IT3 Stuart Blake Tener, USNR-R <[log in to unmask]> wrote in message news:9nsnbu$h03$1@news.misty.com... > Predicated upon the presumption that the US military forces will > taken decisive and punitive action against the invading forces to the US, it > is the very use of such military force which protects the freedom of those > NOT in favor of using US military forces for such purposes to have the > freedom to object to it at all. How ironic, and paradoxical that is! Those who are not in favour of such action could very well argue that the action would endanger such freedom, not protect it. I share the fear of many that the horror of the evil attacks on Tuesday will blind our leaders to reason. Military action with clear and achievable goals is justifiable. Lashing out at whole countries suspected of sympathising with the attackers is not because it will only make the problem worse. The USA and closely allied countries such as the UK should spend at least as much energy as they do on military action, on looking at themselves to see what they may have done to provoke such hatred. These attacks cannot be justified by any moral criteria but that does not mean that they are totally unprovoked. The USA and allies have for a long time had habits such as taking military action in defiance of UN resolutions, tearing up international treaties which don't suit them, or even of training and/or funding guerrilla/terrorist groups (apparently including Osama bin Laden himself in the 80s). These are just a few examples of actions which some see as imperialist and in extreme cases lead to the hatred of us as we have just seen. > We have come to a time where we must combat terrorists in > manners they understand. I mean in a manner more than killing them, or > putting them in jail. We need to do things to disgrace these terrorists, and > disgrace them on their terms, not ours. I am actually in favor of capturing > Osama bin Ladin prior to his being purged from this earth. We must device > methodologies of punishment, which far exceed our normative thinking for the > US criminal element. For example, killing bin Ladin is not good enough. We > must find out what it is that will disgrace and disturb his element and do > that. Just as a US citizen would find it inhumane to punish a murderer by > tieing his body to the back of a truck and dragging him around until > complete dismemberment has taken place, we must find those things which > bring his kind similar disgust, and then take those actions against him once > caught. Since I am Jewish, I well understand the hatred he has for the Jews > and the State of Israel. I think perhaps we ought tatoo a Star of David on > his chest, and let him go to jail with that, or worse yet be burried with > it. Perhaps feeding his dead body to sharks or some other nasty and > insulting action to depict to his people what our desire and resolve is with > respect to such dastardly people. Just lock them up for life, if they can be caught. What you suggest above can only make the problem worse by encouraging others to 'avenge the martyrs'. -- Chris Dunlop CIS, ITCS, UEA, Norwich. [log in to unmask] * To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, * * etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html *