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Politics : Bill Clinton Scandal - SANITY CHECK -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: dougjn who wrote (6859)	10/3/1998 2:31:00 PM
From: jbe	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 67261

Targeting civilian populations in a war is hardly genocide. We are talking about targeting ONE'S OWN CITIZENS in a unilaterally declared military assault. After all, the Russians have all along insisted that Chechnya is a part of Russia. Chechens, and other ethnic groups, are still considered Russian citizens. To travel, they must use Russian passports (since the Chechen passports are not recognized). And so forth. One of the (many) justifications the Russian authorities used for carpet-bombing Grozny was that they had to clear it of "criminals and bandits." Wags at home suggested that they bomb Moscow as well, since it had an even larger number of criminals & bandits. "I don't recall support for the Russian effort at all." You do not consider Clinton's comparisons of the Russian-Chechen War to the American Civil War, and of Yeltsin to Lincoln, a form of support? I do. There were quite a few other bloopers of this nature. "I think people regularly overestimate what the U.S. can actually do." I'm with you there. And I realize that "speaking out" may not "do" anything to change the situation we disapprove of. But it is still worth going on record. And believe it or not, there will be people (in this case, Chechens, and many Russians as well) who will appreciate it. I also realize that American spokesmen sometimes moralize in an insufferable fashion, smugly lecturing others on their failings, and so forth. But, as my mother used to tell me when I was being insufferable -- "It's not what you say. It's how you say it." Certain things need to be said. And again, believe it or not, many people abroad EXPECT America to say them, and are grievously disappointed when America does not. jbe