I tmay be true that getting rid of bin Laden isn’t the ultimate solution–I’ve heard some say that if you kill one cockroach, there are still millions left. But can any of you honestly say that if a cockroach appeared in your home, you wouldn’t stomp on it, because, after all, that wouldn’t take care of your roach problem? Of course not–you crush it and say, “Well, that’s one gone. Now let’s call the Orkin man.”
Personally, I think assassination would be a bad idea. First, we wouldn’t be able to try him. Second, it would be MUCH better if we could frame him and ruin his reputation instead.
In the Tom Clancy book Executive Orders, (the sequel to the one that ends with the plane crash), President Jack Ryan…
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SPOILER SPACE
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Last warning…
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rescinds this order and and proceeds to drop a very large bomb on the leader responsible for the attacks against the U.S. On national TV.
I remember reading this. There was a Presidential Finding, whatever that means in the US Constitution (I’m a Canadian, don’t know as much about the US as I could). This Finding was that the Executive Order didn’t apply in times of war.
what? like we have pix of him picking and arranging flowers? THAT would ruin his rep…
But we’re NOT at war. We haven’t declared war, we don’t even know for sure who the enemy really IS.
I am gravely concerned about this sort of legal precedent. Today, the Bush junta decided that legal non-citizen immigrants have no right of Habeus Corpus, no right to a speedy trial or due process. They can be detained as long as the government likes. This flies in the face of the US Constitution, which promises equal protection under the law to all RESIDENTS of the US, not just citizens.
http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/09/18/inv.ashcroft.presser/index.html
Constitutional rights have not been suspended like this since the internment camps of WWII.
I would vote to repeal the order, as I feel that the threat of asassination would be an effective deterrent to the kind of people who masterminded the attacks of 9/11. The bombers themselves were not afraid to die, but I suspect bin Laden and Hussein are.
I think there a few questions here.
Firstly I have always believed that in times of war the leadership of an enemy state is a deemed to be legitimate military target. Whether the present situations counts as a war is another issue altogether.
Secondly; We here in the UK have no such prohibition and have used deadly force against terrorists in the recent past. We could always do it for you.
As to our opinion on this. I can’t speak for all Brits, and there will be differences here, but I feel that it is perfectly reasonable to demand his head on a plate and indeed to put it there yourselves.
As to your President or our PM or Queen being possible targets in return, they already are. You’ve had Presidents assasinated and we nearly lost Margaret Thatcher in Brighton.
As usual, Chas E. finds a way to make the issue more about his dislike of GW Bush than to address what others are discussing.
GWB’s administration, in my estimation, is handling this crisis about as well as can be imagined, and certainly better than either Clinton or Gore could have possible done. As for the comments that “Constitutional rights have not been suspended like this since the internment camps of WWII.”, I would like to know exactly whose rights have been suspended?? Those who have been detained for questioning?? How many have there been?? 100?? Gimme a big fu*king break already. The largest criminal investigation in the history of our nation is underway and so far only 100 people have been taken into custody, and this is supposed to be some sort of constitutional crisis? Blow it out your ass.
As for the original issue, of course the military/intelligence officials that work to defend our nation ought to be able to kill those which pose threats to our nation. There is no question about it. No amount of hand-wringing over this issue will change my mind, and I am absolutely suspicious of those in power. However, in this country, the gov’t. reports to us the people. Not only do they report to us, but we have a huge media establishment bent on reporting everything that takes place within the gov’t.
Better to wipe out some rogue leader than to take out 50,000 civilians. I believe that our way of life is best and that we have a free, open, mobile society and that if some 3rd world dictator or power-monger wants to threaten us and our way of living, we have a right to take them out. Is there any doubt that we are morally superior to most other forms of government and social orders?? I have no doubt. We may have flaws and a history to make up for, but no government in the Mid-East, Africa, or SE Asia is as free as we are, gives the common citizen the amount of civil rights as we do, and allows for civil treatment of it’s prisoners as we do. So, this being said, we don’t risk any threat of becoming like Bin Laden by allowing our spies to assassinate those who threaten us.