Of Palestinians rejoicing

[Otto]

"Me"
>
> Agreed, if this includes the end of the violence against Iraqui
> children. I must admit that I was shocked by this:

You:
I don't think it is to cheer for infanticide to point out that these
sanctions have a reasonable purpose.......Furthermore, self
flagellation at the expense of analysis may be soothing to the
conflicted soul, but it should not obscure the role played by the
more immediate enabler.....
>
By the way, Bin Laden is already a hero to the millions oppressed by
our indifference and offended by our calculated starvation of Iraqi
infants, right? However and wherever he dies he will be declared a
martyr. What do you suggest ought to be done with him and his
assistants *now*? How many people would you suggest that he be
allowed to kill in the name of his favorite brand of Islam? Should he just
go
on until he gets bored and retires to a villa with a view, somewhere
with nice weather? Perhaps he won't get bored. Pehaps there will
always be some excuse, some reason for him to declare me his mortal enemy,
and try to kill me, as an American, even as I mind my own frigging
business and fail --- really, seriously fail --- to give a tinker's cuss
what
he does in his adopted country.
>
And by the by, wading out into even deeper merde, is Sharia just
another subset of charming folkways ("memes", of course) that ought
to
be encouraged to flourish? Opinions anyone? Not that it is any of our
business, of course.
>
> Mark
>

I have no doubts that the sanctions were justified ten years ago but the
question must be allowed if you are willing to sacrifice all these children
instead of chasing the one responsible out of office. The reasonable purpose
of the sanctions hasn't been reached but the effects on others are cruel. It
would have been not so cruel to have sent B 52's ten years ago and finish
Saddam Hussein off.

You've misunderstood my intentions because "self flagellation" isn't my
business, I'm no religious fanatic. I have just said that I was shocked and
I don't question the source because I don't believe that someone would set
it on the www if she hadn't said so.

Furthermore, I wasn't shocked about Mrs. Albright because I'm sure she
clearly knew what she was saying. Given her personal story I don't believe
that she's a cruel woman.

I was shocked because it's our way of living that defines our interests
and the way we (or our politicians) act. We are all standing behind that
statement without admitting this so honestly and openly as Mrs. Albight has
done. It's not just an American thing that we have learned very easily to
live with the fact that despite all our good intentions people are starving
to death while we put billions of dollars or deutschmark into arms.

But you had a non-rhetorical question about how to deal with those who
commit terrorist acts. They should be hunted done of course, all of them,
everywhere - which gets us to the next problem, the problem of definitions.
Will this "War Against Terror" be extended to, for example, the IRA (or
their protestant counterparts), the ETA or Tamil Tigers too, what I would
appreciate because the people of Ireland, Spain and Sri Lanka are sick of
it. Or in the case of the numerous non-democratic countries in the world,
will it be applied to every group fighting against a government trying to
keep old ties from the colonial era, declaring to terrorism what maybe in
fact has been the beginning of the USA too?

Guess it's time to re-read Barbara Tuchman's "The March of Folly," which is
printed on paper & I have paid for it. I agree with Phil that all this could
make a great president of George Bush, but if the gets America into a
situation like Vietnam or like the Russians faced in Afghanistan the
contrary will happen.

Otto
"A little disinformation is good for keeping your defenses up"

BTW:
I can only give the advice to Osama bin Laden to come to Germany as soon as
possible and get into jail here.
WHY ? -- we wouldn't deliver him to the US because there's the death penalty
and our laws forbid that we turn people over to countries which have that
kind of inhuman punishment, if the people in question are in danger of
facing that sentence. If Mr. Bush could decide to abolish the death penalty
this would be a giant step in becoming a great president. I was kind of
impressed by him the last two weeks and I don't think that the car-sticker
Kai tells about is in any case justified.