50................

i.e. That dude who got crucified.

"our fear"?

or

"your fear"?

my fear is people like you making blanket statements to mischaracterize the attitudes and feelings of 300,000,000 people to affirm your own feelings and rationalize them.

Nicely stated.

9/11 did one positive thing for america, it made the majority of america realise that the world is not just one country 0.02

blanket statements are always a danger. That being said, it is hard to deny the effect of fear on a populace.

In the doc "Manufacturing Consent" there is an awesome discussion about how leaders always do what they want.

But in a democracy, they don't have the luxery of acting at will (like a dictatorship, monarchy, etc.). Instead they have to maufacture consent.

It has calmed slightly, but our leaders were so good at this that questioning the path towards war in Iraq (with untold financial rewards for many close to those leading) was considered mild treason. Fear works.

unlike most, i think fighting has its place. people are not all the same. people are not all good. some people are violent sociopaths. some people are violent psychopaths. some people suffer from a wide array of psychological issues that drive them towards violence or inflicting violence on others for a wide variety of reasons. sometimes these people manage to ascend to the highest heights of power and control nations, their military and the direction of their country

when i was in about 8th grade, i had a much bigger kid that threw rocks at me as i walked to the bus stop and tried to fight me as well. it happened everyday. i knew it was just a matter of time before i got seriously hurt. it was just a matter of time before i got hit by a rock in the head or face. i told my parents, i told his parents, i told the school. i did everything possible to stop it without hurting him. - "awe... just kids being kids" they all said.

That put me in an awkward position. what were my choices? it seemed to me that no one was going to listen until i came home with blood flowing down my face or lost an eye and most of my front teeth from getting hit in the face with a rock. that wasn't a very good choice for me. my choice was to take my chances and hope i didn't get hurt... or stop him.

so... i told myself that i would end it. for good. i woke up, got ready for school... went out to the garage and got a 18" piece of 1 1/2" pipe, stuck it up the sleeve of my jacket and started walking to the bus stop. as i approached the bus stop, he started throwing rocks at me. i dodged them while warning him to stop as i continued forward. as i finally got up to him, he was standing there and smugly asked "what the fuck are you gonna do now? i think i'll just kick your ass" - i slid the pipe out, cracked him over the head... he dropped to his knees and i hit him a few more times to make sure he wasn't getting up. then i stood over the top of him and made if very clear that if he doesn't stop being a dick, he would be coming to the bus stop in a wheelchair.

.... guess what happened? the bus came, everyone saw him lying in a pool of his own blood, the cops came, his parents tried to press charges against me for being a bad guy.

i didn't think i was the bad guy.

i think it was a simple, normal act of self preservation that worked. he never tried to fight me because he knew my response was going to be 10 times worse than whatever he did to me.

that was the end of it.

i learned a good lesson. ...

i learned that sometimes "talking" can't bring resolution to a situation. sometimes you have to fight. sometimes you have to fight because the other side wants to fight... sometimes there is no choice (or at least no better choice). if there is no choice... then you fight to win and you make sure it ends right then and there, using any and all means necessary.

i agree... sometimes governments have to manufacture consent. people are smart. groups of people are stupid. europe didn't want to consent to challenging hitler on his military build up... even though it was obvious where it was going.

had someone taken the opportunity to "manufacture the consent" of the citizens of the weary nations who had already fought a horrible war, there might not have been a second world war. hitler was busy manufacturing consent right and left. burning of the reichstag, attacking jews, political house cleanings where "treason" was found etc. the world is an imperfect place, complicated with impossible situations where choosing the least worse solution is often better than doing nothing.

It may have been the end of the rock throwing. But I wonder what that kid's future became. Did his desire to overpower die with his injuries? Maybe so.

I'm glad your terror stopped. But I'd be suprised if his desire to terrorize did.

The nature of humanity has not changed since the beginning of humanity.. Only the scale of the stage it takes place on, and the possibilities that vastness can create. Humans by nature are killers and fighters, battling for territory, mates and all of the other things flesh and blood creatures do by instinct and by nurture. The only thing that's really different now is the fact that all those factors are stuffed into this little unrealistic box by "modern society", when in fact we have not really changed as creatures, only our views and capability of enforcing them have.

back before mainstream television and radio. people used to talk. they werent afraid to voice their opinions and whether a person agreed with anothers opinion or not, every opinion was respected. we have become a world where we are afraid to express ourselves for fear of being ridiculed, not accepted, away from the norm, etc.

one of the main principles that built the united states was the idea to question things that a person didnt agree with or things that just felt wrong. our forefathers fought wars to keep this idea alive. they may have not been right or wrong for their actions, but they believed in fighting for what was important to them.

today. the united states is a society of robots, complacents, etc... people that want the easy life, dont want to worry about whats really going on in the world, just be lulled to sleep by what the govt and the media tells them... "everything is ok", says the govt and the media.. they say that ignorance is bliss and we are a very blissful society..

a person like hal comes along that has achieved a higher level of self awareness and self love then most of you will ever feel or even understand. and what are the feelings and comments? hippy, fag, etc...

i am not criticizing those feelings becuase thats the same way most of the world feels.. but, if only the world had more people like hal that look at things from their window and are brave or comfortable enough to voice their feelings and opinions.

believe me, the world would be a better place....

there are so many changes happening in the world today.. as human beings fighting for our own existence each and everyday, wherther we realize it or not, we owe it to ourselves and to our future generations to protect the idea of free thought and expression... and to embrace others views and become more tolerant to opinions, cultures, and ideas that differ from our own..

exactly... EVERY living organism is exactly the same in this respect. fullfilling their most basic and primal genetic mandates.

as i have said many times... primarily, what makes us different from babboons is simply our ability to convince ourselves that are different than babboons..

Regardless of your views on the matter, this is one of the most well-thought out and interesting discussions I've ever seen on GFY. Both sides with good statements and thought provoking responses. It's been a pleasure to read some intelligent people and their opinions.

heh heh...I'm fond of referring to humans as "monkeys with flame throwers."

I was just noticing how much I appreciated the voices different from my own in here.

The Patriot Act stripped away the rights of every single American, and you are all okay with that.

100 years ago the entire administration would have been hung. A nation of tolerance through ignorance.

And yet still act like them so often it's frightening.

On the contrary, I would rather risk a blown up plane than the whims of a corrupt government.

Really? Tell us which rights you have lost, please be specific and describe in detail what you tried to do that was forbidden, how the government stopped you from doing it, and how long you were detained/questioned/tortured/whatever while you were trying to exercise these rights that were stripped from you. I'm waiting, and be specific with the details. Thanks.

guess you missed the "I am not afraid." part.

you trying to check me means nothin to me, congrats.

for some reason you been ridin my nuts for a while.

deport all muslims and terror will be decreased by 80%, easiest answer.

this i agree with.

LOL... are you fucking joking? the govt is doing illegal wiretaps, monitoring all SWIFT transactions, etc.... its not whats obvious that scares me... its all the data collection that is being done covertly that could come back to haunt us....

Yeah, you're one of those types.
It's not what they have done to ME, it's what they have done to others. Didn't bush just admit to "Secret Prisons" that hold no trials, release no names and release no numbers of prisoners or locations?

Anyway, this could go on for pages like all other political arguments on GFY or I could just smile and laugh at how little you know and how much faith you have in a piece of paper and its inability to be misread or misinterpereted by a conservative supreme court.

So I'll do that.

i caught it after i posted actually. i am sorry. i just get a little tired of the insistance of some.. that we are "living in fear"

i'm not afraid either. i woke up today and did the same shit today that i did 10 years ago and was just as happy doing it.

i dont know why you think i have "been riding your nuts" ... i dont have anything at all against you. you have always seemed pretty cool.

dear neville, pretending you can appease your violent enemies falls apart as soon as you look at history.

There has NEVER been a long term peace achieved by appeasing your violent enemy.

no worries man. i like your posts so i was wondering what was goin on. i actualy confused you with that other poster with pleasure in the name,. apologies right back,

:love:

:thumbsup

The issue with the Patriot Act is that you lose a lot of your constitutional rights without really knowing. It increases warrantless surveillances on everything from banking records, library records, phone records, internet records, and on and on. Regardless if you know or not, you may have had your privacy infringed upon.

But I think the biggest issue that those of us who truly appreciate our constitution have with the Patriot Act is the lack of checks and balances. Checks and balances have always kept branches of government from becoming too powerful while ensuring that they were playing by the rules. The Patriot Act skips over the judicial branch in many aspects and allows for abuse.

Although some will support and trust your government, the judicial branch approving the surveillance kept things in check. It assured us that some government employee wasn't tapping his ex-girlfriends phone to see who she was chatting with.

So the issue isn't what rights you've lost, as we simply don't know. I don't know if my IMs have been read, my phone records looked at, or banking transactions checked. If the government wants to do these kind of things, they should ammend the constitution and change the laws in place that require a checks and balances system that we've lived with for centuries.

Another note. The Patriot Act has been responsible for only one conviction since 9/11 on terrorism related charges. This is less than the 5 years prior to 9/11. If the Patriot Act is necessary, it sure doesn't seem to be drumming up enough evidence to convict all the terrorists we are told are amongst us.

"Such is the price of freedom", as many would say were the characters in that play a little different.

I find it incredibly sad that so many of people in society have lost so VERY much of themselves that they frantically cling to ideals that they feel make them important, lift them up above others. It's almost like they're trying so hard to deny what they really are that they're willing to give up their right to free thought and expression just to do what they think will elevate them. I'd rather be a bird or a horse or a turtle in that case, thanks.

Wow.. very creative.. almost scary

I'm with you Halcyon.

Though I felt sorry for the lives lost on 9-11 but I went about my life as normal. War and terrorism has been going on since the beginning of mankind, it is only now that it has been dropped off at the door step of the USA. Now it finally hit "home" to the people who only know of such atrocities from watching the news.

More children die from starvation every night than the amount of people killed on that day, yet 9-11 will go down in history as one of the most life changing events of our time. Even though I lost someone that day, it was just another day on this planet where people were wrongly killed. Happens ever day in one manner or another. You accept it or you don't.

The United States Of America has already been defeated. It has changed the way we live and travel. It has taken away freedoms, and leaves us in a state of fear. Day by day we lose a little more. We are not too far off from a mild form of police state. Let another major attack happen on US soil and see what happens.

The USA can not win any "war" against terrorists. As it is said, one mans terrorist is another mans freedom fighter. No truer words have ever been spoken. We invade a country and call those who defend it Insurgents, yet we are the invading force. What would you do if your home was invaded? Would you become an insurgent and fight them? Fucking a right you would. THAT is what Americans would do if the battle came to your front door. You would fight to defend everything you had, and the people you loved. It would be your duty.

But these people are willing to die for their cause. They hate us. Everything about us. The more we kill them, the more it breeds more hate and young men willing to give their life for the cause. It's a no win situation. You will never defeat this. It's not possible.

I really do worry about the future. Another major attack, or two, and it's all over. Another plane flown into a building or blown up and I don't even want to think how difficult it will be to fly. A subway bombing in New York... a Train in Ohio... a Boat in San Francisco... A hotel in Vegas... I don't want to think about how that will change our lives that much more.

Though I worry for the future, I do not live in fear. Fuck all of it. I'm gonna go sometime.

it becomes clear when you look at the status of "post 9-11" activity vs "Post-Katrina" activity I think.

Man you come up with some bullshit !

Bush should have just declared war and declared marshal law and then you'd have something to bitch about.

I bet you can't provide one single link to any case in the USA where the Patriot Act has been used in the USA to violate any americans rights !

The Patriot Act is also temporary and passed by congress and compared to
any other time during American history it's very weak.

You said "100 years ago the entire administration would have been hung".

Do a little checking on Google and you'll see how ignorant your statement is.

Here's just a few I found in 2 minutes:

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

The Congress makes the following findings:

(1) The freedom of more than 600,000 Italian-born immigrants in the United States and their families was restricted during World War II by Government measures that branded them "enemy aliens" and included carrying identification cards, travel restrictions, and seizure of personal property.

(2) During World War II more than 10,000 Italian Americans living on the West Coast were forced to leave their homes and prohibited from entering coastal zones. More than 50,000 were subjected to curfews.

(3) During World War II thousands of Italian American immigrants were arrested, and hundreds were interned in military camps.

(4) Hundreds of thousands of Italian Americans performed exemplary service and thousands sacrificed their lives in defense of the United States.

(5) At the time, Italians were the largest foreign-born group in the United States, and today are the fifth largest immigrant group in the United States, numbering approximately 15,000,000.

(6) The impact of the wartime experience was devastating to Italian American communities in the United States, and its effects are still being felt.

(7) A deliberate policy kept these measures from the public during the war. Even 50 years later much information is still classified, the full story remains unknown to the public, and it has never been acknowledged in any official capacity by the United States Government.

http://bss.sfsu.edu/internment/italians.html

German American Internment
http://www.serve.com/shea/germusa/itintern.htm

Japanese American Internment
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/8420/main.html


Here's some more before your enemy Bush took power!

American Wars which have resulted in losses of freedoms:

War of 1812:

Central government takes power from state government. Trade restricted.
Civil War: (1861-1865)
President takes over Constitutional powers of Congress.
Government examines private mail and telegrams.
Military leaders allowed to arrest citizens without warrants.
Criminal rights suspended (habeas corpus, etc.).
Freedom of speech and the press ended by arrests and presidential orders.
Draft of citizens.
Government seizes private property.
Taxes raised to support war.


World War I: (1917-1919)

Government control over key areas of economy, including railroads, farms, and power plants; also fixed prices.
Hate propaganda sponsored by government, led to persecution of Americans of German descent, Irish-American, and Jews.
Vigilante groups form to lynch labor leaders and pacifists.
Espionage Act gave strict punishment to those critical of war censorship of mails. Censorship of press; end to freedom of speech (Sedition Act).
Supreme Court grants government right to overthrow freedom of speech.
Selective Service Act created mandatory draft.
Intolerance led to brutal attacks on Black Americans.


World War II: (1941-1945)

Government control over economy (rents, wages, salaries, factories, rationing, etc.).
Government sponsored hate propaganda.
Draft resumed.
Favored treatment for big business led to problems for smaller ones.
Japanese-Americans forced into concentration camps, lost their homes and property.
Labor unions lost rights.


Vietnam War: (1962-1975)

Presidents take over powers of Congress.
FBI and CIA spy on citizens.
Draft resumed.
Increased "cooperation" between government and big business.
Freedom of press restricted.
Criminal rights restricted.

http://www.eduref.org/Virtual/Lesson...y/HIS0002.html

Its a really good quote.
Very true.

edited for lameness: on: today by: me
nice job surfing and quoting...

now, can you make a statement or propose a theory that u actually come up with using your brain?

Of course not, because the information obtained does not need to go before a judge to determine it has violated anyone's rights.

Stop using facts and the truth, damn you! this is GFY!

Aaah... a tall cold glass of clean water. Refreshing.

Had to bump because I just lamely contributed my 2cents to the latest 9/11 thread... I had to.

he proposed a pretty solid theory backed with evidence that BradM's statement was not only absurd but 100% incorrect.

wrong.

you suck at this game.

just a friendly reminder that we are discussing ideas, not the people who hold them. I'm learning from the discourse.

and i bet some of your "Bush is the master of all things evil" weren't so against the "patriot act" after the terrorist attacks which prompted its conception... BY CLINTON and HIS administration over 10 years ago.

wrong... he propsed a theory based on what the govt and media tells you to think...

did the govt say that they were not intercepting communications via the internet years ago? yes they did.. they got caught and then said they were intercepting messages within the law....

did the govt go apeshit when it was discovered that they had a direct feed to SWIFT? yes... why? because they got caught with there hands in the cookie jar... in clear violation of US law....


the bottom line is that the bush administration has vehemently denied any claims of violation of constitutional rights and then when they get caught, they blame it on the nations interest in national security and protecting US citizens...

before you go on a tangent that i am against the republicans and the president, i was a strong supporter of bush... i used to have a respect for bush and the fact that he always stood by his word, whether you liked it or not... but, after seeing all the shit go down since 9/11 i have come to the conclusion that he is just a puppet of corporate conservitive america and that all of his actions are driven by corporate greed and the manipulation of the general populations minds...

:2 cents: I recently received a check from an very popular
affiliate program.
The bank that the check was issued from was located in Germany.
When I attempted to cash the check I was told there would be a
10 day hold on the check. The bank ( a national branch)
said they where very hesitant to even take the check.

I asked the teller to explain to me why I had to wait for
10 days to have the funds made available to me. it wasn?t a
huge check but it was needed.She then explained to me that.

Any checks issued from any country that might have
any possible terrorism ties had to be federally
investigated before clearing.

She also told me that this was because of the patriot act.
The banks have some leeway on deciding what and who
is investigated. If you are a very trusted biz-ness owner
they MAY not investigate. The banks choose to use this option
because of check fraud.

Basically what it comes down to is that international checks
are monitored along with your acct by the US Government.

Now that is seriously fucking with our civil rights.
Before the Patriot Act the government was not allowed to
monitor any individuals Income without a Federal Court order.

So whether you know it or not you are being affected...

thank yuo for pointing out a real world example... i have been saying that just because you dont personally feel the effects of the patriot act, doesnt mean they dont exist...

That sucked, I had a 15 minute conversation with the bank manager.
She told me personally the she was required (while I was standing there). To call the check in to the federal investigation board.

Actually I'm correct, you should look over the Patriot Act before you comment on it.

The act allows the government to only have to go before a FISA court to allow for surveillance on your personal phone, library, computer records and so on. A FISA court does not require reasonable suspicion or evidence to do this, and they don't even need to obtain the permission for awhile after they have started surveillance.

Now my comment came on something you said about whether we had been infringed on. I said we'd never know, because the FISA court records are not public record. In fact, a Federal judge also said that individuals do not have the right to know if they have ever been spied on.

Those are the facts of the act, I'm sorry if you have read something different about it. My statement was true. I have not acknowledged whether I support or disapprove of the Patriot Act, just that it does not require the old warrants to look through our records.

Earlier today my wife told me that Osama there is upset with the US because we "set foot on their land" during the 1991 Kuwait war. Correct me if I'm wrong, but we were there on REQUEST from the Saudis and Kuwait (who fled to where during this crisis? England.)

Not to mention that fighting during WWII went all the way to Bagdad in the 1940s. They could all be speaking German now.

Here are Osama Bin Laden's reasons for attacking us, in his own words.... this is a speech he sent to Al Jazeera. I won't say how i feel about it, but I surely don't take the "cowboy" attitude and decline to educate myself simply because Osama was the one giving the speech.

All should read and educate themselves on the point of view of our enemy:

Praise be to Allah who created the creation for his worship and commanded them to be just and permitted the wronged one to retaliate against the oppressor in kind. To proceed:

Peace be upon he who follows the guidance: People of America this talk of mine is for you and concerns the ideal way to prevent another Manhattan, and deals with the war and its causes and results.

Before I begin, I say to you that security is an indispensable pillar of human life and that free men do not forfeit their security, contrary to Bush's claim that we hate freedom.

If so, then let him explain to us why we don't strike for example - Sweden? And we know that freedom-haters don't possess defiant spirits like those of the 19 - may Allah have mercy on them.

No, we fight because we are free men who don't sleep under oppression. We want to restore freedom to our nation, just as you lay waste to our nation. So shall we lay waste to yours.

No one except a dumb thief plays with the security of others and then makes himself believe he will be secure. Whereas thinking people, when disaster strikes, make it their priority to look for its causes, in order to prevent it happening again.

But I am amazed at you. Even though we are in the fourth year after the events of September 11th, Bush is still engaged in distortion, deception and hiding from you the real causes. And thus, the reasons are still there for a repeat of what occurred.

So I shall talk to you about the story behind those events and shall tell you truthfully about the moments in which the decision was taken, for you to consider.

I say to you, Allah knows that it had never occurred to us to strike the towers. But after it became unbearable and we witnessed the oppression and tyranny of the American/Israeli coalition against our people in Palestine and Lebanon, it came to my mind.

The events that affected my soul in a direct way started in 1982 when America permitted the Israelis to invade Lebanon and the American Sixth Fleet helped them in that. This bombardment began and many were killed and injured and others were terrorised and displaced.

I couldn't forget those moving scenes, blood and severed limbs, women and children sprawled everywhere. Houses destroyed along with their occupants and high rises demolished over their residents, rockets raining down on our home without mercy.

The situation was like a crocodile meeting a helpless child, powerless except for his screams. Does the crocodile understand a conversation that doesn't include a weapon? And the whole world saw and heard but it didn't respond.

In those difficult moments many hard-to-describe ideas bubbled in my soul, but in the end they produced an intense feeling of rejection of tyranny, and gave birth to a strong resolve to punish the oppressors.

And as I looked at those demolished towers in Lebanon, it entered my mind that we should punish the oppressor in kind and that we should destroy towers in America in order that they taste some of what we tasted and so that they be deterred from killing our women and children.

And that day, it was confirmed to me that oppression and the intentional killing of innocent women and children is a deliberate American policy. Destruction is freedom and democracy, while resistance is terrorism and intolerance.

This means the oppressing and embargoing to death of millions as Bush Sr did in Iraq in the greatest mass slaughter of children mankind has ever known, and it means the throwing of millions of pounds of bombs and explosives at millions of children - also in Iraq - as Bush Jr did, in order to remove an old agent and replace him with a new puppet to assist in the pilfering of Iraq's oil and other outrages.

So with these images and their like as their background, the events of September 11th came as a reply to those great wrongs, should a man be blamed for defending his sanctuary?

Is defending oneself and punishing the aggressor in kind, objectionable terrorism? If it is such, then it is unavoidable for us.

This is the message which I sought to communicate to you in word and deed, repeatedly, for years before September 11th.

And you can read this, if you wish, in my interview with Scott in Time Magazine in 1996, or with Peter Arnett on CNN in 1997, or my meeting with John Weiner in 1998.

You can observe it practically, if you wish, in Kenya and Tanzania and in Aden. And you can read it in my interview with Abdul Bari Atwan, as well as my interviews with Robert Fisk.

The latter is one of your compatriots and co-religionists and I consider him to be neutral. So are the pretenders of freedom at the White House and the channels controlled by them able to run an interview with him? So that he may relay to the American people what he has understood from us to be the reasons for our fight against you?

If you were to avoid these reasons, you will have taken the correct path that will lead America to the security that it was in before September 11th. This concerned the causes of the war.

As for it's results, they have been, by the grace of Allah, positive and enormous, and have, by all standards, exceeded all expectations. This is due to many factors, chief among them, that we have found it difficult to deal with the Bush administration in light of the resemblance it bears to the regimes in our countries, half of which are ruled by the military and the other half which are ruled by the sons of kings and presidents.

Our experience with them is lengthy, and both types are replete with those who are characterised by pride, arrogance, greed and misappropriation of wealth. This resemblance began after the visits of Bush Sr to the region.

At a time when some of our compatriots were dazzled by America and hoping that these visits would have an effect on our countries, all of a sudden he was affected by those monarchies and military regimes, and became envious of their remaining decades in their positions, to embezzle the public wealth of the nation without supervision or accounting.

So he took dictatorship and suppression of freedoms to his son and they named it the Patriot Act, under the pretence of fighting terrorism. In addition, Bush sanctioned the installing of sons as state governors, and didn't forget to import expertise in election fraud from the region's presidents to Florida to be made use of in moments of difficulty.

All that we have mentioned has made it easy for us to provoke and bait this administration. All that we have to do is to send two mujahidin to the furthest point east to raise a piece of cloth on which is written al-Qaida, in order to make the generals race there to cause America to suffer human, economic, and political losses without their achieving for it anything of note other than some benefits for their private companies.

This is in addition to our having experience in using guerrilla warfare and the war of attrition to fight tyrannical superpowers, as we, alongside the mujahidin, bled Russia for 10 years, until it went bankrupt and was forced to withdraw in defeat.

All Praise is due to Allah.

So we are continuing this policy in bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy. Allah willing, and nothing is too great for Allah.

That being said, those who say that al-Qaida has won against the administration in the White House or that the administration has lost in this war have not been precise, because when one scrutinises the results, one cannot say that al-Qaida is the sole factor in achieving those spectacular gains.

Rather, the policy of the White House that demands the opening of war fronts to keep busy their various corporations - whether they be working in the field of arms or oil or reconstruction - has helped al-Qaida to achieve these enormous results.

And so it has appeared to some analysts and diplomats that the White House and us are playing as one team towards the economic goals of the United States, even if the intentions differ.

And it was to these sorts of notions and their like that the British diplomat and others were referring in their lectures at the Royal Institute of International Affairs. [When they pointed out that] for example, al-Qaida spent $500,000 on the event, while America, in the incident and its aftermath, lost - according to the lowest estimate - more than $500 billion.

Meaning that every dollar of al-Qaida defeated a million dollars by the permission of Allah, besides the loss of a huge number of jobs.

(continued)

(continued... here's the rest of it)

As for the size of the economic deficit, it has reached record astronomical numbers estimated to total more than a trillion dollars.

And even more dangerous and bitter for America is that the mujahidin recently forced Bush to resort to emergency funds to continue the fight in Afghanistan and Iraq, which is evidence of the success of the bleed-until-bankruptcy plan - with Allah's permission.

It is true that this shows that al-Qaida has gained, but on the other hand, it shows that the Bush administration has also gained, something of which anyone who looks at the size of the contracts acquired by the shady Bush administration-linked mega-corporations, like Halliburton and its kind, will be convinced. And it all shows that the real loser is ... you.

It is the American people and their economy. And for the record, we had agreed with the Commander-General Muhammad Ataa, Allah have mercy on him, that all the operations should be carried out within 20 minutes, before Bush and his administration notice.

It never occurred to us that the commander-in-chief of the American armed forces would abandon 50,000 of his citizens in the twin towers to face those great horrors alone, the time when they most needed him.

But because it seemed to him that occupying himself by talking to the little girl about the goat and its butting was more important than occupying himself with the planes and their butting of the skyscrapers, we were given three times the period required to execute the operations - all praise is due to Allah.

And it's no secret to you that the thinkers and perceptive ones from among the Americans warned Bush before the war and told him: "All that you want for securing America and removing the weapons of mass destruction - assuming they exist - is available to you, and the nations of the world are with you in the inspections, and it is in the interest of America that it not be thrust into an unjustified war with an unknown outcome."

But the darkness of the black gold blurred his vision and insight, and he gave priority to private interests over the public interests of America.

So the war went ahead, the death toll rose, the American economy bled, and Bush became embroiled in the swamps of Iraq that threaten his future. He fits the saying "like the naughty she-goat who used her hoof to dig up a knife from under the earth".

So I say to you, over 15,000 of our people have been killed and tens of thousands injured, while more than a thousand of you have been killed and more than 10,000 injured. And Bush's hands are stained with the blood of all those killed from both sides, all for the sake of oil and keeping their private companies in business.

Be aware that it is the nation who punishes the weak man when he causes the killing of one of its citizens for money, while letting the powerful one get off, when he causes the killing of more than 1000 of its sons, also for money.

And the same goes for your allies in Palestine. They terrorise the women and children, and kill and capture the men as they lie sleeping with their families on the mattresses, that you may recall that for every action, there is a reaction.

Finally, it behoves you to reflect on the last wills and testaments of the thousands who left you on the 11th as they gestured in despair. They are important testaments, which should be studied and researched.

Among the most important of what I read in them was some prose in their gestures before the collapse, where they say: "How mistaken we were to have allowed the White House to implement its aggressive foreign policies against the weak without supervision."

It is as if they were telling you, the people of America: "Hold to account those who have caused us to be killed, and happy is he who learns from others' mistakes."

And among that which I read in their gestures is a verse of poetry. "Injustice chases its people, and how unhealthy the bed of tyranny."

As has been said: "An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure."

And know that: "It is better to return to the truth than persist in error." And that the wise man doesn't squander his security, wealth and children for the sake of the liar in the White House.

In conclusion, I tell you in truth, that your security is not in the hands of Kerry, nor Bush, nor al-Qaida. No.

Your security is in your own hands. And every state that doesn't play with our security has automatically guaranteed its own security.

And Allah is our Guardian and Helper, while you have no Guardian or Helper. All peace be upon he who follows the Guidance.