Registered: Aug 2000
Location: In a Blue, Blue State
Posts: 12547

Bush calls terror fight WWIII
From correspondents in Washington
May 06, 2006

US President George W. Bush has said the September 11 revolt of passengers against their hijackers on board Flight 93 had struck the first blow of "World War III".

In an interview with the financial news network CNBC, Mr Bush said he had yet to see the recently released film of the uprising, a dramatic portrayal of events on the United Airlines plane before it crashed in a Pennsylvania field.
But he said he agreed with the description of David Beamer, whose son Todd died in the crash, who in a Wall Street Journal commentary last month called it "our first successful counter-attack in our homeland in this new global war, World War III".

Mr Bush said: "I believe that. I believe that it was the first counter-attack to World War III.

"It was, it was unbelievably heroic of those folks on the airplane to recognize the danger and save lives," he said.

Flight 93 crashed on the morning of September 11, 2001, killing the 33 passengers, seven crew members and four hijackers, after passengers stormed the cockpit and battled the hijackers for control of the aircraft.

The president has repeatedly praised the heroism of the passengers in fighting back and so launching the first blow of what he usually calls the "war on terror".
In 2002, then-White House spokesman Ari Fleischer explicitly declined to call the hunt for Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda group and its followers "World War III".

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,1011...7-38198,00.html

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We should have a contest to come up with the most asinine name for the previously named War On Terror^(TM)

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Location Location
Posts: 26383

I think there's this innate need for "conservatives" of the Bush/DeLay ilk to feel like they're heavily persecuted as the annointed underdogs in some kind of massive cosmic war (cultural, terror, whatever). The ever-present victim role gives them some kind of inner license to not have to be accountable for anything. The bigger their failures in any given sphere, the bigger they have to expand the hazy outlines of their cosmic battle. By the end of his presidency Bush way well be reverting to Revelation-style rhetoric.

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: In a Blue, Blue State
Posts: 12547

Yeah, you're probably right on that.

The Global War On The Universe, or sumthin' similar.

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Registered: Mar 2004
Location: Still Orygun
Posts: 10244

beyond the pale.

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Registered: Apr 2003
Location: . o O
Posts: 6368

It's an ever expanding oxymoron. Hypocricy is like that.

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Registered: Feb 2004
Location: in colorado somewhere!
Posts: 25592

WTF? We bring solders with guns and tanks and fighter planes and were using it on them. They fabricate bombs and boobie traps and use it on us. What else would it be called if not called a war? Is it an excersise?

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: The Bottom of the Toyem Pole
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Warfare and terrorism are not compatible. If they are terrorists, it cannot be a war. If it is a war, they are not terrorists any more, they are warriors. By announcing a war on terror, GWB et al. promoted the 'terrorists" to "warriors", kind of like validating their position on a silver platter to boot. This is basic definitional stuff here folks. Unfortunately, no one has bothered to ever ask just what terrorism actually is. This is undoubtedly because if they did, they would quickly realize that it is a meaningless term with no real utility, other than scaring the masses into supporting otherwise unacceptable policies towards a group of people.

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Registered: Aug 2002
Location: Pere Ubu land
Posts: 1080

If it's such a meaningless term with no real utility (going with your premise here) then how are you so readily able to compartmenalize "terrorists" from "warriors"?

Oh fuck it. Nevermind. This is dumb. I can't stand GWB, his stupid war, or the slimey way they sold it, but this is stupid.

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Registered: Feb 2004
Location: south afrika
Posts: 16487

quote:

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Originally posted by tessellated
If it's such a meaningless term with no real utility (going with your premise here) then how are you so readily able to compartmenalize "terrorists" from "warriors"?

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Registered: Aug 2002
Location: Pere Ubu land
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Inability to define a word doesn't make it meaningless.

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Registered: Feb 2004
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quote:

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Originally posted by tessellated
Inability to define a word doesn't make it meaningless.

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Registered: Apr 2004
Location: Den
Posts: 10984

Yeah, I had greater expectations for WWIII too. We can only hope China sees it as a kind of invitation.

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Registered: Feb 2004
Location: in colorado somewhere!
Posts: 25592

China would be hard to beat. They have Ninja's.

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Registered: Aug 2000
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Ninjas are Japanese, nitwit.

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Registered: Feb 2004
Location: in colorado somewhere!
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Then they would have Chineese COOKS! They're badass.

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Registered: Sep 2003
Location: Rancho CucAmonga, CA
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They'd incapaciate our soldiers, one half hour at a time.

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: b0ulder
Posts: 5126

Fucking fruit cake, this guy. Jesus Christ.

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