (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.55 |
Actually I made the guy who sent it me feel really guilty for sending it on with my reply, so he's forwarded my reply back to the people that sent it to him. Small beginnings but progress. @Rhys - are the Taliban really evil people or are they just ideologically opposed to us? There's a big difference. I don't think there's many people out there who'll lay their lives on the line for an ideology they don't personally believe is right and good (let's ignore mercenary soldiers at this point). And one of my definitions of a "good person" is someone who stands up for what he believes to be good and will do what he can against what he believes to be evil. When you consider that these people are witnessing invasions of their countries and the wholesale slaughter of thousands of citizens... we consider people who plant bombs in our cities to be evil... a vicious circle starts that's very difficult to break. In WWII the french resistance were "insurgents" in the same position as their modern equivalents. History has made them the good guys. If Hitler had won, we'd see them as evil terrorists. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
You have the benefit of living in a relatively normal society, so count yourself lucky... but also keep one eye looking over your shoulder entering certain areas or company (you know what I mean). Here it's a way of life. |