Click Here to read the Full Text of President Bush's speech to congress and to the world.

Email Zilla - webmaster@thumbzilla.com

ZILLA'S STATEMENT
We mourn the losses of our fellow Americans from this vicious, brutal, unmerciful act of war upon our soil and our people. Our hearts reach out to them and our souls cry for vengeance upon those who have attacked our country. Let there be no mistake: this is the most vicious attack against America since Pearl Harbor. There is but one reponse. We must attack those who have perpetrated this act of war as well as those who harbor and support them. Let there be no mercy, no quarter. No other response will suffice. With or without the support of the rest of the world, we Americans must stand united and resolute, and we must seek out and destroy the terrorists, their organizations, and any governments who support them and their unconscionable actions, and with one voice we must cry out "Never Again!" I am a Vietnam Veteran and I am proud to be an American. America is the greatest country on the face of this earth. America is the most generous country on the face of this earth. America is the strongest country on the face of this earth. We the Americans have now declared war on the terrorists, their networks, and the states and goverments that harbor and support them...we will lead the world in this war against the enemies of civilization and humanity...we hope the world is with us on this one...I am certain the world is with us...but even if it is not, shout now to the cowardly enemies of civilization and of humanity...the terrorists and their supporters...shout out to them from the ends of the earth and let them know that America is coming...that she is united with one voice...and that she is bringing hell with her.


Click Here to read the Full Text of President Bush's speech to congress and to the world.

Email Zilla - webmaster@thumbzilla.com

A NOTE FROM ZILLA

I posted the above statement on the main page of Thumbzilla. I have been receiving some emails in response to my statement, along with many other statements from people around the world.

Some of these emails are very supportive, some lash out bitterly at Americans, and others contain statements that are quite stirring and/or moving. And, I have to say, there are just plain...well... I think it is better if you judge for yourself. I am posting them below, and will continue to post them as I receive them. I did not correct any spelling or grammatical errors...I am posting them just as I receive them. I have left out the names of the people who sent the emails and of any sites to which they referred...instead of the name or site, i just inserted (name) and (site). Everything else is exactly as I received it. I have decided also to put a number for each email so that if you are writing an email response and wish to refer to any of the other posted emails, you can simply refer to it's numbers so that the readers can easily find the email to which you are referring.

It is indeed true that in times of hardship, you find out who your real friends are.

Keep in mind that not only Americans were killed in this act of war, but also many people from many countries. The fact is, people from 80 countries were killed in this despicable act of war.

Additionally, I would like for you to be able to read the full text of President Bush's speech to Congress and to the world that he gave on Thursday, September 20, 2001. To read the speech, click here.

Regards, your friend,

(-)Zilla(-)

You can email Zilla with your statement at webmaster@thumbzilla.com

it really annoys me that you Americans seem to think that you did everything
all by yourselves...who invented the tank? who even started your country? it
says on that link who has even helped the Americans once...try the French in
your war for indepdance or have you forgotten? i ma 18yrs old an i know that
you couldnt have won that war on your own...hell you didnt even beat us...we
beat ourselves coz you were still British at the time!

sorry to moan on an on but i jus want you to realise that the Brits are
right there with you...so dont forget it!

The Barbarians Will Learn What America's All About

By (name)

Syndicated columnist

They pay me to tease shades of meaning from social and cultural issues, to provide words that help make sense of that which troubles the American soul. But in this moment of airless shock when hot tears sting disbelieving eyes, the only thing I can find to say, the only words that seem to fit, must be addressed to the unknown author of this suffering.

You monster. You beast. You unspeakable bastard.

What lesson did you hope to teach us by your coward's attack on our World Trade Center, our Pentagon, us? What was it you hoped we would learn? Whatever it was, please know that you failed.

Did you want us to respect your cause? You just damned your cause.

Did you want to make us fear? You just steeled our resolve.

Did you want to tear us apart? You just brought us together.

Let me tell you about my people. We are a vast and quarrelsome family, a family rent by racial, cultural, political and class division, but a family nonetheless. We're frivolous, yes, capable of expending tremendous emotional energy on pop cultural minutiae, a singer's revealing dress, a ball team's misfortune, a cartoon mouse. We're wealthy, too, spoiled by the ready availability of trinkets and material goods, and maybe because of that, we walk through life with a certain sense of blithe entitlement. We are fundamentally decent, though - peace-loving and compassionate. We struggle to know the right thing and to do it. And we are, the overwhelming majority of us, people of faith, believers in a just and loving God.

Some people - you, perhaps - think that any or all of this makes us weak.

You're mistaken. We are not weak. Indeed, we are strong in ways that cannot be measured by arsenals. Yes, we're in pain now. We are in mourning and we are in shock. We're still grappling with the unreality of the awful thing you did, still working to make ourselves understand that this isn't a special effect from some Hollywood blockbuster, isn't the plot development from a Tom Clancy novel.

Both in terms of the awful scope of its ambition and the probable final death toll, your attacks are likely to go down as the worst acts of terrorism in the history of the United States and, indeed, the history of the world. You've bloodied us as we have never been bloodied before.

But there's a gulf of difference between making us bloody and making us fall. This is the lesson Japan was taught to its bitter sorrow the last time anyone hit us this hard, the last time anyone brought us such abrupt and monumental pain. When roused, we are righteous in our outrage, terrible in our force. When provoked by this level of barbarism, we will bear any suffering, pay any cost, go to any length, in the pursuit of justice.

I tell you this without fear of contradiction. I know my people, as you, I think, do not. What I know reassures me. It also causes me to tremble with dread of the future. In days to come, there will be recrimination and accusation, fingers pointing to determine whose failure allowed this to happen and what can be done to prevent it from happening again. There will be heightened security, misguided talk of revoking basic freedoms. We'll go forward from this moment sobered, chastened, sad. But determined, too. Unimaginably determined.

You see, there is steel beneath this velvet. That aspect of our character is seldom understood by people who don't know us well. On this day, the family's bickering is put on hold. As Americans we will weep, as Americans we will mourn, and as Americans, we will rise in defense of all that we cherish.

Still, I keep wondering what it was you hoped to teach us. It occurs to me that maybe you just wanted us to know the depths of your hatred. If that's the case, consider the message received. And take this message in exchange: You don't know my people. You don't know what we're about. You don't know what you just started.

But you're about to learn.

Again i wish to say i am sorry for my first e-mail!

We mugged them - with love and tears . . . from out hearts. It has been
our privilege and HONOUR to help these Americans and others. I'm at a very
small base (and me? No one important) in St. john's and we busted our
collective asses, setting up field cots, sleeping bags, books to read - even
Braille for the blind passenger, tooth-brushes whatever you could possibly
think of! Our Base kitchens have been going 7/24 - and the cooks have even
amazed themselves with not so much the quantity of food - but the quality!
Dear God, who would have thought it! Cordon Bloody Blu from a military
kitchen! But then, they were cooking with their hearts! I saw a grizzled
Sgt. Maj. with rows of ribbons, Kuwait, Ethiopia, Bosnia, Somalia, Cyprus .
. . . suddenly start to bawl as a little old woman held on to him -
devastated . . . her son was in one of the Towers.

America - on this small base you have honoured us by letting us help you and
right now, if you don't mind, we are ALL Americans! GOD BLESS AMERICA!

(name) GSM - Oak Leaf, Radfan, South Arabia,
St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada.

There are only four sites I use for porn (in order of use).

YOU
(site)
(site)
(site)

I cannot believe the shit that exists out there on the internet.
I assumed that eventually there would be as much crap as there is in any
walk of life, but I was wrong.

Sexhound are one of those groups who ARE shit. I have never used the "report
a crap link" facility on your pages as I have never enough time to.
I have used your site since I first discovered it back in 96 (I think) and
have NEVER had a complaint.
The quality of thumbnails is good and never any repeats - I can only praise
you for a wonderful site.

I understand the feelings about America's suffering, my mother, brother,
sister-in-law and niece were all on the top floor of tower No1 only two days
before the attack. Please don't think I'm having a go. I recall during the
San Francisco disaster that our government offered help, most was refused
but some were used I think, notably rescue teams. I think it is important to
remember that America has many resources and I personally cannot see how we
could give any additional help to the facilities already available. (for
example have you seen the size of OUR fire engines, they are no more than 25
feet long & our biggest sky scraper is probably as big as your smallest !).

That said I feel helpless and very sad. Every country in the world will be
affected by this, it is not an attack on America, it was an attack on all
developed countries - I think America was chosen because it is the most free
and has the biggest targets. I wait and hope that a response is made by ALL
countries, with America as part of a global team, if they are seen to act
alone it will only make them a bigger target. Lets hope justice is carried
out and this does not escalate into a Christians V Muslims thing (I am
atheist and grateful of it).

Yours in grief

(name)
England

Pretty cool site you are running there, I have to say it is one of the top
10 TGPs I visit and you are listed top of our links page. The main reason
for this Email isn't to suck up and ask for free ads or anything, it has to
do with the awful events in the US last week.

I have been trying to post an item to a message board on AOL - who insist on
censoring it and that is making me see red.

Considering the views you have expressed on Zilla you might like to find
room to post the following somewhere - if you think it is good enough.

BTW: I had a good chuckle at the love/hate mail page, going back now to
finish reading it.

Cheers.

An Evening in September

On an evening in September
I was thinking of my bed
no thoughts at all of things to come
were going trough my head

I lingered on for one more show
when right before my eyes
a plane with many souls aboard
came crashing from the skies

A shining tower of glass an steel
was hit as I looked on
a fire broke out then all at once
the shining tower was gone

I could not then, nor now accept
that what I saw was real
a pile of rubble, smoke and blood
replaced the tower of steel

Was this all just some big stunt?
some trick of stage and screen?
but with the morning came the news
reality obscene

What words are there to offer
to those whose loved ones died
how can pain be burned away
while justice is denied?

Never in the world before
has such a thing been done
A coward's way to make a point
well now they'd better run!

Vengace says the Bible
belongs unto the Lord
but on this sad occasion
I am not in accord

Evil men with evil minds
must all be wiped away
The debt they owe is greater than
their deaths can ever pay

The seething nest of vipers
has not the rights of men
The world cannot allow their like
to walk the Earth again.

September 2001

Fact 1
I'm Italian (sorry for my rusty english).
2 be from the states, here, it means being something special. It means being a good friend that comes from a land everybody keeps dreaming about. when it happened what it happened, the whole city (Milano) was like freezed in terror. I personally have seen on tv all the facts while happening and I could hardly believe my eyes. Me and some friends we were standing in front of the tv and nobody was able to speak. In the name of the italian people I know I say that we're near to your pain. It's true, America helped us during the world war... but I'm not sorry for this tragedy because of USA's help. This would be "commerce". I would have been sorry even if it turned out that the USA were our enemies during the world war.

Fact 2
I must admit I never admired America for its politic choices. American natives, Nicaragua, and the list goes on... but, hey, let me say one thing. What happened is a terrible tragedy and I personally am near with my feelings to your people. No matter what the USA have done, terrorism it's not the anwer. The WTC was full of people with a living, people with feelings and personal history, family, memories. There is no reason on this word to allow such an absurd tragedy.

Fact 3
I've recently read somewhere that in the last days, in the states there was a man who was driving... he stopped his car because he have seen one man. He was looking exactly like one of those faces the driver has seen in tv. He get off the car and draw his gun: "Die you bastard! Revenge! death to islam!" BLAM - BLAM - BLAM - BLAM - BLAM...
Useless to say, this man was only a peacefull indian (Kish religion) and got nothing to do with the tragedy... but he died shoot by this very patriotic american hero.

It makes you think... isn't it?

021
I got this off a bulletin board onlin in case you haven't read it yet...it's WELL worth reading :)

Well, you hit the World Trade Center, but you missed America.

You hit the Pentagon, but you missed America.

You used helpless American bodies, to take out other American bodies, but like a poor marksman, you STILL missed America.

Why? Because of something you guys will never understand.

America isn't about a building or two, not about financial centers, not about military centers, America isn't about a place, America isn't even about a bunch of bodies.

America is about an IDEA. An idea, that you can go someplace where you can earn as much as you
can figure out how to, live for the most part, like you envisioned living, and pursue Happiness.
(No guarantees that you'll reach it, but you can sure try!)

You guys seem to be incapable of understanding that we don't live in America, America lives in US!

American Spirit is what it's called. And killing a few thousand of us, or a few million of us, won't change it.
Most of the time, it's a pretty happy-go-lucky kind of Spirit. Until we're crossed in a cowardly manner,
then it becomes an entirely different kind of Spirit.

Yeah, we're fat, sloppy, easy-going goofs most of the time. That's an unfortunate image to project to the world,
but it comes of feeling free and easy about the world you live in. It's unfortunate too, because people start to
forget that when you attack Americans, they tend to fight like a cornered badger. The first we knew of the War of 1812, was when England burned Washington D.C. to the ground. Didn't turn out like England thought it was going to,
and it's not going to turn out like you think, either. Sorry, but you're not the first bully on our shores, just the most recent.

We were the FIRST and so far, only country in the world to use nuclear weapons in anger. Horrific idea, nowadays? News for you bucko, it was back then too, but we used it anyway. Only had two of them in the whole world and we used 'em both. Grandpa Jones worked on the Manhattan Project. Told me once, that right up until they threw the switch, the physicists were still arguing over whether the Uranium alone would fission, or whether it would start a fissioning chain reaction that would eat everything. But they threw the switch anyway, because we had a War to win. Does that tell you something about American Resolve?

So who just declared War on us? It would be nice to point to some real estate, like the good old days.
Unfortunately, we're probably at war with random camps, in far-flung places. Who think they're safe.
Just like the Barbary Pirates did, IIRC. Better start sleeping with one eye open.

There's a spirit that tends to take over people who come to this country, looking for opportunity, looking for liberty,
looking for freedom.

Wait until you see what we do with that Spirit, this time. Sleep tight, if you can.

We're coming.

Attached is your earlier text message, along with two
eagles in a revised format (I'm going to frame it). I
think your message and the pictures, really hit home.
If you want, I can just e-mail you the jpg file of the
second eagle.

Even though I was too young for the Vietnam war
(missed out on all the "free love" too) and was unable
to join any of the services (legally blind in one eye;
couldn't even get a med waiver), I am able to serve
our warfighters by working for a branch of the DoD as
a civilian.

(name)

(name)
An American Soldier

However, referring to your script at Thumzilla
start page, don't you see that the human race is
all one family, we are all in the same boat.

Continuing the series of crime won't do any
difference. Do you REALLY believe in punishment,
in the name of civilization?

I believe that matters can ALWAYS be settled by
negotiation, not by punishment. (You can't kill
the entire population of other nations, or do you
think that would be ok?)

As a non-american I got the impression that
Americans do believe they are a highly advanced,
civilized and cultivated nation. President Bush's
fierce reaction to terrorism even prior to
results from investigations, doesn't look very
civilized to me.

I understand the shock and grief, I understand
that something must be done, but isn't there
other ways than wage war forever?

Best wishes, live in peace, show dignity.

It sickens us though, during this time_people can be so shallow and selfish.
(i.e., the 18 year old from England -Zilla note: email #018 ) *Side bar: My wife is also from
England_here now 16 years.
We've watch news daily on the tragic events.
She took great pride when the 'Queen of England' ordered the playing of our
National Anthem to be played during the famed_"Changing of the Guard"
ceremonies and countless other acts of kindness. We watched broadcasts from
all over the world of people from all walks of life in mourning with and for
our Nation.
` Even after reading his second posting_we were still numb. It was a weak
attempt.

One of the more powerful postings we read was from:
"(name) GSM - Oak Leaf, Radfan, South Arabia,
St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada." Zilla note: email #013)

My wife and I lost it as we read on...
As a proud *Former Marine '82-89'__ his words made my chest expand with
pride.
The compassion most are able to express is astounding to say the least.
That's what the human race is all about. My hat is off to all the worlds
populations for all their support during our time of need. And for all their
support, we'll no doubt be asking for as we attack and conquer the opposition.

Stand ready, EVIL !
Here we come_ready and more powerful than you could ever imagine. And
remember, you asked for this.