| |
Ross, your stance here completely baffles me. You're nitpicking against
taking action but you (and Jason) haven't proposed any concrete plan of your
own other than (paraphrasing and guessing) "right all the injustice in the
world everywhere and the murderers will stop murdering". Please explain how
that would work. I don't see it.
We do need to right injustice. We do need to examine our policies, internal
and external. But now is not the time.
In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Ross Crawford writes:
> And how is applying military force to the people of Afghanistan, many of whom
> don't follow the Taliban regime, gonna provide any result. It's likely to kill
> a lot of innocent people, and unlikely to cause any major harm to bin Laden.
> And what if you later find out that bin Laden *wasn't* the perpetrator?
Osama bin Laden is a terrorist. His gang are terrorists. The Taliban are
accomplices who need to be brought down. So do all the rogue states, for
that matter. What is being proposed here, though, is something far broader
than just "going after" the particular perpetrators. It is a "war on terrorism".
That makes bin Laden a target, a very important target, whether he's the
perpetrator or not. So your question is irrelevant. He has enough blood on
his hands to be a target regardless. If he didn't do this particular crime,
he's still a (previously indicted) criminal worthy of punishment and after
we find him, we'll find proof it wasn't him with his stuff.
It will take years and trillions of dollars to do this war. It may cost in
real dollars as much as WW II did. I think the people of America are ready
to spend that though. We are slow to anger as a nation but our anger is a
mighty thing once aroused.
There is an editorial circulating that I think sums this feeling up pretty well.
http://www.miami.com/herald/content/features/columnists/pitts/digdocs/000565.htm
(that may not be the only place to find it, I have seen it elsewhere)
>Again, you're lumping the whole Afghan population together here, and I very
> much doubt that they all support bin Laden, in fact I'd be surprised if more
> than a small minority even knows he's there. If it's OK to let these innocent
> people "enjoy the consequences", then why are you so angry that innocent
> Americans just "enjoyed the consequences" of America's alliances?
The first bombing of Afghanistan needs to be with leaflets. It needs to
explain what happened and what is about to be done and offer a choice. Rise
up, aid the cleansing force, overthrow the Taliban, or be part of the
infection, and be cleansed. Ditto for the first bombing of Iraq and the
first bombing of N. Korea, and the first bombing of Libya, because this is
not about Afghanistan and Afghanistan alone.
> I realise some people will think I'm heartless making such comments,
> but that's just how I feel about Dave's comments.
I think there is merit in questioning, up to a point. We need to make sure
we do things in as safe and effective manner as possible. But once the
questions have been satisfactorily answered, the perception of the
questioner isn't that they are heartless, but that they are clueless. You
aren't over that line quite yet. Quite. But you're close.
++Lar
|
|
Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: War
|
| (...) On the contrary, I summarised what I think is appropriate action here (URL) but you (and Jason) haven't proposed any concrete plan of your (...) Does "concrete plan" == "the right response"? (...) On the contrary, I think we've just been shown (...) (23 years ago, 15-Sep-01, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
| | | Re: War
|
| (...) That's childish. I could summarise your position as "lets kill lots of people somewhere far away - that'll make everything better", but that would be equally insulting. I certainly don't recommend the US try to march in everywhere to 'right (...) (23 years ago, 17-Sep-01, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
|
Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: War
|
| (...) and (...) According to whom? (...) In fact it's unlikely bin Laden actually leaves his "protective apron" - he probably delegates any international tasks to others. And how is applying military force to the people of Afghanistan, many of whom (...) (23 years ago, 14-Sep-01, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
|
177 Messages in This Thread:
(Inline display suppressed due to large size. Click Dots below to view.)
- Entire Thread on One Page:
- Nested:
All | Brief | Compact | Dots
Linear:
All | Brief | Compact
This Message and its Replies on One Page:
- Nested:
All | Brief | Compact | Dots
Linear:
All | Brief | Compact
|
|
|
|
