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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lou Weed who wrote (141213)	7/22/2004 11:06:39 AM
From: Nadine Carroll	Respond to of 281500

Michael, you are being ridiculous. Weapons are directly designed to kill the other guy. Many other tools are used to prevent the other guy from completing his mission - the whole of strategy is about is - including radar, and radio, and various measures to change the landscape of the battlefield, such as burning it since ancient times or Agent Orange in modern. That still doesn't classify a defoliant as a weapon. It wasn't designed to kill people.

To: Lou Weed who wrote (141213)	7/22/2004 11:10:15 AM
From: Neocon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

First, the term "circular argument" refers to covertly assuming what is, in fact, in contention, in other words, arguing in circles. That is what you are doing. You are in essence saying "it is a weapon, therefore it is a weapon." You are not making any real argument against my distinction, you are trying to blow it off so that, like Humpty Dumpty, words mean whatever you say they mean. Second, as to my "tactics": if I did not think that it was a crucial distinction, I would not bring it up. It is not semantics to say that the US was deliberately engaging in chemical warfare, it is a serious charge, and therefore it is not semantics to say that, in fact, Agent Orange is not a chemical weapon. That is not getting away from the point, that IS the point. It may irresponsible to dump something like Agent Orange without regard to who might be standing on the ground below, but it was not an anti- personnel device, it was a defoliant........