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Lessing says Sept. 11 attacks not so bad

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Home » Discuss » Archives » General Discussion (1/22-2007 thru 12/14/2010)

baldguy

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Mon Oct-22-07 03:00 PM
Original message

Lessing says Sept. 11 attacks not so bad

...

"September 11 was terrible, but if one goes back over the history of the IRA, what happened to the Americans wasn't that terrible," the Nobel Literature Prize winner told the leading Spanish daily El Pais.

"Some Americans will think I'm crazy. Many people died, two prominent buildings fell, but it was neither as terrible nor as extraordinary as they think. They're a very naive people, or they pretend to be," she said in an interview published Sunday.

...

"I always hated Tony Blair, from the beginning," El Pais quoted Lessing as saying. "Many of us hated Tony Blair, I think he has been a disaster for Britain and we have suffered him for many years. I said it when he was elected: This man is a little showman who is going to cause us problems and he did."

"As for Bush, he's a world calamity," added Lessing. "Everyone is tired of this man. Either he is stupid or he is very clever, although you have to remember he is a member of a social class which has profited from wars."

more:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071022/ap_en_ot/spain_lessing;_ylt=AgOJaT_WEudSCER_CLlAtV.s0NUE

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aquart

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Mon Oct-22-07 03:04 PM
Response to Original message

1. Okey, dokey then.

So the Ira blew up 3,000 people? In their dreams.

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The Magistrate

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Mon Oct-22-07 03:08 PM
Response to Reply #1

3. She Is Probably Refering, Ma'am

To some I.R.A. attacks delivered precisely against government leaders and ruling party functionaries, that could have effectively 'decapitated' the English government.

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aquart

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Mon Oct-22-07 03:11 PM
Response to Reply #3

7. Eh. Didn't.

So what's their total body count? Since we're making comparisons.

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EFerrari

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Mon Oct-22-07 03:10 PM
Response to Reply #1

5. Maybe she was referring to deaths during the conflict.

Edited on Mon Oct-22-07 03:11 PM by sfexpat2000

(I'm not familiar with this site but on quick inspection, it looks all right.)

"The Bare Facts

The bare facts are that of the 3, 285 deaths in the conflict from July 1969 to December 1993, Republicans have killed 1,928, Loyalists 911, British forces 357, Irish Republic forces have killed 3 and "others" 86. Of these, 3,059 occurred in N. Ireland, 91 in the South, 118 in Britain and 17 in continental Europe."

http://www.inac.org/irishhistory/deaths

/oops

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BushOut06

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Mon Oct-22-07 03:10 PM
Response to Reply #1

6. Well, over a prolonged period of time, yes they did

They never killed 3000 people at one time - no terrorist attack has ever done that.

However, I can certainly see the point. While losing 3,000 at one time is pretty significant, it's still far less than what other groups of people have suffered over the years.

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Mountainman

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Mon Oct-22-07 03:06 PM
Response to Original message

2. I've always felt 9/11 wasn't as big a deal as we make out. It is our national feel sorry for

ourselves incident. It was terrible but our reaction to it is far more terrible. We have killed more than 10 times the number of people killed on 9/11 in Iraq and we are running around crazy seeing Islamofacists under every bed.

Nothing we have done was as bad as PNAC using 9/11 for their purposes.

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KT2000

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Mon Oct-22-07 03:27 PM
Response to Reply #2

17. Agree

it was terrible but it was a single incident that should have taught us more about the world. How does it compare to Darfur, Rwanda genocide, Tibet, our actions in Iraq that brought Shock and Awe to America's weeknight tv viewing.
All in all, we have fared very well compared to most of the world.

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soothsayer

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Mon Oct-22-07 03:27 PM
Response to Reply #2

18. Yup. Agreed. Everyone got so...terrorized! Including me. But some

have never snapped out of it, or so the WH hopes...and tries to keep them in a state of terra.

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cali

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Mon Oct-22-07 03:27 PM
Response to Reply #2

19. It;'s not that it wasn't that terrible- it was

it had a huge impact visually, and that's not a minor point, but as my mother who was in London for part of the blitz pointed out, Americans are a nation of scab pickers; we love our wounds. Call it exceptionalism.

Not sure what you ean about PNAC. When it comes down to brass tacks the people who most used 9/11, were bush and cheney.

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Mountainman

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Mon Oct-22-07 06:26 PM
Response to Reply #19

24. I believe PNAC was responcible for 9/11. They said that it would take another Pearl Harbor.

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Dora

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Mon Oct-22-07 03:09 PM
Response to Original message

4. I think she has a valid point.

We are not unique in our suffering. Death comes to all, everything is impermanent.

People all over the world have suffered at the hands of terrorists and tyrants.

We are the only country using a terrorist attack and the death of 3000 people as an excuse to justify lies.

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supernova

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Mon Oct-22-07 03:13 PM
Response to Reply #4

9. That's the way I took it

While it is a terrible thing, it's certainly no where near the carnage of WW2 either

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angstlessk

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Mon Oct-22-07 03:12 PM
Response to Original message

8. Well, 9/11 was ONE DAY..the Irish famine lasted how many years??

and the occupation of Ireland by the british lasted many generations...and there were terrorists on both sides and PROBABLY MORE THAN 3,000 DIED

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EFerrari

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Mon Oct-22-07 03:14 PM
Response to Reply #8

10. That's right. The war against the Irish is much more comparable

to the war against Native Americans because it spanned centuries.

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aikoaiko

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Mon Oct-22-07 03:16 PM
Response to Original message

11. Obviously Britain is still the center of the world for Lessing. nt

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DemGa

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Mon Oct-22-07 03:16 PM
Response to Original message

12. You can go back over the history of a lot of things

and make comparisons.

Still, yeah, it was that terrible.

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NNN0LHI

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Mon Oct-22-07 03:21 PM
Response to Original message

13. When compared to Shock And Awe? n/t

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OwnedByFerrets

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Mon Oct-22-07 03:24 PM
Response to Original message

14. Not that it matters to anyone other than those who will

vilify my thoughts, but I agree with her 100%. Especially her thoughts on monkeyboy and his sycophant.

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TomClash

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Mon Oct-22-07 03:25 PM
Response to Original message

15. Looney Old Brit

The Provos killed less than 2,000 during the Troubles - more than 2,800 were killed in New York alone on September 11.

She must be thinking of the British empire . . .

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soothsayer

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Mon Oct-22-07 03:29 PM
Response to Reply #15

20. Ok, but we're a much bigger country. 2800 is a fraction of our populace.

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TomClash

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Mon Oct-22-07 03:31 PM
Response to Reply #20

21. And the Troubles lasted over 30 years

Edited on Mon Oct-22-07 03:32 PM by TomClash

Not a couple of hours. 3000 dead in a few hours - 1900 dead over 30 years.

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supernova

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Mon Oct-22-07 03:41 PM
Response to Reply #21

22. That's the problem with terrorism though

That it does last "for years."

It's the seeming unending nature of it that gets to you, even if you are one of those not directly affected.

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TomClash

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Mon Oct-22-07 08:34 PM
Response to Reply #22

26. Let me tell you

9/11 stays with you forever.

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angstlessk

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Mon Oct-22-07 05:01 PM
Response to Reply #21

23. Well the Iraqis think 3,000 is a drop in the bucket..and wished to HELL

THEIR ONLY LOSS WAS 3,000 IN ONE DAY!

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TomClash

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Mon Oct-22-07 08:36 PM
Response to Reply #23

27. I agree

The Holocaust was worse than the Iraqi debacle but that doesn't make it any less horrifying. And that's the problem with Doris Lessing's ignorant analysis.

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Generator

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Mon Oct-22-07 03:25 PM
Response to Original message

16. Of course the Brits and Irish dealt with terrorism for years

Day in, day out. So they know terrorism. We never knew it. But the sky will never ever be the same for me. I can't look at a plane in the sky and not think of 9/11. Maybe it's just me-but I loved flying and that changed forever in one day. Our planes used against us. I suppose if you lived through WW2 the sky was never a friendly place again either.

And of course it was terrible-if you died or had someone die. It's always bad to play the "I suffered more" game. America didn't suffer more, but it's suffering was not nothing. That's just anger at America-at what we've done since. It's nothing to do with the event.

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Disturbed

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Mon Oct-22-07 06:33 PM
Response to Reply #16

25. Two Nukes & the Fire bombing of Tokyo, Dresden & other cities.

Sure, when it comes to comparisons, there were other events a whole lot more devastating.

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