Posted by roy on July 7, 2005 at 09:21 AM in Ramblings | 7 Comments

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benstar (guest)

Comment posted on July 8th, 2005 at 09:47 AM
y'know, thousands of people in the Middle East have died from US and British bombings.

i'm not saying im not appalled by the london thing, its tragic and sad, but just tryna put perspective on things.
Comment posted on July 8th, 2005 at 09:56 AM
y'know, millions of people in the Middle East have died from Saddam Hussein's internal purges as well as his Iran-Iraq war.

i'm not saying im not appalled by the london thing, its tragic and sad, but just tryna put perspective on things.
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there's a clear distinction between an act that has the sole purpose of murdering civilians and an act where civ ilians die in the process.

honestly i'm not very fond of the "we brought this on ourselves" crap. that's bullshit. if the purpose of the iraq and afghanistan wars were indiscriminate murder of civilians, then yeah, that argument holds water. otherwise it's a load of crap. i could sit here for hours tracing reasons why saddam hussein brought this on himself. i could sit here for hours tracing why the corrupt governments of the middle east brought this on all on themselves. perspective can be twisted to fit any agenda you need - as far as i'm concerned, this is a pretty clear-cut case of cold-blooded murder. strip away the political and social agenda, and that's what this is.

benstar (guest)

Comment posted on July 8th, 2005 at 09:29 PM
there may be clear differences about the agenda and the nature of death, but people still die dont they? whether it was or wasnt intentional, a lot of civilians have died. i never said that was the reasoning behind terrorist attacks nor did i say it justifies terrorist attacks, but rather i'm taking into account the _total_ number of deaths on either side, without trying to put a bias on either side (if that makes sense).
Even if the corrupt governments of the middle east paved the way for Allied troops to attack Middle East, and thus cause collateral damage to the civilians, people are still dead.

Bottom line is: i don't give a damn about politics and political agenda when so many people's lives are destroyed, and i'm referring to both westerners and middle easterners.
Comment posted on July 7th, 2005 at 05:23 PM
It's truly a pity... I suppose that one can be thankful that more people weren't killed in the bombings. Out of more than seven hundred people injured, thirty-seven dead so far is a mercifully small number. Hopefully in a decade or so, we'll be less embroiled in the type of conflicts that nurture this strain of terrorism. Whether for better or for worse in the grand scheme of events, our agency in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East has fanned this hatred, and I worry how long we'll continue to feel the fall-out from our involvement in the conflict in Iraq.

It makes me wonder what the reaction of the British people will be, too, since public support for the presence of British troops in Iraq has grown increasingly tenuous in recent months. For Iraq's sake, I certainly hope that the Blair government doesn't decide to do so, as it has definitely been the British who've proven to be more adept at "winning the hearts and minds" of the Shiite regions to which they've been assigned.

Terrorism seems to be an inescapable part of our lives right now, but it's nights like last night that simply make me sick at how easily and dependably violence breeds further bloodshed. The bombing's a horrific symptom of a systemic problem, and I guess that's what I find it so thoroughly depressing; if it were a random act of depravity, then one wouldn't have to fear for further loss of life, but that feels almost unavoidable as things stand today.
Comment posted on July 7th, 2005 at 12:07 PM
I know. It's crazy.

PM5K (guest)

Comment posted on July 7th, 2005 at 09:44 AM
Well then don't use such a crappy ass compressed flag, spend the twenty seconds to at least find a nice looking one...

keeenna (guest)

Comment posted on July 7th, 2005 at 09:29 AM
same here.