Comments Posted By mklutra
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A DEAD WRONG HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE OF 9/11
Moran's reply to the Cold War was worse argument is that the Russians weren't fanatics, willing to sacrifice themselves, unlike the terrorists.
Of course in retrospect, that's an easy thing to say. But at the time, the only perspective that matters in the debate - a point Moran fails to acknowledge - the Russians seemed equally fanatical. If you asked the average man on the street in 1961 whether the Russians were willing to risk self-anihilation in order to start a nuclear war, you would almost always get a "yes" answer. To suggest that we didn't think then that the Communists were as fanatical as today's terrorists is simply nonsensical. It's just wrong.
Comment Posted By mklutra On 28.01.2006 @ 18:51
Ellis is right. The fatal problem with the counter-argument is the Cold War. There was, is not now, and hopefully never will be again a threat on the level of that posed during the Cold War. It is the measure by which all other threats should be measured. And against that measure, it is facially ridiculous to argue that the current threat comes anywhere close. It really is. And Bush supporters know this - deep down in their hearts they do.
And Bush supporters would be willing to admit this out loud - after all, they are not irrational - if it were not for the domestic political implications of doing so. The GOP has been quite open about its strategy to use the GWOT as a tactic to win elections. To openly admit the obvious - that the Communist Bloc's millions of troops and thousands of nuclear weapons represented a qualitively more serious threat than the current terrorists - would undermine the effectiveness of their most effective tactic. So of course they won't afmit the obvious.
Hell, who can blame them? Why give up your best weapon?
Comment Posted By mklutra On 28.01.2006 @ 18:44
