Z9

The Meaning of Omaha Beach

The Sixtieth Anniversary of D-Day

Notwithstanding all that will be said, and written by many people, I would like to let Ronald Reagan speak for himself: The Reagan Information Page; The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation: quotes and speeches; A Life in Letters; In His Own Hand; Speaking my Mind; In His Own Voice; and some soundbytes: 1, 2, 3.

How do you tell a communist? Well, it's someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-communist? It's someone who understands Marx and Lenin.


Before I refuse to take your questions, I have an opening statement.


But there are advantages to being elected President. The day after I was elected, I had my high school grades classified Top Secret.


I have wondered at times what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the U.S. congress.


A baby is an alimentary canal with a loud voice at one end and no responsibility at the other.


In America, our origins matter less than our destination, and that is what democracy is all about.


While I take inspiration from the past, like most Americans, I live for the future.


Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.


It is astonishing what you can accomplish if you do not mind who gets the credit.


I've always believed that a lot of the trouble in the world would disappear if we were talking to each other instead of about each other.


Welfare's purpose should be to eliminate, as far as possible, the need for its own existence.


It is not my intention to do away with government. It is rather to make it work -- work with us, not over us; stand by our side, not ride on our back. Government can and must provide opportunity, not smother it; foster productivity, not stifle it.


The most terrifying words in the English langauge are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help.


Public servants say, always with the best of intentions, "What greater service we could render if only we had a little more money and a little more power." But the truth is that outside of its legitimate function, government does nothing as well or as economically as the private sector.


The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would hire them away.


We who live in free market societies believe that growth, prosperity and ultimately human fulfillment, are created from the bottom up, not the government down. Only when the human spirit is allowed to invent and create, only when individuals are given a personal stake in deciding economic policies and benefiting from their success -- only then can societies remain economically alive, dynamic, progressive, and free. Trust the people. This is the one irrefutable lesson of the entire postwar period contradicting the notion that rigid government controls are essential to economic development.


Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have.


We've done our part. And as I walk off into the city streets, a final word to the men and women of the Reagan revolution, the men and women across America who for 8 years did the work that brought America back. My friends: We did it. We weren't just marking time. We made a difference. We made the city stronger, we made the city freer, and we left her in good hands. All in all, not bad, not bad at all.
[Farewell Address to the Nation, 20th January, 1989]


However, our task is far from over. Our friends in the other party will never forgive us for our success, and are doing everything in their power to rewrite history. Listening to the liberals, you'd think that the 1980's were the worst period since the Great Depression, filled with suffering and despair. I don't know about you, but I'm getting awfully tired of the whining voices from the White House these days. They're claiming there was a decade of greed and neglect, but you and I know better than that. We were there.
[RNC Annual Gala, 3rd February, 1994]


Whatever else history may say about me when I’m gone, I hope it will record that I appealed to your best hopes, not your worst fears; to your confidence rather than your doubts. My dream is that you will travel the road ahead with liberty’s lamp guiding your steps and opportunity’s arm steadying your way.

-- Ronald Reagan --

I have added several new links; one of them being a link to the Churchill Society's index of speeches that Winston Churchill made in the period leading up to, and during the war years:

Churchill's Speeches

MaxSpeak is hosting "The Vicious InstaPundit Blogroll Contest" and not surprisingly, Misha features several times in the nominations.
I especially like the way he sums up the deathcult in this one short sentence (original post here):

I am supposed to "respect" a culture that has produced nothing other than a complete worship of man's most base instincts?

Came across these little gems in MutantX and Bab5. They describe latte leftistism rather well.
From an early episode of MutantX:

It's classic denial. A mind that can't deal with the facts just willing them out of existence.

From the Babylon 5, season 4 episode The Deconstruction of Falling Stars:

You don't want to know. You only want to speak.

In law, "Ignorance of the law is no defense"
i.e. the fact that you do not know that an act is a crime defined by statute, is no defense if you are charged.
This is something of which all these lazy-thinking leftists, who don't do any of their own research but have strong opinions anyway, should be continually reminded.

Ignorance (of the subject matter at hand) is not a defense

Getting back to "not being able to deal with the facts", we have this well-known quote by that well-known socialist:

A single death is a tragedy,
a million deaths is a statistic.

-- joseph stalin --

Finally - as this post is all about quotes - these words are of great relevance:

Nothing ever becomes real till it is experienced - even a proverb is no proverb to you till your life has illustrated it.

-- John Keats --

By US Marine Brian Taylor: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5.

From Samizdata

I just propose that the only rational way to fight a war is to fight a war, and that means using whatever force is needed to defeat your enemy. This is not exactly a revolutionary concept in most military circles. In the case of Iraq, this just means using the usual range of weapons and tactics and applying them with resolution. There is nothing about Iraq that is at all unusual or outside historical experience to suggest this need be more than a footnote in military history.

Every society has it's extremists... it's the amount of control, or lack thereof, that a society places upon these individuals that makes a difference

Within a century of its creation, the deathcult had already started invading and taking over the middle east and parts of the far east and europe and proceeded to plunge this part of the world into what is nowadays referred to as the Dark Ages.
The deathcult may be using newer technology and tools now, taken from the Westernised cultures and countries of course, but its approach and methods haven't changed at all since the virus began to spread 14 centuries ago.

The deathcult and it's history of beheadings
Pictures of muslimists carrying out their "beliefs"
More detailed history of one of the deathcult's perennial favourites
This guy will soon be joining Salman Rushdie in hiding from fatwas for writing stuff like this
Some stillshots from the video made by the muslimists while murdering Nicholas Berg

From BuzzMachine

Our current struggle is the first in our history as a nation in which the roll call of the dead contains a majority of civilians. This is our enemy's goal, for they are murderers, not soldiers.

Those who give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety

-- Benjamin Franklin --

I don't blame Congress. If I had $600 billion to spend, I'd be irresponsible too.

-- Al Capone --


I don't feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.

-- Galileo Galilei --

It is astonishing what you can accomplish if you do not mind who gets the credit

Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidise it.
-- Ronald Reagan --

Before Winston Churchill became Prime Minister and led Britain through WWII, many called him a war-mongerer.

I have seen comments on this from a variety of angles already. What can almost certainly be said is the following:

We will probably never know for sure what the outcome of the Spanish elections might have been had the mass-murder in Madrid commited by islamists - and probably in conjuction with their eta brethren - not occured.
What we do know however is that, broadly speaking, the following sequence of events took place:

1. Spanish election date was set for the 14th March 2004
2. islamists commit mass-murder with a very high profile terrorist attack against Spanish civilians just a few days before election day
3. The Spanish people then vote with fairly convincing numbers for the socialist opposition
4. New socialist leader immediately blames the US for the mass-murder commited by the islamist deathcult™ and starts the process of withdrawing Spanish troops from Iraq

The various elements which provide a context in which to place these events e.g. the islamist deathcult™ 'master plan' to exterminate anything that's not muslimist, which of course includes returning Spain to dar-al-islam; the fascist's (a.k.a. socialist's a.k.a. latte leftist's) renewed confidence in openly spewing their virrulent hatred against the US and the "Jews"; the accompanying, automatic, blind 'assumption' that it's "the Iraq involvement" that's to blame for "making Spain a target"; etc. have been and are being widely discussed by many, so I will not comment on these in this post.


What can be said very simply however is that this is not, to put it mildly, the best of messages to be sending to the deathcult™ at this time.


The relevant quotes and cliches are of course:

Advance with bayonet. If you encounter mush, proceed. If you encounter steel, withdraw.
-- lenin --

Also once again:

The primary lesson of history is "Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it"

And in an endeavour not to forget the past, let us remember that many terrorist acts were commited during the last century
1. either well before any conflict had started and resulting in little or no actual retaliatory actions in return - Lusitania anyone?
2. at the onset of the conflict where the attacking party is already waging total war whilst the other party hasn't yet begun to fight the enemy with any means necessary to win - germans waging unrestricted submarine warfare in WWI (which had its reverberations in WWII); Polish cities bombed; Rotterdam bombed; The London blitz and Coventry are some well-known examples

Finally, it is important to realise and remember that terrorism already has been defeated by military means in the past e.g. the British Navy was very successful in the past against the scourge of piracy.

Dear latte leftist,

Have a read of this:
Evil's Advantage Over Conscience

And this:
Europe's 9-11


Or maybe you've already put down your latte and left your local cafe to join your looney leftist friends and the others that give you your opinion and the soundbytes ("The Americans should ask themselves blah blah...) you so blithely repeat, in demonstrating against Spain whilst carrying banners blaming the Spanish for this latest in a never-ending stream of terrorist mass-murders?

The Spanish did kick the moors out of Spain back in the 15th century after all. Very legitimate reason for the islamists to kill as many Spanish as possible now.
Once territory is dar-al-islam (as Spain was before the moors were finally kicked out), it must, as the koran states, never become non-muslimist territory again.

Spain did. Bad Spanish for doing that! They therefore "deserve to die!!". The latte left use that all the time against Israel, Iraq and the US, so you'll be using it against Spain now, no doubt.
Or are you employing your legendary double standards again?

You might not want to forget that the moors were beaten back from Vienna in the mid 17th century. Vienna could be next.

You really must ask yourself why the islamists hate you so much. Your ancestors were horrible to those poor innocent, peace-loving moors with their little toy swords. And the islamists have long memories (see all the references the islamists e.g. bin laden make to these historical events).


Here is some useful advice for you so you can come across as 'hip' amongst your looney leftist idiot friends and the political "discussions" you have in your local cafe whilst sipping frappuccinos:
Do not use the word 'terrorist'. Use terms like "militants", "guerillas", "commandos" or even better, "supporters", "fans" and "enthusiasts".

And of course don't forget to keep referring to terrorists with the evergreen, "victim™"; and naturellement blame it on the evil Bushitler™. And now of course also on the evil Aznarhitler™.

Those poor, peace-loving, innocent, "oppressed" al quaeda and eta "supporters" had no other choice but to join forces and "express" themselves in "fighting back" against the evil Americans™.

And the evil Joooos™ of course. Mustn't waste an opportunity to blame everything on them. The nazis certainly didn't. And their offspring, the looney left, continues to carry that torch with the usual blind socialist a.k.a. fascist pride and hate-filled vigour.


How's your memory of history doing? Still conveniently "forgetting" things like the reason for the Crusades? Have you even bothered researching the Crusades?
Still living in your latte leftist 'everything's nice and sugar and spice' fantasy world?

Or are you still arrogant enough to 'believe' that because you wouldn't do something like slit a few dozen stuardess' and captain's throats and then fly several passenger planes into some office buildings, nobody else would either?

Have you even tried to smell the coffee you drink?

Here's a nice little variation on that cliche:

God help those who do not help themselves
-- Wilson Mizner --

From this article [Hat tip LGF]

"The question people are asking is why they hate us. That's the wrong question," said Mr. Lewis on C-SPAN shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks. "In a sense, they've been hating us for centuries, and it's very natural that they should. You have this millennial rivalry between two world religions, and now, from their point of view, the wrong one seems to be winning."

He continued: "More generally ... you can't be rich, strong, successful and loved, particularly by those who are not rich, not strong and not successful. So the hatred is something almost axiomatic. The question which we should be asking is why do they neither fear nor respect us?"

US Marine Brian Taylor has posted pictures from the war and writes about it as well: Part 1, Part 2 [Hat tip Tim Blair]

With the US elections taking place this year, it's worth being reminded of and being clear about what happened the last time round.

"Moses dragged us through the desert for 40 years to bring us to the one place in the Middle East where there was no oil."

"A leader who doesn't hesitate before he sends his nation into battle is not fit to be a leader."

"We do not rejoice in victories. We rejoice when a new kind of cotton is grown and when strawberries bloom in Israel."

"Don't be humble. You aren't that great."

"Whether women are better than men I cannot say, but they are certainly no worse."

"Those who don't know how to weep with their whole heart, don't know how to laugh either."

Little Green Footballs points to the release of this video footage of the latest suicide mass-murder commited by an islamikaze™ of the religionism of peace™ deathcult™; in Jerusalem this time. [Warning! Very graphic]

Is this coming soon to a Rotterdam or paris metro, London underground or Vienna U-Bahn near you?
Most people seem to keep forgetting that the primary lesson of history is "Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it".

The LGF comments section makes for the usual very interesting reading. I've picked out a couple of comments that give some insight into the wider picture concerning deathcult™ terrorism perpetrated against Israel:

#40 Doss

I don't know how the people of Israel are so passive that they haven't demanded that their elected officials wage total war on the "Palestinians." This video shows the results of being more concerned with world opinion than with protecting Israeli children and parents. Never again, my ass. It is happening again. Why are Israelis not in the streets by the million demanding that total war be fought to make sure that this never happens again. And on the day that they release hundreds of prisoners. I don't get it. Does Israel have a latent death wish almost as powerful as the overt Pali one? I'm sorry if this sounds callous or disrespectful to my Israelis friends, but how is it that the Israeli public is not taking their leaders to task? The means to prevent most of these attacks is there, why not the will? I don't understand. Wasn't the whole idea behind Zionism and the establishment of the state of Israel to not be at the mercy of other nations and peoples, to be in control of their own security and well-being. If that was the whole point, why is this being allowed to happen. Do the Israelis really care more about what Russian, French, Malaysian, Colombian, American, Syrian, English, Sudanese, and Latvians think than they do that Shmuel is blown apart, Alex is shredded into hundred of pieces, Elad is blinded and paralyzed, Anna is burned over more of her body than not, puncture holes from shrapnel cover Idan's body, the last breath is drawn by David's lungs and Vitslav is shot in the face. Where's the fucking outrage? Why are there no protests of millions in the streets?

#118 Eldad

I'm Joe Israeli. I take the number 19 bus sometimes to the Hebrew University. Another day, another time I could have been in the place of one of the dead or mutilated. Now I can see the sirens from my balcony. No, I don't have a death wish and yes, I am furious and outraged. But what the hell can I do? 3 and a half years ago I was for Meretz and Peace Now, now I'm for Sharon. Thanks to me and hundreds of thousands like me the right has a majority in the Knesset. And so what? The simple fact remains that we cannot answer the fuckers measure for measure. Not because we're too good for that. We're not. And not because we don't want to. We do. But because we live in a democracy. If a commander orders his tanks to level a building where terrorists are hiding and kills a few dozen civilians, he will be burned at the stake by the cynical, backstabbing politicians of the left with the silent acquiescence of the spineless politicians of the right. If the defense minister decides to fight this war like the Americans in Iraq or the Russians in Chechnya, he will end up in jail and the Prime Minister will be out on the street before the smoke clears. Add to this the fact that America wants us to be a puppet, the EU wants us to be a pariah, and the Arabs want us dead. Israelis are not suicidal and we haven't lost our will to live. Don't listen to our politicians and extremists, we're actually very normal. We care for our children just the same as any other people. But we're caught between a rock and a hard place. Let's be frank. What we need to do to win this war is against international and Israeli law, and borders on genocide. There is no other way to win a war against a population of Islamikazees. Traitors in other words. If the men, women and children are blowing themselves up to kill you, that means that you have to fight and kill the men, women and children. And believe me, everyone here understands this. There are very few pro-Oslo idealists left. The Israelis who walk with Peace Now are people who are willing to sacrifice their countrymen (literally) for their idea of what a fair solution should be like. Our democracy isn't capable of winning against the Arab culture of suicide and racist hate. I better stop now because I'm very tired and pissed off, but here's just one final thought for you to consider. Try to look at the situation this way: start from the premise that Israel does want to destroy the terrorists, that she does has the will and the strength. Then work backwards and ask yourself why she cannot achieve that objective.

Regarding the term 'palestinians', Golda Meir said:

"There was no such thing as palestinians, they never existed. Before 1948, we were the palestinians."

Read about the term at Science Daily.


And as Golda Meir once famously said:

"There will be peace in the Middle East when the Arabs love their children more than they hate the Jews"

That isn't happening though. The religionism of peace™ is a deathcult. And needs to be crushed.
Will the "Infidels" wake up in time to still be able to do so though?


Update: A Jerusalem Post article regarding the release of this video footage.

If you would understand your own age, read the works of fiction produced in it. People in disguise speak freely.

The official Hutton Inquiry website

The Belmont Club makes an interesting comparison and writes beautifully on the subject to boot:

There was Andrew Gilligan, charging the most powerful man in Britain with an empty Palm Pilot at the very point on which he was not prepared to yield. 'You, Mr. Prime Minister, made up the entire cassus belli for invading Iraq', he in effect said, without so much as an electron to stand on.

Every cardinal rule was violated. Attacking the enemy's strongest point with one's greatest weakness. Ignoring the enemy counterattack. Omitting to prepare any defense, or indeed inquire if there were any. Committing the army reserve while in effect pouring it into a sack. Then to crown it all, expecting vindication from the Hutton report when everything pointed to a rout. Where have we seen this before? Why in Hitler, consulting his horoscopes to predict a dramatic change in fortune, even as the US Army poured across the Rhine. In Saddam Hussein, who confidently ordered counterattacks by units that had already gone home. In every organization in which information has absolutely ceased to flow.

The very men who pretended to tell the world about the nuances of the Arab-Israeli conflict and about the cultural currents on a planet hostile to America, could not in the end tell themselves what was in their own correspondent's electronic notebook: even though they had built a towering castle of lies upon it.

A girlfriend is an expense.... a wife is an overhead

These figures make for unsurprisingly interesting reading. [hat tip InstaPundit]
Some highlights:

1.Syria: 14 individuals total 89 millions barrel. Including the son of minister of defence and Hamiadah Naana.
3.Cyprus: more than 33 millions including Mohammad Alhoni editor of AlArab newspaper who got 17 millions! Plus other 2 companies
4.Turkey: 11 individuals with 82.5 millions
11.Malaysia: 4 with 84.5 millions
17.Italy: 8 for 61.5 millions including church priest and companies
22.UK: 2 for 55.5 millions including George Galloway MP and Mujahdeen Khleek the Iranian group.
23.Canada: Arthur Mill Holland for 9.6 millions
24.USA: 2 for 17.5 millions including Shaker Khafaji and Samer Finsent
32.France: 11 for 169 millions including French Arab association
33.China: 5 for 84.1 millions
35.Palestinians: 6 for 37 millions including PLO and Abo Abas
36.Egypt: 11 for 82 millions including Khaled Jamal Abd Al Naser, Emad Eljalda and other companies
48.Swiss: 11 for 81 millions
52.Russia: the largest. 1 milliard and 366 millions given to the state! And the others are 46 individuals, parties, statesmen, and companies etc, given 1343.5 millions!

The swiss haven't changed their time-honoured traditions?
And a whole bunch of mohammad-bin-shoebombers™, george galloway, france and russia were also profiteering, while desparately trying to protect their very big interests by doing whatever they could to stop the Coalition of the Willing in the un for fear of what would be found in Iraq after the war?!? Nah! "I don't believe it".

The war in Iraq entailed huge monetary losses for the above. Their reactions at the time and their behaviour then and now were and are indeed very indicative. It will be interesting to see how this develops.

Update: Here is apparently a complete list (translated here).

Tim Blair links to articles by the Telegraph and this independant article (which of course does its best to spin and cast doubt by using the well-worn terms 'claims', 'US-backed' and 'which it said').

Nearly every country and individual that was so vocally against the Coalition of the Willing is listed. Millions of barrels of oil each. france and russia of course top the list. And george galloway. "Quelle surprise".
Like any other totalitarian state (nazi germany was a prime example; they kept detailed records of what they were doing in the concentration camps and elsewhere), saddam hussein's ba'ahtshit regime recorded and filed everything.
Do you remember how all those russians, french, arabs and others were so over the top vociferous before, during and just after the second Iraq war? Impotent entities like france and galloway put so much, everything even, on the line (galloway so much so that he was suspended from the liebour party). And all those idiots joining the anti-war 'let hussein continue to murder Iraqi civilians' marches, cheering for their big hero galloway while he was laughing all the way to his swiss bank accounts (stupidity, ignorance, lazy thinking, naive - whool, eyes, over, pulled).
All those russians, french, arabs and others knew what would be found if the Coalition of the Willing went to war in Iraq.

Update: The money quote in this article is good:

"Former Interior Minister Charles Pasqua is not involved, but maybe other former ministers are involved"
-- Charles Pasqua --

Hehe. The rats are already starting to rat on each other. This could very well prove to be the biggest shake-up in Western political history. Enron will be relegated to the 'peanuts' category.

Update: Let's see if galloway will continue with his mindless law suit against a couple of the British papers over the last oil "scandal". This was what he said when the last oil for food fiasco was revealed:

"I have never in my life seen a barrel of oil, let alone owned, bought or sold one"

Interesting that he was so specific about owning, buying and selling...
galloway should be done for treason (dated back to 1997 UK law!!)

Update: Bastard Sword links to a bunch more articles and makes his usual entertaining and 'to the point' observations on the subject.

And french president jacques 'The Crook' chiraq™ took bribes as well? Nah! "It can't be true". My whole looney leftist world is falling apart! Surely only the evil American Capitalists™ are corrupt? galloway and 'The Crook' chiraq™ are as white as pure snow and just can't be corrupt, can they...? I mean, surely they don't know the meaning of the concept 'self-interest'. sniff, sniff.

Here's a review of hitler's second book, the unpublished sequel to his first book, 'mein kampf'.
Some excerpts:

But of course Hitler was about much more than this. He was also a pathological mass murderer who caused the death of millions and the destruction of Europe, and so it is important to know that he did precisely what he promised to do. For we still do not seem to have learned a simple crucial lesson that Hitler taught us more definitively than anyone else in history: some people, some regimes, some ideologies, some political programs, and, yes, some religious groups, must be taken at their word. Some people mean what they say, and say what they will do, and do what they said.

Most liberal-minded, optimistic, well-meaning people are loath to believe this. They would rather think that fanaticism is merely an "epiphenomenal" façade for politics, that opinions can be changed, that everyone can be corrected and improved. In many cases, this is true--but not in all cases, and not in the most dangerous ones. There are those who practice what they preach and are proud of it. They view those who act otherwise, who compromise and pull back from ultimate conclusions, as opportunists, as weaklings, as targets to be easily conquered and subdued by their own greater determination, hardness, and ruthlessness. When they say they will kill you, they will kill you--if you do not kill them first.

Hitler taught humanity an important lesson. It is that when you see a Nazi, a fascist, a bigot, or an anti-Semite, say what you see. If you want to justify it or excuse it away, describe accurately what it is that you are trying to excuse away. If a British newspaper publishes an anti-Semitic cartoon, call it anti-Semitic. If the attacks on the Twin Towers were animated by anti-Semitic arguments, say so. If a Malaysian prime minister expresses anti-Semitic views, do not try to excuse the inexcusable. If a self-proclaimed liberation organization calls for the extermination of the Jewish state, do not pretend that it is calling for anything else. The absence of clarity is the beginning of complicity.

Read the whole thing.

Taking into consideration that some events in france might be pointing to some "waking up" taking place, albeit probably too late, and maybe even a mini version of the proverbial gauntlet being thrown down; and also that they've had their very own algerian deathcult™ terrorists blowing up a few 'metros' a wile back: This is interesting.
The thought does come to mind that the US can not be accused of being the only nation to deploy fighters to escort passenger planes entering or flying over their airspace.

There is of course the usual whining:

The unions said that pilots were alarmed by French Air Force Mirage jets taking up position close behind airliners without warning. “The unions deplore this excessive security, which could endanger the lives of passengers and crew,” the SNPL, CGT and SCPNAC unions said. “It is difficult for pilots when they are in the sights of combat aircraft.”

Hmmm... excessive security, which could endanger the lives of passengers and crew? Difficult for pilots when they are in the sights of combat aircraft?
The french airforce isn't the best in the world but they're not that bad either. And surely these airline pilots would be in a lot more difficulty if they were in the sights of a mohammad-bin-shoebomber™ about to use one of these mobile phones on them or if some other muslimist was about to slit their throat with a Stanley knife.

The Mirages are routinely escorting flights arriving from the Middle East, the US and elsewhere.

So is that everywhere then or...? Can't news sensationalist fiction papers ever be clear or otherwise just omit their usual waffle if they don't have the required information? In the universe where pigs fly, maybe.
And here's a typical union official for you:

Dominique Bonnet, an Air France pilot and SNPL union official, said. “They come up behind, so they are not seen by the pilots and passengers and presumably that is where they can aim at us best.”

Hehe. This guy must have actually done a little "research" on the subject. Or maybe he's just guessing. Radar guided missiles are fine from most directions but coming in on your target's six o'clock is indeed, for a variety of reasons, usually 'best'.
Finally there's this little tidbit:

Any order to shoot at a civilian aircraft would have to come from Jean-Pierre Raffarin, the Prime Minister, they say.

The leftist latte liberal chattering classes™ are one of today's bastions of vitriolic, blind hatred and biggotry, emanating from the usual lack of factual knowledge and context (in which to place that knowledge) required to reach such a state of mind. This is of course combined with the requisite, near-total and blind adherence to 'the ideology'™ (which is of course "the perfect ideology"™ (what else could it be and don't you dare suggest otherwise or you'll be shot!) and will solve all past, current and future problems if only those pesky people who don't fit in - usually the Jews and now of course also the Americans - didn't exist. Therefore they, of course (isn't it obvious? can't you see?) "have to be deported or, better yet, exterminated". Or if they're (curses, curses) too powerful to kill, vilified).

Not surprisingly, the two currently predominant incarnations of that attitude towards life, looney leftistism and muslimism, don't only look a lot like each other, but they actually are virtually identical in their behaviour, rhetoric and strategy and the tactics they employ. Moreover, they have, over the last ten years or so, been increasingly working together towards the common cause for hatred™.

Of all the formerly separate groups that strove for that particular cause - stalinists, white supremacists, trotskyists, kkk, mecha, black panthers, muslim brotherhood, anarchists, environmental activists terrorists, neo-nazis, marxists, ira, eta, plo, abu nidal, black september, hizebola, leninists, aryan botherhood, the red brigades, etc. ad infinitum - it seems only the kkk/white supremacists and neo-nazis have not yet been assimilated into this broader movement for hatred.

The American Thinker takes a closer look at the leftists and their hatred.

I read the following on this LGF discussion thread.
It is a wonderfully succinct quote to accompany this earlier post:

The primary lesson of history is "Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it"