Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/09/13

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Subject: RE: [Leica] Terror
From: Peterson Arthur G NSSC <PetersonAG@NAVSEA.NAVY.MIL>
Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2001 14:02:44 -0400

Whatever various people may say, or mean to say, I think we can safely
assume---and so should keep in mind---that no one on this list has intended
to make a justification, veiled or otherwise, of the terrible events of 11
September.  Any discussions should proceed only on that basis.

Art Peterson
Alexandria, Virginia


- -----Original Message-----
From:	Julian Koplen [mailto:jkoplen@mindspring.com]
Sent:	Thursday, September 13, 2001 9:14 AM
To:	leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
Subject:	Re: [Leica] Terror

I believe a balanced discussion re Mr. Muir's position would require a
revisit of the history that followed the WWII holocaust.  The land of
Palestine, with no sovereignty of its own, had most recently been a British
"protectorate".  The UN--the very same UN referred to by Mr.
Muir--partitioned that land into two sections, to accommodate a newly formed
state of Israel and a newly formed country of Palestine.  This was not
acceptable to the neighbors of the newly formed state of Israel.

Hugely outnumbering this tiny state, the neighbors (including Jordan, Egypt,
Iraq, Syria, various Arabian "oil states", etc. united and went to war,
fully expecting to complete  Hitler's "unfinished business" and drive these
survivors into the sea.  They did not succeed.  Had they accepted the
original UN partitioning, I do believe the two countries could have been
living in peace. Instead, Israel has lived with neighbors who want nothing
less than its total destruction.

I will not get into a protracted Arab/Israeli debate.  I recognize there is
humanity on both sides.  I recognize there are perspectives which place
emphasis differently from my own.  But the above historical reminder is
needed for some balance to this discussion, since Israel's current position
keeps getting mentioned in what seems to me to be some veiled justification
for the horrendous hateful assault on the citizens and government of our
United States.

Respectfully to all the members of this list...........Julian


- ----- Original Message -----
From: "Alan Hull" <hull@telia.com>
To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2001 4:14 AM
Subject: Re: [Leica] Terror


I believe that this discussion is the most important discussion this group
has ever engaged in.  This is life and death, and ALL means to dissuade the
US and NATO from blindly lashing out with knee-jerk anger should be used.

Please Please Please, cut through the grief and somehow touch base with
humanity and try to understand that the white hot hatred that drives suicide
bombers will not be cured by a military response.  If your anger is so
intense that you are unable to touch this base then use cold hearted logic
and realise that if the US and NATO escalate this event then the next time
the bombers strike it could be nuclear.  Solve the root problem, and this
type of terrorism will go away

I sincerely hope that my contribution to this topic has not lowered the high
standard of debate that has taken place here.  I do not have the education
to take this discussion further.  I have spent nine years in the British
military during a time when the primary enemy were terrorists from Northern
Ireland, Malaysia, Borneo, Kenya and the Yemen.  I look at my four year old
daughter now and shudder with fear for her.

Quote from the URL below from Jim Muir of the BBC.
The fact is that for more than five decades, in defiance of countless UN
resolutions and of international law, the Palestinians' land has been
occupied and their rights ignored by Israel, with full diplomatic cover and
open-ended financial and military backing from Washington
End of Quote

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/middle_east/newsid_1540000/1540364.st
m

Alan