Bush Never Said "Imminent Threat"

True Blue,

You're an idealist living in a cruel, ugly, world.

There are people out there in the world who would kill you and all you love given the chance and laugh about it.

You think you can reason with them and make friends with them.
You think you can appeal to International Law and silence them.
You think you can appease them by giving them what they want.

Don't you get it?

They want you dead! Period.

So what's it gonna be?

 

Not at all. I simply think we should live by the rules we ask others to obey. Without consistency in our own behavior, it is impossible to have any kind of moral authority. That is why the US has such a hard time marshalling international support for any of its foreign adventures - the US has a really terrible track record when it comes to such things. (Well, that's one reason - the other reason is because the evidentiary case that Bush presented for invading Iraq was weak and lame; which is why the major countries opposed it and the US was forced to buy friends with grants of foreign aid money).

International law exists for a purpose, and can achieve a lot of things. It is, in fact, how we have been able to bring Nazi prison guards to trial, Serbian war criminals to trial, and set up demilitarized zones, international relief efforts, and peace patrols in troubled areas. We have also used it to force dictators to leave (Haiti, Liberia), because we had the force of world opinion behind us.

Your unwillingness to recognize cold, hard facts indicates that you are unwilling to criticize your own country, when it does wrong, or acts in violation of intl laws or its own laws. Because you are so biased and cannot be objective about such matters, you have no credibility when you criticize other countries.

In addition, if this is just a cruel world where people kill and get killed, then all your whining and hand-wringing over terrorism is just empty noise. According to you, that's just how things are, so you should just pick your little self up, cut out the crybaby act, and get moving.

Funny; I was going to ask you the same question.

 

True Blue,

You still ignore the facts.

Terrorists and Dictators like Saddam will not adhere to International Law. They will not bow to international pressure. The only thing they understand is strength and a bigger stick.

I'm not opposed to International Law - I'm just opposed to thinking that assumes that criminals will abide by any kind of law.

And no I'm not afraid to criticize my government. I've been doing that since I was a G.I. in Viet Nam.

One other question. How do you survive in Wyoming? I would think someone in Wyoming would have cleaned your clock by now.

 

hardsheller - I am lost in your logic here, should international law be obeyed by the USA & UK or not?

or is it a pragmatic decision - sometimes they should and sometimes they shouldn't?

in which case please explain the times when the law should be ignored

Cheers