What analogy?
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The analogy of not being afraid of Iraq because the US is quite capable of crushing his skull and how that didn't work with bin Laden. As I said, it's like saying one should destroy New York City to get rid of the Gambino family.
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I'm pointing out why it might not be a great idea to sit and wait.
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Sit and wait for what? It's not like Hussein can even reach the US, let alone try to hit it. You're conflating the actions of a criminal organisation with those of a nation state again. They are not the same thing.
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>>Also, if you're living in fear of Al-Qaida, then your priorities
\r\n>>are basically boxed; you're far far more likely to buy the farm
\r\n>>on a highway than you are to be killed by terrorists.
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Yeah...and estimates are that the sanctions on Iraq killed between 500,000 and 1,000,000. If your rationale is legitimate...that makes the war we are inflcting on them negligible doesn't it?
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Another bad analogy. My point is about an individual assessing risks to their physical self, and you're talking about the affect of actions on a population. Try again.
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>>If the US was living in a false paradise before, that does not excuse the
\r\n>>current movement towards widespread abolition of the consitutional
\r\n>>protections of the individual from the state.
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You need to evidence this. The majority of the legislation enacted is expressly written to exclude U.S. citizens. So that leaves us with a statistically VERY small number of people impacted. Now.... if I take your statistical reasoning...I think that leads you to say "fuck 'em"...right?
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Well, only if we take your strawman version of my reasoning. Besides, in case you didn't notice, I'm not an US citizen. Furthermore, one of my countrymen's been sitting down in Guantanamo Bay incommunicado for a year or so, so clearly there's no compunction about holding Canadians without any due process whatsoever; Land of the Free, right? As a person who is sitting here looking at the risks to myself, misdirected fury of your justice system ranks a lot higher than al-Qaida, as I'm a LOT more likely to run into your justice system than I am to run into al-Qaida. Finally, while the majority of legislation is written to exclude US citizens, there is some legislation that does NOT exclude US citizens, and this legislation makes a total mockery of your (as in you, Mike) rights against unreasonable search and seizure.
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I'm surprised you're not more concerned about this.
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>>Nor does it excuse the US abdication of its international responsibilities.
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You mean like voting for 1441 then failing to follow through?
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See Negroponte's comments about automaticity. They've been referenced here enough. Besides, the Bush administration let it slip some months ago... their goal was regime change and nothing less would satisfy them. 1441 doesn't say anything at all about regime change. "Failing to follow through" is a red herring.
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>>The US cannot conquer the world, and if it tries it will only ensure
\r\n>>its own destruction.
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To infinity and beyond. Not sure who talked about conquering the world.
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The Project for a New American Century, that's who. Go look 'em up on the web, and take a nice long look at the people who signed on the founding principles of the group. Then go read some of the papers they've published.
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>>Do you really want to live in a world where the current rules\r\n>>of international order no longer apply?
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Dude ....... this has been true for years. You just don't know it yet.
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Wow, you are ignorant of how the world works, aren't you? Are you looking forward to a complete breakdown in global trade? Where do you think the rules governing global trade come from? How about the rules governing interoperation if national telecom systems? How about the rules governing interoperation of power grids? Highway systems? The system of international order touches your life daily, every time you use a good manufactured or otherwise produced outside the US.
--\r\n-------------------------------------------------------------------\r\n* Jack Troughton jake at consultron.ca *\r\n* [link|http://consultron.ca|http://consultron.ca] [link|irc://irc.ecomstation.ca|irc://irc.ecomstation.ca] *\r\n* Kingston Ontario Canada [link|news://news.consultron.ca|news://news.consultron.ca] *\r\n-------------------------------------------------------------------