KILLING THE BALLOT BOX

I suspect most of those in Iraq who are marching in the streets about the alleged irregularities in the recent elections will or are using their allegations as justification for continuing to bomb and kill.
Peace will eventually come to Iraq, but it may be years away. Too bad because that means a lot of innocent people loved by families and friends will be badly maimed or killed. What a lot of needless hurt, pain and sorrow.

Terrorist freed, US Navy diver still dead

The papers reported yesterday that the killer of a US Navy diver who just happened to be on a commercial airliner almost two decades ago when it was hijacked had been freed from a German prison.
How sad.
The killer supposedly flew to Lebanon where, he no doubt, was welcomed by the many people there who promote and participate in terrorism of the worst kind. The killer was one of several terrorists who took over the plane, threatened all aboard (more than 100) and then when they found that a US Navy sailor was aboard, they beat him, killed him and threw his body out of the plane and onto the runway.
No doubt, they shouted, "God is great! God is great!" as they did all those things.
They were, no doubt, the same words shouted by the terrorists who took over a cruise ship about as many years ago--and who after killing him shoved a dentist in a wheel chair over board. The man in the wheel chair was an old man, too. Yet the terrorists are said to have laughed as they pushed him over board!
This has been a long, long war with so many innocent victims of such vicious terrorists! And, even the ones who are caught, are set free to, no doubt, continue their terrorism.
It is time the Arabs and Islamic people of the world stop all this meanness and hate. It also is time for all of them to start apologizing to the rest of the world--like the Japanese have been doing ever since World War II. And, like the Japanese, the Arabs and Islamic people will never be able to apologize enough to overcome all the hate and hurt they and their ideals have caused the world.

Syria? Evil in the Middle East

The latest blast in Lebanon that killed a journalist is yet again proof of the terrible price the people in the Middle East are paying for countries governed by tyrants and dictators.
How terrible!
No one outside the Middle East thought too much about what was happening in Lebanon until the former prime minister was killed by a tremendous blast of hate. Then there was the woman journalist who was almost killed. Now there is this, another journalist killed in a bomb blast as horrific as the one that killed the former prime minister.
All of this comes after years in which Syrian troops forcefully occuppied Lebanon on the idea that it would stabalize the country. Now the rest of the world knows the terrible extremes the Syrian regime will go to to get its ways, and none of its ways are the ways of any civilized society that depends on the ballot box to change government. None of its ways were to benefit Lebanon.
It is time for ALL the civilized Arab countries to speak out and speak out loudly for the terror in Syria and the terror that it uses in Lebanon and Iraq.
For a while we could believe it when Syrian officials said they were not sending in bombers and killers into Iraq. Now with all these examples of what the Syrians are doing in Lebanon--as backed up by a United Nations investigation--we know better.
The rulers of Syria are evil and to what end we now know from the shadowy communications about the most recent killing of the journalist: it wants to rule the Middle East. It wants to rule Lebanon and then Israel--and who knows what else. That is why it supports all those terrorists groups that fight Israel. It is not for support of the Palestinians. It is to use those Palestinian groups as a way to break down Israel for Syria's real objective: conquest.
How long will the rest of the civilized world tolerate a government like that in Syria?
Ages. It probably will ignore it and hope that it simply goes away. It probably will, but in the meantime many, many more people will be killed. Terrorists will continue to be welcome there and then sent into other peaceful parts of the world to kill more people and more people for ideas and ideals that are born of hate and fear.
There has to be another way.

Syria? Evil in the Middle East

The latest blast in Lebanon that killed a journalist is yet again proof of the terrible price the people in the Middle East are paying for countries governed by tyrants and dictators.
How terrible!
No one outside the Middle East thought too much about what was happening in Lebanon until the former prime minister was killed by a tremendous blast of hate. Then there was the woman journalist who was almost killed. Now there is this, another journalist killed in a bomb blast as horrific as the one that killed the former prime minister.
All of this comes after years in which Syrian troops forcefully occuppied Lebanon on the idea that it would stabalize the country. Now the rest of the world knows the terrible extremes the Syrian regime will go to to get its ways, and none of its ways are the ways of any civilized society that depends on the ballot box to change government. None of its ways were to benefit Lebanon.
It is time for ALL the civilized Arab countries to speak out and speak out loudly for the terror in Syria and the terror that it uses in Lebanon and Iraq.
For a while we could believe it when Syrian officials said they were not sending in bombers and killers into Iraq. Now with all these examples of what the Syrians are doing in Lebanon--as backed up by a United Nations investigation--we know better.
The rulers of Syria are evil and to what end we now know from the shadowy communications about the most recent killing of the journalist: it wants to rule the Middle East. It wants to rule Lebanon and then Israel--and who knows what else. That is why it supports all those terrorists groups that fight Israel. It is not for support of the Palestinians. It is to use those Palestinian groups as a way to break down Israel for Syria's real objective: conquest.
How long will the rest of the civilized world tolerate a government like that in Syria?
Ages. It probably will ignore it and hope that it simply goes away. It probably will, but in the meantime many, many more people will be killed. Terrorists will continue to be welcome there and then sent into other peaceful parts of the world to kill more people and more people for ideas and ideals that are born of hate and fear.
There has to be another way.

If US leaves Iraq too soon, Iran and Syria will rush in!

Some US politicians are trying make Iraq the Vietnam war again by saying the US should immediatley get out of Iraq.
If it does so now or anytime before the Iraqis are ready and able to govern themselves, you can expect Syria and Iran to rush in. Why? They will because they and their ideologies are the great destablizers in the Middle East. Syria's ideology? Who knows, it's just anit-Israel and anti anyone who opposes it. I suspect its rulers have the view that what Saddam Hussein did not do--conquer the Middle East, they can do. There also is the matter of all that oil in Iraq, too, of course.
Iran will rush in for religious reasons, too, but the oil will be a big factor in its interests, that and wiping Israel off the face of the earth.
There will be other fractions in Iraq that will also try to assume control of Iraq if the US leaves too early, too.
And, you can expect that if any of those groups succeed, the blood Iraqis have shed so far is nothing to what they will shed then.
The only hope for Iraq is for the Iraqis, all the Iraqis, to get behind whatever government they elect to make Iraq once again the star of the cradle of civilization.
But, US politicans and Iraqis must recognize the only way they can succeed is with US help because only the US will provide the stability Iraq needs to build itself. How do we know that? The US helped Germany get on its feet after World War II, and it was only continued US presence in Germany that prevented it from becoming a Soviet satelitte country as so many other European countries did.
The US aided the Japanese after World War II, and while the Jaspanese certainly did much to re-build their economy and become a world economic power, the US support and presence did help.
The same can be said of Korea, and it could have been said about Vietnam if American politicans had not ducked out.
So, Iraqis and, in fact, everyone in the Middle East should hope and pray that Iraq does succeed and the US does stay to help it. If the US doesn't for years, probably, no one will win, not the Iraqis, not the US, not the Middle East.

If US leaves Iraq too soon, Iran and Syria will rush in!

Some US politicians are trying make Iraq the Vietnam war again by saying the US should immediatley get out of Iraq.
If it does so now or anytime before the Iraqis are ready and able to govern themselves, you can expect Syria and Iran to rush in. Why? They will because they and their ideologies are the great destablizers in the Middle East. Syria's ideology? Who knows, it's just anit-Israel and anti anyone who opposes it. I suspect its rulers have the view that what Saddam Hussein did not do--conquer the Middle East, they can do. There also is the matter of all that oil in Iraq, too, of course.
Iran will rush in for religious reasons, too, but the oil will be a big factor in its interests, that and wiping Israel off the face of the earth.
There will be other fractions in Iraq that will also try to assume control of Iraq if the US leaves too early. From one of those a new Saddam could rise up, probably backed by Syria or Iran.
And, you can expect that if any of those groups succeed, the blood Iraqis have shed so far is nothing to what they will shed then.
The only hope for Iraq is for the Iraqis, all the Iraqis, to get behind whatever government they elect to make Iraq once again the star of the cradle of civilization.
But, US politicans and Iraqis must recognize the only way they can succeed is with US help because only the US can provide the stability Iraq needs to build itself. How do we know that? The US helped Germany get on its feet after World War II, and it was only continued US presence in Germany that prevented it from becoming a Soviet sattelite country as so many other European countries did.
The US aided the Japanese after World War II, and while the Jaspanese certainly did much to re-build their economy and become a world economic power, the US support and presence helped.
The same can be said of Korea, and it could have been said about Vietnam if American politicans had not ducked out.
So, Iraqis and, in fact, everyone in the Middle East should hope and pray that Iraq does succeed and the US does stay to help it. If the US doesn't stay, probably for years, no one will win, not the Iraqis, not the US, not the Middle East and not the world.

Global Warming: Non-issue

Government officials met recently to discuss, agree or diagree on the whole issue of global warming--which to my mind was a waste of time and money. Why? It is a non-issue.
The concern for some people is that the world temperature is rising, and because of that they project all sorts of scenarios, which in their minds can mean only one thing: tragedy.
Then the come up with all these solutions to eliminate it--as if man in his puny way can have any serious impact on something so huge and so unknown.
I wonder, do these people who worry about global warmng believe the earth's temperature should always remain the same? Or, do they think it should drop? It would surprise me if there were absolutely no change in the global temperature.
The problem with this issue is that it detracts from the real world issues. Just think, if all those people in Pakistan suffering through the cold of winter after that earthquake had all the money spent on that global warming conference the money would have made a real and immediate difference in peoples lives!
Too, often we get distracted by issues such as global warming when there are much more important REAL issues for which there are known solutions. For example, a large part of the world does not have clean drinking water. The industrial countries know how to make clearn water. Illness, such as AIDS, weighs down the populations of many regions of the world. Successful teatment of AIDS is still illusive, but teaching people how to avoid it could help on the front end of that issue. And, work on the front end or before people get AIDS would be far cheaper and easier to achieve than treatment after they get it.
So, world, get a grip! Identify the real problems for which there are ready solutions. Solve those and think how much better the world will be.