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| [Sep 11, 2001, 9:30 pm ET] - Share - Viewing Comments |
Of course this is not game related (we do not expect to be doing any further
game coverage today), but with the legit news sites being almost impossible to
access at times today, we've been getting loads of requests for more information
about what's been going on. Here is the latest as of about 9:00 PM EDT:
- President Bush addressed the nation 8:30 PM EDT. Here's a wire report:
WASHINGTON (AP)
- A grim-faced President Bush condemned ghastly attacks in Washington and
New York on Tuesday and vowed to "find those responsible and bring them
to justice." In the second Oval Office address of his presidency, Bush
said the United States would retaliate against ``those behind these evil
acts,'' and any country that harbors them.
To recap:
- In two separate attacks, hijacked planes struck both main towers of the
World Trade Center in Manhattan this morning, and both of the "twin
towers" subsequently collapsed.
- A hijacked plane struck the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. and part of it
has collapsed as well.
- A hijacked plane crashed in western Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh. Reports
indicate the hijackers planned to crash this plane into Camp David in
Maryland.
- 47 Story WTC building seven, one of the five (relatively) smaller
buildings in the World Trade Center also later collapsed from ancillary
damage.
- The White House, the Pentagon, and the Capitol Building were all
evacuated, all domestic flights in the US have been grounded through at
least noon tomorrow.
- Other closings include most federal offices, the stock markets, the Disney
theme parks, and the cancellation of today's Major League Baseball schedule.
The President's speech announced that all federal agencies will be open for
business tomorrow.
- Broadcasts out of Afghanistan showed evidence of missile attacks and
antiaircraft fire, but what connection this has to today's apparent
terrorist attacks in the US is not clear at this point. The US has denied
involvement in these attacks.
- In the first hints of any sort at the scope of casualties, the New York
City Fire Department has estimated that as many as half of the 400
firefighters dispatched to the scene are missing. CNN has said that 78
Police officers are missing. Also, the death toll from those on the four
hijacked planes has been placed at 266. The number of dead and injured at
the Pentagon has been widely reported as about 100. No estimates of the
number of victims from the World Trade Center have been made.
- People throughout the United States have are being urged to donate blood
to help offset significant shortages in New York and Washington. The American Red Cross in Greater New York
or the American Red Cross are places
to contact about donating blood or money, or both.
- Some news sites seem to be back online. Here are some links that have been
more reliable: CNN.com; CNET.com;
Yahoo;
The New York Times; washingtonpost.com;
usnews.com;
ABCNEWS.com; FOXNews.com;
MSNBC;
and BBC News Online.
All of our thoughts go out to the victims of these attacks and their families
and friends in what must be an incredibly difficult time.
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| 648. |
Re: Just out of curiosity |
Sep 19, 2001, 05:53 |
Regnak |
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DigitalSin
Quote:
A terrorist is usually associated with committing criminal acts of a generally violent nature against civilians. We would think of hijackings, taking hostages, blowing up buildings, and the like. Now, if you look at the history of the IRA, we would see that they primarily target British and Loyalist military personnel and installations. Granted there have been cases where civilian buildings were targeted, but almost all if not all of which were targeted at a time where the population of that building was virtually nill. This does not show the intent to actually do harm to civilans directly.
EndQuote:
I have to disagree with this point. There have been numerous cases where the IRA have directly targeted civilians - Omaugh being the prime example (30 killed, 300 injured - all civilians). The bombing of the Rememberance Day ceremony at Eniskillin (11 killed) hardly classes as a military target either. Canary Wharf (a tower block in London - hmm!) was also targeted.
Admittedly the most recent of these was in 1998.
But this doesn't alter the fact that the IRA is a terrorist organization which has targeted innocent civilians.
Yes, they are currently under a ceasefire (though this does not appear to prevent punishment beatings, kneecappings and the training of foreign terrorists), but they have yet to give up a single bullet or grain of explosive in terms of decommissioning, so forgive me for being rather sceptical about their sincerity.
Money you give them today may be used for a valid political function, but it may equally go into a bank account to be spent on a shiny new rocket launcher if the peace process breaks down.
Did you know that because of the IRA, we don't have trash-cans on our railway station platforms. The IRA put nailbombs on timers in them an then strolled off an waited for them to blow up. Think about that next time you see a NorAid collector shaking his tin on a street corner.
Edit:
And now I come to think about it - are you saying that it's only terrorism if it's against a civilian target? So the Pentagon attack was a legitimate act? Or rather, it would have been had the plane not had any passengers? By that definition, OBL could hire a 747, stuff it full of explosives and crash it into the Pentagon and not be considered a terrorist. If only he'd known!
Look forward to your reply 
General point to all you flag-wavers who want to bomb something:
Question:
When does a 'terrorist' become a 'freedom fighter'?
Answer:
When you agree with his politics!
It seems to me that if we are truly going to wage war on terrorism then we have to be consistant in our definition of what a terrorist is. It's easy for GWB to stand up and declare war on terrorism, but that means pretty much anyone who has a gun.
The Kosova Liberation Army were fighting against the Serbian government - technically they were terrorists. NATO helped them and bombed the shit out of the Serbian army. Doesn't that make NATO guilty of supporting terrorism.
Life ain't black and white - the good guys aren't all blond haired and blue-eyed with clean shiny teeth.
Think about it
The artist formerly known as anon@158.152
This comment was edited on Sep 19, 06:38. |
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