I find it interesting that those of us who have been opposing the war for months precisely because we don’t want to see unnecessary killing are now being accused by morons like Tristan of not caring about the injured and killed.
I don’t care if you support the war - that is your right. But don’t get all fucking holier-than-thou and pretend that you care more for the vicitms of war than i do.
A couple of points, CuriousCanuck:
[ul]
[li] The term “war crimes” is usually used to mean actions that violate the international law of war (which is comprised of treaties signed on the subject). If Bush’s orders violated American law, he wouldn’t be guilty of war crimes, he’d just have commited a regular crime. Perhaps this is overly pedantic, but I do think it’s an important distinction.[/li][li] What you quoted is an Executive Order, not a law passed by Congress. I believe it was instituted by Ford, but Bush could rescind it at any time. That he hasn’t persumably means he thinks he hasn’t violated it, but he could be wrong. [/li][li] You’ll notice that the section you quoted fell under the heading of “Conduct of Intelligence Activities”. Having the military lob missiles at someone doesn’t qualify as an “intelligence activity”, thus the executive order is apparently not relevant. [/li][li] And as I said before, Bush’s speech was not a declaration of war, so firing missiles at Saddam before or after the speech would have the same legality.[/li][/ul]
Sorry, but I haven’t found your argument in favor of war crimes very convincing.
Wow… now here’s the flames and fire.
I’m truly impressed.
I make a point to hopefully change the direction of the thread, which had become a bunch of chest beating and dickwhipping with a remark about the fact that while folks were in here re-fighting the election of 2000 and all that partisan crap, people were dying.
Now I’m called a couple of names for having the temerity of mentioning it.
Maybe if you were so dedicated to the cause of peace, you would be doing things like volunteer bandage wrapping for the Red Cross(if they still do that) or trying to organize a food drive for the Iraqi civilians instead of having a bunch of folks that look like punks and hippies banging on drums and fucking up the neighborhood to try to make some sort of point. If you don’t want people to die, do something about it instead of just flapping your fucking mouths and yammering like a herd of anti-establishment sheep.
Good lord, I don’t swear this much IRL, let alone online.
So a hearty “lick my choad” to my detractors, who seemed awfully eager to paint me with the warmonger brush, and a solemn wave of the hand and a wish for safety for all those involved in this conflict.
It would be nice if principled people of differing viewpoints could at least respect one another enough to listen first without demonizing. “Punks and hippies?” “Flapping fucking mouths and anti-establishment sheep?”
FTR, the syndrome is just as prevelant on the left as right. Speaking (obviously) for no one but myself, I can’t help but worry about the extent to which we’ve projected our domestic definitions of “right/left/right/wrong” way beyond meaningful boundaries.
Sick of cant,
Veb