Good ol' America

[flwyd]

Well, I see America is back to its usual self. Where else but America would so many helpful people chip in to help with the war on terrorism? (Thanks, memepool.)

And lest you think we're fighting to support freedom, the following is from the New York Times:

The Bush administration asked newspapers yesterday to refrain from publishing full transcripts of statements issued by Osama bin Laden or his followers, asserting that such statements could inflame Mr. bin Laden's followers and may contain coded messages that could incite attacks on American targets.

The request came a day after the White House national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, talked with top executives of national television news networks, asking them to review videotaped statements from Mr. bin Laden and his followers before broadcasting them. The networks agreed among themselves that they would not broadcast the statements without screening them and editing them if they thought they contained excessively inflammatory language or potential hidden messages.

Yesterday, the White House spokesman, Ari Fleischer, said that he was "pleased by the reception of the network executives" and that he would follow up by making the same request of newspapers.

Incidentally, Georgie, the Taliban has offered to extradite bin Laden to Pakistan for trial. But then, America doesn't practice diplomacy. It makes ultimatums.