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

To: skinowski who wrote (152721)	11/26/2004 8:14:43 PM
From: Michael Watkins	Respond to of 281500

I am sure you didn't mean it, but you almost sound as if war and violence have been invented by America's Founding Fathers. No I did not mean that and would never suggest such a thing. The point in highlighting the past is to ensure that the present is viewed in the proper context. A great many simply can't believe that we'd ever purposely or intentionally go to war for the wrong reasons. Most of these same folks are also ignorant of the past. When one looks at history, we can see that, more often than not, we have fought for reasons other than what was stated and sold to the public; and have been directly responsible for the deaths of innocents totalling several orders of magnitude more than every single American killed by terrorism in the history of the country. Knowing this, looking at every action - not just this most recent - with a skeptical eye not only makes sense but should be the duty and responsibility of every citizen. Where power is involved corruption lurks nearby. Unfortunately the leadership of many countries, not just the United States, are rarely fully held to task for their actions. If leaders were truly accountable they would fear their contemporaries, not what history books in decades to come, would say of and do to them. If we were actually told the whole truth and nothing but the truth, then President Bush would not be skirting the United State's own War Crimes legislation. The fact that he has intentionally hidden behind legal maneuvers and nuances speaks volumes as to whether the current actions are just and right. As for those in our own country who encourage the foe [by opposing the President's policies], we can afford contemptuously to disregard them; but it must be remembered that their utterances are not saved from being treasonable merely by the fact that they are despicable. --Theodore Roosevelt One of the great ironic quotations I've come across: "Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the President." --Theodore Roosevelt This is the same president that millions of tourists see annually at Mount Rushmore, and few realize how fully and completely he supported the barbarity that was his "Phillipine problem": The Philippines offer a yet graver problem. Their population includes half-caste and native Christians, warlike Moslems, and wild pagans. Many of their people are utterly unfit for self-government and show no signs of becoming fit. --Theodore Roosevelt