h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Cut the name some slack. The nation wasn't united at its inception, when it was named.

*hugs Montana Redhead, words not being powerful enough*

I was referring to countries such as Afghanistan where when interviewed the people knew neither "what new york was" or "that it was bombed". I do not feel that they are very free and I would hate to see them get branded and punished for the actions of their government, such as those of us here in the US are branded and punished for ours. I don't wish any more suffering on the people who have already suffered greatly.

Amen.

I guess it's pretty ironic that if/when the US invades Afghanistan, the armed forces will face people brandishing American-made weapons.

The very same weapons that the US supplied to the Taleban - then freedom fighters now terrorists - to fight the invading USSR troops.

Not the first time that the United States has committed or directly or indirectly supported terrorism.

Think about sanctions. Think about Israel.

Similar to the Gulf war, huh?

I'm getting a little concerned that the whole religion issue is going to botch everything up. Not many Americans realize it, but one of the major schisms between the Middle East and the U.S. is the Judeo-Christian god against the Muslim god. It's not helping matters any for our president to invoke the Christian god on television... America has always supposed to be tolerant of any religion, but I see when the chips are down, they're Christian all the way.

What's so silly about this is Islam and Christianity are both rooted in the Jewish faith. The split happened with Jesus and Mohammed, if I remember my world religions correctly.

I find myself feeling a little patriotic, which is an odd sensation. I'm the last person to go waving flags about; I don't own a single item of clothing with the American flag on it. But I've actually been tempted to GO AND BUY A FLAG. Mostly it's a demonstration of support for my country, although I fear that I won't agree with my leader's decisions.

I've been trying not to watch the news, and mostly succeeding. Think I'll go home tonight and watch Mad Max or something - bone up on my post-Armageddon skills.

- Lentilla

I have a little griping to do (I have had a rather poor day, other than my pay for being married coming through when I needed it the most) First off... I was not offended by post #367, I feel that Americans are pompus and overly spoiled. They tend to pass judgement before they think. We do not fully appriciate the freedom we have until we loose it, be it for a day or a month, or our whole lives.

Many things fall into the catagory of turning the other cheek. From gun control (the only thing you are doing is taking the guns from LAW ABIDING citizens)I do not promote the NRA or any orginization for that matter, well I do promote H2G2 to my close friends but that is another post. I feel (and I am purely going off on a limb here...) that we Americans deserve what came at us, but we also deserve the vengence for our brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, shipmates, etc. murders. That is what this was, an extermination of people of all walks of life, I am sure there were many muslims in the buldings when they were attacked, I am sure there were people from almost every country that has heard about this horribe tragedy. So I feel that though it was an attack on America, every other country who has ever been aided by our country was attacked also. Countrys who ask for our help, to stop uprisings, prevent war, and cut down on needless deaths.

It is time that the United States finally stops turning the other cheek, as we did many times with President Clinton. We must retaliate against the people who are responsable to take them down. President Bush will not order our attack until he is certin that we know all involved and responseable. Any country who would harbor such criminals will be seen as a symphasizer, which involves condoning the crimes against humanity. We must show that we are still a strong country and able to stand for what we believe.

I would gladly fight on the side of any soldier or sailor from any country in the world againt whoever did this. Be they Chinese (it seems such a short time ago they seemed our most heated enemies) British, or South African.

Every Sailor, Marine, or Soldier in the US military takes an oath to uphold the constitution, follow the orders of the President, and treat all equally. There is also a creed for every service, the navy's is:

I am a United States Sailor.
I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America and I will obey the orders of those appointed over me.
I represent the fighting spirit of the Navy and those who have gone before me to defend freedom and democracy around the world.
I proudly serve my country's navy combat team with Honor, Courage, and Commitment.
I am committed to excellence AND THE FAIR TREATMENT OF ALL.

I wish every person in the military took this to heart as much as I do, treating all as our equals is important, we must not think we are superior by the way we are set up. England is an example of a great country, it has been going for many hundreds of years. The United States is still in Diapers in comparison, yet the Americans in WW1 fought right along side and earned their respect in this world, dying in the trenches along side our allies, and enemies. I hope to show proper respect, though my beliefs may not mesh with everyone elses, I will give them a chance, their cultures and beliefs, though strange to me are not for me to judge.

One last thing to leave you with, I cannot accept thanks for anything that was done in the military yet. All I have done so far is go to school and work hard. I hope for the chance to make a difference, wether it is fighting on the front lines, fixing aircraft, or helping operations move smoothly here in San Diego. I was in third grade during the Gulf War and I was only nine years old. I remeber this because this is also the year we were blessed with a baby sister.

I dont want my life to ammount to nothing... as I am sure nobody does.

Peace (for what it is worth) But most of all HOPE!



(I appologize for the roughness of the spelling and grammer in this post as also any thing that is offensive or repetative in any way... I had a bad day but it is getting better )

The United States, simply means we are 50 different countries under one government which makes us UNITED...

Oh, that reminds me.

I've heard many comments on this forum and others about people in the United States supporting Sinn Fein.

Like anyplace else, we have our misguided idiots and our brilliant geniuses. Those who contribute money to Sinn Fein are of the first variety. I can't tell you how reprehensible I think their terrorist activity is. My husband and I are active in the Irish-American community (Irish music and festivals, mostly) and do our best to avoid this.

Problem is, they're sneaky. One Irish band I know was booked to play what they understood to be a private party. Somebody 'in the know' made a phone call to them two or three days before the event, and let them know that this was actually a benefit for Sinn Fein. They quickly cancelled that gig. The owner of the bar was incensed, and vowed never to hire them again - and he hasn't, but it's no great loss. (Small bar, terrible acoustics, low pay.)

Hmm... (listening to the radio) and now they're saying that they've got over a hundred suspects. In four days, this is a remarkable number, and I think it's just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

Time for a big ol' honking glass of wine. Think I'll keep the TV off all this weekend. If I hear the air-raid sirens I'll duck, I guess.

- Lentilla

No-one deserves to kill others as vengeance. I'm sorry, but no-one does.

Simulpost!

I'm not sure I agree that 'America deserves this.' NOBODY deserves this.

It's the tip of the iceberg of McCarthyism, my friend.

I bet not even half of those on the list were involved.

Another simulpost!

Cooper, I don't like the idea of war. But being female, I believe in eliminating the problem at the source. Terrorism will continue until that ideology is either wiped out or changed utterly. It needs to stop. It should have stopped ten years ago, but there was never a terrorist attack as gruesome as this one.

I am sorry I should have phrased that different... maybe...

Americans needed a wake-up call they all think it cant happen to them...

Yes, I agree. Most likely only half or less of those 100 suspects are actually guilty. Paranoia is rampant right now; I can't count how many bomb threats and scares we've had.

Interesting that of the 19 dead terrorists named so far, 12 lived in Florida.

Pyrex - you're right, in some ways. Many Americans are actually affronted that somebody dared to attack the U.S. One of the first things I thought of was that people in Palestine and Afghanistan are used to having their landmarks knocked down by opposing forces. It's never happened to us (on this scale) before.

Re: 12 terrorists in Florida...

Makes perfect sense; lots of Arab-Americans in Florida, flight training school, and a large port or two nearby (as I recall, two people were just pulled off a Carnival cruise ship.)

I am just glad they havent hit the white house yet... and hopefully they dont... I think that that would REALLY take down our moral and it would also risk destroying all hopes...