[thechat] State of Union Address

Seb Potter seb at members.evolt.org
Wed Jan 29 06:57:00 CST 2003


> My personal opinion:
> @_#$*)#$%% France
> _^)$%#(*&# Germany
>
> Their opinion doesn't matter any more. We don't need them and should
> pull out any troops there for their continued 'protection'. Of course
> I'd like to see us keep some the and use any base(s) as a jumping-off
> point, but we spend too much there for protection that's not needed.

Yikes, this is kinda scary.

So, forget about support for the actions of America, if other nations
are slightly cautious about taking action on the international stage,
then America should ignore them and go ahead anyway?

Hans Blix says that Iraq may have some rockets and biological weapons,
but as yet there is no evidence either way. The thing is, it's pretty
bloody difficult to prove you don't have something when somebody else is
insisting that you do, especially in a country that's almost all desert
and hills.

Colin Powell says that "Iraq's time for choosing peaceful disarmament is
coming to an end".

Says who? The US? To paraphrase Hugh Blair, @"£%)*"!"! the United
States.

Sorry Hugh, but when United Nations' Chief Weapons Inspector says more
time is needed, and Kofi Annan says more time is needed, and the leaders
of most civilised countries say more time is needed, then maybe the US
should start listening.

As for protecting France and Germany... as John asks, are you even aware
of the socio-political situation in Europe at the moment? I guess not,
otherwise you might have noticed that the majority of eastern Europe is
now part of the EU, with many more member states on the way. (Possibly
including Turkey.) At a time when America is searching the world for
enemies old and new, Europe is embracing new members and redefining
itself as the major international force, economically, politically, and
militarily. Even Russia is being considered a part of Europe now, with
far closer ties than ever before.

You might want to think about the benefits your allies bring. The best
anti-terrorism units in the world are those in England, France and
Germany. American forces use them as a model for couter-terror
operations, because we have decades of experience. When Bush refers to
suspected terrorists being arrested, he's not talking about anything
that the US has done. He's talking about operations in France, Germany,
Spain, Italy and the UK. You know, those countries where we generally
let people have the opportunity to defend themselves in court, rather
than drugging them and leaving them hooded and chained in a patch of
dirt rented from Cuba for a year without access to legal defence or
family and with only the propsect of being executed after a kangaroo
court appearance in front of a military tribunal.

Argh. I'm hung-over and ranting. Mostly not directed at you Hugh, but at
the kind of thinking that leads to ill-considered statements like the
one you made.

- seb.




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