On Mon, 21 Dec 1998, Reeza! wrote: :At 10:03 PM 12/17/98 +0200, Jukka E Isosaari wrote: :>Everyone is touting how he [saddam hussein, (Reeza!)] is behind every :nasty thing that the :>Iraq does, so just kill or capture and imprison him. Don't take :>it out on all the Iraqis. : :Make a martyr of him, in other words? Is it better that we make martyrs of the entire population? We are busy starving the country out of existence right now, and he is the Head of State: that means he understands the Rules Of The Game (all heads of state shall serve at the pleasure of the USG, and shall be subject to elevation or executuion at any time, and for no reason other than some USG whim). Taking a more formal position, i.e., The Good Of The Many, I agree the USG should just go ahead and execute him, rather than make a policy of deliberately toruring an entire country. Even the Good Of The Few arguments go in favor of this "option". Of course, the better option would be that we mind our own business for a change, but we all now how well *that* would go over... :>Now, how's that for an alternative? : :Perfectly acceptable to me personally. Please show how it will result in :proving that Iraq does not, and will not in the near or forseeable future :possess weapons of mass destruction that may be utilized against :neighbors, foreign or domestic. *WHY* is it any of our business whether he owns weapons of *any* kind? WE own them, and we USE them: Does this give other nations the right to embargo us, and to bomb us into oblivion if we refuse to allow THEM to tell US what to do? Our concern for his weaponry should only be an issue *IF* he uses them, as with *OUR* weaponry. Yours is the classical anti-gun argument, and it's no more effective at the international level than at the state level. : Or how it will result in turning the :public opinion, iraqi and/or american, touted by the biased US press in :such a fashion that it would result in a munificent display of openness, :agreeablility, and welcoming to the UN inspectors by the iraqi hosts. Who in the hell is the UN to force their "inspectors" on a sovereign State? Again, would you allow this in your home, by the USG? It's the same thing. : Or :show how Hussein is now trustworthy, and thereby qualified by the MIB :office of the USG to possess said weapons. The USG has no right to "qualify" any foreign nation state for the posession of weapons - this is a right of all persons and states. <much blathering and foaming at the jowls snipped> :Reeza! :DH Key available on request Note that your DH Key is a "munition"... Shouldn't you be "qualified" to have it by the USG - strictly for the safety of the world, of course... Yours, J.A. Terranson sysadmin@mfn.org -- If Governments really want us to behave like civilized human beings, they should give serious consideration towards setting a better example: Ruling by force, rather than consensus; the unrestrained application of unjust laws (which the victim-populations were never allowed input on in the first place); the State policy of justice only for the rich and elected; the intentional abuse and occassionally destruction of entire populations merely to distract an already apathetic and numb electorate... This type of demogoguery must surely wipe out the fascist United States as surely as it wiped out the fascist Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The views expressed here are mine, and NOT those of my employers, associates, or others. Besides, if it *were* the opinion of all of those people, I doubt there would be a problem to bitch about in the first place... --------------------------------------------------------------------