Text 8864, 108 rader
Skriven 2010-06-20 14:58:54 av Robert Bashe (2:2448/44)
   Kommentar till text 8843 av Michiel van der Vlist (2:280/5555)
Ärende: Fate
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Michiel van der Vlist wrote to Robert Bashe on Sunday June 20 2010 at 11:44:

RB>> Not wanting one of the Gitmo bros back home, and only because many of
RB>> them, hardly released, start up new al Quaida cells?

MV> The vast majority of the guests of the Gitmo Hotel are completely
MV> innoent.

Your claim and belief. I'm sure nobody would object if you were to invite one
of them to live in your home - on the other hand, maybe the neighbors might.
And of course it would be necessary to search your house for weapons from time
to time, but that's surely a minor inconvenience for displaying such humanity.

RB>> I'm all for criticising politicians, but sometimes they do have
RB>> reasons for doing what they do.

MV> Bob you are the victim of the Terror Of Fear.

I'm a victim of facts, Michiel. You like to "believe" a lot of things, but I
don't happen to be a believer.

MV> The cance of you becoming a vitim of a terrorist attack is smaller
MV> than the chance of being struck by lightning.

Which is a completely different subject, even ignoring the fact that reasonable
people take precautions against being struck by lightening.

MV> Al Qaida is not a threat. When was their last _succesful_ attack in
MV> the western world?

;-) So you want to wait until something else happens and only _then_ get
excited? How about trying to prevent future occurrences? You don't do that by
sitting on your hands and believeing everybody is "nice".

MV> The odd thing is that it is something you abhor on the one hand, but
MV> on the other hand contribute to by falling for the terror of fear.

Not odd at all. I have my own mind and can make my own decisions. I don't
believe all the hype, but on the other hand, I also don't ignore facts.

RB>> The Germans are similarly ambivalent: on the one hand, they
RB>> passionately demand Gitmo be closed. On the other, when asked whether
RB>> _they_ want to give some of our bearded friends a new home... well,
RB>> that's something else entirely.

MV> Of course. The Americans created the problem. Let them be the one to
MV> solve it.

OK, fine. Then everybody else should shut up and let the Americans do as they
feel best. Who needs kibitzers who like to talk a good game but aren't willing
to lift a finger when the chips are down?

RB>> I think the situation isn't quite as simple and clear-cut as we on
RB>> the outside looking in might think.

MV> Of course it is not simple. If only because those people who have
MV> spend the better part of a decade in a not so nice prison where they
MV> were subjected to "enhanced interrogation methods", just for being in
MV> the wrong place at the wrong time, will be royally pissed off.

You're making assumptions again. One is that these people are only where they
are by accident and are lilly-white democrats you'd like to have living next
door to you. Another is that they've all been terribly mistreated, which may
apply to some but surely not to all - of which you, anyway, have no idea of. A
third is your attitude that they should simply be let out on the world -
preferably in the States (like hell) - because they're such nice guys they
wouldn't harm a fly.

Better take off the blinders and realize that there are pros _and_ cons - not
exclusively pros _or_ cons to this kind of situation.

RB>> Now you've got a radical anti-Islamist as the key to the new
RB>> government. That's what I call a _great_ improvement.

MV> I never expected him to become part of government. A it turns out, I
MV> ws right. He has been safely manouvred onto a side track.

Lotsa luck. The problem is that he represents a growing part of the population,
and not only in the NL. Not many people in the EU have much sympathy left for
the wild hordes of screaming humanity who want to kill a journalist because of
critical reports or cartoons, or the machos who like to kill their
daughters/girlfrienbds/wives because they feel "dishonored" (as if such people
even knew what the word means). The apologists are on a losing track.

RB>> I assume you've heard of "Fitna"?

MV> Of course I have. I am surprised so many people take it serious.

Are you? Then you apparently never heard of the "Fatwa" against Salman Rushdie
or the murder of Theo van Gogh (and more-or-less voluntary exile of Ayaan Hirsi
Ali) or the death threats against the Danish cartoonists or... c'mon Michiel,
you read the news too. Don't play ignorant. People here are scared stiff of
aggressive muslims.

RB>> One thing's for sure: _he_ won't be at the beck and call of anyone
RB>> except the Dutch - the "real" Dutch, I mean, not the Islamists from
RB>> Indonesia and Africa...

RB>> That may or may not be an improvement, depending on your position.

MV> As I wrote, he has been neutralised.

Yeah, sure.

Cheers, Bob

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