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OT and contentious: Torture photos from Iraq
Wilko
Typed in Message-ID:
If there were U.S. advisors at the scene of the slaughter, then you
definately should take responsibility. Just standing around doing
nothing when people are being tortured or murdered means that you're
involved as well. It's not as if these so called advisors aren't a party
in a war, even if their designation seems to point in another direction..
Then NATO and the European community is responsible for the ethnic cleansing of
the Serbian Population from Croatia and the atrocities committed by the
Croatians?
The European community didn't do anything to stop that action, which is
directly responsible for the debacle that followed in the Balkans.
Often these so called advisors are in
effect leading these groups of foreign troops and if these troops don't
work on the U.S. orders (direct or indirect), and the group will lose
all (material, financial and direct military) support from the U.S
I don't see that in Afganistan. The local Militias had a command structure
already in place and were by all non secret accounts pretty independent.
Support does not mean control. While the US has leverage with these groups,
that does not mean day to day control of the complete infrastructure.
Often in War you are forced to choose Allies that you would have perferred not
to deal with in Peace. Stalin in WWII (or the French :^)) for example. And that
is what the current situation is, whether you want to recognize that or not, a
War. Even the best of the local Middle Eastern governments are despotic and
oppressive, so what real choices are available?
As for this being an all out war: you can't have it both ways. Either
you adhere to things like international law and the Geneva conventions
for example, using them to call this a fight for freedom and against
terrorism, or you engage in similarly disgusting tactics as the
terrorists, agreeing with the
commonplace use of torture, prisoner abuse
and locking up great quantities of innocent people without looking after
their human rights.
In reality, the Terrorist have little protection under either international law
or the Geneva Convention. While the Taliban would fall under the protection of
the Convention, there is nothing in it that would prevent you from executing
members of Al Quada whenever you captured one.
How do you know that these people are innocent? I think that is an assumption
that is a stretch in a combat zone.
The U.S. government has been using double standards and strong arm
tactics for quite some time now, but I'm surprised that it takes so long
for the limited international support for this behaviour to fall apa
Yet you didn't seem to mind when NATO
intervened in the Balkans without UN support and the oppositions of most of
Slavic Europe.
Personally, my opinion of it is that Continental Europe would like to sit back
and let the US and the Brits do all the dirty work and except the benefits of
that effort,
while point at how aweful our behavior is while do it.
SYOTR
Larry C.
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