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

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (170637)	9/9/2005 1:26:11 AM
From: geode00	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

Geez Loueeze how old is that post? Where have you been? We do not know who is committing what crime in Iraq or even if it, in Iraq, is considered a crime. I doubt that Zarqawi cares about going after prostitutes although I suspect (but do not know for sure) the fundamentalist Shiites have something to say about that. Before we entered Iraq, we were considered the lone superpower in the world. Two and a half years later we're bogged down, admitting that we cannot win militarily and are financing the creation of an Islamic theocracy in a loosely federated chaotic mess. We are also accepting $1 billion in foreign aid from dirt poor countries which feel sorry for some of our citizens. These are not good things. You can be upset as much as you like about Islamic militants but Bush sent in far too few troops in the beginning and refuses now to send in enough to GET THE JOB DONE. Our wishes and wants are worthless because we don't have the manpower to fix things over there. That's reality thanks to Bush's incompetence. On top of everything, we've run out of money. Adding trillions onto our national debt isn't the answer, it's desperation.

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (170637)	9/9/2005 4:58:12 AM
From: Maurice Winn	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

Hawk, one of the things I like about the USA is that they really do gaol criminals from high and low positions in society. Presidents get impeached [not that there have been many but they can be once there is political will] and the rich and famous are hauled into court and prison. What fascinates me is how many people continue to be outright criminal when the risk of capture seems so high and the punishment is quite severe. Even relatively innocent people like Bernie Ebbers and Martha Stewart go to prison for what is really not very criminal at all, and almost normal. I haven't followed the cases, but I can imagine me okaying the booking of expenses as capital to make profits look good, without understanding that such a thing is a lot more than an accounting option and could lead to prison. Martha Stewart was probably not too worried about the profits from the share sale and was just following advice, then got panicked when realizing that such a sale isn't considered good form and might even be illegal, so tried to hide the evidence, not realizing that lying is even worse than what she wasn't prosecuted for [politicians such as King George II lie happily all day long and there is no consequence, though people die in piles, so it's not as though there is no precedent for some tall stories]. Prosecution is a lottery, but I think it does keep people more on the straight and narrow than happens in investment opportunities in other countries. But the complexity of law, without any apparent reason, so that the laws aren't intuitively obvious, is pretty scary. I suspect nearly anyone could be gaoled with close-enough scrutiny of their actions and with a hanging judge. Mqurice